The CRC Story: Two Sisters Fight to Save Children
By: Carly Yoost
Many people ask me how I came to be the CEO of Child Rescue Coalition when I speak about my passion for protecting children. I tell them about our family legacy and my late father, Hank Asher, who was a data technology genius and fierce advocate for building technology that would make the world a safer place. The technology that my father built truly reinvented the way that law enforcement preformed their investigation. One thing I don’t get to share enough though, is how I would never would have been able to start Child Rescue Coalition and follow my dreams without the amazing women in my life, and one in particular, my sister Desiree.
Most of you know me as Carly Yoost, the CEO of CRC, the daughter of the data genius and founder of TLO. But what you might not know is that for 11 of the quite possibly the hardest months of my life, I was co-CEO of TLO with my amazingly strong sister. It all started when our father passed away suddenly on January 11, 2013.
Even though my father was a brilliant man, there was no plan set for when he died. We didn’t have a playbook to look at, or a plan to that allowed us to step in as CEO’s. Our family’s company was facing significant financial hardships. We were drowning in debt and since the company was relatively new when my father passed, sales had not reached anywhere near profitability. We were losing money fast with not much money in the bank at all. Many people were telling us to shut the doors down and just sell the desks and computers for what we could.
What would this mean for our family? What would the future of rescuing children have been? It all weighed so heavily on us. There were people who saw the value, but instead of helping us, they wanted to steal it. It was a frightening time and it was my sister’s strength that made me believe that we could and would be able to fight for our family’s company.
After the hardest 11 months of my life, we found a way to persevere, save the company, and we had won! We won for dad’s legacy, the TLO customers, all 140 employees and our own personal success. How did we do it? We fought for what was right. We were on the right side of the law, we stood up for what we believed was ours, and didn’t passively let anyone take it from us.
Without my sister by my side, I believe I would have had to give up and wave a white flag. But she gave me so much strength and I know I gave her strength as well. I believe strongly that a mixture of working 100 times harder, being under estimated, being on the right side of the law, a lot of luck, and dad still fighting in our corner is what allowed us to succeed.
Thank God we were successful, because it allowed me to follow my dreams. As part of the sale, we retained ownership of CRC technology to start the Child Rescue Coalition. Now instead of fighting to keep a company alive, we fight against pedophiles, and that is far more rewarding
My sister has been there for me my whole life. She is my first person I call for any questions about work or personal life. She is one of the smartest and strongest people I know. I am proud to recognize her on sister’s day because so much of what we have been able to do at CRC was possible because of her!