Author: Rebecca

Dawn Abbamondi knows how to dig deep and get ‘the story’. On this episode of The Franchise Woman podcast: Where Passion and Purpose Collide she shares her secrets to trust, intimacy and uncovering the real story of a company or person. Her recipe allows even those without a natural tendency to small talk to have meaningful, insightful and fun conversations.  

Join Rebecca Monet and Tracy Kawa on this ‘get the scoop’ on anyone journey with Dawn!  

Meet Dawn Abbamondi  

Dawn joined the SMB team in the fall of 2011 and brings with her extensive retail and franchising experience in the coffee, food, convenience, gift and floral industries. Working with SMB’s franchisor clients, Dawn leads the areas of marketing, social media, public relations, web development and lead generation as well as contributing to organization and operations process development.   

In over 20 years in the franchising industry, she has managed several brand acquisitions for expansion into new markets, which involved brand integration and re-imaging. She has been a category buyer managing over $20 million in margin revenues and has led marketing initiatives including the creation of monthly promotions, POP design, media and advertising budgets for systems from 35 units to 1000 units. She acted as the corporate liaison for franchise advisory councils and managed operations for a Philadelphia based franchise system. Dawn has also been a franchisee, overseeing operations and marketing development for a retail unit.  

Dawn has a Bachelor’s Degree in Architectural Engineering from Drexel University and has continued graduate study in the areas of Marketing and Business Administration. She enjoys sharing her experience with companies who are learning how to franchise as well as those who want a fresh perspective of where they fit in the industry and how best to expand into new markets.  

Learn more about Dawn Abbamondi  

Learn more about SMB Franchise Advisors 

Kyla Dufresne, CEO and Founder of Foxy Box Wax Bars, is a straight shooter. Often opinionated and always transparent, Kyla fosters a systematic culture built on clear values and principles.  

She joins Rebecca Monet and Tracy Kawa this week on The Franchise Woman podcast: Where Passion & Purpose Collide. Listen in as she shares a bit about her Recipe for Success.   

Meet Kyla Dufresne  

Kyla is an adventurous, motorcycle-riding, ultra-capable, Step Mamma who is passionately building an exciting brand that has had a positive ripple effect on the lives of women around the world.  The Foxy Box brand is leaving a footprint of simple, engaging and self-empowering principles that allow women to live a life of choice. Kyla’s authentic, kind, yet non-BS approach allows women to celebrate their uniqueness and stand in their true power.  

In her early twenties, Kyla started a small t-shirt line and sold them at music festivals and markets. But her entrepreneurial radar went on high alert when she noticed the gap in the market for affordable and quick Brazilians.  As a visionary, Kyla could see that women would become loyal to an upbeat, fun and retro place that promised the best waxing experience ever. She started Foxy Box in 2012 when she found the need for a go-to place to be waxed in the Victoria area.  

Kyla left her career as a certified mental health worker to show the world a foxier way.  What started as a small wax bar in the back of a jewelry shop, with a sandwich board and prices on a chalkboard, has grown into a thriving business operating out of multiple locations across Vancouver Island and the Mainland.  Not only is Kyla a visionary and an inspiring leader, but her development of the Foxy Box Family has attracted over 70 engaged team members who come to work proud to provide total convenience, unmatched consistency and the best waxing experience ever.  Period.  

Kyla’s leadership, ambition and sense of humor have instilled a culture throughout the brand that inspires women to feel powerful and energized, from the front lines to the end-user.  

Learn more about Kyla Dufresne 

Learn more about Foxy Box Wax Bar 

“Marketing is enthusiasm transferred to the customer.”  

That’s a quote Abby Fogel lives by as VP, Marketing and Brand Relations at Unleashed Brands.

It really is true. Marketing can be boiled down to effectively transferring our passion and enthusiasm for a brand, an idea, a product or service. It’s casting the vision, getting others to capture that vision and helping them find their future and find their future faster through franchising.  

