This week, host Lorie Jones sits down with Melissa Wallace, founder and CEO of the Fierce Foundry, for an authentic and empowering conversation about navigating the ups and downs of entrepreneurship.
Melissa opens up about her unconventional journey from dreaming of attending law school to building a career at the intersection of marketing, tech, and women’s health. She shares how hitting rock bottom financially during the pandemic became a pivotal moment that led her to create organizations dedicated to bridging the gender gap in business funding and supporting female tech founders. You’ll also hear about challenges of women in male-dominated industries—all from regaining financial stability to overcoming self-doubt and outdated advice like “you can’t have it all.”
Be sure to tune in as this episode offers Melissa’s hard-won wisdom on building resilience, investing in mental well-being, and daring to be fearless, even when it feels uncomfortable!
Show Highlights:
- A love story with marketing and empowering female-founded femtech. [05:22]
- A case for possibilities for women to progress in tech careers. [11:18]
- Key data on female femtech founders and funding disparity. [13:06]
- The importance of investing in your priceless mental health. [14:57]
- Why it matters that you challenge limiting advice. [19:28]
- Insights on tech accelerators and female-focused support. [23:07]
- Learning without regrets from brilliant ideas that got away. [25:59]
- How to turn fear into excitement and just wear your shoes. [29:18]
- Financial planning as a couple and gender roles in childcare. [34:23]
- Advice for young women for career and family planning. [41:13]
Connect with her by email at Melissa@thefiercefoundry.com
If you enjoyed this episode, please go to Apple Podcasts and leave a review!
For more information about Lorie Jones, go to https://fearlessfinancialadvisors.com/fearless-females.
00:02.46
Lorie Jones
Good morning, Fearless Females. So I am so excited. Today we’ve got Melissa Wallace, and she’s the founder and CEO of Fierce Foundry. And um she is for those of you who are just kind of listening rather than watching, she’s got this t-shirt on that says, Invest in Women.
00:20.07
Lorie Jones
So I am convinced that this is going to be the best conversation ever. Thank you so much for joining us, Melissa. i appreciate it.
00:27.08
Melissa
Thank you. Thank you so much for having me.
00:30.77
Lorie Jones
So first question always is, I’m a reader, love reading. Tell me what your favorite book is.
00:37.27
Melissa
Okay. Well, I don’t think I have a favorite. And I know I’ve listened to your podcast. I know what people tend to say. But I am rereading a book that I read a little while ago and I’m gonna just show It’s The XX Brain.
00:51.59
Lorie Jones
Uh-huh.
00:52.21
Melissa
by Elise Moscone. I first read it because you um the author is married to a friend of mine and he was promoting it. And I said, of course, I’m going to see see what this is all about.
01:04.93
Melissa
And now in my current career of what we’re doing today Fierce Foundry, I’m learning a lot about women’s health And this this book is just so influential to everything that we’re doing because it talks about the fact that women aren’t different from men just because of particular body parts that we have.
01:26.30
Melissa
We’re different everywhere. and this And this specifically talks about the brain. And it is not only really well-written, I do not read fiction,
01:38.22
Melissa
But an entertaining nonfiction author like this, it’s like worth reading again and again. I.
01:44.75
Lorie Jones
Oh, that’s cool. Is it, um I read like, I don’t know, 15 years ago or something like that. I read the female brain. Is it so somewhat similar? Oh,
01:54.38
Melissa
don’t i have not read that one, so I’ll have to look at that.
01:57.71
Lorie Jones
yeah.
01:57.91
Melissa
um But she does have a bunch of other books, too. I mean, she’s focused, um you know, she’s obviously a neuroscientist and, um you know, focused on she created the Women’s Brain Initiative and doing tons of research to help us kind of, you know, journey through later life, what happens to women’s brains because of things like our hormones and, um you know, how to to prevent things like Alzheimer’s.
02:25.96
Melissa
So it’s really cool.
02:26.73
Lorie Jones
That’s cool.
02:27.61
Melissa
Yeah.
02:27.99
Lorie Jones
Does she go into teenage brains too? Because I could have used that book when my kids were teenagers.
02:35.64
Melissa
Not a ton, um but yeah, I’m with you there. My kids are about to to get there. I can sense it coming. yeah.
02:44.63
Lorie Jones
Well, tell us a little bit about your journey, Melissa. How did you get kind of started? What do you, what did you learn along your path and what do you do now?
