Her Story Of Success

Diana Sumpter helps women design and live out their dream lives, and she believes it all starts with a positive mindset. She’s an author, motivational speaker, and Independent National Sales Director at Mary Kay, and she speaks and teaches all around the world. Diana started her career in the Air Force, but she left to join Mary Kay in search of a better life where she could work from home, make more money, and be happy all at the same time. That bold decision transformed her life, as the mentors and experiences she gained helped her to grow into the confident, powerful leader she is today.  Diana’s first book, Step Out of the Box: Your Dream Life is Waiting, teaches women to “erase and replace” the old labels that have defined them and kept them from living their dream lives. She also developed IGNITE, a program designed to train and motivate church volunteers to encourage, equip, and energize their teams.  Diana’s incredible story of transformation is a great example of how investing in your own life can

Krista Ripma is the President and Co-Founder of Authentic Audience, a digital marketing agency that helps brands tell their honest stories. Krista fell in love with marketing through a unique combination of experiences — learning storytelling in Hollywood before ultimately leaving because of the toxic work environment and then learning how to market a business in the yoga and wellness industry. She then started Authentic Audience with her husband and has grown it into a thriving company that offers brand strategy, content creation, email marketing, social media and more, all with the goal of helping brands “sell the truth.” Krista has been featured in Forbes and Entrepreneur, hosts The Authentic Audience Podcast and recently developed an online course in Marketing Fundamentals to further share everything she has learned.    Since Krista built much of her business as a solopreneur, she’s learned firsthand about the importance of setting boundaries around work — even when you love what you do — and finding ways

Dr. Sophia Yen is the co-founder and CEO of Pandia Health, the world’s only doctor led, women founded, and woman led birth control delivery company. With more than 20 years of experience in medicine, Dr. Sophia is board-certified in Adolescent Medicine, with a Doctorate of Medicine from UCSF Medical School and a Master’s of Public Health from UC Berkeley in Maternal Child Health. She started Pandia Health out of a desire to make women’s lives easier by reducing “pill anxiety,” the stress that comes with having to refill birth control every month. As a respected thought leader and educator, Dr. Sophia is also passionate about educating women about topics like #PeriodsOptional, sexually-transmitted infections, acne, and other adolescent health issues. She has spoken at SXSW, TedxSilicon Valley Women, TedxBerkley, and at universities around the U.S., along with teaching as a Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Stanford Medical School.  Even though Dr. Sophia is incredibly qualified to run Pandia Healt

Sherry Stewart Deutschmann built an incredibly successful career out of the belief that empathy could be the key to a more profitable business model. She put that idea into practice with LetterLogic, Inc., a company she built out of her basement and grew to $40 million before selling it in 2016. LetterLogic, which was named an Inc. 5000 company for ten consecutive years, was built on a unique model of putting employees first, starting with the dedication to paying employees a living wage and trickling into other areas like profit sharing and allowing people to bring their kids to work. Sherry has been featured in The New York Times, Forbes Magazine, Fast Company and more, and she was honored by President Barack Obama as a White House Champion of Change in 2016. Her newest venture, BrainTrust, is a company dedicated to helping women entrepreneurs grow their businesses to $1 million in annual revenue and beyond. Sherry is also the author of Lunch with Lucy, a book that teaches business owners to “maximize prof

Erica McMannes is the founder and COO of Instant Teams, a company that builds and manages remote teams for companies across the U.S.. She and her co-founder, Liza Rodewald, started Instant Teams out of Erica’s own experience as an Army spouse who had to get creative about finding career opportunities that could accommodate her lifestyle. At Instant Teams, military spouses can create a free profile and be matched with remote work. Instant Teams recently closed a $1.5 million round of VC funding and has been able to continue expanding even in the midst of COVID-19 losses. Erica is also a speaker and thought leader around military spouse employment and serves on the advisory board for the Association of Military Spouse Entrepreneurs. Though Instant Teams has lost a few clients during COVID-19, the company has also been able to bring on about 30 new employees, and they’re continuing to offer solutions for businesses that need remote work more than ever. Erica shares her optimism around the innovation that she be

