# A mother questions her lesson on purpose over profit

> Linzi Glass raised her daughter to prioritize making a difference. Now she wonders if that cost them both too much.
- Title: A mother questions her lesson on purpose over profit
- Summary: Linzi Glass raised her daughter to prioritize making a difference. Now she wonders if that cost them both too much. A nonprofit founder who taught her…
- Keywords: linzi glass, parenting, nonprofit work, purpose vs profit, life lessons, jordan, dog rescue, souljourn yoga foundation, business, technology, mother, questions
- Source: Business Insider — https://businessinsider.com/taught-child-prioritize-purpose-making-difference-life-lesson-might-regret-2026-9
- Author: Linzi Glass
- Published: 2026-09-20T09:24:01.282+00:00
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: linzi glass, parenting, nonprofit work, purpose vs profit, life lessons, jordan, dog rescue, souljourn yoga foundation, business, technology
## A crisis across the world
Two years ago, Linzi Glass's daughter Jordan led a yoga teacher training program in Marrakech, Morocco for fifteen Amazigh girls from the High Atlas Mountains. They were still displaced by an earthquake that had happened a year before.
## A mother's split attention
While Jordan worked in forty four degrees Celsius heat with no fans, Linzi was in Los Angeles fundraising for a dog rescue. A poodle mix had been hit by a car and needed emergency surgery.
## Both founders of nonprofits
Linzi Glass and her daughter Jordan are both founders of their own nonprofits. Their lives are filled with daily problem-solving and never-ending stress. Linzi is proud of who her daughter has become, but now sometimes wonders if she should have pushed her in a different direction.
## The mantra she instilled
Raised in apartheid South Africa, Linzi Glass suffered guilt as a young adult in America for leaving without trying to change the system. She later told her daughter Jordan: Make a difference. Leave a footprint on the planet. Care about others.

> Make a difference. Leave a footprint on the planet. Care about others.
## The daughter followed the example
At age nine, Jordan protested to save spider monkeys. During her sophomore year, she studied abroad in Cambodia and volunteered teaching English. At twenty six, she founded Souljourn Yoga Foundation, raising funds for young women's education globally through ethical yoga retreats.
## The hidden costs of purpose
Linzi has witnessed the joys but also the struggles her daughter has experienced. Both lie awake at night anguishing over donors, grant proposals, and making it through the fiscal year. Linzi has had three major back surgeries from lifting large dogs. Both average five hours of sleep a night.
## The magic moments that sustain them
Linzi took twenty three hours of air travel to hear schoolchildren in Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka laugh as they did yoga postures for the first time. She watched her daughter lead them, encouraging them to reach for the sky. Recently, the injured poodle mix named Romeo was adopted and is now healthy and loved.
## A question without a clear answer
With rising costs, declining funding, and the future of many small nonprofits uncertain, Linzi grapples daily with whether she should have encouraged her daughter to choose a paycheck over passion and purpose. These days, she is not so sure she knows the answer.

> These days, I'm not so sure I know the answer.
## Key takeaway

A nonprofit founder who taught her daughter to value purpose over money now questions whether that lesson was wise, given the financial strain and personal sacrifices both have endured.