Listen in to Abby Fogel as she joins Rebecca Monet and Tracy Kawa on The Franchise Woman podcast: Where Passion & Purpose Collide.

Meet Abby Fogel 

Abby is currently the VP of Marketing & Brand Relations for Unleashed Brands, a youth enrichment franchise platform geared at furthering child and adolescent development in three core areas – Learning, Playing and Growing. The current portfolio includes Urban Air Adventure Park, Snapology, The Little Gym, Premier Martial Arts, Class 101 and XP League.

In her role, she leads marketing for franchise lead generation for all Unleashed Brands, effectively helping each brand exceed its franchise development targets. Additionally, Abby meets with brands in the youth enrichment industry to learn more about their story and business goals, walking them through the Unleashed Brands Mutual Evaluation Process. 

Abby has a marketing background with kid-centric brands and started working in the franchise industry in 2015. Abby serves on the International Franchise Association Women’s Franchise Committee and Women’s Franchise Network Taskforce. In 2021, Abby was recognized by 1851 Franchise as a “Young One To Watch” in franchising. Abby was also listed by Entrepreneur magazine in 2022 as a Top Influential Women in Franchising. 

Learn more about Abby Fogel 

Learn more about Unleashed Brands 

Nancy Friedman is in the house. The Telephone Doctor and customer service expert talks with Rebecca Monet and Tracy Kawa about the importance of kindness and humor in life and business.  

A friendly argument breaks out when Nancy and Rebecca disagree if a sense of humor can be learned. Listen in to this lively conversation, then weigh in: is Nancy right? Or is Rebecca (a behavioral scientist) right? And where is Tracy in all of this? What’s her opinion?  

Meet Nancy Friedman 

Nancy Friedman, born and raised in Chicago IL, is founder and chairman of Telephone Doctor Customer Service Training Company, in St Louis, Missouri, and a former franchisor… An emerging one at that…. who had five franchisees: four they let go very quickly and one they kept too long.  We will explore.  

She and her husband have had five startups all of which were successful …..except that one. 

What happened? What did they do wrong>?  We’ll find out on this podcast.  

However, out of their franchise experience, Nancy became a very popular and well-known speaker in the franchise family industry. 

Nancy has spoken several times at the IFA International conferences, is a three-time RoundTable Host, as well as has spoken at a few hundred franchisor and franchisee’s annual meetings over the years. 

Not to leave out corporate and government clients… Her commonsense message is something we all need. And sadly, many of us need to be reminded of a little too often. 

She and her husband, Dick, have recently stepped to the background making their son, David, president of Telephone Doctor and their daughter, Linda Steinberg, is now vice president of client services. A true ‘family owned’ business – which also owns and operates www.serviceskills.com, a popular unique, boutique on line eLearning platform with 19 series and over 150 modules.  

Nancy is the author of 10 books on communications, customer service and sales.  Their Zoom conferences are on an upswing as not everyone has gone back to on-site it seems.    

Learn more about Nancy Friedman 

Learn more about The Telephone Doctor 

Sharon Mettra became the first woman to own a Big O Tire franchise in Northern California. The year was 1999. Her children gave her a hard time because she didn’t even know how to change a tire; but fellow franchisees and the men she worked with did not give her grief. Instead, she found they were supportive and helpful in growing her business.   

In the past several years, Sharon Mettra, a franchise development professional, has helped several emerging franchise concepts grow and is currently working with Press Waffle Co.  

Listen in as Sharon Mettra joins Rebecca Monet and Tracy Kawa on this episode of The Franchise Woman podcast: Where Passion & Purpose Collide.  

Meet Sharon Mettra

Sharon started her career in franchising working at the local Jack in the Box at the age of 16. Then in 1999 Sharon became the first female franchisee to own a Big O Tire franchise in Northern California. Her kids gave her a hard time, because she didn’t even know how to change a tire!

After coming out of retirement, Sharon stepped into the Franchise Development role selling franchises for: Zoyo Neighborhood Yogurt, My Pie Pizza, Fuchsia Spa, L.A. Bikini, Nextaff, and Philly’s Best Cheesesteaks.