02:53.80
Melissa
Yeah, so um I was on the path of going to law school, was temping in a marketing department um that summer before law school, and fell in love with marketing. Fell in love with this idea of being creative in business. It didn’t really jive for me previously.
03:11.41
Melissa
And so I decided to go to grad school for marketing communications and spent all of my career, most of my career, in marketing, mostly consumer marketing, entertainment marketing. um I loved it. I wanted to market and sell products and and and programming and music and things that I loved.
03:29.49
Melissa
um And one day jumped over to work in the tech startup world, which was ah big leap. But the the founders of this particular company wanted um to kind of take in that idea of like how you sell entertainment and apply it to to this tech product.
03:47.63
Melissa
And so that was really interesting to me. And um within a year of being at that company that was just about to turn four years old, we sold it for $750 million. million dollars So that was a ride.
03:58.88
Melissa
And from there, i was hooked.
03:59.09
Lorie Jones
Thank you.
04:00.68
Melissa
I loved this early stage tech world, continued to go on and work at you know other tech startups um until I got to a point where i was sort of like phased out for the early stage because I was too expensive as ah as an employee.
04:18.07
Melissa
um And that’s when I took a co-founder of mine and we partnered to found our marketing agency called 5’2 Marketing. Yes, we’re five foot two. and is Everybody always asks.
04:27.04
Lorie Jones
ah
04:29.72
Melissa
um And um the focus was early stage startups and um still in business today, still you know running that machine, which is great. But what happened, which was really interesting, is we were meeting a lot of female founders coming to us and saying, my investor wants… I have an investor who’s interested, but wants me to show customer traction. And you know they’ve been… you know a year into it, beautiful pro prototype, this idea that they could build, but needed the money to build it. And here they are asking to spend their money with us on marketing, which made no sense whatsoever. So my co-founder and I said, let’s just donate our time you know to these women.
05:11.66
Melissa
And so that became this like, thing that moved pretty quickly where we were developing this mentoring community of women who had, you know, resources, experience, expertise that could support these women and kind of bridge that gap to get that initial funding that would help them, you know, get to that point where now they’re actually building the product.
05:32.58
Melissa
scaling the product and you know going from there. So we did that for a few years. And in 2023, I sat down, we we turned it into a nonprofit. We like, you know just something on the side that we were kind loved to do.
05:46.17
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
05:46.56
Melissa
and I said, we could do more. We have built this entire network of experts that why don’t we just start building products? Like what what can we do that has more impact um to this you know gap in funding for women?
06:01.02
Melissa
and did a bunch of research and and found this very unique idea called the studio model, venture studio model. And so we launched that and now we’re a year and a half into it. And um I’m basically, um you know, running this company where we build female founded femtech companies.
06:24.33
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
06:24.72
Melissa
And the ultimate goal is that we build launch scale exit. If we can exit these companies in less than seven years, those women will go on to invest in more women.
06:38.16
Melissa
And so we’re affecting it in a different way. We’re not saying, hey, we need to change the minds of you know, all these male investors so that they started investing in these great products and great humans.
06:49.98
Melissa
Instead, we’re gonna put more women in that space and make it more accessible to the larger group of women out there.
06:58.24
Lorie Jones
I love it. That’s a great way of kind of looking at things. And it’s so interesting how you’ve kind of evolved from, first of all, what did your parents say when you’re like, I’m not going to law school.
07:11.41
Melissa
Oh my God.
07:11.43
Lorie Jones
I’m going to go to
07:12.29
Melissa
Well, That, listen, the whole reason I was going to law school was because they had put that in my head that that’s where I needed to go. I can remember my guidance counselor saying, you should go into journalism.
07:23.88
Melissa
You should do this, like all these great things. And I was like, no, I’ve got to go to law school. I’m going to be, and and I kind of like carved out a path in like international law, like helping people abroad and doing like really cool things.
07:37.56
Melissa
But yeah, they were they were not happy at first, um but they you know they were supportive. I mean, they’ve always been very supportive.
07:47.42
Lorie Jones
Yeah. And, um and so did you kind of like, where did you work at when you first started out in marketing? Was it like a like, what did you do?
