By Sadie Hess, Founder & Co-CEO
Compass- 30 years Strong
There are moments in life when you pause long enough to look back, and you see a thread that’s been there all along. A thread of calling, connection, faith and purpose that wove itself into a story larger than anything you knew you were building.
It’s a remembering- a recognition that the work we do at Compass is not just professional- it’s profoundly personal. Our story didn’t begin with a business plan. It began with people. It began with a calling. It began with care. I am reminded the most meaningful stories in life aren’t built all at once-they are woven slowly, stitch by stitch, through moments that felt small at the time but turn out to be profound in hindsight. These are the moments, that when you look back, reveal the steady hand of purpose guiding you before you could see your destination.
The Beginnings- Huffmaster Hospitality
My personal story- long before Compass ever took shape- was formed in the moments of my childhood. My childhood was rooted in faith in my little home church in Maxwell. My parents grew up in rural farming towns. They had childhoods in small town schoolhouses, raising chickens, milking cows and helping with farm chores. My parents have 5 kids and adopted one and had many that adopted them over the years. They chose to raise me and my siblings in a small town and many days were spent at our little church serving and living in a community. Part of the reason they stayed in the little town of Maxwell was to be close to the Legacy Huffmaster ranch that had been in the family for 100 years. Dad loves the ranch, and he has felt called to work on that land and keep the legacy of the Huffmaster Ranch in his family. My parents believe in God, in the value of integrity and the dignity of hard work. I grew up learning that people matter, that compassion can change a life, and that faith can turn anyone into a vessel for extraordinary things.
A Legacy of Belonging
My grandmother Sadie ‘Sally’ adopted my dad into her family when he needed a sense of belonging, and with that, after he met mom, got married and started his family, we became hers too. She passed down more than her name to me-she passed down a legacy of making room for others. I carry her conviction in my heart– family is both inherited and chosen. She taught me that belonging is something you invest in and build. Grandma Sally and Grandpa Johnson, not true blood but true heart, left my family with the inheritance with which my parents bought their first home. I have her China dishes, and she gave me her wedding ring. Her family was grafted into my family’s history, and she treated us like we were hers all along.
Family is not only your blood, but it is who you choose; family is what you grow over the years. That is how I see Compass. We are families that come together, who choose to live life together-we choose to be part of each other’s stories and legacy. This is rooted deeply in my legacy from my parents, Grandma Sadie and Grandpa CED Johnson. What they did for my parents was impart a culture of bringing those who are missing something into a family-wrapping their arms around them and giving them a sense of home and family.
Family as Foundation
I have parents who gave me a sense of feeling known and belonging. Parents who showed up for me and for others, who believed in me. When Compass was young and unsteady, they borrowed against their own home so we could make payroll a couple of times.
My parents have taught me what sacrificial love looks like in real life. Their faith in me has become a grounding truth; the truth I would return to in seasons when my work felt bigger than my courage.
A Legacy of Showing up
My parents sacrifices and my Grandparents openheartedness is woven into the tapestry that makes up Compass. The heart behind the mission has always been that people matter; their stories matter and their belonging matters. When you build from this place, the work becomes more than work. It becomes something personal, sacred, and lasting. My parents have given me a legacy of showing up, a legacy of belonging. Compass began because we saw a need and showed up; it has endured because we have continued to do so.
