Her Story Of Success

At the age of 38, Karee Hays went back to school to pursue her passion for skincare and launch a new career as an esthetician. “I was definitely the oldest one in the entire school,” she recalls, but pushing past her comfort zone proved to be worth the risk. Starting with a one-room salon and word-of-mouth recommendations from clients, her business quickly blossomed. Today, Karee Hays Esthetics has a state-of-the-art facility, a sought-after product line and a client roster that includes celebrities like supermodel Lily Aldridge, reality star Kristin Cavallari and musician Kacey Musgraves. Karee explains how a recession motivated her to make a career change, why she decided to open her own business and why she found it difficult to relinquish personal control and bring new employees into her company. She reflects on the effects her working life has had on her children and expresses gratitude for the support of her husband, “who has always been my biggest cheerleader.” As a bonus, listeners will also get Karee

As Executive Director of the Nashville Food Project, Tallu Quinn uses her passion for food as a tool for creating community and defining pathways out of poverty. Her grassroots organization recovers edible food from grocery stores and other sources and uses it to prepare more than 5,000 high-quality, made-from-scratch meals each week for people in need. In this wide-ranging conversation, Tallu shares the nitty-gritty challenges of launching a nonprofit, being a boss and simultaneously fulfilling her roles as a wife and mother. She also acknowledges that there are “many amazing ways to make a difference in the world” outside the nonprofit sector — from volunteering to donating to entrepreneurial endeavors.   Tallu tells us why she decided to return to her hometown to launch her food ministry, why working at a nonprofit isn’t always easy or glamorous and why it’s important that women take a long view of work-life balance. She also shares what she’s learned about the importance of self-care and attending to what

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have a life coach who would help illuminate your path to success and fulfillment? In this conversation with Leah and Ellen, Executive Coach Christine Owenell offers an inside look at the coaching process. Using issues from the lives of the two co-hosts as examples, she shows how small changes in perspective and routine can lead to big gains in personal happiness and career achievement.   Founder of Owenell Global Consultancy and a partner at coaching firm Evolution, Christine explains why self awareness is a crucial trait for anyone who wants to work with a coach. Then she breaks down her coaching method and explains how intentional exercises can help us let go of internal issues that are holding us back. Whatever your concern — perfectionism, self-discipline, self-doubt — the key lies in turning a negative approach into a positive one. Christine also shows how incremental changes can lead to rewarding new pathways. Want to start a daily meditation practice, for

Five years ago, Maggie Tucker was working part-time at Lululemon. Today, she’s the owner of magpies nashville, whose three popular children’s stores offer a “joyful and welcoming” environment to their clientele. In a heartfelt and emotional conversation, she reveals how she overcame roadblocks to start her dream business and why she practices gratitude every day. Maggie gets real about the obstacles she’s faced in starting and running a business — from the negative voices in her head to the strains that her long hours put on her marriage. She shares the steps she’s taken to put less pressure on herself and explains how she’s used her company’s success to give back to her community in amazing ways. “It’s been a huge challenge juggling it all and I don’t by any means do it perfectly, but that’s what grace is for,” she tells us.

Looking for a quick dose of inspiration as you start the new year? Join us for a rundown of the top 10 lessons we’ve learned in our first year of conversations with successful women. We distill the hard-won wisdom these guests have shared and reflect on what it takes to reach the top while doing what you love. If you have big dreams and goals for 2019, don’t miss this look back at 22 amazing women who’ve achieved their own version of success! We identify the themes that keep popping up in our interviews — from persevering through roadblocks to the importance of exploring and trying new things. We look at how the definition of success changes over the course of a career and the strategies women use for combining work and family. And here’s a point that will resonate with those stuck in less-than-desirable jobs: several podcast guests have pointed out that hating their jobs motivated them to make a major change. It’s never too late to find a new direction — success could be just around the corner!

How do we balance the demands of work and family? It’s a dilemma most career women face, and one that Julia Polk confronted when she had two young daughters at home. Her solution would take her on a non-linear journey to success as an investment banker and healthcare executive. “I’ve come and gone a bunch of times” from the workforce, she says. “I think my children benefited from it — I know I did.” Today Julia is chief financial officer of healthcare startup IQuity and a valued mentor to many healthcare entrepreneurs.   In this episode Julia explains why she was lucky to have female role models early in her career and what she did to stay connected during her extended breaks from the workforce. She also tells us about the value of diversity in leadership teams, the issues women face in raising capital for a business, how to overcome the imposter syndrome, why the first step for any startup is understanding its customers and why she thinks younger generations will have more opportunities for flextime work.

