No Ceiling by SBJ Podcasts

Christina Ford is the founder of The Rebound Foundation, which provides housing and support to survivors of domestic violence, and the owner of Kids Inn Child Care Center, which provides drop-in care. Christina and her family moved to Springfield in 2018 when her husband, Dana, was hired to coach the Missouri State University men’s basketball team. She quickly planted roots in the community, openi...

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...

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...

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 ma...

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, b...

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 advoc...

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 c...

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....

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...

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...

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...

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 an...

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...

Cicely Woodard is a math teacher at Kickapoo High School, and her approach to education has earned her national recognition, including the Tennessee Teacher of the Year and the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. Cicely is on a mission to make math accessible and applicable to students and to teach them that when they learn the equation they never thought would s...

You might know Sarah Jenkins best as a writer and performer on “The Mystery Hour,” a once-syndicated late night talk show based out of Springfield. But her work has reached far past her roots. A “Mystery Hour” skit she stars in, “Instagram Husband,” has more than 7 million views on YouTube. Her love of comedy traces back to childhood. She says she’s drawn to the connection a shared laugh brings. H...

Christie Love leads The Connecting Grounds, a church with a mission to clothe, feed and care for those in need with compassion. Christie admits she was an unlikely candidate for full-time ministry. She grew up in church, but struggles in adulthood caused her to wrestle with her faith. She says it was in studying theology that she saw the potential the church had to reach out to the least of these...

Teresa McGeehan is the owner/operator of 19 McDonald’s restaurants in the Ozarks. She started at the restaurant as a teenager in an entry-level job and worked in nearly every leadership position before becoming an owner. At that time, she was one of only two female McDonald’s owners in the region. That wasn’t the only barrier she’s overcome. In her teens and into adulthood, Teresa experienced dome...

Dami Odunewu is the founder of Purpose Connect, a software that takes a new approach to hiring by eliminating the resume. A company motto reads: We’re on a mission to make hiring more human. Dami says the idea comes from her own story. When she found her calling, she wanted others to find theirs, too. Her life’s passion is in providing equitable access to health care. Growing up in Nigeria, she wa...

Kaitlyn McConnell is the founder of Ozarks Alive, where she shares stories of the rural Ozarks with the goal of preserving culture and documenting the region’s people and places. She also has shared her stories through two Ozarks guide books. Her love of history started early, and her local roots run deep. In early 2022, she left her job as spokesperson for CoxHealth to pursue her yearslong side h...

Michelle is the owner of downtown shop The Coffee Ethic. It’s a role she took on suddenly six years ago after the death of her husband, Tom. She says she’s been on a journey since then, to navigate trauma, raise her children and assume the responsibilities of the coffee shop. Michelle says she rediscovered herself in the process and found her own voice and strength in business. In this episode, we...

Dee says life is unpredictable, and that was no more true than in February 2020 when her husband, Todd, was diagnosed with cancer. He died six months later. Countless doctors’ appointments and long hospital stays marked those months, with Dee becoming a full-time caretaker. She says it was an honor to have the role for her husband – and to have the business community rally alongside her in that fi...

Francine wears many hats. She’s the outgoing director of Prosper Springfield, the executive director of the Missouri College Access Network and the co-owner of Queen City Soul Kitchen. Francine says her love of cooking sparked the concept, along with the opportunity to bring the community together through soul food. Francine says in recent years she’s gone through an identity crisis of sorts, anal...

Christie Snelson is an artist and the gallery director at Obelisk Home. She says her work evolves as she does. At one point, it was as a self-employed artist taking commissions for people and pet portraits. She’s since taken on landscapes and paintings depicting scenes of life on social media, but her most recent work is abstract art. She completed a show in May with over 70 pieces. We’ll talk abo...

Debbie Shantz Hart has had a trailblazing career. The first female lawyer at Husch Blackwell, and attorney to iconic developer John Q. Hammons. She was the fourth woman to chair the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce board, and the first woman outside of the Turner family to serve on the Great Southern Bank Board of Directors. Her career took an unexpected shift after her work with John Q. ended...

Angie Mullings is the broker/owner of Century 21 Integrity Group. Real estate wasn’t Angie’s first choice for a profession, but it’s one she made a career out of. She bought the business just before the Great Recession hit and took the legs out from the industry. The years that followed tested her professionally and personally, but the lessons learned stuck and sharpened her skills. Today, Angie i...