Inside Source

The Source believes when women are empowered, communities thrive, and few people have a more unique perspective on this than Stevie Phillips with Cooperative Energy. The wife of an entrepreneur herself, Stevie talks to Inside Source about women’s unique economic perspectives, the importance of her male allies, and how her personal life has helped her professionally. 

Dr. Rani Warsi Sullivan is an award-winning leader in STEM at a top-ranked engineering university, a brilliant career woman, and a working mom who still makes time for her passion as a lifelong learner. Inside Source sat down with Dr. Sullivan as she both reflects back on her career and looks forward to her continuing work in groundbreaking research, collaborating with colleagues, and remaining a trusted mentor to her students.

Many women have a complicated relationship with their healthcare and healthcare providers. Channeling her passion for healing others with functional medicine, Kelly Engelmann, FNP-BC, founded Enhanced Wellness Living after dedicating years to researching and developing treatment strategies using a food-first approach. Inside Source talked with Kelly about women’s specific healthcare needs, being a lifetime learner, and how wellness takes many forms.

Change is the only constant in digital marketing, and staying up-to-date with our strategies is crucial to remain competitive in the dynamic landscape of the digital marketplace. Inside Source sat down with our very own web guru, Bo Pentecost, to discuss the savvier and smarter end user, the difference between SEO and SEM, and whether email marketing is still effective.  

Artificial intelligence is changing the game in hundreds of industries, from marketing to healthcare to human resources, but should we fear it or be fascinated by it? We talked with Whitney Jackson of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP about how AI can help or hinder a job search, can simplify tedious tasks, and how laws are scrambling to keep up with the technology.

When Michelle King took over as COO of Coffee Bean Corral, she envisioned transforming the business from a hobby venture to an international operation. Her colleague Catherine Mansell expanded the impact even further with Current Crop Roasting, an interactive and educational roasting experience in New Orleans. They both sat down with Inside Source to answer our questions on scaling the business, building an effective team, and why they place so much emphasis on sustainability.

If you’ve ever enjoyed a filled king cake, you can probably thank Sherri Paul Thigpen of Paul’s Pastry. Her family’s delicious spin on a traditional Mardi Gras pastry put her bakery and her small town on the map. Inside Source talked with Sherri about managing her large team, stepping out of her comfort zone, and the privilege of being a part of so many customers’ celebrations.

Before she became owner of The Bridal Path in Jackson, Mississippi, Audrey Jarvis McCarty had an undeniable entrepreneurial spirit. She has successfully combined that drive with an eye for detail and beauty and a passion for customer service in a time where enthusiastic word of mouth is still the best publicity. Audrey sits down with Inside Source to talk about working with her family, building a hardworking team, and scaling her growing business to new heights.

Cathy Peshek started blogging in 2013, and since then has amassed nearly 60,000 followers of her “Poor Little It Girl” content, building and growing a business that has evolved as much as her personal style. Inside Source asked Cathy about work-from-home balance, “creativity block,” and how social media has changed how we all do business.

Laura Cox Kaplan’s career spans three decades in policy, communications, business, and media with positions at some of the highest institutions in Washington, DC. The connections she made inspired her to create She Said / She Said podcast, dedicated to sharing stories of how successful women have understood, embraced, and leveraged influence. Laura sat down with Inside Source to discuss building a network, learning to assert influence, and the best pep talk her daughter ever gave her.

In the age of online shopping, simply having a website isn’t enough anymore. Social media may get your customers there, but then what? Inside Source talked with Kristen Schneider of The Business Growers about common mistakes your copy might be making, the disconnect between website clicks and sales, and why hesitancy to ask for the sale is costing you.

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and where mental health and the workplace intersect, you’ll often find emotional intelligence. Libbo Crosswhite is a counselor and leadership consultant, and she answered our questions about how EI factors into management, whether it’s innate or learned, and why these conversations are happening in offices everywhere.

If true work-life balance is a myth, what about wealth-life balance? In honor of Financial Literacy Month, Inside Source spoke with our very own Maeve Beard on the subject of building wealth, specific to women. We asked her about planning for the future, why working with a financial advisor isn’t just for the “wealthy,” and if it is ever too late to start building wealth.

Knowing your Enneagram number is more than a simple conversation starter. Different from other personality typing systems, it identifies your motivation rather than your behavior and is an effective tool for not only self-examination, but for understanding others. Joey Schewee of WE Solutions puts an even finer point on the concept: the Enneagram in the workplace. She talks to Inside Source about using the Enneagram in a team setting, how she handles skeptics, and what it’s like working in “the family business.”

Walking into Muddy’s Bake Shop in Memphis, Tennessee is more than entering a carb-lover’s utopia; it’s a living, breathing master class in customer service. And even further behind the curtain is Kat Gordon, the shop’s founder and owner, and the brains behind her company’s stellar service and top-notch customer experience. Inside Source asked Kat our questions about the importance of a supportive community, learning from failures, and why we need to give (and receive!) “fearless feedback.”

Many women don’t know they’re performing tasks of invisible labor, but once it’s pointed out, it can’t be unseen. Miriam Cherry and Winifred Poster are co-authors of the book, Invisible Labor: Hidden Work in the Contemporary World, and they shared their wisdom with Inside Source about surprising examples of invisible labor, what makes it different from “being a team player,” and what the solution to the problem might be.

The fascinating field of bioarchaeology brought together Lida Gibson and Dr. Jennifer Mack for the Asylum Hill Project on the campus of University of Mississippi Medical Center. The thousands of residents of the then-named Mississippi State Lunatic Asylum we buried in an on-site cemetery, launching a huge project to identify, catalog, and study of the patients. Inside Source talked with both women about unlikely (and likely!) career paths, maximizing your unique set of skills, and the value of making and maintaining connections.

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While “leadership” may have a specific interpretation on paper, in actuality, there are as many iterations of the word as there are people in those roles. Staci Tyler, Senior Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer at EastGroup Properties in Jackson, Miss., talks with Inside Source about her own definition of leadership, leveraging women’s unique skills in the workplace, and embracing the twists and turns in a career path.

To create something totally unique that both solves a problem and excites customers takes an entrepreneurial spirit and out-of-the-box thinking. Luckily, Amy Thomas has both and used them to her advantage to create Manebangle, a premium ponytail holder and leather bracelet. Inside Source chats with Amy about teamwork, the importance of support from your circle, and the journey from idea to finished product.