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Birmingham • FACES

Words of Wisdom That Will Inspire You Today

As we say goodbye to 2014, let's look back and reflect on all the words of wisdom and inspiration shared by the women we featured as FACES this year.

December 28, 2014 · By Catherine Romero

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From entertainers, artists and doctors to decorators, entrepreneurs and everyone in between, we’ve enjoyed meeting and sharing 2014’s FACES of Birmingham with you. What an incredible group of women! As we say goodbye to this year, let’s look back and reflect on all of the wisdom and inspiration shared by these amazing ladies.

Katie Rogers

Katie Rogers — Katie Rogers: “Breathe.”

Neillie Butler

Neillie Butler — Neillie Butler: “Be yourself, do what you do best and success will come.”

Jen Barnett

Jen Barnett — Jen Barnett: “Don’t plan for A while rewarding for B. Another way of saying this is that you reap what you sow. The article talks about motivating others, but it applies to yourself, too. Be honest with yourself about the things you want most, and then pursue them relentlessly.”

Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice

CatMax_Photography_Dr._Valerie_Montgomery_Rice_Morehouse-5249-533x800 — Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice: “Spending time performing surgeries in the operating room has taught me the value of focusing intently on one thing. In surgery, you can’t multitask: it’s all about the patient in front of you. I try to apply this mindset outside of the OR, too. Being present. Focusing on what’s in front of me and what’s most important at the time. Doing one thing at a time and doing it to the best of my ability.”

Jennifer Boles

Jennifer Boles — Jennifer Boles: “Trust your gut. It’s such a simple piece of advice, and yet it’s one that is easy to forget.”

India Ramey

India Ramey — India Ramey: “Be quiet and do your work.”

Rebecca Fulmer

Rebecca Fulmer — Rebecca Fulmer: “K.I.S.S.: an acronym for ‘keep it simple, stupid.’ I tend to make everything too complicated. K.I.S.S. reminds me to simmer down.”

Rachel Macy Stafford

Rachel Macy Stafford — Rachel Macy Stafford: “And every day, the world will drag you by the hand yelling, ‘This is important! And this is important! And this is important! You need to worry about this! And this! And this!’ And each day, it’s up to you, to yank your hand back, put it on your heart and say, ‘No. This is what’s important.’”(Iain Thomas)

Sybil Sylvester

Sybil Sylvester — Sybil Sylvester: “‘Can’t’ never could do nothin.’”

Brooke Mason

Brooke Mason — Brooke Mason: “My grandfather, Dempsey Boyd, who is no longer with us, came to speak to my class when I was a senior in high school. He said to find something you love in life for your career, and you will always be happy and prosperous. This is so true, and I have always focused my career goals around this advice.”

Kate Hable Sweeney and Susan Hable Smith

Hable Construction sisters — Kate Sweeney and Susan Smith, Hable Construction:
Kate: “‘This, too, shall pass.’ When you go through rough patches, you have to just pick your chin up and plow through. It always passes, and it always gives you something to put in your back pocket — experience.”
Susan: “It’s pretty basic, but staying flexible is my mantra for business. And if you want something, just dream that that is what you are. Our dad always said, ‘Keep it in the road.’ That’s Texas slang for not getting off track or driving in the ditch. Keep moving.”

Tricia Kirk

Tricia Kirk — Tricia Kirk: “As a person, I’d say to be honest, look people in the eye and say thank you. As a leader, it’s to not let your heart overrule your brain. It is easy to pull at my heart with the population The Exceptional Foundation serves, but sometimes to maintain the quality of the programs and safety of our participants, I have to put my heart aside.”

Kari Kampakis

Kari Kampakis — Kari Kampakis: “Several years ago, I wrote an article about my friend Laura Clark, who had lost her son, Wesley, to SIDS 10 years earlier. In our interview, I asked Laura if she thought about heaven a lot, because I imagined she would after losing a child. Her reply completely changed my outlook on parenting and life. With an emphatic nod, Laura said: ‘Oh, yes. My goal in life is to get my family and myself to heaven. Now that I have one there, I feel like part of me is there.’ That was a lightbulb moment for me. It shifted my focus to eternity and helped me see how inconsequential so many of my hopes, dreams and plans were.”

