Through Dezire to Inspire, Cindy K. Waddle and Willie Carl Merrell are transforming personal experiences, leadership wisdom, and a shared belief in human connection into a purpose-driven movement built on kindness, encouragement, and everyday inspiration.

In a world that moves quickly and often communicates through screens, genuine human connection can sometimes become overlooked. People may remain constantly connected digitally while still feeling unseen, unheard, or alone. For Cindy K. Waddle and Willie Carl Merrell, this disconnect has created a powerful opportunity—to remind people that a few sincere words can make a meaningful difference in someone’s life.

As the Founder and CEO and President and  Co-Owner of Dezire to Inspire, LLC, Cindy and Carl are building a company around one simple but powerful belief: words matter.

Their message, “Say it Every Day,” encourages people to express appreciation, kindness, hope, love, and support consistently—not only during celebrations, difficult moments, or special occasions, but as part of everyday life.

Together, Cindy and Carl are combining their different professional backgrounds and personal experiences to create inspirational products, educational resources, community initiatives, and opportunities for people to reconnect with one another. Their vision extends beyond building a successful company. They want to create a lasting legacy of encouragement that reaches families, workplaces, schools, healthcare environments, veterans, active-duty service members, and communities around the world.

A Purpose Born from Experience

Cindy’s journey towards entrepreneurship began after a distinguished 38-year career in federal service and human resources leadership. Over the years, she progressed into senior management positions and ultimately served as a GS-14 Human Resources Manager.

Her professional responsibilities included serving as Human Resources Manager for United States Mint facilities in Denver, Philadelphia, and San Francisco as well as many years with the Department of Defense.. These experiences allowed her to work with people from diverse backgrounds and reinforced a lesson that would later become central to Dezire to Inspire: organisations may operate through systems and processes, but people remain at the heart of their success.

After decades of professional service, Cindy felt drawn towards creating something that could reach people in a more personal way. Her inspiration developed into the idea behind Dezire to Inspire—a company that would create meaningful products and messages for people experiencing celebrations, transitions, grief, loss, challenges, and everyday moments.

“What began as inspiration became a mission,” Cindy reflects. “What began as a business became something much larger: an opportunity to build a legacy of kindness and human connection.”

Her personal experiences, including a deeply meaningful hospice-related experience, helped shape the company’s collection of inspirational products. These products address a wide range of human experiences, including grief and loss, perseverance, mental wellness, youth character development, veterans and active-duty military members, PTSD awareness, and encouragement, to mention a few..

For Cindy, success is not measured only by products created or sold. It is measured by the number of lives the company has the opportunity to touch.

A Leadership Journey Rooted in Service

Carl’s professional journey has been shaped by more than two decades of service in the United States Army. His military career began after he was selected through the Vietnam War draft lottery. Following two years of enlisted service, he returned to education, attended Florida State University, completed the ROTC programme, and received a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army.

After graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Speech Communications, he was assigned to the United States Army Signal Corps. His responsibilities included leading soldiers, managing communication systems, overseeing logistics, and ensuring that military and civilian leadership remained connected through secure command and information systems.

Throughout his military career, Carl held a range of leadership positions involving curriculum development, printing, military-wide distribution, training, company command, operations, and the fielding of mobile subscriber equipment to Europe. He retired after 20 years of honourable service as a Major in the United States Army Signal Corps.

The Army taught him discipline, accountability, resilience, teamwork, and the importance of taking responsibility for others. However, one of the most important lessons he carried into civilian life was that leadership is remembered not only through accomplishments, but also through the way people are treated.

“People do not simply remember what a leader accomplished,” Carl explains. “They remember how that leader treated them, whether that leader believed in them, and whether that leader helped them become the best they could become.”

Following his military career, Carl continued working in leadership, education, youth programme operations, consulting, and entrepreneurship. He served in youth development programmes, supported students in charter schools, worked as a job developer and coach, and later became Chief Operations Officer and Chief of Staff within the education sector.

These experiences strengthened his belief that education, encouragement, and leadership can influence the direction of a person’s life.

Two Journeys, One Shared Purpose

Although Cindy and Carl come from different professional backgrounds, their experiences complement one another. Cindy brings the emotional foundation of Dezire to Inspire—the ability to recognise emotional needs and transform them into meaningful messages and products.

Carl contributes strategic thinking, operational discipline, leadership experience, practical execution, and a willingness to challenge ideas. His role includes identifying potential blind spots, asking difficult questions, and helping the company look beyond immediate priorities.

Their partnership is built on a shared destination. They want Dezire to Inspire to become a company that helps people feel seen, heard, valued, supported, empowered, and remembered.

“Cindy and I bring different life experiences, perspectives, and strengths to Dezire to Inspire,” Carl says. “I believe that is one of our greatest advantages.”

For Cindy, Carl’s partnership has been instrumental in transforming a personal idea into a growing organisation. His commitment has helped the company navigate challenges, assess opportunities, and remain focused on its long-term potential.

