Just Make It Pretty

The Story and Mission Behind Origin with Abbie Mirata, Brook Jennings & Abby Cornelius

What happens when being the person who can handle everything becomes the reason everyone expects you to?

There is a particular kind of pressure that comes with being a highly capable woman. When you're good at your job, people trust you with more. When you're a strong leader, people depend on you. And somewhere along the way, being capable can start to feel like being responsible for everything.

In this episode of Just Make It Pretty, Sarah Haynes sits down with Abbie Mirata, Brook Jennings, and Abby Cornelius for an honest conversation about ambition, leadership, burnout, hustle culture, and the expectations women often place on themselves.

They explore why being busy has become so closely tied to success, how our identities can get wrapped up in productivity, and why the ability to do more doesn't always mean we should.

From giving yourself permission to have hobbies and recognizing the different seasons of life to supporting other women, creating space to slow down, and redefining what success actually looks like, this conversation challenges the idea that ambition has to come at the expense of your health, relationships, or happiness.

In This Episode:

• How being highly capable can turn into feeling responsible for everything

• Why ambitious women often struggle to recognize when they're carrying too much

• The difference between healthy ambition and constantly operating in survival mode

• Why being busy and productive have become so closely tied to our identity

• How the definition of success can change throughout different seasons of life

• Why hobbies, rest, and time away from work don't need to be “productive” to have value

• How women can support one another without treating success like a limited resource

• Why technology and AI saving us time doesn't always make us feel less busy

• The role boundaries, self-awareness, and intentional choices play in preventing burnout

• How practices like breathwork can help ambitious people slow down and reconnect with themselves

  
  

The Big Takeaway

Being capable doesn't mean you have to carry everything.

You can be ambitious, successful, and deeply committed to your work without making exhaustion the proof that you're doing enough.

Sometimes growth means taking on more.

And sometimes it means recognizing what you no longer need to carry, giving yourself permission to choose differently, and creating a version of success that leaves room for the rest of your life too.

About the Guests

Abbie Mirata is Vice President of Talent Management & Development at Sekisui House, with a focus on people, leadership, training, and building strong company cultures.

Brook Jennings is the Founder of Elevate, Actually, where she works with homebuilding teams on sales development, leadership, mindset, and performance.

Abby Cornelius is a Leadership Advisor with Elevate, Actually. After more than 20 years in homebuilding and executive leadership, she now focuses on developing stronger leaders and helping people learn to lead more while carrying less.

Connect with Abbie Mirata

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abbiemirata/

Connect with Brook Jennings

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brookljennings/

Elevate, Actually: https://elevateactually.com/

Connect with Abby Cornelius

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abbycornelius/

Elevate, Actually: https://elevateactually.com/

What if homebuyers could explore, customize, and experience their future home before it was ever built?

For years, homebuilders have relied on renderings, floor plans, and virtual tours to help buyers visualize their homes. But advances in AI and 3D technology are creating entirely new possibilities for how buyers discover, experience, and personalize a home online.

In this episode of Just Make It Pretty, Sarah Haynes sits down with Caleb Barclay, Co-Founder and CEO of Arcway, to explore how technology is changing the homebuying experience and what it means for the future of homebuilder marketing and sales.

They discuss the evolution of architectural visualization, how AI is making immersive digital experiences more accessible, and why the next generation of homebuying technology could do much more than simply help buyers see a home.

From interactive floor plans and real-time personalization to understanding buyer preferences before they ever speak with a salesperson, this conversation explores how builders can create more engaging, informative, and connected buying experiences.

• Why traditional renderings and virtual tours may no longer be enough
• How AI is transforming architectural visualization and 3D technology
• What interactive home experiences could mean for buyer confidence and decision-making
• How buyers may be able to explore layouts, finishes, and structural options before construction
• The opportunity to better understand buyer preferences through digital experiences
• How immersive technology could change the role of model homes and sales appointments
• Why integrating new technology with existing CRM and ERP systems matters
• What builders should consider before investing in new visualization tools
• Where the homebuying experience could be headed over the next five years

The future of homebuying isn't just about showing buyers what a home looks like. It's about helping them experience what it could become.

