CEO Leah Glover Hayes and co-founder Ellen Hoffman founded Her Story of Success out of a desire to empower women, and one of the best ways to do that is by supporting other women business owners monetarily. Whether it’s entrepreneurship, food and drink, clothing or beauty and self-care, the ladies we have interviewed have left a positive impact on us all, and this holiday season, we want to invite you to give back by shopping some of their amazing offerings.
There’s plenty to choose from this holiday season— join us in supporting our podcast family!
SELF-CARE
Anzie Blue (Marcie Allen Van Mol – Episode 13 and Episode 57)
Marcie Allen Van Mol is a partner at Anzie Blue, a luxury CBD oil company and coffee shop started with her husband. Anzie Blue has a mission to educate the world on the benefits of CBD and create a welcoming community.
There are plenty of ways to gift Anzie Blue this holiday season: CBD oils and strips, body lotion and sports balm and bath and candle products. Find it all here.
Karee Hays Esthetics (Karee Hays – Episode 28)
For over a decade, Karee Hays has been dedicated to helping clients achieve an outer radiance that reflects the beauty they have within. Karee Hays Esthetics is a full-service luxury medical skincare center in Nashville helping women achieve healthy, radiant and beautiful complexions.
Some of our favorite products include the KH Dream Cream, Koji pads and Nighttime Restore. If you’re not sure what to get the skincare lover on your list, gift cards start at $50. View a full list of products here.
The TRILUNA Box Collection (TRILUNA Wellness – Episode 75)
When Ashley Brooke James and Elizabeth Moore first became interested in wellness, they both struggled to feel like they belonged in a space that seemed dominated by thin, white women. TRILUNA Wellness is all about building healthier, more inclusive communities, and they partner with corporations to host events, retreats, training and more.
TRILUNA has taken its workshops like Downdog to Donuts, Cozy Yoga & Pumpkin Spice, and Meditation For Stress Management and turned them into workbooks and couched those workbooks in adorable boxes that are not only a delight to unwrap but that have the power to transform your perspective. Find all the box options and details here.
Follow Her Story of Success on Instagram for a chance to win TRILUNA’s Downdog to Donuts box, just in time for the holidays!
Thistle Farms (Becca Stevens – Episode 83)
Thistle Farms is an organization that helps survivors of trafficking, addition and prostitution and what started as a group of volunteers and residents making candles in a church basement has transformed into a booming business that gives back with each purchase.
From candles, essential oils and body care to home items and apparel, when you purchase Thistle Farms products, you’re helping to provide a safe place to live, a meaningful job and a lifelong sisterhood of support for survivors.
Miss Spa (Kate Kimmerle – Episode 88)
Kate Kimmerle is on a mission to make high-quality, effective skin care accessible to everyone, regardless of race, age, skin issue or income. As the founder of Miss Spa and president of Revolution Beauty USA, Kate has fostered incredible innovation in the beauty industry.
Our favorite Miss Spa product right now is the Roll with Hydration Set. The set comes with the new microneedling set for face and body and the Hydrate + Restore face and body serum that we can’t live without! Find our CEO Leah Glover Hayes’ favorites here.
Follow Her Story of Success on Instagram for a chance to win a bundle of Miss Spa products, just in time for the holidays!
CLOTHING & JEWELRY
Diana Warner Studio (Diana Warner – Episode 17)
Diana Warner launched her successful fashion and jewelry brand Diana Warner Studio in 2005. Once located in Knoxville, Tennessee, the clothing studio moved to Manhattan before a second location opened in Knoxville and a third in Nashville.
The designer has produced clothing and accessories for celebrities like Blake Lively and Angelina Jolie and shows like “Nashville” and “Gossip Girl.” You can gift some style worthy of celebrities with pieces like necklaces, shirts and formal dresses. Find all their products here.
magpies girl and magpies nashville (Maggie Tucker- Episode 25 and Episode 63)
Six years ago, Maggie Tucker was working part-time at Lululemon. Today, she’s the owner magpies nashville and magpies girl, each offering clothing gifts and more for young girls and their families in a uniquely joyful and fun environment.
We love their line of face masks perfect for all human sizes, and the holiday shop is great for seasonal gifts. Plush friends and decor make for great fun gifts, and books help kids keep learning in a virtual world.