Together, they understand that building a meaningful business requires more than passion. It requires patience, structure, strategy, adaptability, and a willingness to keep learning.

Their shared philosophy is simple: people need people, and words matter.

Encouragement as a Daily Practice

The mission of Dezire to Inspire is to create meaningful moments of encouragement and connection through words that uplift, comfort, empower, and inspire. However, Cindy and Carl believe that encouragement should not be limited to a single day or a particular occasion.

Their message, “Say it Every Day,” is a reminder not to wait for a crisis before telling someone they matter. People should not have to experience loss, struggle, or a major achievement before receiving appreciation and support.

Encouragement can be expressed in small but meaningful ways—a note, a message, a thoughtful gift, a conversation, or a simple reminder that someone is valued.

The company’s vision extends into homes, schools, workplaces, healthcare environments, veteran communities, organisations, and families. Cindy and Carl want to make encouragement a consistent part of everyday culture.

In their view, the power of words reaches far beyond the inspirational-products industry. Thoughtful communication can strengthen workplace culture, support mental wellness, improve relationships, encourage young people, and help individuals navigate grief and difficult transitions.

Overcoming the Challenges of Entrepreneurship

For Cindy, one of the greatest challenges was transitioning from a structured federal career into entrepreneurship. In government leadership, systems, policies, and processes are already established. Building a business requires creating those structures while simultaneously developing products, establishing partnerships, managing operations, and communicating a new vision.

She also learned that being heart-led and building a sustainable organisation are two different responsibilities. Passion may inspire the beginning of a business, but strategy is needed to help it grow.

“I have worked to become more strategic while never losing the compassion and servant-leadership principles that inspired Dezire to Inspire in the first place,” Cindy explains.

Carl’s transition from military service into civilian leadership brought its own adjustments. Although the environments were different, he found that the fundamentals of leadership remained consistent: listening, communicating clearly, building trust, taking responsibility, and caring about people.

Entrepreneurship has also taught both partners the importance of patience, financial discipline, persistence, and flexibility. They have learned that challenges should not always be viewed as obstacles. Sometimes, they are opportunities to reassess, make better decisions, and move forward with greater wisdom.

Carl believes that leadership does not always mean moving faster. At times, it means slowing down long enough to ensure that the organisation is moving in the right direction.

A Broader Vision for Community Impact

Cindy and Carl hope that Dezire to Inspire will help bring intentional human connection back into everyday life.

In a fast-moving world, many people feel overlooked or disconnected. The company creates opportunities for individuals to communicate simple but powerful messages such as, “I see you,” “I appreciate you,” “I believe in you,” and “You matter.”

Their goal is to create a ripple effect. If a message encourages a leader to recognise an overlooked employee, helps a veteran feel remembered, gives a grieving person a reason to continue, or inspires a young person to believe in themselves, then the work has achieved something meaningful.

Carl sees this as a form of leadership in itself. After decades of service and professional responsibility, he believes that legacy is not only what a person accomplishes, but what they leave in other people.

“Encouragement is leadership,” he says.

Cindy shares the same belief. She wants the company to demonstrate that kindness is not a weakness or a temporary gesture. It is a powerful force that can influence confidence, resilience, relationships, and community well-being.

From a Company to a Movement

Dezire to Inspire is continuing to expand its inspirational product collections while developing new ways for individuals and organisations to incorporate encouragement into everyday life.

One upcoming initiative especially close to the founders’ hearts is “All Aboard for Inspiration Nation,” a kindness movement built around the image of a symbolic train powered by inspiration, generosity, and human connection. Participants are encouraged to share inspirational messages, spread kindness, invite others to participate, and help the movement travel from one community to another.

The company is also developing resources for youth character development, grief and loss, mental wellness, veterans and active-duty military members, workplaces, schools, organisations, and communities.

Future partnerships may include corporations, educational institutions, nonprofits, healthcare organisations, veteran organisations, government entities, and other groups that believe in the importance of encouragement and connection.

Cindy and Carl’s larger ambition is to build more than a collection of products. They want to build a movement that reminds people that words have power, kindness has value, and encouragement should never be saved only for special occasions.

Inspiring a Lasting Legacy

The story of Cindy K. Waddle and Willie Carl Merrell is a reminder that meaningful entrepreneurship can emerge from years of service, personal experience, and a desire to make a difference.

Cindy’s decades of federal leadership and Carl’s military, educational, and operational experience have given Dezire to Inspire a strong foundation of compassion and practical leadership. Their different strengths allow them to approach the company from complementary perspectives while remaining united by a common purpose.

Together, they are creating a platform where encouragement becomes more intentional and human connection becomes more visible.

Their vision is not limited to business growth. It is about leaving lasting imprints on people’s hearts—one message, one person, and one meaningful connection at a time.

As Dezire to Inspire continues to evolve, Cindy and Carl remain guided by the belief that purpose does not have an expiration date. A new chapter can begin after a long career, after adversity, or at any stage of life.

And through that new chapter, they are sharing a message that is both simple and deeply powerful:

Say it Every Day.