Shannon Litton thought she’d spend her whole career working as an English teacher, but when she fell in love with marketing and kept moving forward with the opportunities presented to her, she eventually decided to start her own agency. Today, Shannon is president and CEO of 5by5, a marketing and digital agency which serves change makers and delivers messages with undeniable clarity, reach and results. 5by5 was named to the Inc 5000 list for 2018, 2019 and 2020, and it was named a Nashville Business Journal Best Place to Work in 2017 and 2018. 

Shannon has worked on technology, social media, branding and communications for hundreds of organizations including the Christian Leadership Alliance, Amazima, LifeWay, the United Methodist Church and more. She’s also a speaker on leadership, marketing, branding and business strategy.

In This Episode: Shannon describes the unexpected career journey that led her to create 5by5. She also shares practical examples of what it looks like to put people first, give back as a business leader, and manage your schedule as a busy working mom.

Episode Highlights:

• Taking the next best step (2:47)
• Managing your schedule as a working mom (11:28)
• Drawing inspiration from other women (22:22)
• The importance of off-boarding employees (27:04)
• Giving back as a business owner (32:26)

Sponsor: This podcast is sponsored in part by Piccolo Marketing, providing outsourced marketing professionals for business owners.  Piccolo Marketing is our  go-to resource when it comes to comprehensive marketing strategies and execution. Learn more here.

Bailey Spaulding first fell in love with homebrewing while attending Vanderbilt Law School, and she decided to start working toward opening her own brewery after graduation. Along with co-founder Robyn Virball, who Bailey met while studying abroad in Scotland, she started Jackalope Brewing Company in 2011. Since then, the company has grown tremendously, opening a second taproom and brewery in Nashville, becoming the first Nashville craft brewery to can its own beer, and distributing to New York, Vermont and Arkansas. Jackalope is also committed to sustainability, with innovative practices like the CO2 recapture system they use to make their beer while minimizing waste. 

In This Episode: Bailey shares her story of deciding to pursue her passion and building a successful, woman-owned brewing company. She also opens up about the behind-the-scenes realities of running a business, from finding the right partner to becoming a working mom to pivoting during COVID-19.

Episode Highlights:

• Finding the right business partner (4:36)
• Embracing new opportunities during COVID-19 (8:54)
• Starting a family while running a business (22:08)
• How to deal with guilt as a working mom (25:35)
• The importance of strong peer mentors when starting a business (27:36)

Sponsor: This podcast is sponsored in part by Piccolo Marketing, providing outsourced marketing professionals for business owners.  Piccolo Marketing is our  go-to resource when it comes to comprehensive marketing strategies and execution. Learn more here.

When Laura Hutfless was struggling to find her purpose as an employee, she decided to create new purpose for herself by starting a company dedicated to giving back. Laura co-founded FlyteVu, a Nashville-based, full-service entertainment marketing agency that uses the power of pop culture to connect brands with customers. Since starting the company in 2015, Laura has helped grow FlyteVu’s client roster to include companies like American Red Cross, Barefoot Wine, Cracker Barrel, Drybar and Spotify. They also created the first ever Super Bowl Ad with an all-woman team for Bumble with Serena Williams. FlyteVu was named to the Inc 5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies in America list, and their campaigns have even won a GRAMMY and an Emmy. 

In spite of all of these accomplishments, Laura is most proud of the way FlyteVu has been able to help others. The company has donated more than $750,000 to a wide range of nonprofit organizations in the past five years. Laura is especially passionate about mental health, substance abuse disorder, addiction and trauma, and she serves on the board of The Onsite Foundation, where she helped develop a trauma-informed therapeutic program called “Triumph Over Tragedy,” which provides tools, support and community for survivors of mass shootings. 

In This Episode: Laura discusses some of the most important lessons she’s learned about leadership in the past five years of building her company, from managing different communication styles to dealing with self-doubt. She also shares about her passion for giving back to the community and investing in others, and she explains how a painful loss has inspired her to develop a new resource for mass shooting survivors. 

Episode Highlights:

• How to do more of what you love as an entrepreneur (2:27)
• Laura’s journey of deciding to hire a leadership coach (10:19)
• Finding new ways to innovate (12:58)
• The importance of maintaining a sense of purpose (15:30)
• Dealing with failure and self-doubt (24:55)
• Working with others who have different communication styles (33:53)
• Finding the gift after loss (46:11)

Sponsor: This podcast is sponsored in part by Piccolo Marketing, providing outsourced marketing professionals for business owners.  Piccolo Marketing is our  go-to resource when it comes to comprehensive marketing strategies and execution. Learn more here.