07:56.99
Melissa
Oh God. ah So it was a company that my father worked at. He had actually built the US division of this Dutch company. um copier company um So if you think of like architect, like large format copying,
08:11.02
Melissa
That’s what I was marketing. And I i don’t know, you know, i I found excitement in it, but I was very focused on the idea that I needed to step to market something I loved. And that’s when I like made a very, you know, I’m going here. This is what I’m doing. I’m going figure it out.
08:25.66
Melissa
And I moved on to work at DirecTV, um which was sort of a tech startup back then, many years ago.
08:32.32
Lorie Jones
yeah
08:33.56
Melissa
um And I was, you know, the the person who was responsible for launching the DirecTV with TiVo product before anybody even knew it. TiVo was, forget about, you know, today, like streaming, it’s like a whole new world.
08:43.08
Lorie Jones
yeah
08:45.91
Melissa
um So, you know, I’ve always sort of had like that tech side of entertainment, which has been very cool. And, you know, I loved it.
08:55.15
Lorie Jones
so So that um transition from like marketing into tech, you you did marketing in the tech space during that?
09:04.18
Melissa
Yeah, so it’s so there’s always been a tech… component. So like when I went to work in music, I worked for one of the first very early sort of um subscription models for ah live streaming music, right?
09:18.03
Melissa
So, um you know, there’s a very sort of like cool techie side of that.
09:18.06
Lorie Jones
Oh, uh-huh.
09:23.68
Melissa
When I worked at A&E Television, my role was very new, director of digital marketing, which was like, okay, yeah, there’s these ads and stuff like that.
09:23.61
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
09:31.17
Lorie Jones
I hope that’s it.
09:32.90
Melissa
But the team that I built was focused on how do you utilize social media to get people to tune in? And we were doing things like building branded games, which had never been done before.
09:44.20
Melissa
And so there’s always been this very cool tech side of you know the the work that I’ve done. and And it just it’s aligned perfectly into this this path and kind of where we are today.
09:56.10
Lorie Jones
I love it. and i I also love how that progression continued where you’re kind of at the leading edge of of some of these tech and and you brought that side of you that’s like, I want to i want to give back. I want to grow. i want to build something bigger.
10:13.02
Melissa
Yeah, and and have impact. and Like, you know, you meet these women who tell these stories about, you know, what they’re building and you’re like, wow, how did you even think of that? Like, where did, how you know, you just like want to dig in and then you hear how they sat in a meeting with an investor who never once looked them in the eye.
10:32.33
Melissa
Like, it did not give them the time of day. and you’re like, and you’re telling them about this? Like, how are they not excited? they’re just, you know, don’t even want to be in the room with you. It’s like, wow.
10:45.07
Melissa
And you hear it over and over and over again. So, you know, when I think about the reason we’re focused in women’s health is that, you know, there’s 70% health tech or femtech founders are women. Right.
10:59.92
Melissa
founders are women
11:01.24
Lorie Jones
yeah
11:01.47
Melissa
but they receive less than 50% of investments. So there’s all these products and services that are just not being accounted for and taken into consideration when it our health should be like the number one priority as we are the main species on this planet.
11:17.41
Melissa
Like, let’s think about this for a minute.
11:18.18
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
11:20.04
Melissa
Why are our bodies, like, I don’t know if you know this statistic, but women weren’t included in clinical trials until 1993.
11:27.25
Lorie Jones
yeah Isn’t that crazy?
11:27.96
Melissa
So like we’ we’re still like way behind in even understanding some of the things that happen. And I think we’re you know now becoming smart enough to realize that the frustration we’re having at the doctor is because of this history that we have to fix and we need to get into a much better place. So if I can be a part of that and get these women to a place where they can start investing in women, not just with the products that they’re building, then and I’m having the impact that I’ve never dreamed I’d be able to do. So
11:57.28
Lorie Jones
Yeah, that’s so great. um You should check out a book. It was one that was recommended by one of my fearless females, but it’s called Invisible Women. And it does talk a little bit about that, um that you know, we were just, we just weren’t included in some of those trials, some of those.
12:13.10
Melissa
Yeah.
12:13.28
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
12:13.50
Melissa
And it’s, it’s terrible. i mean, if you know anybody with a chronic illness who the number of doctors that they go see before they even have any idea of what’s causing, you know, some of their issues, it’s unreal.
12:26.37
Lorie Jones
yeah
12:26.50
Melissa
Yeah.
