Meet Donna Vaughan

Today we’d like to introduce you to Donna Vaughan.

Hi donna, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My entrepreneurial journey began in the ’90s when I embarked upon a career as a massage therapist. It was a wonderful season of about ten years and really whet my appetite for being my own boss! In the early 2000’s I found myself in transition after divorce. Struggling to land on my feet after a 17-year abusive marriage ended and needing to do something to keep a roof over my three children’s heads, I was given the chance to become a partner and owner in my own restaurant (Waldo Pizza in Lee’s Summit, MO). I decided to go all in. It was sink or swim, extremely hard work and scary at first. Eventually, my business partner and I created a wonderful team and built a very strong business. It was never in my heart to be a restaurant owner but the experience was fruitful and helped me develop my skills as a business owner, entrepreneur, mentor and coach. When I decided to sell my shares of the company and that chapter of my life came to an end, I found myself in transition again.

I took several months off to be quiet and figure out my next move. I knew I wanted to make a positive impact in other people’s lives while staying true to myself and my core beliefs. This would be my last chapter and I wanted to really make it count! I have always been interested in helping others become their best, so I went back to school and earned a coaching certificate through the Masters in Organizational Development program from Avila University.

During the Waldo Pizza years, I found the love of my life and he and I decided to move downtown to a loft that he had created in the KC Crossroads district. It was so much fun!! But for a person with sun and soil running through her veins, it was difficult to live in a concrete jungle with little to no green space. I actually turned a nearby median with a small amount of soil into a flower garden. Then one day my new love, Doug, introduced me to his family’s farm. Because of our urban generated thirst for greenspace, we decided to drive up and camp for a night or two. In my 50 years of life, I had never been camping before… NEVER!

We arrived at the farm in late June and as luck would have it towards the end of the hay cycle, so all the grasses were waist high. Our truck is four-wheel drive, so we were able to drive down to the pond. Doug didn’t think I would consider it “campable” but I told him there was no way I was driving up with all the gear and not staying! I convinced him to drive back and forth across the long grasses until they were matted down enough to open the truck doors and maneuver about. Then we found the flattest spot and pitched our tent. And that began my very first camping experience! We gathered firewood to cook our hotdogs and smores and settled into our lawn chairs for the evening! My husband says arranging a wildflower bouquet to place on our camp box table was my first actual act of glamping!

As the sunset, the mist began to rise out of the pond and the sky was filled with more stars than I had ever seen! The frogs chirped, the coyotes howled, the owls made themselves known and I WAS HOOKED! I tell people all the time that this experience was life-changing for me. I literally had a paradigm shift! I went from being someone who never really connected with the healing power of nature to a person who now not only lives outside 90% of my time but someone who preaches to anyone who will listen about the healing that nature brings to our spirits. Glamping was birthed from this moment, although at the time, I had no idea this shift was going to be the beginning of a new endeavor.

We tent camped for about two years and I was getting a little tired of all the work that was going into our little weekend camping trips. I wanted to raise the bar just a bit so we decided to build a 16×20 foot deck in the middle of the hayfield. We put two cabanas on top with “zippable” sidewalls and screens. On one side of the deck, we created a bedroom with blow-up mattresses on top of milk crates that we bound together with zip ties and bedside tables for our battery-powered lamps! On the other side of the deck, we put outdoor furniture, a loveseat, two chairs and a coffee table. We were definitely “glamping” now!

Folks started seeing what we had created on Facebook, and it wasn’t very long before people started asking us if they could rent it for a weekend!! My first thought was: Well, if I give this up for you to enjoy, then what will I do?? The thought of “others” being on our land did not seem relaxing, peaceful or fun to us! But I began to percolate on what it would look like IF we did create something that we could share with others. It didn’t happen overnight, but eventually, Hawley Farm Glamping was birthed, and I opened our land to share with others. It was one of the best decisions I have ever made! You know why? Because it is simply more fun to share!

We are four years in now and have had the best time ever! Every weekend we have the chance to meet awesome, and I mean awesome, new (and sometimes returning) guests. I have never had a more challenging or rewarding season in my entire life but I thank God everyday that I am allowed to be the curator of Hawley Farm. So much joy has come into my life because of it!

We are now ready to embark on the next chapter in the Hawley Farm experience. Having recently acquired our non-profit status, we are gathering steam to create retreats for women who have suffered domestic abuse. These women are living at or below the poverty level and cannot afford food and clothing, let alone find the money for a healing retreat. Yet they need it just as much, if not more than the wealthy women who can afford counseling, coaching, massages and retreats. Having been a victim of domestic violence and having survived and transformed my life, I now have a passion to help women who have come out of abuse reclaim their lives and help them find their footing as they continue to grow and change into healthy individuals.

This is a good time to tell you that my life was dramatically changed by just one woman. Her graciousness towards me is what allowed me to begin my own healing journey! I want to pay that act of kindness forward as many times as I can before the end of this chapter of my life.

When a person is given the gift of time to work on themselves, it can be life-changing. It was for me! Anyone who has ever been to our farm knows that it has a tremendous healing effect. I want to give other women the gift of time and solitude at the farm, so they can begin to hear their own voice again and start believing in themselves. This retreat and the development of the curriculum are still in the works, but our goal is to have our first one in spring 2022.

There is one other group of individuals that I really want to sponsor at the farm for FREE in 2022 – NURSES! These women and men who have been on the front lines during this dreadful pandemic deserve a moment to breathe. They have put their lives on the line and continued to do their job in the face of grave danger. We should all be incredibly grateful to them! I know I am. We are currently raising money for this endeavor and are looking to partner with area hospitals to provide a weekend of rest and gratitude for these heroes. If you would like to donate to this cause, go to our website and click on the “donate” button.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Nature will always win! I was not raised in the county, so learning to navigate the intensity of Mother Nature has been a real challenge when it comes to creating and sustaining Hawley Farm Glamping. One week it rains so much it washes out the road; the next week, a wounded raccoon dies underneath a campsite deck, creating an enormous about of flies inside the site (picture Amityville Horror). It is always something and it just keeps coming. So, honestly, my biggest challenge is keeping my spirits up in light of this constant onslaught trying to take me out of the game with discouragement. I’m not a quitter.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
My goal is to impact, in a positive and life-changing way, as many people as I can before my last breath by providing a safe place for them to breathe and work on their own healing, leading them to enjoy more peaceful and productive lives.

We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
Anyone who starts their own business is a bit of a risk-taker. I’m no exception. But I take a calculated risk based on understanding the circumstances, understanding what it takes to succeed and knowing and relying on my strengths.

Contact Info:

• Email: vonbateshospitality@gmail.com
• Website: www.hawleyfarmglamping.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hawleyfarmglamping/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GlampHawleyFarm