Ring Concierge (Nicole Wegman – Episode 61)
Nicole Wegman started Ring Concierge in 2013 after leaving the fashion industry to make luxury accessible for the masses. Ring Concierge is run by women, for women, and it is disrupting the traditionally male-dominated jewelry industry with its all-female team and thriving e-commerce business.
Gift luxury jewelry this holiday season like these rings, necklaces and bracelets. Find all of Ring Concierge’s products here.
Carden Avenue is a Nashville-based jewelry studio spearheaded by the visionaries Suzanne Crook and Carolyn Greenfield. The duo is constantly collaborating, imagining and designing, while being moms.
If you’re looking for unique, wearable, personal and affordable fashion look no further than the pieces at Carden Avenue. Some of our favorites include the Large Golden Links necklace and Mila Hoops. You can shop the full small business here.
Follow Her Story of Success on Instagram for a chance to win a Dueling Pearl Cuff from Carden Avenue, just in time for the holidays!
FOOD & BEVERAGE
The Laura Lea Balanced Cookbook (Laura Lea Goldberg – Episode 1)
With over 120 approachable, comforting, make-ahead recipes, The Laura Lea Balanced Cookbook affirms that balance is possible for all of us. You can find joy, relaxation and healing while cooking for yourself, family and friends during these frenetic times.
Laura Lea Goldberg is also releasing another cookbook titled Simply Laura Lea. You can preorder the book here.
The Southern Entertainers Cookbook (Courtney Whitmore – Episode 6)
After finishing college, Courtney Whitmore took a safe, secure job as a career counselor, but she soon realized she wanted something entirely different — a creative pursuit where she could be her own boss. She founded PIZZAZZERIE, which is a go-to-guide for entertaining in style from easy party foods to daily tips and inspiration.
In The Southern Entertainers Cookbook, Courtney shares her party go-tos: entrees, appetizers, salads, drinks and desserts. She shares modern twists on classics and beloved heirloom recipes from her own family’s cookbooks. Courtney also shares tips to make the most of any gathering from decorating your food to your table.
The Chef & I (Erica Rains – Episode 10)
Erica Rains opened the restaurant and catering business The Chef & I with her husband Chris in 2015. What started in Lenox Village has moved to the Gulch to share their culinary experience with all of Nashville.
From signature hats and t-shirts to Nashville gift boxes, the gift of The Chef & I can be sent across the country. Gift cards are perfect for the food lovers in your life. Find the full lineup here.
The Cupcake Collection (Mignon Francois – Episode 15)
When Mignon Francois founded The Cupcake Collection, she got her family out of debt and brokenness. The mother of six has now expanded to New Orleans and several Nashville locations.
If you’re in Nashville (or New Orleans), consider ordering a cake or cupcake collection for a loved one, or if you don’t know what to get, gift cards start at $15. You can even ship six cupcakes anywhere nationwide. Find it all here.
Grab the Gold (Danielle Ontiveros – Episode 29)
When Danielle Ontiveros was 16 years old, she created Grab the Gold because she couldn’t find a snack bar that tasted great and kept her full. Despite losing everything in 2005 due to Hurricane Katrina, she rebuilt her life and business in Nashville.
From the original snack bars to supplements, there’s something for everyone on your gift list this year. You can even try their new cookies, which are each packaged with 6 grams of sugar or less. Find it all here.
Firepot Nomadic Tea (Sarah Scarborough – Episode 32)
The mission of Sarah Scarborough’s Firepot Nomadic Tea has been the same from the very beginning: to connect tea lovers with tea growers, and improve the lives of both. Through women’s education, sourcing, wellness and business practices, the tea company is serving that mission.
There are plenty of ways to gift Firepot Nomadic Tea this holiday season, and we recommend them all! Give the gift that keeps giving with a three-, 6- or 12-month subscription box, or find a box set that speaks to their interests. Find all the gift options here.
Shining: The Ole Smoky Mountain Moonshine Cookbook (Jessi Baker – Episode 39)
When Jessi Baker opened a moonshine business with her husband and their two friends, she never expected it to grow into a nationwide phenomenon. But Ole Smoky is the most visited distillery in the world, and its moonshine is sold in all 50 states and 53 countries.
Shining: The Ole Smoky Mountain Moonshine Cookbook blends craft moonshine and Appalachia history with 65 family recipes wrapped in one delicious Southern package. Jessi is a mom who loves to cook at home, and she shares her easy-to-follow recipes (not all of them contain booze!) that have fed her family.