Dr. Kimberly Clay started Play Like a Girl for a project in her PhD program, but when she saw volunteers coming together to carry on and grow its mission, she realized the organization could become something bigger. Play Like a Girl takes the transferable skills learned from playing sports and uses them to propel young women into STEM careers. To date, Dr. Kim and her team of volunteers have impacted more than 25,000 girls and young women around the world. 

Even outside of her role as CEO of a non-profit, Dr. Kim is dedicated to serving the Nashville community. She’s a member of boards for the YWCA Nashville, the Junior League of Nashville, Tennessee Girls Collaborative and Ellevate Network’s Nashville Chapter. Dr. Kim has been honored for her work with numerous awards, including the 40 under 40 from Xavier University, the Daily Point of Light Award, Toyota’s Everyday Hero Award, and more. 

In This Episode: Dr. Kim tells her inspiring story of starting and growing Play Like a Girl, including some of the biggest success stories she’s seen through her work. She also discusses the importance of partnering with men who want to support other women, and she explains how mentorship can help women of all ages become more confident and successful.

Episode Highlights:

• Dr. Kim’s story of starting Play Like a Girl (11:50)
• Play Like a Girl Success stories around helping girls build confidence (22:25)
• Engaging men in the work of empowering women (29:15)
• Using your success to uplift others (33:28)
• Lessons on failure, confidence and mentorship (37:50)

Sponsor: This podcast is sponsored in part by Piccolo Marketing, providing outsourced marketing professionals for business owners.  Piccolo Marketing is our go-to resource when it comes to comprehensive marketing strategies and execution. Learn more here.

When Lisa Powers Struble first started pursuing a career in fashion, she made up for her lack of industry connections with a willingness to work hard and take on any role. Eventually, she worked her way up to become a vice president at Abercrombie & Fitch and then UnderArmour. While taking a career break to care for her aging parents, Lisa discovered BANDED, a fashion accessory company that gives back by providing meals to children in need for every product sold. Lisa joined the company as executive vice president and then purchased it in 2018, becoming owner and CEO.

An industry expert with more than 25 years of experience, Lisa has been featured in Sourcing Journal, Nashville Fashion Week, Textile Excellence and more. To date, BANDED has donated more than 13 million meals to undernourished children, and they also partner with U.S. based companies that help vulnerable women learn to thrive. 

In This Episode: Lisa shares her inspiring story of building a fashion career from scratch and working her way up to vice president roles at two major companies. She also talks about the lessons she’s learned since becoming a business owner.

Episode Highlights:

• Lisa’s story of breaking into the fashion industry without many connections (5:00)
• Building a tribe as a young working mom (9:04)
• How to know when it’s time for a new season (15:30)
• Transitioning from corporate executive to small business owner (23:13)
• Pivoting during COVID-19 (39:32)
• Entrepreneurship lessons Lisa has learned in her time at BANDED (46:29)

Sponsor: This podcast is sponsored in part by Piccolo Marketing, providing outsourced marketing professionals for business owners.  Piccolo Marketing is our go-to resource when it comes to comprehensive marketing strategies and execution. Learn more here.

Overwhelmed by the stress of running a business on Etsy while raising a new baby, Emily Ley sat down to create a planner that would make her life easier. What started as a binder, paper and Sharpie evolved into Simplified, a multi-million dollar brand of planners and home organizational tools for busy women, which also includes product lines in Office Depot, Staples, Walmart and Target. Along with running her company, Emily is the author of four books, including Growing Boldly, her latest release that shares five key practices for building a life you love.

Emily has been featured in Forbes, Family Circle, Better Homes and Gardens, Glamour and Good Housekeeping. She’s been honored with awards including Entrepreneur of the Year, Female Owned Business of the Year and Small Business of the Year from Studer Community Institute, and her products have won Best New Product at the National Stationery Show. 

In This Episode:

Emily shares her inspiring story of growing her business from a side hustle into a multi-million dollar brand. She also unpacks the five practices she’s used to build a life she loves and explains how leaning into different areas of your life at different times can help you maintain balance.

