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Paula Dougherty is a certified financial planner and private wealth adviser leading the Achieve Private Wealth office of Ameriprise Financial Services. Starting out in the field in the mid-1990s, Paula says she had to learn how to trust herself and step outside her comfort zone to build a book of business. Today, her office is one of Forbes’ Best-in-State Wealth Management Teams and she was named to Forbes’ 2024 Top Women Wealth Advisors list. She says her work is about relationship building and being steadfast in financial advice to clients, even in a crisis. In this conversation, Paula talks about building an office culture that matched her values and her journey to develop her own style of leadership over her nearly 30-year career.

Alex Erwin is the manager of scientific programs at Susan G. Komen. Her work involves bringing together industry leaders and patient voices to identify gaps in breast cancer research and needs in patient care. She moved back to the Springfield area after the birth of her daughter to be closer to family, and says she benefited from a post-pandemic shift to remote work that made the job at national nonprofit Komen possible. In this conversation, Alex talks about the impact of her mother’s breast cancer diagnosis on her work, and how emigrating to the U.S. from Russia as a child with her single mother has shaped her perspective and identity. She also discusses the ongoing focus of Komen on data collection, aiming to collect information from diverse patient populations to improve health outcomes.

Heather Lyons-Burney is one of the founders of Faith Community Heath and My Neighbor’s Charitable Pharmacy. She’s also a clinical associate professor at the UMKC School of Pharmacy. Heather was the first pharmacy resident at CoxHealth – and she’s continued blazing trails throughout her career. In 2021, she led the efforts to develop the first charitable pharmacy in the state. She says there are many challenges in the pharmacy industry, but she’s optimistic that a charitable model could be a part of the solution. In this conversation, Heather talks about her passion for helping patients and how she’s driven by curiosity.

Jamie Dopp is the manager of marketing and communications for White River Valley Electric Cooperative Inc. This conversation takes us out of the office and on the journey to receiving a rare diagnosis for her daughter, Lillie. Five years ago, the daughter she described as vibrant and outgoing became unable to keep food down. Diagnoses of eating disorders and failure to thrive were tossed around, but Jamie says she knew something was being missed. She became determined to find answers, fueled by sheer will and the strength of her own mom’s example. Jamie says she found her voice and learned to trust her intuition as she researched how to help her daughter. The yearslong journey resulted in a diagnosis just .013% of people will ever hear. In this conversation, Jamie talks about the volunteer experiences that taught her to hold on to hope and how she’s committed to self-care in the next season of life.

Mary Kromrey is the executive director of Ozark Greenways Inc., leading the efforts to maintain and grow the region’s trail systems. Her love of nature began in childhood. She got back to those roots in 2016 when she joined the nonprofit after two decades working with the YMCA. She says opening herself to the possibility that life could take an unexpected turn landed her the gig. Now, she is advocating for her vision of walkable and connected communities. In this conversation, Mary talks about growing a thicker skin in her leadership role, finding joy in work and nature, and ongoing projects to ungap the trail map.

Stephanie Stenger is the president of Ron Stenger Cos., overseeing the legal and financial side of the family residential development business. She was also part of the group that in 2010 purchased the Moxie Cinema and turned it into a sustainable nonprofit enterprise. In recent years, she’s tackled a new industry with investments to open a marijuana dispensary. Her passion for seeing a thriving community is the thread that weaves through all her work. She followed in her mom’s footsteps on that path – they were the first mother-daughter duo to serve as presidents of the Junior League of Springfield. In this conversation, Stephanie talks about the importance of building friendships and connections, shaking off traditional dating definitions, and lessons learned through the seasons of life.

Sherry Coker is the owner of Coker Consulting LLC, assisting businesses with education and training solutions. She spent 17 years in workforce development at Ozarks Technical Community College, leaving in 2023 to pursue a long-held dream to run her own business. The path to finding the courage to bet on herself was long and bumpy. Sherry says she’s struggled with an eating disorder and self-worth. But she’s learned to turn down the track inside her head that says she isn’t good enough, and that’s led to new opportunities and ways to impact others. In this conversation, Sherry talks about her new consulting venture, as well as the death of her first husband and finding love again. 

Yolanda Lorge is the founder and president of Grupo Latinoamericano. She also provides translation services for many organizations, like the Federal Bureau of Prisons and the state court system, and teaches English and Spanish language courses. Yolanda emigrated from Mexico as a young married woman, moving from metropolitan Mexico City to a small Kansas town. Since founding Groupo Latinoamericano 35 years ago, she’s worked to keep Latin culture alive in the Ozarks, encouraging people to discover and celebrate their heritage. In this conversation, Yolanda talks about her life in Mexico and the power she finds in learning, and saying yes.

Brandi VanAntwerp is the executive director of Foster Adopt Connect Inc. While her journey to that role is a full circle story, the path had many turns, including a childhood dream to practice law and become a country music singer. But her love for giving back to others has been a constant theme – she held her first fundraiser when she was just 12 years old. Brandi was born into a home with abuse at the hands of her biological father, but her story changed when her mom left and later remarried. Her stepfather, who she calls dad, adopted her as a young girl, and Brandi says that repair to her family system was critical to her development. Now in her work, she’s helping kids who face similar family trauma. In this conversation, Brandi talks about her journey to nonprofit work, becoming a foster parent herself and leading with empathy.

Stephanie O’Connor is the vice president and chief information and people officer for City Utilities of Springfield, where she’s worked her entire career. She spent most of those years in IT, but in 2017, she joined the executive leadership team and also took on human resources for the utility. Stephanie says her work and life are guided by this mantra: Be true, be you, be kind. That’s helped her navigate working to support her family as a teenager after her parents’ divorce. It has also helped her take on a demanding leadership role when some doubted her. She says her most rewarding accomplishment has been connecting women at the utility, which has led to an increase of female employees. In this episode, we talk about growing up in poverty, how she reconciled with her father, working in a male-dominated field and how her outlook on life has shaped her journey.

Norma Champion’s career started in the 1950s, hosting a children’s television show on KY3. After returning to school to finish her degree, she worked as a professor teaching broadcasting at Evangel University. In a twist to her career, she was elected to Springfield City Council in 1987, which launched a decadeslong run in politics, including as a member of the Missouri House of Representatives and Senate. There, she addressed issues relating to health care, family and children, and education. She’s accumulated a long list of honors, but she says reflecting on her career now at 90 years old, it’s the memories around the personal connections she’s built that are the most significant. In this episode, Norma and I talk about how her faith influences her life, the impact of the death of her first husband and losing her vision, and what she still hopes to accomplish.

Melinda Burrows has had a love of food her whole life. That passion has sent her around the world, cooking for Paul McCartney, Phil Collins and INXS while on tour, to name a few, and preparing private dinners for Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston and George Clooney. In recent years, Melinda has worked as an executive chef and earned the elite title of certified executive chef from the American Culinary Federation. She says it’s her love of ingredients and the connection of food that keeps her excited about the profession. In this episode, Melinda talks about her storied life in the culinary arts, her recent departure from the kitchen at Hickory Hills Country Club and her next career move.