Today, Sharon does franchise development for Press Waffle Co.

Learn more about Sharon Mettra 

Learn more about Press Waffle Co. 

Emily George, a Whisky Wednesday star, talks about the attributes of a great bartender and how her bartending skills have transferred into a successful career in franchising. In fact, it is Emily’s belief that everyone should work in the hospitality business at least once in their lifetime. Those skills will come in handy no matter which of the 6 different careers one will have in the future, says Emily.  

We don’t want to give away the whole show; but you’ll want to listen in to discover the 2-sides to Emily. A literal side and a what if side and how both play a vital role in Emily’s day-to-day thinking, planning and doing.   

Meet Emily George 

Emily George is a Senior Client Consultant at Franchise Business Review where she assists with new business development, as well as ongoing client relations and account management. She enjoys collaborating with franchise brands to make the most of survey feedback as opportunities to improve and grow.  

Prior to working with FBR, Emily cut her teeth in franchising on the operations side with a Columbus-based QSR concept and on the supplier side with a local marketing firm. Emily lives in Columbus, Ohio with her husband, Eric, and three cats, Phil, Reese and Eliza. Outside of work she loves to spend time gardening and cooking with friends or shaking up a cocktail in her home-based cocktail bar known as The Banana Stand. 

Learn more about Emily George 

Learn more about Franchise Business Review 

Jenny Young, founder of Brooklyn Robot Foundry, had an atypical upbringing. Hers was a childhood filled with exotic, behind the scenes ‘how’s it done or made’ adventures. Failure was encouraged, applauded and even fun for Jenny. It was all about the process of exploration, building and making rather than perfection. Seems seeing failure as fun is a vital ingredient to being a mechanical engineer and robot designer and builder.  

In this episode, Jenny Young joins Rebecca Monet and Tracy Kawa on The Franchise Woman podcast: Where Passion & Purpose Collide. She shares the story behind Brooklyn Robot Foundry and its philosophy for inspiring children and adults to push the boundaries of their imagination, discover the fun in failure all while building some really cool robots.    

Meet Jenny Young

Jenny Young is the founder and CEO of Brooklyn Robot Foundry. Jenny started Brooklyn Robot Foundry in 2011 and she has had an amazing time building with the students, and building up their franchise systems. Brooklyn Robot Foundry has an incredible team designing robots, planning curricula, assembling lesson plans, and prepping materials. They also have a marvelous onboarding team that helps get their franchisees ready for success, plus they have wonderful people available for continuous support.

Jenny’s favorite parts of franchising are:

• making small business ownership possible, by sharing their systems for success
• facilitating sharing the joy of building throughout the country
• building a diverse and inclusive franchise network
• empowering children with knowledge and creativity

Learn more about Jenny Young

Learn more about Brooklyn Robot Foundry

‘Moving Forward’ is not just the motto of Two Men and a Truck franchise it is something Holly Stewart has lived by her entire adult life. Her one foot in front of the other and learn as you go approach to life has served her well in business. Holly now owns 3 franchises, has 5 locations and 45 trucks all loaded and driven by her mostly male staff.  

Listen in to this episode of The Franchise Woman podcast: Where Passion & Purpose Collide to learn more about her ‘Mama Bear’ management style and ‘there’s no time to cry when your fixing the problem mindset.  

Meet Holly Stewart 

More than ten years ago Holly Stewart applied for a customer service position at TWO MEN AND A TRUCK, North America’s largest moving franchise with 380+ locations. After that interview, she was offered the general manager position and began her career in the industry. 

She has most recently became the owner of Dallas, GA, TWO MEN AND A TRUCK franchise, servicing the Douglas, Paulding and Bartow Counties. This is her third TWO MEN AND A TRUCK franchise in the Atlanta market; her other two serve Dekalb and Cobb Counties. Across all three territories, Holly currently has a fleet of 43 vehicles and 75 employees.  She plans to grow to approximately 125 total by the peak of summer. 