Maggie Tucker is the owner and founder of the Nashville-based retail stores magpies baby and magpies girl. The magpies stores provide clothing, gifts and more for young girls and their families in a uniquely joyful and fun environment. Maggie has been featured in Southern Living, Cottage Living and Gift Shop Magazine, and she won HGTV’s award for top retail merchandising and design. Maggie is also passionate about serving the Nashville community, both by partnering with entrepreneurs and creatives and by giving back to organizations like Preston Taylor Ministries and the Dream Center. When Maggie realized her store would have to close because of COVID-19, she and her team shifted the entire business online, providing curbside pickup and shipping orders to families across the country. She’s also had to stay flexible with her plans around ordering new products, marketing her business and still providing an incredible experience even when people can’t come into the physical store. In the process, she’s witnessed

Nekasha Pratt is an award-winning marketer, speaker and thought leader. She works as the Director of Marketing for Tennessee Tourism and is the Chief Strategy and Brand Officer for her own firm, Bright Advisory Group. With almost 20 years of marketing experience, Nekasha has worked in a wide array of roles and industries, servicing both small and large clients. Today she specializes in digital marketing, branding and multicultural marketing. Nekasha has been honored with many national and local awards, including 3 international Cannes Lions Awards, Nashville’s 2019 Women of Influence Award, a BizWomen Economic Develop Headliner, and more. She also serves her community on boards like Women Can Be Angels, the U.S. Civil Rights Trail, and Together Digital, and she’s an advisor for the Nashville Entrepreneur Center and a Business Mentor for Pathway Women’s Business Center.  In the midst of COVID-19, Nekasha believes marketing is more important than ever, and she’s helping clients to shift their messaging to build

Nicole Wegman is the founder and CEO of Ring Concierge, a jewelry company that’s making luxury accessible to the masses. Ring Concierge is run by women, for women, and it is disrupting the traditionally male-dominated jewelry industry with its all-female team and thriving e-commerce business. In 2013, Nicole left a career in the fashion industry to start Ring Concierge, inspired by her own experience of shopping for an engagement ring and realizing the industry lacked the perspective of millennial women. Ring Concierge has amassed a large social media following, where Nicole blurs the line between retailer and influencer to provide engaging, accessible content for her customers. Since the start of COVID-19, Nicole has had to pivot her business strategies multiple times, first by finding packaging manufacturers outside of China, and most recently by shifting to fully remote work when it became unsafe to go into the company’s New York City office. Because of her innovative, e-commerce approach to jewelry retail

Gail Peace is the Founder and CEO of Ludi, Inc., a healthcare technology and physician-advocacy firm that helps hospitals manage payments to their physicians. She has more than 25 years of experience as a healthcare executive and entrepreneur, serving in leadership roles at companies including WebMD and Vanguard Health Chicago. With Ludi, Gail created DocTime Log, Ludi’s software that helps clients keep track of their complex contracts with the independently employed physicians who work for them. Gail has been honored as a Female Healthcare IT Leader to Know by Becker’s Hospital Review in 2018 and 2019, and she’s a published author, blogger and speaker.  In the midst of COVID-19, Gail wants to help all hospitals pay their physicians properly, even those that aren’t Ludi clients. She and her team developed a free version of DocTime Log to help hospitals keep track of the practitioners who may be working different hours or in different areas than normal. She’s also working to keep her employees informed about t

Christine Owenell is an executive coach, consultant and speaker who’s passionate about helping leaders cultivate presence, compassion and self-awareness. She’s the founder of Owenell Global Consultancy, where she works with CEOs, high net worth individuals, entrepreneurs and people in transition to help companies scale without losing their souls. She’s also a partner at Evolution Service Corp, a coaching organization that specializes in working with high growth startups and companies. Christine has advised and coached leaders at high-profile organizations including Slack, Vanderbilt, LinkedIn, Northwestern Mutual and more. In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, Christine is helping executives to navigate all of the unknowns by reminding them that it’s OK to not have answers and giving them space to be vulnerable and talk about their fears and questions. She’s also launched her first group coaching program, where she’s working with high level leaders to help them transform the chaos of COVID-19 into new opportun