Episode Highlights:

• Emily’s story of starting her side hustle on Etsy while working full time (1:44)
• Growing without burning out (15:00)
• BUILD the life you love (18:30)
• Finding balance as a busy entrepreneur (24:50)
• How to imagine your dream life (32:55)
• Practical advice for working moms (36:23)

Sponsor: This podcast is sponsored in part by Piccolo Marketing, providing outsourced marketing professionals for business owners.  Piccolo Marketing is our go-to resource when it comes to comprehensive marketing strategies and execution. Learn more here.

While taking time off from college to receive treatment for Lyme disease, Alexis Isham was also forming deep friendships with people experiencing homelessness in Nashville and looking for new ways to help them. Alexis and her co-founder turned that passion into Resera (formerly known as Unlocked), an ethical jewelry brand that employs women survivors overcoming homelessness, domestic violence, incarceration and forced relocation. Beyond just offering them jobs as makers, Resera also helps women access housing, therapy, career counseling and other services that will help them build successful futures.

Before starting Resera, Alexis attended Vanderbilt University, where she received a bachelor’s in human and organizational development and a minor in economics. She also spent a gap year after high school working at five different non-profit internships in five different countries, learning more about poverty through the eyes of those experiencing it. Alexis is focused on using her leadership to increase opportunity and elevate the voices of marginalized women, creating pathways for sustainable change. 

In This Episode:

Alexis shares the incredible story behind Resera’s creation, from a difficult diagnosis, to a conversation with a friend-turned-cofounder, to the company’s unexpected first investor. She also offers advice to other young entrepreneurs and talks about some of the inspiring transformations she’s seen in the lives of her employees.

Episode Highlights:

• Alexis’ inspiration for Resera and the story of how it was started (4:26)
• Building a jewelry company from the ground up (11:58)
• Partnering with local non-profits (19:09)
• The importance of mentorship and other advice for new entrepreneurs (31:17) 

Sponsor: This podcast is sponsored in part by Piccolo Marketing, providing outsourced marketing professionals for business owners.  Piccolo Marketing is our go-to resource when it comes to comprehensive marketing strategies and execution. Learn more here.

Activating the Four Types of Mentorship

When Her Story of Success CEO Leah Glover Hayes was looking for mentorship to help her grow in her career and eventually start a company, she quickly realized that not all mentorship is created equally. And while experts tend to agree that mentorship makes a major difference in determining someone’s career success and fulfillment, few people are sharing specifics about how to find the right mentor and build a mutually beneficial relationship. Leah believes that there are four types of mentorship: Passive mentorship, peer mentorship, traditional mentorship and mentoring others. No matter where you are in your career journey, you can benefit from implementing one or all of these in your life. 

In part three of this four-part series, Leah is joined by Anna-Vija McClain to discuss the importance of peer mentorship.

Her Story of Success…

Anna-Vija McClain didn’t intend to start Piccolo Marketing, but when she needed a source of income after leaving the hospitality industry, she realized that many business owners could benefit from her digital marketing skills. Anna-Vija grew that early work into a successful company that helps small business owners create scalable businesses with great culture. Today, Piccolo Marketing includes Piccolo University, a series of online courses that teach business owners how to market, and Piccolo Marketing Mentor, a service that provides outsourced marketing professionals to business owners. 

Outside of Piccolo, Anna-Vija sits on boards for the Tennessee Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence and Nashville Emerging Leaders. She’s also a mentor at SCORE Nashville and a founding mentor for Vanderbilt Women in Business. In 2019, Anna-Vija was a finalist for the Nashville Emerging Leader Chamber of Commerce Award.

In This Episode:

Leah and Anna-Vija discuss the ways that they’ve used peer mentorship to help expand their networks and learn from other business owners. Anna-Vija also explains how you can develop an abundance mindset and view your relationships through the lens of “cooper-tition.”

Episode Highlights:

• Anna-Vija’s story of starting Piccolo Marketing
• Using referrals to focus on the work you do best
• The importance of developing an abundance mindset around peer mentorship
• How to get the most out of your mentoring relationships

Sponsor: This podcast is sponsored in part by Piccolo Marketing, providing outsourced marketing professionals for business owners.  Piccolo Marketing is our go-to resource when it comes to comprehensive marketing strategies and execution. Learn more here.

In honor of International Women’s Day 2021, Her Story of Success was honored to join Collective615 for ChallengeHER, an event celebrating women who are affecting change in Nashville and beyond. As part of the event, Her Story of Success CEO Leah Glover Hayes hosted a panel discussion with three incredible women who are affecting change in Nashville and beyond — Mignon Francois, Domonique Townsend and Alexis Isham.

