Dana James Mwangi is a creative soul, who shares her amazing journey moving from corporate America to stepping out on faith to pursue her dreams.  

Dana founded Cheers Creative in 2012.

Her experience designing marketing materials for financial institutions including SunTrust and Wells Fargo, and packaging for home storage items sold in Walmart and Target has shaped her understanding of brand consistency and management.

Her company Cheers Creative helps industry/thought leaders, creative professionals, conferences & seminars, and arts/entertainment platforms get the respect they deserve through stunning brand & website design.

A seasoned business owner, Richard Gadomski has built a legacy with PSI a engineering, fabricating, construction management, and general contracting group that established a worldwide reputation in the processing of grains, oilseeds, and sugars into higher value added products such as corn starches, corn sweeteners, edible oils, cane and beet sugars, ethanol, and biodiesel.

The companies executed a large variety of projects for the brewing, food, chemical and package handling industries.  New product introductions included high fructose corn syrup, fuel ethanol, Michelob Classic, Splenda, White Mountain Cooler, and Zima.  In 1998, sold the company to Lurgi, the second largest General Contractor in Europe, retiring in 2001 after doing leadership transition and having company annual sales in excess of $100 Million.

Brandy gives great insight on how to continue to build upon a family legacy. She is a 2nd generation business owner taking over the business as her father retired. 

She explains the importance of working from the ground up in the organization to learn the ins and out of the business.

Plus, Brandy discuss the intial challenges of being a woman in the contruction industry. She explains how she overcame those hurdles and now is a respected leader of her organization.  

We discuss the importance of networking and attending industry events to stay abreast of the latest trends.

Kerry Thomas of Superior Custome Street Rods shares his experience in the automotive industry. 

He has been in the automotive industry for over 35 years starting with being known as the neighborhood bicycle customizer. Kerry spent 20 years employed as a certified automotive technician for a locally owned car dealership. During his tenure as an automotive technician, Kerry received multiple certifications, often grabbing some in which he was the only recipient within a 120 mile radius.

In 1996, Kerry decided to take a leap of faith and follow his dream of owning his own business, Superior Custom Street Rods, Inc. with the primary focus of Dream it, Build it, Drive it.  Making this dream a reality did not come without challenges. However, Kerry strongly believes in Romans 8: 28 to much is given, much is required. Kerry believes in hard work to produce a superior product.

Dee shares an amazing story of finding opportunities from starting in the credit card processing business to now starting a logistics transportation business. Plus, he gives great insight from lessons he has learned to climbing Mount Kilimanjaro.

In Ep 15, Marcus Brown of Complete Computer Services shares his 20 plus years of experience says he is in the business of serving customers using technology. He gives great insight through out this interview that shows why he has been able to sustain his business. 

Steve is a energetic business coach. I had the pleasure of being a student of his through the Emerging Leaders program.

During, this interview he explains his entrepreneurial pursuit was ignited when a work situation caused him to question if he would continue to allow someone else to control his time.

In the beginning of his entrepreneurial journey, Steve discusses the struggle  to acquire and maintain customers.

Also, how the economic downturn in 2009 caused him to lose clients and how he maintained the first year in business.

Mitchell shares an inspiring story about overcoming his fear to start Party Palace Skating. 

He explains how he initially felt the idea was to big for him to accomplish therefore he procrastinated for years before moving forward with this idea.

Mitchell is a man of faith and said God kept pressing on him to start this business therefore he stepped out on faith.

As he started on this journey, he had identified a problem which was four thousand kids in the Marion area had to go to Memphis for fun activities. 

Problems generate opportunities. 

Meghan saw a need to be different in the roofing business, so she went for it by switching from medical sales to roofing.

During this interview, she shares how she started the business while still working and without any debt to better position the company for growth. 

In the beginning of her business, she shares the hustle of starting without a ladder and going door to door looking for opportunities to get experience.

Meghan discuss how hard it was to get started and break into the industry to compete for larger jobs.

Also, she shares a challenge of shifting from being a friend to growing into her role as the leader. She learned you cannot make everyone happy but to focus on what is best for the company. 

Meghan believes handwork, persistence, keeping at it and a never give up attitude will lead to success.

I'm confident with Meghan's tenacity and drive, Medford Roofing will become a major roofing provider in the mid-south and beyond. 

The construction business has always been thought of as a man only driven industry. 

Yet, we have our very own  Portia Trace Scurlock calling her own shots in this man dominated industry as the owner of Scurlock Construction Inc. for  the past 5 years. 

Portia explains how she was laid off during the recession but realized at that point she had been preparing for this moment through her skills, network and confidence to pursue her dream as an entrepreneur.