At age 16, Rachelle Rutherford found herself in a hospital bed. Her parents had abused and abandoned her, and she had attempted suicide.
Hers could have been a story filled with brokenness. But Rutherford’s uncrushable spirit refused to let trauma define her path. The broken girl in the hospital bed was “not who I was created to be,” Rutherford says.
Rutherford promised herself that she would get a bachelor’s and a master’s degree, which she later did while raising six kids and attending night school. She then entered the male-dominated telecommunications field.
With her characteristic determination, Rutherford decided to become an executive before age 40. She helped start a university in Africa and was asked to serve on the board of Kids On The Move, a nonprofit organization that provides services to children with special needs. Although Rutherford didn’t have personal experience in that area, it didn’t stop her from being a force for good.
“If there’s something I’m afraid of, I will go after it because I don’t want to have fears holding me back,” Rutherford says. She dove into Kids On The Move, learning about the needs of the youth and even advocating to pass legislation helping children with autism. Rutherford became the COO of Kids On The Move before she turned 40.
After taking time to run her husband’s real estate business while he battled cancer, Rutherford returned to Kids On The Move and eventually stepped into the CEO position, doubling the operating capital in her 3.5-year tenure.
“Open-minded thinking has allowed me to create things that others would think there is no way could happen,” she says. “Limitations don’t apply to me.”
Rutherford became a runway model at age 41 and was crowned Mrs. World America in 2023. She is publishing a book with Forbes Books that centers on reminding leaders to bring their talents to nonprofits in order to impact their communities.
“It’s not about accolades for me. It’s about impact,” she says.
Rutherford is currently campaigning to raise $150 million for a comprehensive care facility in Utah to provide therapy, education, after-school care and other resources for children with disabilities and developmental delays.
“We get to create the legacy that we want to leave behind,” she says. “I hope that when people see my life, they can see that regardless of what we have gone through, we can rise above it.” To Main Page