They discuss some of the challenges they’ve faced as women business owners, especially during the difficulties of COVID-19. The women also share some amazing lessons about the things that have kept them going in times of hardship, and they talk about some of the ways we can all help each other succeed. 

Their Stories of Success

Mignon Francois was living on her last $5 when a neighbor asked to order cupcakes from her home bakery. Mignon took that $5 and continued to multiply, eventually building The Cupcake Collection into a multi-million dollar business. Mignon’s bakery helped revitalize her Nashville neighborhood, and she’s been honored as a Woman of Legend and Merit by Tennessee State University and an Emerging Business Leader of the Year. The Cupcake Collection, which now includes locations in Nashville and New Orleans, also won Black Enterprise Magazine’s Family Business of the Year Award.  Listen to Mignon’s full episode here.

Domonique Townsend spent years being undervalued by the companies she worked for, and when she decided to take the leap to start her own business, she knew she was ready to reach a higher potential. Domonique is the founder of We Optimize Work, a company that creates strategies and systems to help working moms and mom CEOs. As an operations coach and workflow expert with more than 10 years of engineering experience, Domonique is able to help moms manage their work and raise a family without compromising their sanity or goals. Along with her years of industrial engineering experience, Domonique has trained or coached more than 3,100 people, and she’s a Lean Six Sigma Master Black Belt. 

Alexis Cook Isham had to take a break from college after being diagnosed with Lymes Disease, and during her time off, she built friendships with people experiencing homelessness in Nashville. Alexis and her friend Corbin decided to build a business that would help people overcoming homelessness and other challenging circumstances. The result was Unlocked (recently rebranded under the name Resera), an ethical jewelry brand that employs and empowers women survivors overcoming homelessness, domestic violence, incarceration and forced relocation. Alexis is an Ingram Scholar alumna who graduated from Vanderbilt University in 2018, and she’s passionate about using her leadership to increase opportunity and elevate the voices of marginalized women.

Sponsors: The ChallengeHER event was sponsored by HeyHey Creative, White Door Events, nFocus, Kathy Thomas Photography, OneHope, Walker Brothers, Johnson Squared, Copperheart Creative, WesterHouse Weddings, Nashville Audio Visual, Our DJ Rocks, Suzie Marketing and Bibs Balloons

When Nancy McSharry Jensen and Sarah Duenwald were preparing to re-enter the workforce after taking career breaks, they each realized that women face significant challenges when trying to find a new job after a break. To help with this, Nancy and Sarah co-founded The Swing Shift, a company dedicated to lifting barriers that impede women from finding meaningful work. The Swing Shift provides workshops, coaching, accountability, educational resources and other tools to help women with the job search. Most recently, the two women also co-authored a new book, Back to Business: Finding Your Confidence, Embracing Your Skills, and Landing Your Dream Job After a Career Pause. 

Before becoming co-founder and CEO of The Swing Shift, Nancy spent her career helping businesses expand, working with the International Data Corporation to open new businesses and launching products like SharePoint at Microsoft. She also worked as an account director at Sterling Communications. Nancy has been featured in Forbes, The Huffington Post, at Seattle’s F-Bomb Breakfast Club and at the Female Founders Alliance Champion Awards. 

Sarah, who’s now co-founder and head of operations, programming and partner relationships at The Swing Shift, has extensive experience working with growth operations in the technology consulting industry. She managed teams at ADP and for a gaming technology consulting company. Sarah’s work has been honored with awards including multiple Presidents’ Clubs. 

In This Episode: Nancy and Sarah explain why it’s so important for companies to help women transition more effectively when re-entering the workforce, especially in the midst of COVID-19. They also offer practical advice to women who are looking to find a new job after a career break or to pivot into a new industry.

Episode Highlights:

• How The Swing Shift is equipping women to navigate career transitions (02:07)
• The importance of a personal brand (13:37)
• Nancy and Sarah’s story of creating The Swing Shift (25:53)
• How COVID-19 is affecting working moms (30:22)
• Important steps for preparing to reenter the workforce (37:44)

Sponsor: This podcast is sponsored in part by Piccolo Marketing, providing outsourced marketing professionals for business owners.  Piccolo Marketing is our go-to resource when it comes to comprehensive marketing strategies and execution. Learn more here.