A former Chanel vice president
A former Vice President of Chanel who suffered profound abuse during the birth of her daughter — and spent years walking through trauma, healing, justice, and forgiveness.
Fellowship Prospectus · English
The Own Your Story
The Own Your Story
Fellowship
A bilingual platform of hope, healing, forgiveness, and redemption — built on testimony, story, and the belief that no wound is the final word.
"Your past can explain you. It doesn't have to define you."
— The Own Your Story Fellowship
01 · Mission
A platform that refuses to let the past have the final word
The Own Your Story Fellowship exists to challenge the belief that what happened to us is what we will always be. Through storytelling, talks, media, faith, recovery, and community, the Fellowship helps people discover that healing is possible, forgiveness is possible, and redemption is possible.
"Your past can explain you. It doesn't have to define you."
02 · Vision
A bilingual movement of hope, healing, and human dignity
We envision a bilingual platform where story becomes service. Stories create hope, stories create connection, stories create healing. The Fellowship's vision is to gather wounded healers, faith communities, recovery leaders, universities, civic institutions, and bilingual audiences across the United States and Latin America under one common mission: that no one walks through pain alone.
Three pillars
- Storytelling that dignifies the human experience
- Faith and recovery as routes to restoration
- A bilingual bridge between the U.S. and Latin America
03 · First Major Initiative
The Project of Forgiveness
The Project of Forgiveness is the Fellowship's first major publishing and storytelling initiative: a book that explores one of the most difficult questions of the human heart — How do we forgive when we have been deeply hurt? The project pairs Nelson's own testimony of childhood trauma, sexual abuse, addiction, arrest, and Catholic conversion with the real, lived stories of three witnesses who found freedom through forgiveness.
Why this project exists
Forgiveness is the hinge that turns testimony into freedom. The Project of Forgiveness tells real stories — not theory — of people who crossed the bridge from wound to wholeness.
04 · Story Campaigns
Three real stories of forgiveness in motion
Each story is documented, written, and released in English and Spanish — paired with speaking, podcast, and short-form content for churches, classrooms, recovery groups, and civic audiences.
A former U.S. Navy Commander and Top Gun instructor
A former U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander and Top Gun instructor who lost everything to crack cocaine addiction and rebuilt his life through recovery, accountability, forgiveness, and faith.
Nelson F. Hincapie's own testament
Nelson's own story of surviving childhood trauma, sexual abuse, alcoholism, drug addiction, arrest, and conversion — and going on to lead nonprofit work, lead a college foundation, and write Own Your Story Before It Owns You.
05 · Get Involved
Walk with us in the work of healing and hope
The Own Your Story Fellowship is built one story at a time, one parish at a time, one reader at a time. The Project of Forgiveness, the weekly letters, the speaking engagements — all of it depends on people choosing to walk with us.
Become part of the story
Every contribution — large or small, your time, your prayers, your sharing, or your financial support — fuels storytelling, media, speaking, and community-building for the mission ahead. If this message has spoken to you, we would love to hear from you.
- Pray with us — the mission lives on prayer
- Share the book and weekly reflections
- Invite Nelson to your parish or community
- Support The Project of Forgiveness
06 · Bilingual Mission
English + Spanish — one mission, two languages
The Fellowship intentionally publishes, speaks, and engages in both English and Spanish. The reason is simple: the communities most affected by trauma, abuse, addiction, and grief in the United States are also deeply connected to Latin America. A bilingual mission reaches farther, honors more families, and creates room for cross-border healing.
Audiences served
- Faith communities and ministries
- Recovery and trauma-survivor networks
- Universities, nonprofits and civic institutions
- Bilingual readers and Latino communities
- Event and conference organizers
07 · Call to Action
Choose a level — and help launch the platform
To walk with us in the work of healing, forgiveness, and hope — through prayer, sharing, speaking, or financial support — reach out to Nelson directly. We'll share the full prospectus PDF, answer any questions, and walk you through next steps.
Reading in Spanish?
This is the English prospectus. The bilingual version with an in-page language toggle lives at prospectus.html.
Abrir versión bilingüe