12:28.49
Lorie Jones
Well, I could get stuck on that all day long and talk about all of those things, but let’s go ahead and move on. What’s the best investment that you’ve made in yourself? Is there something that you’ve done that you’re like, oh my gosh, I’m so glad I invested that way in myself?
12:45.74
Melissa
You know, it’s funny you use the word investment, right? And I i know like there’s, you know, the financial side of things, where you know, where you are very focused and what you do is so important, especially for women.
12:55.17
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
12:58.69
Melissa
um I don’t think I’ve ever made a financial investment that in that way, but I have done, you know, I’ve invested in myself in different ways.
13:09.49
Melissa
And I think um investing in my mental health is why I can do what I do today.
13:15.96
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
13:16.14
Melissa
And it’s it’s not about, again, it’s not about money. It’s really first and foremost about time. And as a mother, as you know someone who’s literally running two companies, um you know how do you find the time you know to to do that?
13:32.60
Melissa
And it took me about two years to get to a point where I i put my mental health first every day. And it’s for me, it’s about um knowing what I have to tackle tackle for the day.
13:48.61
Melissa
right And it stemmed from, which is really ironic but interesting, that I had lost my job and i had decided I was going to start this business.
13:48.85
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
14:02.38
Melissa
My husband was a stay-at-home dad prior to that. He was about to go back to work and COVID hit. So here we are in this like weird place. Now we had used up all our savings, well, most of them to let him be the stay at home dad and take care of our children.
14:18.99
Melissa
Now he can’t go back to work because he’s a teacher, it’s COVID, that’s just not on the table. I’m you know just freshly starting this new company and i lose all my clients because of COVID and here we are with zero income.
14:35.26
Melissa
zip And I, the trauma from the past started to come up and all of a sudden, and there’s like this this feeling of, I can’t take care of my family sent me down this this terrible path, um affected my mental health in a really negative way to the point where coming out of COVID, I had gotten to this level of like,
15:01.55
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
15:02.36
Melissa
social anxiety, couldn’t even get to an event in person.
15:02.39
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
15:06.85
Melissa
I had to like set goals for myself. all right, you just got to walk in the door. Just got to talk to one person. And it was that moment when I was like, I need to fix this. this is This is wrong. like And um you know obviously got back on the path of financial stability, but it started with me taking time for myself and my mental health and figuring that out.
15:28.31
Melissa
And you know I look back and I think, Oh my God, i I didn’t even go to like friends parties and things like I that’s how bad it was. And you don’t see that.
15:39.15
Melissa
And that’s when, you know, that change has to happen. And I was able to do it. So that was, you know, it’s ah a long way of saying like, you know, that is the way that i am invest myself.
15:51.65
Lorie Jones
Yeah. Yeah. I think that’s so interesting. it’s It’s COVID did that to a bunch of people. I’m a natural introvert. So I’ve always set goals for myself when going to big gatherings.
16:00.87
Melissa
on
16:03.95
Lorie Jones
I’m like, you have to go in, you have to stay 35 minutes and you need to talk to two people, Laurie.
16:07.31
Melissa
Yes.
16:09.18
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
16:10.11
Melissa
I mean, I still do it, but now it’s like, because I pushed myself, it’ I’m a whole different person as result of that. And I’m still an introvert.
16:17.89
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
16:18.91
Melissa
I still go home and like pass out for three days after an event because the energy to do that is completely wiped out.
16:26.93
Lorie Jones
Yeah, well, I’m glad to hear that it’s it’s possible for us introverts, us fellow introverts. But I do think that that there’s something that we miss during COVID where like like, at least for me, in my experience as an introvert, I was like, yeah, I’m staying home.
16:43.54
Lorie Jones
That sounds amazing. Yeah.
16:45.01
Melissa
one It was like a blessing in disguise, you know? Yeah.
16:48.77
Lorie Jones
Yeah, but then it it it did make it harder when you when the world started opening up and you needed to to go out.
16:52.13
Melissa
back
16:55.59
Lorie Jones
and And quite frankly, we’re made to have these connections and these these conversations and stuff like that.
16:59.15
Melissa
Yes.
17:02.52
Lorie Jones
and and And we need to stretch ourselves. But it it did get just a little bit harder after we were stuck inside for a while.
17:05.66
Melissa
Yeah.
17:09.29
Melissa
Yes. And to think that was five years ago.
