Shelly Sun, CEO and founder of BrightStar Franchising, on this week’s episode of The Franchise Woman podcast: Where Passion & Purpose Collide.
There is much to admire about Shelly, her ability to see the future and plan accordingly, her love of her franchisees and business partners, her generous heart and her steadfast, maternal nature when raising her boys (now college age).
We discussed much as you might expect. Two things stood out:
Her ‘in-YOUR-shoes’ leadership style whether that be the elderly parent and his/her family, the franchisee as they grow their territory or the care provider whose difficult job is so vitally needed.
Her desire to be a bridge for the next generation of business owners through her generous contribution in creating a franchise program at her alma mater the University of Tennessee.
Listen in to this episode and be inspired.
Meet Shelly Sun
Shelly Sun is the Founder and CEO of BrightStar Group Holdings, Inc., the parent company of BrightStar Care®, BrightStar® Senior Living, and BrightStar® Care Homes. BrightStar Care provides medical and non-medical home health care and medical staffing services through a national network. BrightStar Senior Living and BrightStar Care Homes provide assisted living and memory care in a senior living community setting. Shelly founded BrightStar Care in 2002 in the Chicagoland area after facing a challenging personal experience seeking home care services for her grandmother and not finding the breadth of services – both medical and non-medical that her grandmother so desperately needed. Shelly realized there wasn’t a high-quality, dependable care provider that she felt would care for her family the way she wanted. From there, she launched BrightStar Care, a home care and medical staffing agency. In 2005 to diversify and localize BrightStar Care’s operations, Shelly opened her business to franchising; the rest is history. Over the last 20 years, BrightStar Care has grown to more than 365 franchised and company-owned locations nationwide, employing 15,000 caregivers and 5,700 registered nurses who oversee the care and safety of each individual client.
From day one, Shelly’s mission for BrightStar Care has been to provide seniors, families, and those needing home care services with the full continuum of care. Shelly has positioned BrightStar Care as the premium home care provider, committed to delivering a higher standard of care, evidenced by network-wide nurse-led care and Joint Commission accreditation – the gold standard within the healthcare industry. Shelly is also passionate about empowering the next generation of entrepreneurs and established a Franchise Certification Program at her alma mater, the University of Tennessee. Shelly’s franchise program offers scholarship opportunities for women, underserved communities, and students within the LGBTQIA+ community providing them with support and training on the many facets of franchising.
Under Shelly’s Leadership BrightStar Care has consistently ranked among the Fastest Growing Private Companies in America by Inc. Magazine and has made Entrepreneur Magazine’s Franchise 500 list for the last thirteen years. BrightStar Care has also continuously ranked on Franchise Business Review’s Top Franchise list, the Franchise Times Top 400 list, and was named a top Women-Centric business by Global Franchise Magazine. On the clinical side, BrightStar Care is the only national home care franchise to receive The Joint Commission’s Enterprise Champion for Quality award every year since the award’s inception. Shelly was also named one of the top 25 highest-rated CEOs during the COVID-19 crisis by Glassdoor.
Learn more about Shelly Sun
Learn more about BrightStar Care