As technology evolves, builders have an opportunity to make the buying process more interactive, personalized, and intuitive while giving their marketing and sales teams better tools to support buyers throughout their journey.

Caleb Barclay is the Co-Founder and CEO of Arcway, a company exploring new possibilities for architectural visualization and interactive homebuying experiences through technology and AI.

Connect with Caleb:
Caleb Barclay on LinkedIn
Explore Arcway

Negotiation has developed a bad reputation in new homesales. For some salespeople, it feels uncomfortable, adversarial, or synonymous with discounting. Roland Nairnsey argues that the opposite can be true.

In this episode, Sarah sits down with Roland to rethinknegotiation as part of a broader pricing and sales strategy. They explore why builders need to understand their market before deciding whether to negotiate, how different buyers respond to incentives and pricing conversations, and why asuccessful negotiation should leave both the buyer and builder feeling good about the deal.

Roland also shares lessons drawn from decades in new homesales and the ideas behind his book on negotiation, including why some of the industry's "old school" sales skills may be more relevant today than ever.

Roland's website: https://www.newhomesalesplus.com/
Purchase Mastery of Negotiation: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GFSK3Z58?ref_=cm_sw_r_ffobk_cp_ud_dp_RA52592JMZ0X0KRSF7YZ&bestFormat=true

"We need more leads." "Our marketing isn't working." "The leads are bad." "Nobody uses our CRM."

Sound familiar?

Homebuilders run into these challenges all the time, but what if the problem you're trying to solve isn't actually the problem?

In this episode of Just Make It Pretty, Sarah Haynes and Shari Morton, partners at Shared Drive, take six common challenges homebuilders face and approach each one from two completely different perspectives.

Sarah looks at problems through marketing strategy, branding, messaging, buyer psychology, and customer experience. Shari looks through the lens of CRM, online sales, data, technology, processes, and operations.

They're answering one question: Where would you look first?

Neither gets to hear the other's answer before sharing her own.

From underperforming community launches and questionable lead quality to CRM adoption and the pressure to sell more homes in 90 days, Sarah and Shari explore why the most obvious solution isn't always the right one.

And sometimes, the most valuable thing you can do is bring someone into the conversation who sees the problem completely differently.

Shari Morton | Chief Growth Officer, Shared Drive

Shared Drive: https://shareddrive.com/

What actually makes you different, and why does knowingthe answer matter?
In this episode, Sarah sits down with Mary Beth Berry to explore differentiation from several angles: how salespeople stand out when products and services look similar, how companies uncover what truly sets them apart,and how knowing your own strengths can shape the direction of your career.

Mary Beth also shares how her recent move from trainingsales teams to selling the programs she once taught has changed the way she thinks about sales conversations, organizational challenges, and what it really takes for people and companies to change.

Connect with MaryBeth:

 https://www.linkedin.com/in/marybethberry/https://jeffshore.com/

Register for the Womens Circle: https://jeffshore.com/WLC

Chris Hartley has spent years bringing Life Lessons withDaddy to life.

On the surface, Fostering Hope is a children's book about kindness, empathy and helping children and families experiencing foster care.

But underneath it is a much more personal story aboutfatherhood, legacy, intentionality and the responsibility we have to teach children how to see and care about people whose lives may look very different from their own.

Rather than simply talking about what's in the book, thisconversation explores why Chris needed to create it in the first place, what the process demanded of him, and what he hopes his daughters and other children carry with them long after they've outgrown the book.

Pre-Order List: https://lifelessonswithdaddy.com/

Being great at the work does notautomatically make someone great at leading it.
In this episode, Sarah sits down with Abby Cornelius, leadership trainer with Elevate Actually, to talk about the shift from high-performing individual contributor to effective leader.

After more than 20 years in homebuilding, moving from internto executive leadership, Abby saw the same pattern over and over: talented people being promoted because they were excellent at their jobs, then expected to lead without ever being taught how.

Together, Sarah and Abby unpack what changes when your role shifts from doing the work yourself to leading people, teams, and the business.

