The Mom Shuffle

It takes someone special to have the guts and grit to open a juice bar in a region plagued with chronic health issues, especially as a 24-year-old brand new to entrepreneurship, but T'Keyah Williams is absolutely someone special! She's even earned an Entrepreneur of the Year award celebrating her achievements at Mama Nature's Juice Bar, but as grateful as T'Keyah is for the recognition, you'll quickly learn by listening in on our conversation that her passion for entrepreneurship goes way beyond accolades. It's about building a life for her family, educating and nourishing her community, and impacting the entrepreneurs following in her footsteps. I think you'll agree by the end of our chat that T'Keyah Williams is a woman to watch!

Dr. Samantha Cavender developed a love for animals as a child. Participating with 4-H and Future Farmers of America, she learned to love more than just family pets, but farm animals, and all sorts of species! She followed her passion through veterinary school and today is not only a doctor of veterinary medicine, but a co-owner of Idaho Veterinary Hospital. She joins us to share her stories of cultivating cross-species connection by supporting the human-animal bond and tells us how her family gets into the mix. I think you'll agree that any of us would be lucky to have Dr. Cavender and her tribe caring for our furry, scaly, or feathery friends!

Come along for a conversation about Sarah Vedeler's journey as an accidental entrepreneur. Leveraging some skills learned early in life, easing into teaching, and putting herself in the right place at the right time opened doors to opportunity as life was presenting it own serious challenges. Through it all, Sarah built Meaning of Life Designs and while she has built a passionate community and has become an incredibly talented, and widely respected sewer and embroider, she's on a mission to craft something even bigger!

Emily Cook is a painter, jeweler and physician whose passion for art and science fuels her work, no matter the discipline. Merging left brain and right brain activities to bring a new unique blend to addressing whole health, Emily unites her interests in both art and medicine for benefits that go beyond the bounds of each realm alone. You can see her latest creations on her website at Emily Cook Art.

Melanie Staley grew up working in her family's amusement park, Santa's Village in Jefferson, New Hampshire, a vision brought to life by her grandfather. Today, she is part of the third generation of family leadership, building on her family legacy, improving and innovating, and delivering pure joy, family style.

Adrienne Paolini believes that we can raise good humans and be productive members of society, but she knows it takes a village. When she found herself far from her go-to crew and in need of support to manage her career and her family, she saw an opportunity to bring a new model to market and thus was born Child & Co. - a coworking space with childcare. Today she offers services and support to working parents who want to craft a balance and build their village. With the increasing volume of remote work and interest in maintaining connection, coworking spaces are on the rise and Adrienne and her team are innovating a new model to lead the way.

After achieving success in a leadership role at a Fortune 25 company, Amy Birks was trying to convince herself that she was doing the work she wanted to be doing and making the impact she desired. But, the rationalizing just wasn't enough. Revisiting her priorities and setting out on a new course, Amy identified an opportunity to help others and herself, but it wasn't always easy. A difficult divorce, a struggle to find the right revenue streams, and learnings all along the way, Amy has come out the other side absolutely on fire. Today she focuses on staying caring, curious, and connected in her work to help purpose-driven founders scale without sacrifice.

Julia Nepini is a therapist and the owner of Compassionate Counseling Company, a private mental health practice. Today, in addition to serving patients, she shares her experience through her latest venture, Compassionate Consulting Company. In a time when mental health services are in higher demand than ever, Julia's insight and experience has helped her clients achieve better balance and more financial security and freedom. Are you thinking about starting your own practice? Expanding your current team? Diversifying your income streams? Listen in and learn on today's episode!

After years as a paralegal in large firms, Amanda Russell planned a pivot. Launching initially as a virtual assistant (VA) before moving into content development for newsletters, social media, and more, she founded Chaos Coordination, LLC, a small business that has made a bigger impact on her work and family life than she could have imagined. Today, Amanda writes the words that build and connect communities. She takes great joy in learning each client's backstory, finding their voice, and weaving the web to amplify their audience reach. And she does it all with an eye to conscious marketing. Follow along with her journey in today's episode.

If only all new moms had a Jill Urbane! Known as The Mentor Mom, Jill has been working with families to demystify early childhood development for decades. She's helping families finding solutions that work for them and she's dropping tons of tips in this episode, so have a notebook handy!

Fourteen years ago, when Amanda Read of Read Mobile Marketing was pitching the idea of mobile marketing to businesses, the environment was not what it is today! The idea that a business would text its customers seemed intrusive and too personal. It took her some time to get traction and a lot of proving her concept. Today, customers are opting into mobile marketing all the time - for text notifications, sale alerts, contests, appointment reminders, ordering, and more. Amanda was on the cusp of a burgeoning industry and businesses just needed to get comfortable and catch up. Suffice it to say, her business has grown, and the sales pitch isn't quite as challenging - text messages have a much higher open rate than email messages and businesses have taken notice.

From corporate to consulting and back, Laura Crossley has been committed to leveraging communication to move projects from concept to completion. Along the way, she's taken on Mount Everest and had two children, one on each side of the pandemic. The values she has formed throughout her personal and professional journeys have shaped her work today as the VP of Experience & Marketing at AdPredictive and the host of the Maven Minds podcast, where she speaks with trailblazers of modern business. 

Behak and Brook built a friendship as colleagues and care providers throughout their careers before founding In This Moment, a subscription box service born during the pandemic. Consistently coming back to how meaningful mindfulness had become in their caregiving efforts, the two friends committed to bringing the tools for meaningful and mindful engagement right to the front door of families across the country.

After working as a certified massage therapist for years, the COVID-19 pandemic brought Julie Deem's practice to a halt. Being in the business of physical contact when distancing was encouraged wasn't exactly a good situation. Julie knew she needed to pivot and she got to work considering her next move. Hear how her own podcasting experience led her to pursue a new opportunity and to build a business that raises the voices of other women as The Business Podcast Editor. 

Twenty-five years ago, Fran Pastore turned a transition in her career into an opportunity for thousands of other women, their communities, and the State of Connecticut. Since then, she and her team at the Women's Business Development Council have changed the game for women who are entrepreneurs working to launch or scale their businesses. But Fran didn't stop at business development, she has become an absolute force in the broader economic ecosystem and a passionate advocate for women's economic equality. From her time advising the President, Congress, and the U.S. Small Business Administration on the National Women's Business Council, to collaborating with the governor on COVID recovery, and being tapped to oversee the organization that administers Connecticut's paid family and medical leave program, Fran is talking the talk and walking the walk for the benefit of us all. This is an episode you just can't miss!