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.
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
‘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.
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 salondedicated 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 estheticianand 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.
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.
Come with us on a ‘Chase the Discomfort’ journey guided by Brittany Driscoll. Brittany is the Co-founder and CEO of Squeeze and Okay Human and The Feel Good Company all dedicated to bettering the mind, body, and soul of individuals.
Growth is just outside our comfort zones, yet we find a million ways to avoid going there. Why? What if you chased the discomfort? What would change? What if changing the comfort zone could actually be a thrill? Maybe even a daily goal. What would happen? What could you be, do and have?
Listen in to this week’s The Franchise Woman podcast: Where Passion & Purpose Collide as we discuss this and many more eye opening topics with Brittany Driscoll.
Meett Brittany Driscoll
Brittany Driscoll is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Squeeze, a way better massage experience from the founders of Drybar. Since launching the Los Angeles flagship in 2019, Squeeze is now franchising in markets across the country including Scottsdale, Dallas, Nashville, Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Charlotte, and many more.
Brittany also Co-Founded and leads The Feel-Good Company, a service agency set out to transform the way people experience retail by building and scaling a collective of female-founded wellness brands dedicated to bettering the mind, body, and soul for good. Okay Humans, a new talk therapy concept located on San Vicente Blvd in Los Angeles, is the latest brand to launch with the support of Brittany & her team.
Brittany started her career in marketing & advertising and after a decade of creating global campaigns for Fortune 500 brands, she spent four years running marketing for Drybar where she helped take the company from $30M to more than $100M. As a female entrepreneur, cancer survivor, and wellness advocate, Brittany has a strong passion for supporting other women in business and has become a thought-leader in her community. She believes in speaking up for what you believe in, empowering people to use their voice, and that we all have the ability to change the world for good. She co-hosts the Girlfriends & Business podcast with Lori Harder & Alli Webb, created to encourage other women to take the entrepreneurial leap.
Most recently, she has committed to revolutionizing the franchise industry. After taking key learnings from franchising Drybar, Brittany is creating a way better franchise experience at Squeeze and looking to partner with successful business leaders across the country. She is dedicated to giving aspiring entrepreneurs the same opportunity she had to build and own a meaningful experience that transforms communities for good.
In every village there is a wise woman. In the Village of Franchising, her name is Edith.
Edith Wiseman is the President of FranData, a leading franchise market research firm.
Listen in as Edith takes off her ‘hard data’ hat and reveals her warm fuzzy heart in today’s episode of Franchise Woman podcast: Where Passion & Purpose Collide.
There is much to learn about the role of empathy, including tips to listen like you’ve never listened before.
Take out your iPad and open up One Note, because you’ll want to take notes.
Meet Edith Wiseman
Wiseman is President of FRANdata, a leading franchise market research firm based in Arlington Virginia. As a 20 year veteran at FRANdata, franchising is more than a passion for her, the analyzing and understanding of all things franchising and equating insight into results is her calling. Wiseman plays a pivotal leadership role in the strategic growth of FRANdata’s performance advisory, strategic marketing and franchise financing solutions.
Due to her dedication and knowledge Wiseman is the go-to person for hundreds of franchisors, top franchise lenders, Fortune 500 companies, and industry partners. As one franchisor disruptor describes the results of her work — “we couldn’t have grown to 1,000 stores and beyond without her and her team.”
Named by Entrepreneur magazine as a Top Influential Women in Franchising, Wiseman has long been a key figure in understanding and promoting business model excellence and franchise finance best practices. Wiseman currently sits on the International Franchise Association’s (IFA) Executive Committee as part of their Board of Directors, is Chair of the IFA’s Supplier Forum and is also part of the education foundation board. She remains a strong advocate for emerging brands through her work with the Emerging Franchisor Conference Committee, and the Emerging Franchisor Task Force.
Edith is fluent in German, a devoted mother, avid jogger and loves finding and trying out new franchises.
Pam Vivio and her husband Mijo, co-founders of Beyond Juicery + Eatery believed cold, delicious and healthy smoothies would be welcomed in any climate including Michigan. And boy were they right!
Listen in as Pam Vivio shares her story on this episode of The Franchise Woman podcast: Where Passion & Purpose Collide.
Learn more about how Beyond Juicery + Eatery focuses on making a difference by partnering with various national and local charities and organizations. Pam believes today’s employee and entrepreneur wants to do more than just make money. They want to be a vital and integral part of their communities.
Meet Pam Vivio
Pam Vivio, co-founder of Beyond Juicery + Eatery, has always had a love for business. Growing up, she watched her father run his restaurant and learned about business initiatives and management from working alongside him. In college, Pam met her now husband, Mijo, and they both quickly learned they shared a background and love for the restaurant industry.
Fast forward a few years and the idea to bring a healthy eatery to the Detroit area came to be thanks to the duo. With Mijo’s focus on restaurant operations and customer experiences, Pam brings a special touch to Beyond Juicery + Eatery with her keen eye for community involvement. With Pam’s commitment to the industry and degree in international business management, she helps the brand evolve with changing customer preferences which has helped the brand grow to nearly 40 locations.
We predict Amy Phillips, President and CMO at Altitude Trampoline Parks will write a best-selling book entitled: The One Big Win. She’ll travel world-wide speaking to large audiences about the same topic. And you and I will be able to say we knew her when.
You’ll want to listen in to Amy’s interview on The Franchise Woman podcast: Where Passion & Purpose Collide with hosts Rebecca Monet and Tracy Kawa.