They explore the habits that keep leaders stuck in the weeds, the difference between helping and rescuing, how to create accountability without carrying everything yourself, and the leadership skills organizations often assume people already know.

Connect with Abby:

 https://www.linkedin.com/in/abbycornelius/

https://elevateactually.com/

Sales teams spend a lot of time learning how to sell better. Conferences, workshops, scripts, objection handling, discovery frameworks, follow-up strategies...the training is there.

So why does so little of it actually stick?

In this episode of Just Make It Pretty, Sarah sits down with Malcolm Walker-Hendricks of SalesAsk to talk about what actually helps salespeople improve and where traditional sales training may be falling short.

They dig into the difference between knowing what to do and actually changing behavior, why experienced salespeople often need awareness more than more information, and how better coaching can help teams improve the moments inside a sales conversation that ultimately drive results.

They also explore why sales coaching so often turns into reviewing numbers, how managers can identify whether someone has a skill, practice, or accountability problem, and where AI can provide better visibility and feedback without turning salespeople into robots.

If you lead, coach, or work on a sales team, this conversation will challenge you to think differently about how salespeople actually get better.

In this episode:

• Why traditional sales training often fails to create lasting behavior change

• The difference between training, practice, coaching, and accountability

• What sales managers should pay attention to beyond conversion rates

• Why someone can have 15 years of sales experience without actually getting 15 years better

• How feedback closer to the sales conversation can improve performance

• Where AI fits into sales coaching without replacing the human element

• What salespeople can do over the next 90 days to meaningfully improve

Connect with Malcolm Walker-Hendricks:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/malcolmwh/
SalesAsk: https://www.salesask.com/
Email: [email protected]

Creating More Women Leaders: Curiosity, Advocacy, and Knowing When to Step Up

What does it actually take to create more women leaders?

In this episode, I’m joined by Erin Yarbrough, Director of Marketing at Ideal Homes, to talk about leadership from a different angle. Instead of only asking how women can become leaders, we talk about what happens once you’re in a position to help someone else get there.

Erin shares how curiosity helped her transition from higher education into homebuilding, build relationships quickly, and grow into leadership. We also dig into the difference between mentorship and true advocacy, why being the person who is always “helpful” can sometimes become a career trap, and how leaders can use their influence to create opportunities for people who may not otherwise get invited into the room.

We also talk about professional reputation, boundaries, failure, work-life balance, and the responsibility leaders have to model the kind of culture they say they want to create.

This conversation is really about becoming more intentional, both with the opportunities you pursue for yourself and the opportunities you create for other people.

Connect with Erin:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erin-yarbrough/
Email: [email protected]

In this episode of Just Make It Pretty, Sarah sits down with Cory Charles, author of HEROIC’ish and founder of SuperHERO Mindset, for a conversation about the idea underneath his new book: identity.

Rather than simply walking through the book, Sarah and Cory dig into the harder questions around how our identities are formed, what happens when we outgrow them, and why the version of ourselves that helped make us successful can sometimes become the very thing holding us back.

They explore the difference between a skill gap and an identity problem, whether confidence comes before or after action, what happens when other people are still attached to an old version of you, and how you begin becoming someone new before you have the evidence to prove you can.

In This Episode

• Where our identities actually come from
• Why you can’t always “out-skill” the way you see yourself
• How successful people can still struggle with identity
• Why success can sometimes make it harder to change
• The difference between self-awareness and using “this is just who I am” as an excuse
• What happens when you outgrow an identity that once served you
• Why your internal identity can lag behind your external success
• Whether confidence creates action or action creates confidence
• How the people around us reinforce who we believe we are
• Practical ways to start changing an identity you’ve outgrown

About The Guest

Cory Charles is the founder of SuperHERO Mindset and author of HEROIC’ish. His work challenges people to look beyond skills and tactics and examine the beliefs, identity, and mindset underneath how they show up in their careers, leadership, relationships, and lives.

In HEROIC’ish, Cory explores what it means to own your identity and become the hero of your own story, even before you feel completely ready.

Connect With Cory & Preorder The Book

Connect with Cory Charles on LinkedIn

Pre-order HEROIC’ish