Maneet Chauhan left her native India to attend the Culinary Institute of America and has gone on to become a culinary ambassador for Indian food in her roles as a chef, restaurant owner, cookbook author and Food Network star. She made it to the top of the male-dominated food world as the mother of two young children, including a son who was born on the day her first restaurant opened in Nashville.   The irrepressible Maneet shares how she discovered her love of cooking as a child growing up in India, the synergy of working closely with her husband, how she managed a new restaurant while her newborn son was in neonatal intensive care, how she compartmentalizes each aspect of her life to be 100 percent present in whatever she does, and the advice she offers aspiring young chefs.

As a member of the Top 40 country music trio Stealing Angels, Caroline Hobby thought she’d landed just where she always wanted — on the top rungs of the music business. But when the trio broke up and her dream crumbled, she was forced to re-envision her life and begin a journey toward a meaningful new career.   Host of the popular celebrity podcast “Get Real!” and entertainment correspondent for CMT, Caroline tell us what she learned about the meaning of success during her two appearances on the CBS TV show “The Amazing Race.” She also shares the lucky break that landed her a job as a song plugger and brought her back to Nashville, how she copes with the hills and valleys of life, why it’s important to make your self-talk more positive and affirming, and how she’s learning to feel more comfortable during periods of rest. “Say your life is a train, you either hop off on that first breakdown and you live there — you live in that failure and you think you’re done, or you grab a lesson, you pick yourself up … a

Why would two busy young women with career, family and volunteer commitments take on the challenge of starting a podcast? Find out what launched Leah and Ellen on their journey to share the stories of high-achieving women, an endeavor that’s become all-the-more relevant in the #metoo era. This time around, our podcast hosts turn the tables and interview each other about their career paths and the personal challenges they’ve faced. For Leah, a turning point came when she found the courage to leave her small-town Tennessee home and make a life-changing new start as a flight attendant. For Ellen, landing her dream job on Wall Street didn’t bring the personal fulfillment she’d hoped for. Together, they’ve pursued a shared dream: creating a supportive community where women can connect and support one another on the road to success.

After establishing herself as a successful McDonald’s franchisee, Cordia Harrington was determined to take her career to the next level by becoming a supplier for the world’s largest restaurant chain. Her efforts were rejected 31 times before McDonald’s finally gave her the go-ahead to launch a bakery business. Today Cordia, also known as “the bun lady,” is CEO of The Bakery Cos., which sells more than $100 million of buns and other baked goods annually to McDonald’s, grocery stores and other institutional clients. Cordia relates the inspiring story of running her first McDonald’s as the single mother of three young sons. She tells us how her company strives to help its employees reach their full potential, why she tries to be transparent about the struggles she’s faced, and why helping others in the business world make connections has become the most fulfilling part of her work.  

Retta Gardner’s career proves that you don’t have to leap from company to company to work your way to the top. For more than two decades, Retta has stayed with Guaranty Trust Mortgage Co., one of the top 100 mortgage companies in the U.S., making herself visible along the way and seeking out challenging new assignments whenever she could. She’s now CEO of the billion-dollar mortgage lender, and she credits a strong work ethic and continuous learning as key factors in her rise to the top. Retta gets real about leaving a newborn baby to go back to work and shares her thoughts on the importance of taking credit for your own ideas, what she learned from her predecessor as CEO and the best way to deliver bad news.

Fashion and jewelry designer Diana Warner learned something special about success from observing Taylor Swift, who surrounds herself with fiercely loyal and protective people. Diana calls it the “Taylor Swift effect” — the desire to build a network of supporters who protect you so you can give back to the world. “I wasn’t really aware of how to say no,” she tells us, and unless you learn how to say no, “you don’t have anything left to give.” Diana shares the story behind the 2005 launch of her successful fashion and jewelry brand – a favorite of red carpet celebrities and TV shows like “Gossip Girl.” She tells us why you have to be vulnerable to be creative, what our clothes communicate to the world about who we are and why she strives to make customers feel comfortable in her stores.