BOOKS
PERSONAL GROWTH BOOKS
Own Your Phenomenal Self: A Guide on Character, Success, & Leadership (Rita Mitchell-Ep. 7)
Rita went from being told she didn’t have enough experience to be a waitress at Red Lobster to becoming a top executive at First Tennessee Bank, breaking barriers at every step along the way. In that time, she passed the Series 7 broker exam with a 6-month-old baby, started her own financial advisory company, and left all of her doubters in the dust.
In Own Your Phenomenal Self: A Guide on Character, Success & Leadership, Rita shares that no matter your background, education or credentials, you can have what you want out of life and on your own terms. Relying on her almost four decades as a successful business executive and entrepreneur, she shares how only you get to determine your value, your worth and your destiny.
Chasing the Bright Side (Jess Ekstrom – Episode 50)
Founder & CEO of Headbands of Hope Jess Ekstrom founded her company based on inspiration from a summer internship with a wish-granting organization. Started out of her dorm room in college with two headbands, her computer and a passion to help kids with cancer, Jess has grown Headbands of Hope across the world.
Jess shares her story of optimism and how it helped her overcome multiple challenges. She also shares the dynamic ways her mindset propelled her as a young entrepreneur, international speaker and philanthropist. Her journey will inspire your gift recipient to embrace the power of optimism in their own life and reimagine their purpose.
Platform: The Art and Science of Personal Branding (Cynthia Johnson – Episode 52)
Global entrepreneur, marketing professional, author and keynote speaker Cynthia Johnson wrote Platform: The Art and Science of Personal Branding for “normal people.” She’s the co-founder and CEO of Bell + Ivy and understands that work doesn’t speak for itself.
In her book, she shares that whether you’re a CEO, entrepreneur or employee, it’s important to use your personal brand. Share her book with the person in your life that is ready to advocate for themselves, their work and ask for what they want.
Step Out of the Box Your Dream Life is Waiting (Diana Sumpter – Episode 68)
Author, motivational speaker and Independent National Sales Director at Mary Kay Diana Sumpter helps women design and live out their dream lives. How does that happen? It all starts with a positive mindset.
In her book, Step Out of the Box Your Dream Life is Waiting, Diana shares how to erase and replace the labels that have held you hostage and dream-life tools. She navigates the Land of the Lazy, Maze of Mediocrity and finally leads you into the Land of Excellence.
It’s About Damn Time (Arlan Hamilton – Episode 69)
Backstage Capital Founder and Managing Partner Arlan Hamilton understands the importance of investing in underrepresented founders. Less than five years ago, she was one herself as she started the venture capital fund while experiencing homelessness herself.
Arlan shares in her book It’s About Damn Time that a privileged background, influential network and fancy college degree are not prerequisites for success. Her wisdom from the journey of a food-stamp recipient to venture capitalist inspires readers to defy other people’s expectations and become role models for ourselves.
Activate Your Vision Kit (Lucinda Cross – Episode 70)
Lucinda Cross wears many hats in business, but all of them center around her passion for empowering women to reach new levels of success. Her Activate Your Vision Board Kit is just one of the ways she’s empowering women to reach a new level of success.
Gift the goal-setting tool to the go-getter in your life to help them explore the vision they have for their life. The kit covers five core areas: faith, family, finances, fitness and friends. Help them meet daily, weekly, monthly and annual goals that fit into an ultimate vision.
Girl Decoded: A Scientist’s Quest to Reclaim Our Humanity by Bringing Emotional Intelligence to Technology (Rana el Kaliouby – Episode 77)
Co-founder and CEO of Affectiva Rana el Kaliouby believes technology has enormous potential to improve people’s lives, but also wants to make sure it doesn’t dehumanize us in the process. She’s a pioneer in the field of Emotion AI, and she’s working to create technology that can detect human emotion and cognitive states.
Girl Decoded follows el Kaliouby’s journey from being a “nice Egyptian girl” to becoming a woman who is carving her own path as she revolutionizes technology. Decoding herself and learning to express and act on her own emotions proved to be the biggest challenge of all.
Say Yes to What’s Next (Lori Allen – Episode 81)
Lori Allen has built an incredible career as an entrepreneur, TV personality, author and speaker, all because of her ability to say yes to new opportunities that align with her goals. She started her bridal store just two weeks after graduating from college.