Nina Stanley is the Chief Creative and Neuromarketing Officer at MOD, a human experience agency. She helps brands bridge their physical and virtual expressions with an innovative approach that uses applied neuroscience principles. MOD has worked with an impressive portfolio of clients, including Comcast, CVS and Whole Foods. Nina is also an advocate for women’s heart health issues and the American Heart Association, and she works alongside the Quell Foundation to eliminate societal stigmas around mental health.  MOD started in 2004 and had to survive the Great Recession, so Nina has experience with leading her team through crises. However, COVID-19 has presented new challenges for MOD, as they’ve had to adapt to completely remote work for the first time. Nina and her team have risen to the challenge by maximizing the effectiveness of digital communication and producing helpful and engaging content for both the MOD team and their clients.  In This Episode: Nina explains how her team has been proactive about en

Marcie Allen Van Mol is the President and Founder of MAC Presents, a music sponsorship and experiential agency that connects artists, brands and fans. With more than 25 years of experience in the music industry, Marcie has worked with brands including Sony, Southwest and Verizon and artists like The Rolling Stones, Chance the Rapper and Billy Joel. Marcie teaches as an adjunct professor at NYU Steinhardt and is on boards for the Country Music Association and Berklee College of Music. She’s also a partner at Anzie Blue, a luxury CBD oil company and coffee shop that she started with her husband. When COVID-19 started to keep people from going to restaurants or wanting to visit Anzie Blue, Marcie and her team had to figure out how to pivot the business, adding takeout, curbside and local delivery for coffee, food and CBD Products. Marcie also moved to online marketing, using Instagram to engage with customers and educate them about Anzie Blue’s products. Since then, the shop has rapidly adjusted to new challenge

Angela Proffitt is an entrepreneur, wedding and events expert, productivity consultant, speaker, writer and coach. She’s the founder of productivity company GSD Creative and cofounder of Collective615, the first coworking space for women in Nashville. Angela has published eight books, created many online classes and live events, and hosts the Business Unveiled podcast.  Angela is not new to disasters putting a halt on business. During the 2010 Nashville flood she learned the importance of having important documents backed up online and a team that could work virtually. This experience helped her create a new business teaching other companies how to do the same.  Today a majority of Angela’s revenue comes from live events so she had to pivot again and find a way to keep earning revenue. In This Episode: Angela shares her story of creating multiple businesses that help companies stay productive and reach their goals, and she explains how she created programs to make live events virtual and help companies take

In this new series from Her Story of Success, we’re highlighting the stories of women who are controlling the narrative around their businesses during COVID-19. Jacqueline Au is the founder and creative director of The LOFT Bridal, a Hong Kong-based boutique where brides can experience a personalized, intentional shopping experience. Jaqueline shares how coronavirus drastically impacted her business and how wakeboarding has helped her learn to ride the wave known as COVID-19. They have gotten creative to find a new way to do virtual appointments and have implemented new health and safety policies so she can continue serving brides while also protecting her employees.

Lily Hansen has built her career around her passion for conversation. As an author, writer and speaker, she has interviewed more than 1,000 people all over the world, and she’s an advocate for better conversation and deeper connection in an increasingly digital age.  After working as a freelance music journalist, Lily found herself at a crossroads in her career and decided to pursue a new creative project. She started compiling interviews and portrait photography into a book, called Word of Mouth: Nashville Conversations.  Since then, Lily has written two more books under the Word of Mouth umbrella, including one to celebrate the 50th anniversary of HCA Healthcare. She also gave a TedX Talk in December, called “Talking to Strangers is My Self-Care,” which was all about the wisdom she’s gained from her interviews. Lily is an inspiration not only because of the work she does, but also because of her ability to find success in the pursuit of her own passions and happiness. She joins Leah on Her Story of Success