At the age of 17, Jessica Harthcock suffered a catastrophic spinal cord injury during a gymnastics training session, leaving her paralyzed from the chest down. Though doctors told her she would never walk again, she learned to walk unassisted after six years of intensive therapy. That same determination led her to launch Utilize Health, a growing business that helps patients find the best treatment for neurological conditions.  Jessica tells us what it was like to be thrust into the fragmented world of recovery and rehabilitation, why her family was instrumental in helping her bounce back, how she and her husband Adam combine their roles as spouses and company executives and how she persevered in the long search for angel investors to finance her business.

Mignon Francois’s family was drowning in debt and down to their last $5 when a neighbor knocked on the door and placed an order for 600 cupcakes from her fledgling home bakery in Nashville’s Germantown neighborhood. Mignon decided to take the last few dollars she had and buy ingredients to bake more cupcakes, a decision that ultimately “got us out of debt, out of brokenness and turned us into the number one bakery in Tennessee.” Founder and CEO of The Cupcake Collection and mother of six, Mignon tells us how she followed through on her dream of starting a business, how her company has created a legacy for her children and why she wants to hold the ladder for others climbing the rungs toward success. 

Misty Mayes believes that every organization and every person is capable of positive change — an attitude that led her to launch a management consulting firm that has garnered national business awards and won acclaim for its commitment to community service. Misty formed Management Solutions in 2002 after a successful career as an industrial engineer and project manager, all while raising three sons with her husband Sam. She once turned down an opportunity to meet with President Obama so she could attend her son’s championship soccer game in Tennessee. “ I think we as women can beat ourselves up over all the things we miss, but I try to focus on the things that I was there for. Its a day-in, day-out struggle,” she says of her efforts to combine parenting with her management role.

After a decade in the music business, Marcie Allen “saw a huge void that was waiting to be filled” and launched MAC Presents, an agency that creates partnerships between leading brands and top artists like the Rolling Stones and Foo Fighters. The agency's success has made Marcie a powerful figure in the music industry, but she’s quick to reveal that her climb to the top was marked by challenges, stumbles and setbacks — as well as a personal reappraisal of what success really means. Marcie tells us how attending 16 different schools made her a stronger person, why it takes “a stomach of steel” to start a business from scratch, how she put the pieces of her life back together after a divorce and why she never schedules a meeting before 11 a.m. 

Holly Coltea moved to New York City as a young woman and achieved many of her lifelong goals — working for a Madison Avenue ad agency, earning her M.B.A and succeeding in the corporate world. But like many young women, she found that having children forced her to re-evaluate the direction of her career. “When you have kids, it is clear as day — what you need to be doing and what you don’t need to be doing,” she says. Holly chose to get off the corporate treadmill, move back to her hometown with her husband and three daughters and become a franchisee for a fitness studio, a transition that brought her both success and flexibility. Holly tell us about the importance of having a mentor, the challenges of re-entering the workforce after a break, the benefits of being a franchise owner and the opportunities that come with finding work-life balance.

Amy Tanksley grew up thinking that risk was a four-letter word and that choosing a job in corporate America was following a safe path. But after a rough and tumble experience in the volatile oil and gas industry in Houston, she set out on a quest for risk she could control, and in 2008 opened Uncle Classic Barbershop, which now has 5 locations in Nashville.   In today's episode, Amy discusses the wake-up call of almost starting her career at Enron, the challenge of finding funding for a startup, making room for both motherhood and entrepreneurship, and taking an idea from maybe to reality.

Erica Rains has made a career out of constantly finding new ways to connect with people. After nearly two decades working in public relations, advertising, radio, and TV, Erica decided to seek out a new challenge by opening a restaurant and catering business, The Chef & I, with her talented chef husband, Chris. Erica and Chris celebrated the restaurant’s new location, which offers cooking classes and a chef training program, in downtown Nashville. In today’s episode, Erica talks about the rewards of starting a business with her husband, the importance of making a human connection in our digital world, and the value of knowing when to strive for success and when to enjoy it. "Success to me is not a number, or a number of years, or a certain word. It’s just a feeling that you’ve done the best you can with what you have, and you’ve exercised all options to do good, to help others, to make your way."

Five years ago, Tonya Lewis chose to leave a safe career in school counseling to open a business in one of the most risky and challenging industries: restaurants. But after a lot of blood, sweat, and tears, Tonya’s coffee shop and café, The Post East, has blossomed into a neighborhood favorite for healthy eating, great coffee, and a community space for bringing neighbors and friends together. In this episode, Tonya talks about the challenge of walking away from a career with certainty and routine to one of the most unpredictable lines of work, learning the importance of trusting her team, and realizing the happiness and fulfillment that taking risks can bring.