17:12.06
Lorie Jones
So… I know, i know.
17:16.16
Melissa
nice
17:16.28
Lorie Jones
um What about some bad advice? What is the worst advice that someone gave you and and did you take it?
17:24.06
Melissa
There’s been a lot of bad advice. People love to give advice, you know, and and don’t realize that it’s bad. I think um the worst advice I got from my mom, who said, you can’t have it all.
17:35.83
Lorie Jones
Okay.
17:39.58
Melissa
You can’t have it all. You have to pick your you have to pick your path. And it you know like there’s no such thing you know as as having a career, having a family, and and it all being perfect.
17:50.20
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
17:51.40
Melissa
And at the time, i really wasn’t thinking about it. I didn’t want to have kids until I met my second husband. and um We were like, hey, let’s just try and see. And, you know, I had my kids in my 40s and I’d already sort of established my career and and it and it actually worked out.
18:10.10
Melissa
I’d also, you know, like really went against that because I don’t think of it as like having it all. Right. I mean, like. I don’t have it all. i don’t even know what all is. Okay.
18:22.28
Melissa
I have what I want and I focus my time accordingly. So terrible of it. Like you can’t tell somebody you have to really think about what you’re going to Like that’s terrible advice, right?
18:37.23
Lorie Jones
Yeah. And I do think that there’s a a, you know, maybe it was true back in the day, like back in.
18:45.19
Melissa
Well, for my mom, you know, by the time she had her fourth child, she,
18:46.69
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
18:49.38
Melissa
She i was finishing grad school and you know wanted a career and she had to make that decision. And that decision was very hard for her. I know that.
18:58.82
Lorie Jones
hmm.
18:59.08
Melissa
um And I think she was trying to protect me you know from this expectation that I might’ve had that I can do anything I want um and that you know maybe I would fail at some point.
19:02.39
Lorie Jones
Mm hmm.
19:11.76
Melissa
you know And i appreciate that, but also, you know, for other people, if it wasn’t me someone else hearing that would have, you know, constructed their life accordingly and might might have, you know, looked back and said, wow, I really wish I tried.
19:27.46
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
19:27.97
Melissa
this or that. And um I know you love to talk about regrets and like, you know, that part of it. And I i always say i like, there are things that I wish I had done differently, but I don’t have regrets, you know?
19:41.68
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
19:42.79
Melissa
um and that’s, you know, just part of my nature and who I am. And, you know, my mom, my mom is very different.
19:48.79
Lorie Jones
yeah
19:50.29
Melissa
She has many regrets and feels different.
19:52.48
Lorie Jones
Yeah. Yeah, and I think it’s important, too, to realize that they just didn’t, they may not have been able to do it all. Like, the world wasn’t set up for that kind of a yeah, but.
20:03.48
Melissa
It wasn’t. No. And that’s what, you know, pushes me even harder to be someone who makes that change because I know that decision was hard for her and that should never have to be the case.
20:17.25
Lorie Jones
Yeah, yeah.
20:18.18
Melissa
And, and um hopefully we’re, you know, maybe not this year for sure, but this lifetime, we have to see that for sure.
20:25.11
Lorie Jones
But hopefully this lifetime, right?
20:30.19
Lorie Jones
Yeah. And I love that that that is something really important in what you do when you’re um helping women to to grow their businesses and then invest in other women. Like women-owned businesses know what women-specific problems are.
20:47.36
Lorie Jones
like
20:47.54
Melissa
Right. Right.
20:48.26
Lorie Jones
taking care of, you know, caretaking responsibilities and, and different things like that.
20:51.26
Melissa
right
20:52.83
Lorie Jones
And if we can encourage setting up businesses that allow women to participate in this career, this professional space, at the same time, they don’t have to give up that dream of being a mom.
21:06.60
Melissa
That’s right. That’s right. One of the things, so I’m ah i’m a mentor at different tech accelerators. And the reason we chose a studio model, again, we we basically co-found um these companies and we we bring in all of the resources that they need outside of their expertise. and not only that, we bring in people who are vetted, who we know are going to do the work. And if they don’t, we’ll be the ones to take care of it, replace it, whatever needs to happen. But in ah addition to that,
21:35.78
Melissa
um we we maintain the support, ah you know, throughout. And that includes providing community. That includes providing founder therapy.