Hayley Dickson has always been driven to find “success” in her career. After a decade in the entertainment business, rising from executive assistant to  SVP at Fremantle Media, the largest media production and distribution company in Europe, she realized she wasn’t fulfilled.  While exiting the entertainment arena, a conversation with her financial advisor led to an offer from his company, Northwestern Mutual. In her first year, Hayley was No. 1 in the Western Region among advisors with fewer than five years at the company, and in 2019 she was named one of the Los Angeles Business Journal’s Most Influential Wealth Managers.  During that time she also worked tirelessly with the corporate office to launch a family planning policy that allows more flexibility and better benefits for financial advisor moms. That policy she helped create, is now used nationwide.  And it has changed the face of family planning for parents at Northwestern Mutual Hayley primarily works with women, LGBTQ+ and diverse communities. She’

Cynthia Johnson, Co-Founder & CEO of Bell + Ivy wrote Platform: The Art & Science of Personal Branding for “normal people.” She is on the podcast today to share whether we are a CEO, entrepreneur, or employee why it is important for us to own our personal brand and some steps we can take audit our online brand. Cynthia shares why it is important for us to advocate for ourselves, our work, and learn how to ask for what we want.  Let us know which tip or quote is your favorite @herstorysuccess and @cynthialive  We write about all of our podcasts. Check out the full post and learn what I learned from Cynthia at https://www.herstoryofsuccess.com/podcast/episodes/cynthiajohnson Thanks so much for listening! If you like this episode, please subscribe (for free) to “Her Story of Success” rate and review wherever you listen to podcasts.

Vicki Saunders is Founder & CEO of SheEO, a radically redesigned ecosystem that supports, finances, and celebrates female innovators.  Vicki has co-founded and run ventures in Europe, Toronto and Silicon Valley and taken a company public on the Toronto Stock Exchange. She was recently named as 1 of 30  “World-Changing Women in Conscious Business” by Conscious Company Magazine, one of the 100 most influential leaders of 2015 from “EBW – Empowering A Billion Women”, and in 2001, was selected as a Global Leader for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum. In this Episode Vicki shares stories of growing up in the farm version of Disneyland, her experience living in Europe when the Berlin wall fell, importance of finding your tribe, when she learned your environment will determine who you become, and her entrepreneurial journey that led to to start SheEO.  The highlights:  Vicki explains how she “mashed together” microfinancing, crowdfunding, and other funding concepts to create SheEO (9:08) Why they give a 0% l

Jess Ekstrom , Founder & CEO of Headbands of Hope joins Leah in the Nashville studio for a fun conversation about the humble of Headbands of Hope, why she started a social enterprise instead of a nonprofit, and some of the lessons learned from her book Chasing the Bright Side.  They discuss some of the challenges Jess faced growing Headbands of Hope, how she redefines what entrepreneurship means, and how she is passionate about humanizing the hustle of success and normalizing the mess in the middle.  Jess tells the story of hearing Blake Mycoskie from Tom’s Shoes speak and how he inspired her to believe that we don't have to choose between making a living and making a difference.   She shares how taking improve classes helped her look at life in the expansiveness of possibilities instead of just making strategies and plans, and that some of the turning points in her life happened because she said yes and showed up.  We also talk through the process of writing her book Chasing the Bright Side and the humbl

Melissa N. Aldridge is the Director of Corporate Strategy and Development for  Unum Group and the new COO and CFO of Her Story of Success. These roles allow her to fulfill her twin passions of deriving actionable insights to transform businesses and positively impacting women and families.   A talent for seeing the big picture and executing on details has enabled Melissa to have unique experiences in corporate strategy, investment portfolio management, technology commercialization, operations and finance for startups, and venture and angel capital funding. She is a trusted advisor and partner of business leaders and has held leadership roles in organizations ranging from not-for-profits to Fortune 500 companies. Melissa serves as an investment committee member of the Launch Tennessee Innovation Capital Continuum Fund.  In this episode Host, Leah Hayes, introduces Melissa Aldridge as her new business partner with Her Story of Success. They discuss Melissa’s background, what led her to join Her Story of Success