Fridays with Flea Style

Depressed at her day job in the insurance industry, Shelly Kim searched for inspiration to raise her spirits. Uplifting phrases and quotes online helped her feel better, so she started writing them down — and eventually teaching herself calligraphy to make them pretty and post around her desk. Today Shelly is happily paving her own career path as a professional brush lettering artist with a robust product line and frequent workshops across the United States. We sit down with the Southern California native to learn about her rocky road to entrepreunership and how she’s building a successful business for herself in a crowded creative space.

Kate Levering was born an entertainer and starring on Broadway before she could legally drink. From her lead role in 42nd Street (which she landed a Tony nomination for!) to playing sassy attorney Kim Kaswell on the long-running Lifetime TV show Drop Dead Diva, she’s stepped into the shoes of several diverse characters while building a successful career for herself. Today the 39-year old is a mother of three young boys and figuring out her next role in life after taking a pause from her gypsy lifestyle as an entertainer to focus on family. Tune into this honest conversation about failure, fear and taking time to reflect on your next act.

Growing up in Little Rock, Arkansas Charlotte Jones-Anderson never dreamt of being an NFL exec. But when her father bought the Dallas Cowboys after she graduated college, her career path changed forever. She left her post in politics in Washington D.C. to help turn the football team around with all of the stakes against her. From finding ways to cut costs to developing charitable opportunities and growing the company’s fashion footprint she has tackled tons of aspects of the business to create the cult-favorite lifestyle brand it is today. We sit down with this inspiring businesswoman to learn about her early days building the football empire and some of the fumbles and big wins along the way.

Maryam Montague believes success is a game of perseverance, solid time management skills and manifesting your destiny. During this tip-filled podcast, the American entrepreneur talks about her life in Marrakech and how she’s managed to build a career off of heart and hard work. From building a boutique hotel from scratch to penning a book and fighting for human rights, do not miss this episode that inspires, empowers, and proves that you can do whatever you put your mind to — even from the far corners of the world.

We chat with the YouTube star, author, designer and self proclaimed “creative weirdo” to learn how she’s built a business and brand by following her passion for crafting and designing pretty things. From managing tips and small business pitfalls to creating content that monetizes big time, we talk candidly with the former actress about everything it takes today to make it as a small biz operator in the creative space.

Multiple revenue streams is the name of the small business game according to Austin-based interior designer, realtor and hotelier Allison Crawford. We sit down with this busy girlboss to talk about how she balances interior design clients and a booming high-design vacation rental business. From her early career days selling copy machines on Wall Street to living out her daydream decorating beautiful spaces today, don’t miss this candid episode that is heavy on tips, advice and humor!

Emily Ray-Porter and Zac Porter are realtors by trade. While working a commercial real estate deal out of town, Zac stumbled upon Royal Blue Grocery and was hooked. With a lot of gumption and hard work, he brought the concept to his Dallas hood without any experience in the grocery business along with his wife and a third partner. We sit down with the Porters to discuss their journey into the food and beverage world while keeping up their real estate day jobs. Their story is a modern day career tale that will inspire you to fight for your daydream.

Brittany Barnett’s name has recently been in lights thanks to Hollywood fans like Kim Kardashian and Diddy. But the attorney known for recently freeing notable women in prison for unnecessary life sentences still sees herself as a small town East Texas girl. Do not miss this podcast that follows Brittany’s life story that starts with a normal childhood until her mom ends up in prison. That pivotal life moment charts the course for Brittany’s incredible and inspiring career path that spans from big wig corporate gigs to her life’s passion fighting for human rights.

In between college courses and exams, Jonathan Meadows was a barista or sitting in his local coffee shop studying. He discovered a deep love for coffee culture by his late teens and at 19 decided he wanted to work in the industry full time instead of sitting in school lecturers. His parents weren’t thrilled, but he knew he was serious about his life’s next steps and dove in — deep. Today at 30-years old Jonathan is the CEO of Cultivar Coffee, a Dallas-based wholesale and coffee shop concept with 22 employees. We sit down with the business owner to talk about his early days living off ramen noodles and slinging beans at local flea markets to running a budding business today with three locations, 50 wholesale accounts and lots on the horizon.

A trip to Morocco changed Kale and Aubrey Butcher’s life forever. What was supposed to be a romantic getaway turned into an endless hunt for the perfect cement tile for their bathroom remodel. After leaving the country empty handed the couple worked with their guide from home to create the product they were looking for. That product turned into a company as the couple sold extra stock here and there and noticed a need for transitional, affordable encaustic tile. Today Kale runs the business full time while Aubrey consults on tile colors and design while operating an interior design firm. Together the couple discuss starting a business from scratch with zero knowledge about the product and industry. If you dream of starting your own business but don’t know where to begin, this episode is for you!