21:46.33
Melissa
That includes, oh my God, I’m, you know, my my mother is sick. I have to go take care of her. we will keep things moving. I see it so many times. Women come out of these accelerators and they’re kind of left for like, okay, well, you know, what next?
22:01.17
Melissa
Oh no, you’re on your own. Go go figure it out.
22:03.54
Lorie Jones
fuck
22:03.81
Melissa
We’ve taken you, we’ve gotten you this far, you should be good. Women don’t, that’s that that’s not a way that we work. Like we work better together. we work better in a supportive environment.
22:14.76
Melissa
That’s a big piece that we have to solve for and do differently. I see women in accelerators who have a life changing event happen and don’t have a way to continue this, you know, amazing business that they’ve spent money and time and you know have neglected other things in their lives for, all of a sudden it just drops and ends? like thats That shouldn’t be the case.
22:39.84
Melissa
And so because we are the caregivers, we because we are the people who are having those additional responsibilities and have other things going on in our life, let’s create organizations that support that.
22:52.46
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
22:52.62
Melissa
And the other thing that we are focused on too is this nine to five.
22:52.60
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
22:57.35
Melissa
right like That does not exist. ah any anybody I hired my marketing agency, like I like to get to know like a little bit about them specifically for that reason. Okay. I asked the question, you know, what, when do you work?
23:10.90
Melissa
And first it’s a very confusing, you know, like, well, what, when do you need me? No, no, no, no. When do you work? Let’s figure out how this project is going to work in your schedule and, you know, we’ll figure it out.
23:22.71
Melissa
So we, we hire a lot of like, ah We have a lot of women who have are like literally just you know months out of having their first baby, um trying to figure it out, don’t know what the hell they’re going to do. and um you know we support them. It’s like, listen, you know the ah you need to be off camera because you’re feeding your baby.
23:42.99
Melissa
That’s fine. you know and
23:43.85
Lorie Jones
um
23:44.60
Melissa
you know We just need to get the work done.
23:46.66
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
23:46.80
Melissa
And we’re good at it. So…
23:48.92
Lorie Jones
Yeah. Yeah. I love that. So I won’t ask about regrets, but I will ask what would you have done differently? Is there any situation that you would go back and like, you’re like, I know now, and I would handle that differently given, given another opportunity.
23:57.71
Melissa
Oh, God. So it’s really hard to answer that because I love where I am in my life right now, right?
24:03.30
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
24:07.41
Melissa
Like I had an ex-husband. ah he Parts of me wish that I never did that. Like my parents had to spend the money on that wedding. Like, oh, you know, like I feel terrible. I wish I hadn’t done that. um But if I hadn’t gone through that marriage, I wouldn’t have met this amazing man in my life today.
24:23.28
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
24:23.54
Melissa
um So, you know, a lot of things I know are part of the the path and the journey. um But I i did. So the Fierce Foundry is the first company that I decided to start solo on my own as as as a solo founder.
24:39.68
Melissa
um i had an idea in my late 20s of ah a product I wanted to build and I had a partner and we were both going to invest about $30,000 into this company. um We spent every morning kind of coming up with this idea. yeah And let me tell you something. This was 2002.
24:56.22
Melissa
You know what TaskRabbit is today? it was that using PalmPilot connecting middle management women with college students. And the benefit was that you couldn’t have a personal assistant, you know, at when you’re middle management, like just financially and just didn’t, it wasn’t a thing, but man, what if you had one, you know, how you could excel in your career?
25:19.03
Lorie Jones
Oh yeah.
25:19.31
Melissa
And what about these, you know, young women who are want to meet someone that they can be connected to when they get out of college, because now you’ve helped them, you know, succeed. It was this whole, ecosystem plus like providing services that you know middle management women need in order to get to the next level.
25:36.45
Melissa
I mean, brilliant, right? had the whole business plan.
25:37.77
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
25:39.37
Melissa
Because my partner pulled out, i said, I can’t do this on my own. There’s no way I can do this on my own. And I think about it now and I’m like, yeah, that was a brilliant idea, clearly, because there’s a million apps out there that do that today.
25:53.56
Melissa
again, again Would I have gotten here where i am today doing the things I’m doing? No. But would that have been really cool? Yeah, I probably, you know, I kind of wish that I had just gone and done it.
26:08.77
Melissa
Yeah.