As her locations experience growth she plans to add members to her teams while simultaneously giving existing employees opportunities to advance, gain new skills, and take on more responsibility.  Holly is passionate about TWO MEN AND A TRUCK’s Movers for Moms campaign which focuses on helping other single moms, like herself, get back on their feet and plans to continue her additional community involvement across the Metro Atlanta area.  Holly truly embodies TWO MEN AND A TRUCK’s core purpose of Moving People Forward as shown in her dedication to her employees as well as giving back to the community.   

Learn more about Holly Stewart 

Learn more about Two Men and a Truck  

Anna Phillips in my mind is a ‘real’ entrepreneur. Anna, the Founder and Chief Innovations Officer of The Lash Lounge, possesses these 4 attributes of a true entrepreneur:  

Creator – she came up with a bright idea and brought it into existence 

Risk-Taker – she was willing to take great risk in order to achieve a goal  

Builder – she constructed something by putting parts, products and systems together over a period of time 

Visionary – She thinks about and plans the future with imagination and wisdom  

Listen in to this week’s episode of The Franchise Woman podcast: Where Passion & Purpose Collide as Anna Phillips shares her story with Rebecca Monet and Tracy Kawa.  

Meet Anna Phillips

Industry pioneer Anna Phillips is the founder and chief innovation officer at The Lash Lounge, a premier eyelash salon franchise with over 115 salons across the U.S. and growing. Founded in 2006, Phillips’s specialty beauty concept was the first salon dedicated to eyelash extensions in the U.S. and has expanded to 30 states. 

Anna began her career in IT but always felt like something was missing. At a career crossroads in the early 2000s, she knew it was the right time to make a change—she decided to pursue her lifelong passion of helping others feel more confident about themselves. She became a licensed masseuse and esthetician and landed a position as one of the first massage therapists at Google, which sparked her entrepreneurial spirit.  

Following an unexpected move to Texas with her husband in 2003, Anna discovered semi-permanent lash extensions—a brand-new beauty service in the U.S. at the time—and became one of the first to offer this service in the country.    

After experiencing overwhelming demand for her eyelash extension services, Anna took a leap of faith and opened the first Lash Lounge, a full salon dedicated exclusively to providing lash extensions – pioneering a new vertical in the beauty industry.  An instant success, she opened two more salons within the first two years. After her third location, Anna realized the concept she’d created could be replicable as a franchise system and has since expanded her brand on a national scale, awarding over 300 licenses and growing!   

Anna’s passion for helping others feel beautiful, confident and cared for has fueled her unparalleled success—transforming a single-room operation into a national brand that has had an impact on more than 90,000 guests nationwide.  

Learn more about Anna Phillips  

Learn more about The Lash Lounge 

Coree’ Rivers shares her journey from oldest of five siblings to executive assistant to Pillar to Post franchisee. I’m not sure why it always amazes me how our childhood and early work experiences bring forth our true character. But Coree’ is a beautiful example of that.  

In this interview Coree’ shares why character, consistency and curiosity are so important to a fulfilling and successful life. She further discusses the role trust plays in someone reaching their full potential. Listen in to this episode of The Franchise Woman podcast: Where Passion & Purpose Collide as Coree’ Rivers offers many tidbits of wisdom and sage advice.  

Meet Coree’ Rivers 

Coree’ Rivers is originally from Brooklyn NY, and has been an Executive Assistant and Chief of Staff for years in several different industries. Coree’ moved out to Woodland Hills, California a year and a half ago; and completely started over.  

She purchased a Pillar to Post franchise and built her network from scratch. Pillar To Post is North America’s leading and largest home inspection company. Everyday Coree’ helps people in Los Angeles buy and live in their homes with confidence and peace of mind. 

Coree’ believes there is a lot of room for women to consider careers in service industries previously dominated by men.   

Learn more about Coree’ Rivers 

Learn more about Pillar to Post