Shannon Riley

Shannon Riley — Shannon Riley: “Protect your cash.”

Betsy Brown

Betsy Brown — Betsy Brown: “Number one, look deep inside, decide what you really believe and own it. And two, floss.”

Dominique Love & Elizabeth Feichter

Atlanta Food & Wine Festival founders, Dominique Love (left) & Elizabeth Feichter (right). — Atlanta Food & Wine Festival founders, Dominique Love (left) & Elizabeth Feichter (right): “There are really no limits to what we can achieve, especially when we’re surrounded by our amazing team and the festival’s Advisory Council and talent. We have also been surprised by how much we — actually most of us — don’t know about the South. There is so much substance and depth to our region’s food and drink culture. Every day is a learning adventure!”

Emily Tickle Thomas

Emily Tickle Thomas — Emily Tickle Thomas: “People are good.” (Jeff Hawkins)

Carole Griffin

Carole Griffin — Carole Griffin: “I have a friend who says, ‘What you came here needing, you came here with.’ I think in this society, where we’re encouraged sometimes to believe that what we have or what we are is insufficient, that we can relax and trust that we’re actually sitting in the midst of great abundance.”

Pat Ryan

Pat Ryan — Pat Ryan: “Don’t ever ask an employee to do a task you will not do yourself.”

Kathy G. Mezrano

Kathy Mezrano — Kathy G. Mezrano: “My dad always said, ‘Work hard. There’s no easy street.’”

Jan Ware

Jan Ware — Jan Ware: “My mother always said, ‘A moment of pleasure, a lifetime of regret.’”

Patti Henry

Patti Henry — Patti Henry: “I will tell you the quote that starts my new novel, ‘The Stories We Tell.’ It is by one of my favorite authors, Madeleine L’Engle: ‘Some things have to be believed to be seen.’ I love this, not only because it hints at what is to come in the story, but also because it is a way of seeing life. First, you must believe. Belief comes first.”

Sara Evans

Sara Evans — Sara Evans: “I don’t know where the quote originally came from, but my mom always said, ‘You can’t go wrong by doing right.’ It’s stuck with me to this day.”

Claire Howorth

Claire Howorth — Claire Howorth: “I tend to worry about everything a bit more than the average person. So ‘This, too, shall pass’ is an important mantra to me. You know — tomorrow, next week, in a few months, this will just be a memory.”

Vice Admiral Nora Tyson

Vice Admiral Nora Tyson — Vice Admiral Nora Tyson: “When I was an ensign and serving in my first job in the Navy, I worked for two aviators who told me I had to apply for flight school or I wouldn’t stay in the Navy. I followed their advice, and have never looked back. I applied, was accepted, went to flight school in Pensacola and, ultimately, became a naval flight officer.”

Tara Guérard

Tara Guérard — Tara Guérard: “Please, please have a good time planning your wedding, and have a blast on your wedding day!”

Jane Scott Hodges

Jane Scott Hodges — Jane Scott Hodges: “I’m not sure where this originated, but my personal mantra is, ‘You are the master of your fate.’ I tell my daughter this all the time, and it is a tenet that I personally believe. Make decisions that you can be proud of, and all will come together in your life.”

Lauren Zwanziger

Lauren Zwanziger — Lauren Zwanziger: “’We wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment.’ (Hilaire Belloc) I like to feature this quote on my blog and social media accounts. This quote has a lot of meanings for me, but overall, it’s a reminder to go explore with the intention of changing myself for the better.”

Cherri Pitts

Cherrie Pitts — Cherri Pitts: “Follow your dreams. As cliché as that sounds, it’s true. Being a woman in the field of architecture wasn’t always easy, but my family always encouraged me from a very young age. They told me to dream big and go after it, and that has stayed with me during the toughest times. After following the dream for so long, it’s wonderful to actually get to live the dream.”

Lydia Pursell

Lydia Pursell — Lydia Pursell: “Slow down … I run too fast and hard some of the time.”

