Episode #038
Amy Antonelli, CEO of Humanitarian Experience (HXP)
🎧 Listen to the whole episode above, watch it on YouTube, or find it wherever you get your podcasts.
If you loved this episode, try:
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Ep 024 – Rachel Miner – Women Doing Something! Teaching Love with Rachel Miner of Bellwether International
On the Sendy Mom Podcast, I love spotlighting women who choose courage before certainty. In this episode, Amy Antonelli shares how her life has been shaped by what Elder Neal A. Maxwell once called a customized curriculum. Amy and I talked about how we possibly co-created this path with God before coming to earth. I like this thought.
Amy’s story weaves together faith, motherhood, leadership at Apple, Facebook, Rising Star Outreach, and her current work with HXP (Humanitarian Experience).
In this blog, I want to dive a little deeper into what it looks like to move forward when you don’t have answers, having a visual vision, and how you co-create your customized curriculum.
This conversation is especially meaningful for parents raising teens, leaders mentoring young people, and anyone who feels called to build something bigger than themselves.
A Customized Curriculum: Get Off the Bench
“God is way bigger than we think. Get off the bench.”
Amy Antonelli
In my faith, we often talk of following God’s plan. I like this idea because I like structure and I like to believe that there is a purpose to life.
The thing that gets me sometimes is the thought that the plan was already laid out for me, and I’m just following some script. That goes against everything I believe. I think agency is an incredible gift. I don’t believe God would take it away from us just so we can follow some pre meditated plan.
If I were somehow involved in the development of this curriculum though, I think I could get on board with that. Are you showing up as a co-creator or are you just waiting for God to make your life work?
Amy talks about “getting off the bench” When the relationship she thought was in God’s plan for her didn’t work out, she found an opportunity for more education. Your job is to show up in your own life and consistently take the steps every day that will get you closer to a better version of yourself.
Seeing God’s part comes after the faith to step into the unknown. Amy went on to great success with prestigious jobs in the Tech industry. After a devastating blow from Facebook, she could have blamed God or herself. She didn’t know what would happen, but she put her trust in God again, and got to work. When the opportunities appeared, Amy was able to recognize them. This empowerment is available to you too.
You don’t need the full syllabus before enrolling in your own growth.
Moving Forward Before You Have All the Answers
One of the most powerful themes in this episode is the idea that clarity often follows commitment. Amy discusses how progress came after action—not before it.
This applies to parenting, leadership, faith, and personal development. When we insist on having every answer first, we often delay the very experiences that would teach us what we need to know.
Amy’s approach invites us to ask a better question:
Who am I becoming if I take the next faithful step—even imperfectly?
The Power of a Visual Vision
Amy emphasizes the importance of having a visual vision—a clear mental picture of who you can become and how you want to show up in the world.
“There will be miracles.”
Amy Antonelli – HXP Visual Vision
This isn’t about rigid goal-setting. It’s about identity.
When you can visualize yourself as capable, resilient, and contributing, your decisions begin to align with that image. Even more powerful is extending this practice to others—especially teens and young adults.
Seeing people for their future potential, rather than their current limitations, changes how we lead, parent, and love.
I have a child who often beat himself up when he was very young. When he would be reprimanded, he would head to self-loathing. To be honest, I often do the same thing to myself.
When he makes a mistake, I remind him who he is, and how I see him. It is difficult to do when you have a belligerent or resistant child. Reminding children that they are not their mistakes and then letting them know who they are actually molds them into that person.
Every person is good and bad, kind and mean, patient and impatient, smart and dumb, fat and thin (if that matters). We are all of these things some of the time. That’s ok! That’s human! Isn’t it glorious?
The person you tell yourself you are is just made up. You can make up anything about yourself and just start living that way. Did you know that? Talk about empowerment!
A visual vision isn’t about fixing flaws—it’s about reinforcing identity
How HXP Benefits Teen Builders, Parent Builders, and Trip Leaders
A significant part of Amy’s work involves HXP (Humanitarian Experience), an organization focused on building homes, communities, and character.
Benefits for Teen Builders
- Real-world responsibility and meaningful contribution
- Increased confidence through physical and emotional challenges
- A stronger sense of purpose and teamwork
- Opportunities to see themselves as capable and needed
Benefits for Trip Leaders
- Leadership development through service-based mentoring
- Practice seeing and drawing out potential in others
- Deep fulfillment from facilitating transformational experiences
Across all roles, HXP becomes a living classroom for customized curricula—teaching lessons that cannot be learned in comfort alone.
My experience as a parent builder was life changing. I was able to build a Nutrition Center in the Philippines with 19 teenagers and 3 incredible young adults. I had a tough time as a teenager and I was worried I might not be able to connect with them because I was quite honestly scared of them.
Benefits for Parent Builders
- Connection with my son
- Connection with 19 teenagers
- The opportunity to demonstrate Christlike love as a mother
- Growth and progress in my own life
- A chance to step out of the “manager” role and into partnership
- Perspective on teens’ capabilities when trusted and challenged
HXP works because it connects people, gives opportunities for responsibility, and encourages real contribution.
Mentioned in the Show:
HXP – Humanitarian Experience for Teenagers
But For a Small Moment – BYU Speeches, Elder Neal A. Maxwell
Les Miserables by Victor Hugo
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