As a business owner, breast cancer survivor and star of TLC’s Say Yes to the Dress: Atlanta, the vital life lessons she has experienced are the inspiration for her book. Say Yes to What’s Next is more than a guide to make the best tomorrows, but it’s the beginning of a life-makeover movement for women of all ages.
My Hype Book (Toni Purry – Episode 85)
Toni Purry wants to be the hype woman who reminds people to celebrate their wins. She’s an entrepreneur, visibility strategist and speaker who helps women build their confidence and find new ways to show up in the world.
My Hype Book is a transformative tool designed to shift mindset and nurture confidence. This in-depth, motivational journal is designed to guide its user on a journey of self-discovery and empowerment. Gift this to the woman in your life looking to propel forward in their life and career.
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT BOOKS
Think Like a SheEO: Succeeding in the Age of Creators, Makers and Entrepreneurs (Vicki Saunders – Episode 51)
Vicki Saunders is the founder & CEO of SheEO, a radically redesigned ecosystem that supports, finances, and celebrates female innovators. She knows the importance of finding your tribe and how learning your environment will determine who you become.
Think Like a SheEO calls women to create their own businesses as reflections of their passions, strengths and values on their own terms. Vicki argues that there are enormous opportunities— this is the prime time for women to build new models, new mindsets and new solutions to create a better world.
Power of 3 P’s (Angela Proffitt – Episode 56)
Entrepreneur, events expert, productivity consultant, speaker, writer and coach Angela Proffitt is the founder of The Profitable Shift and co-founder of Collective615. She knows that when there’s synergy, there’s profitability.
Just like a game of telephone, we’re sifting through a lot of noise in our interactions with each throughout each day. The Power of 3P’s is a personalized roadmap to productive communication and reframes a perception that encourages the value of your personal strengths and how they can be leveraged with others.
Lunch with Lucy: Maximize Profits by Investing in Your People (Sherry Stewart Deutschmann – Episode 65)
Sherry Stewart Deutschmann has built an incredibly successful career out of the belief that empathy could be the key to a more profitable business model. Sherry’s passion for leading well and empowering others is such an inspiration, and her story of finding new ways to invest in other women is such a great example of how women can lift each other up while also achieving their own personal success.
In Lunch with Lucy, Sherry shares how a leader’s choices directly impact employee morale, engagement and commitment. Through honesty, humor and humility she shares how a woman can build a successful business through empathetic leadership and uncommon, common sense business practices, one lunch at a time.
Thrive Through It: A Guide for Redefining Resilience in Life and Business (Brittany Cole – Episode 72)
Career Thrivers Founder Brittany Cole believes every experience is an opportunity for continuous improvement, and she brings that attitude into all of her work as a speaker, coach and consultant. At Career Thrivers, Brittany partners with organizations to engage, develop and retain diverse talent through targeted leadership development.
Thrive Through It is a powerful, practical and paradigm-shifting guide that will help you cultivate resilience to journey through change, challenge and loss in your life, career or businesses. Resilience can be developed and through The Resilience Roadmap, Brittany shares personal insights, stories and actionable ways to rediscover joy, communicate with empathy and journey forward by thriving through it.
MEMOIR & FICTION BOOKS
Between Shades of Gray (Ruta Septys – Episode 4)
Ruta Sepetys is one of the most admired writers in contemporary children’s literature–with the bestsellers Salt to the Sea and Between Shades of Gray among her riveting historical novels for young readers.
Between Shades of Gray follows 15-year-old Lithuanian girl Lina living her ordinary life until Soviet officers invade her home and tear apart her family. Crowded onto a train without her father, Lina, her mother and younger brother head to a Suberian work camp where they fight for their life. Lina documents her experience via drawing to find solace in her art and pass them along to hopefully find her father’s prison camp. Find more of Ruta’s books here.
Word of Mouth: Nashville Conversations (Lily C. Hansen – Episode 54)
Lily Hansen has built her career around her passion for conversation. As an author, writer and speaker, she has interviewed more than 1,000 people all over the world, and she’s an advocate for better conversation and deeper connection in an increasingly digital age.
Lily dives into the stories of the “it” city of Nashville in Word of Mouth: Nashville Conversations. One of the reasons Nashville has grown in size and popularity is its music scene, which is displayed in Lily’s book. Lily, along with Nashville photographers, highlights those who have helped drive and thrived in the art, culinary and music industries, including Sean Brock, Patrick Carney of The Black Keys and Mike Wolfe of American Pickers.