Keya Kraft

Keya Kraft — Keya Kraft: “Having spent nearly all of my life to date in school, I’ve been overwhelmed with advice, and not all of it good. When I was younger, I think I followed too much advice from others. So I can be a little prickly about advice and about everyone’s desire to give it, especially since it can so often take the form of what Rebecca Solnit has called mansplaining. One thing that really sticks with me from college, though, is the time when one of my professors asked if we regularly read the newspaper—a good national one like the “Washington Post” or “The New York Times” or “The Wall Street Journal” (if that’s your thing). At the time, I used to scan the front page of “The New York Times” online every day, but he told us that after we graduated, we should make a practice of reading a good newspaper daily. He was absolutely right. And I’m terrible at following that bit of advice. I also have a subscription to “The New Yorker” that I’m absolutely terrible at keeping up with.”

Chanda Temple

Chandra Temple — Chanda Temple: “Look people in the eye when you talk to them. Many years ago, a good friend noticed that I did not look people in the eye when I talked to them. He stressed how important that was. Ever since he said that, I made a point to look people straight in the eye during a conversation. It shows you are paying attention to what people are saying.”

Lucy Thompson Marsh

Lucy Thompson Marsh — Lucy Thompson Marsh: “My dad always tells me that the world is run by people that show up. Not that I want to run the world, but I think he is trying to tell me to always try. If there is a problem, keep trying to fix it. I will never give up trying to eliminate overpopulation of domestic animals. This is a cause where indifference just isn’t an option.”

Gina Butler

Gina Butler — Gina Butler: “Culinary is an art, and it’s all about going with your gut and different taste buds. Go with what your taste buds are and make it personal for you.”

Becky Satterfield

Becky Satterfield — Becky Satterfield: “My mama and daddy always told me to work hard and stay determined, because I could do whatever I set my mind to do.”

Dr. Monjri Shah

Dr. Monjri Shah — Dr. Monjri Shah: “Listen to that little voice in your gut. It’s usually right.”

Jillian Edwards

Jillian Edwards — Jillian Edwards: “There is a quote I wrote on the back of a manila folder that I taped to my wall in my college bedroom. It’s by Jon Foreman: ‘If you approach the world with the apron of a servant, then you are allowed to go places that you can’t go if you approach it with the crown of a king.’ I love that because to me, it illustrates so perfectly that my purpose in pursuing music isn’t about being the great somebody, but it’s about giving to the world in the most natural way I know how.”

Cathy McGowin

Cathy McGowin — Cathy McGowin: “Follow your instincts, trust your decisions and be true to your subject matter. Great design is great design, but there are a million different ways to interpret one room, one house or one story. You can truly drive yourself crazy if you second-guess yourself. In magazines, you are always competing with the market and yourself to do better with each story and each issue. And, yes — some issues, some images, are better than others. But if you approach each project and issue with the goal to represent it and the people involved in the best way you possibly can, you’re sure to have a great end result.”

Mary Drennen and Tiffany Davis

Mary Drennen and Tiffany Davis — Mary Drennen and Tiffany Davis: “We share a strong faith and have committed Romans 8:28 to prayer each time we celebrate a success or process a disappointment: ‘And we know that in ALL things, God works for the good of those who love him, and have been called according to His purpose.’”

Mary Catherine McClellan and Elizabeth Nichols

Mary Catherine McClellan (left) and Elizabeth Nichols (right) — Mary Catherine McClellan (left) and Elizabeth Nichols (right)
Mary Catherine McClellan: “Strive for a heart of gratitude.”
Elizabeth Nichols: “Be careful of the toes you step on today; they may be connected to the ass you have to kiss tomorrow.”

Millie Ray

Millie Ray — Millie Ray: “First, my mother, who is 95, told me that the best thing to have in your kitchen is hot water and sharp knives, and believe me, she still has it, and I do, too! And second, my daddy used to tell me that 75 percent of the things I worried about would never happen. I always think of him when I start to worry.”

Brenda Lee

Brenda Lee — Brenda Lee: “I get a lot of calls from the moms of young performers, and I always tell them the same thing: ‘Get an education.’”

We hope you’ve enjoyed looking back as much as we did. Happy New Year to you, and we can’t wait to share even more inspiring FACES with you in 2015!

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Catherine Romero

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