Dr. Theresa Pringle Wins 'Visionary Leader Award' at Influencer Magazine Awards 2026
Based in New Jersey, United States, Dr. Pringle brings a perspective forged through profound personal adversity. Having personally experienced several degrees of homelessness, including street homelessness, couch surfing, and the shelter system, she notes that she fell through many unaddressed cracks within the system that create further barriers hindering life stability. Rather than allowing that experience to defeat her, she overcame those barriers and resolved to create an organisation that would help others avoid those same systemic cracks and setbacks.
Reflecting on the recognition, Dr. Pringle shared, "This award is deeply meaningful because homelessness is never just about housing. It is about health, education, employment, dignity, and opportunity. I have lived those cracks in the system, and I have spent my career making sure others do not have to fall through them. To have that work recognised on a global level is profoundly humbling."
In 2019, Dr. Pringle established Pringle's Pit Stop, an organisation specialising in providing services to those experiencing homelessness or in imminent danger of homelessness in the greater Newark, New Jersey, and surrounding metropolitan area. As founder and president, she works alongside her sons Jeri, Geri, and Ieri and her daughters Keri and Aeri, a true family enterprise rooted in service. The organisation helps individuals and families not only get back on their feet but stay on their feet through various innovative services, including mobile, remote, and on-site case management, as well as comprehensive daily living skills training. For outside service providers, community organisations, corporate leaders and their employees, Pringle's Pit Stop provides training focusing on "The New Face of Case Management." Her approach is grounded in non-judgmental techniques and a powerful guiding philosophy: "Make It Make Sense. Change the Mindset, Change the Outcome." This philosophy is operationalised through seven core values: No Judgement, Person Centered Planning, Empowerment, Accountability, Equity, Integrity, and Compassion.
Beyond her homelessness work, Dr. Pringle spearheaded a second business endeavour, Pringle's Cleaning Services, in 2022. Specialising in commercial cleaning, she hires those currently experiencing homelessness or in imminent danger of homelessness, those in shelter, as well as those newly released from the prison system. This innovative social enterprise model creates pathways to employment for populations that traditional employers systematically exclude, providing individuals with work value and employment readiness training so that they can re-enter the workforce successfully.
Extending her commitment to capacity building, Dr. Pringle has also founded Pringle’s Training Services, a dedicated arm focused on training non-profits, community organisations, and the faith-based community. The vision of this initiative is to equip these groups with the tools to train those experiencing disparity, fostering empowerment and creating Proactive Options over Reactive Responses. This unwavering commitment to education and systemic change has afforded her opportunities to train globally, with engagements in Dubai, UAE, as well as collaborative efforts with the government of India, resulting in her receiving the IFEA 2025 Award from The Association of Applied Research, acknowledging Iconic Felicitation of Exemplary Achievement for Excellence in Business Development and Policy Planning in Delhi, India. Her global impact is further underscored by her Honorarium Professorship and Honorarium Peace Ambassadorship, both from Kennedy University in Paris, France.
Speaking on what the Visionary Leader Award represents, Dr. Pringle added, "To me, vision is about responsibility, the responsibility to see people not as problems to be solved, but as human beings deserving of dignity, compassion, and a real chance to thrive. I believe that to overcome adversity, you must ask for and accept help from those willing to offer it. That is a lesson I learned through my own darkest days, and I share it now as a gift to others."
Recently, Dr. Pringle collaborated with St. Vincent's College in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, to help her clients at Pringle's Pit Stop continue their academic careers to attend college outside of an urban area, with the direct assistance of her son serving as a college admissions officer. St. Vincent College will guide interested individuals through the admissions process, opening doors to higher education for those who might never have imagined such a possibility. She provided dedicated gap assistance, care packages, guidance, and availability to students who may have had difficulties navigating the college experience. She is also a licensed minister focusing on intensive family restoration, adding a spiritual dimension to her holistic approach to human flourishing.
Dr. Pringle's civic contributions have been widely recognised. She served as the community liaison for the City of Newark Homelessness Coalition and as one of the commissioners of Newark's Homelessness Commission. She is an active member of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, a committed member of the National Coalition of the Homeless, and serves as a UNA-USA member, further cementing her global perspective. She has served as a panelist and presenter for the National Shelter Housing Data Conference and serves on the Statewide Advisory Board. Currently, Dr. Pringle serves on her local COC/CEAS as an executive board member for the GALE/Essex County Advisory Board and other subcommittees within the COC. She is also a certified mediator helping tenants navigate landlord-tenant matters to avoid eviction. World Central Kitchen, along with other community organisations on local, county, and state levels, has recognised her efforts in meal delivery during the height of COVID, delivering 900 meals per week, and for helping offset the costs of electricity bills during that critical time.
What distinguishes Dr. Theresa Pringle is not simply her impressive list of board positions and collaborations, but her lived expertise, the very struggles she now helps others overcome. She acknowledges the value in everyone and creates leaders who can look through the lens of others to foster both professional and personal growth that increases a healthy work environment. With her two mission-driven organisations, her innovative case management training, her social enterprise cleaning service that employs the homeless and formerly incarcerated, her collaboration with St. Vincent College, her numerous board and commission roles, her ordained ministry, and her family-centred approach to service, Dr. Theresa Pringle stands as a powerful force for change. Her win at IMA 2026 celebrates not only her extraordinary achievements in helping individuals and families escape homelessness, but her ongoing mission to see more people become productive, contributing members of society, one changed mindset at a time. Truly, Dr. Pringle continues to live a life of service and remains an impactful visionary and change-maker both in the USA and globally.
Paul Hebert
Influencer Magazine UK
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