Meet Amy Phillips
Amy Phillips is a dynamic marketing executive with more than 20 years of experience working with some of the world’s leading family entertainment brands like Pepsi, Dave & Buster’s World Headquarters, Main Event Entertainment, Drive Shack and most recently Altitude Trampoline Parks.
As an award-winning leader, strategist and marketer, Amy has successfully developed industry changing consumer promotions and launched brand concepts that have served to positively reimagine the entire family entertainment experience.
As an executive strategist to leading private equity companies navigating brand acquisition, she has consistently exceeded revenue goals while simultaneously increasing overall brand growth. Currently, Amy leads Altitude as the Chief Marketing Officer credited with strong strategic growth, enhanced digital and in-park experiences, compelling new guest offerings and best-in-class guest services training. In addition, she supports franchising development and operational best practices, leveraging her years of industry experience and a wide breadth of vendor relationships.
Amy’s campaigns have yielded incredible honors such as the American Marketing Association’s (AMA) New Product Launch and AMA Marketer of the Year. Having pioneered teams that seamlessly integrate sales and marketing to create true brand ambassadorship, Amy has consistently produced year over year growth, exceeded revenue targets and led brand innovation.
Fueled by her high energy attitude and relentless approach to being the best, Altitude is poised for continued success as Amy continues to push the boundaries of marketing, brand messaging, and guest optimization – all in the name of driving revenue and overall growth of the Altitude brand.
Listen in to Ray Titus, CEO of United Franchise Group on this episode of The Franchise Woman podcast: Where Passion & Purpose Collide. Ray answers these and many more questions:
How a man running several successful companies mentally shifts when going from one meeting, situation or decision to another in a split second, all while remain fully engaged and present?
What role does legacy play in Ray Titus’ life and business?
In what ways does the free enterprise system mirror Ray’s firm belief in our unalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness?
Meet Ray Titus
Ray Titus, CEO of United Franchise Group,the global leader for entrepreneurs, has elevated franchising from a career to a calling. His philosophies on growth, positive attitude, and family, influence the core values that have driven success withinthe brands he has developed from conception to international expansion.
Since the beginning of his career, Ray’s enterprising spirit was cultivated by a franchising legend, his father, Roy Titus, founder of Minute Man Press. Their shared appreciation for innovation and resourcefulness, fueled by Ray’s determination,laid the groundwork for what has become an established and respectedcommunity within the world’s franchising industry.
Ray founded the very first Signarama store in 1986 and since, has applied his successful business model to other business-to-business brands which currentlyinclude: Fully Promoted, Transworld Business Advisors, Venture X, Network Lead Exchange,and Preveer. United Franchise Group has also welcomed to its family, a food division featuring: Jon Smith Subs, The Great Greek Mediterranean Grill, and Graze Craze.
Having the resources and expertise tobuildsuccessful franchises, led to the formation of several organizations dedicated to advancing the franchise industry. AFI,Accurate Franchising Inc., is a company thatspecializes in helping entrepreneurs transform their businesses into franchises. Franchise Real Estate is a leading commercial real estate brokerage, consultant, and advocate servingthe franchising and commercial real estate sector.Today, UFG has over 1600 franchises in more than 80 countries yetcontinues to remain a family business.
Ray and his wife Andreas have lived in Palm Beach County for over 30 years and have built a UFG teamin which his family is highly involved. All three of his sons, as well as his three nephews and daughter-in-law have chosen careers within the organization making United Franchise Group a family-owned business that is truly like a family.
Ray attended St. John Fisher College and Florida Southern Collegeon a basketball scholarships andcontinues to apply the enthusiasm and sportsmanship he gained from that experience to his perspective on leadership and teamwork, which has led to many humbling awards and industry recognition.
In 2007, Signaramabecame the first ever franchise to be recognized with the prestigious “E” Award which was received in the oval office from President Bush. The President’s the highest recognition for a United States entity, for its significant contributions to the expansion of U.S. exports and in 2018, Ray was honored again for his leadership, when United Franchise Group alsoreceived the coveted “E” award.
Ray has been recognized by Ernst & Young as Florida Entrepreneur of the Year, the Counselor International Person of the Year, the American Free Enterprise Medal from Palm Beach Atlantic University,ASI’s Power 50 list of the industry’s most influential people, the Sun-Sentinel Excalibur Award and for four consecutive years, Ray was named in Stitches magazine’s “Power 75” list of most influential people.He was one of the founders of the Florida Franchisor Association.
Ray not only participated in the World Leaders Conference, but alsodelivered the address in 2015. He has published several books including “Laws of Inevitability”, “Ray’s Week”, “Put a Little JJ in Your Life” and “You’re Not Listening to Me.”
Over 15 years ago, Rayestablished the United Franchise Group Foundation (charitable fund). His commitment to the local community, and to the global franchising communityis epitomized by his involvement with The Titus Center for Franchising. He and his family donated significantly to helpestablish the center in cooperation with Palm Beach Atlantic University. It remains the only university center in the USA, solely dedicated to teaching students the principles of franchising a business. The Titus family also established an endowed scholarship to reward selected Rinker School of Business students who are seeking a career in franchising.
Ray’s achievements demonstrate his dedication to advancing the principles of franchising and his passion for entrepreneurship. He has created acommunity within the franchising industry that values family, personal growth, and fellowship. His outreach influences on a global scale as he continues to create opportunities for entrepreneurs to gain not only financial independence but also establish their legacy for future generations to come.