26:09.27
Lorie Jones
Yeah. I kind of think about alternate universes, like glory in another universe is this, you know, and like, what would that have looked like? It gives you some, ah something to think about.
26:22.09
Melissa
It does. And the other thing that i start I started doing is thinking about those moments and how do how do they apply to me today? What am I doing in my life that I might look back on and say, I should have done that differently.
26:35.47
Melissa
And like, you know like It is sort of that dimensional thinking and um it can get really scary at times. But if you can think like if anybody out there thinks like that, please reach out to me.
26:45.51
Melissa
I want to know how to do that because I start to think about it and then I get like scared and nervous and fear comes creeping back in.
26:52.12
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
26:54.00
Melissa
Yeah.
26:54.53
Lorie Jones
Yeah. It is a ah really good litmus test, though, like to kind of think about… you know, when I’m making a decision, a particularly difficult decision in my life, I’m like, am I going to regret doing this 10 years down the line or regret not doing it?
27:10.57
Lorie Jones
You know, which one?
27:11.32
Melissa
no And that’s like, oh, then the weight of that, it’s like already a hard decision as it is, but yeah.
27:14.94
Lorie Jones
well Yeah. Yeah. If you could go back and talk to yourself at the beginning of your journey, talk to you specifically, what would you tell that 20 year old 21 year old you?
27:30.25
Melissa
It’s so funny. It all comes back to fear. And um I would say, don’t be afraid, you know, like follow your gut, like that instinct, because um i i definitely was put in positions where there were opportunities for me that I didn’t believe that I was worthy of, or, you know, I was afraid of, you know, not being the right person.
27:40.07
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
28:00.61
Melissa
I i i wasn’t worthy. i wasn’t capable, you know, I definitely, you know, especially at 20, you know, like I was studying marketing communications and I loved, you know, more the branding and the really creative side of it. But I ended up going into a more technical marketing role. Like why? Because I didn’t think I was worthy or good enough or that that was, you know, where I belonged. But now, you know, looking back, it’s like, yes, you did.
28:33.38
Melissa
Why were you afraid? Jump, jump in, just jump in, just try it. Just go like go with it. What’s the worst that could happen?
28:41.14
Lorie Jones
Fearless, right? Fearless. Be just a little bit fearless.
28:44.45
Melissa
happy Exactly, exactly.
28:47.26
Lorie Jones
ah What about what scared you the most when you first started out on your journey? And does it still scare you today? Or did you figure out how to work through that?
28:58.62
Melissa
What scared me? i i
29:02.59
Melissa
I feel like there were a lot of things that scared me.
29:05.03
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
29:05.88
Melissa
um
29:08.74
Melissa
i i think even today, and I kind of just kind of mentioned this, this idea of like not doing the best possible job.
29:17.97
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
29:18.81
Melissa
And this like goes back to my relationship with my parents. I was the middle child. And, you know, to in order to stand out, you know, I had to be perfect. I had to do all the things. I had to um really like follow through on on things. And um to this day, like the same thing when I was young, it just was like physical reaction to, oh my God, am I not going to be perfect at this?
29:46.82
Melissa
Oh my God, am I going to let somebody down? and um I had that fear all the time, um you know, as ah as as a very young person.
29:57.14
Melissa
And even like today, I still, like I think about it and I can still sort of feel that physical reaction to, oh my God, what if I, like this podcast, what if I don’t do a good job for you?
30:08.01
Melissa
i would and that it would just like break my heart, you know, like that’s a real feeling. Yeah.
30:16.80
Lorie Jones
So how do you, how did you, how do you overcome it? Do you just try it or do you, is there some prick?
30:21.99
Melissa
Yeah.
30:23.05
Lorie Jones
Like, is there some mantra I can say to myself to get me past that?
30:28.70
Melissa
Yes, actually there is. And um I, this is actually, I was at an event last night and um there was a woman who’s like, I really want to start my own company.
30:39.85
Melissa
I don’t know how or where to start. And I kind of gave her advice on like where she could start. And then I i said to her, this is something that I tell a lot of people that that I don’t think you realize, like when you feel fear, that physical reaction to fear, just train your brain and say, this is excitement.
30:57.64
Melissa
It’s exciting to to feel that I don’t know what’s on the next page or it’s exciting to feel that something is happening, something new is happening, something, you know, good or bad is going to happen. And if you.
31:10.39
Melissa
and now And now I get it. It’s more like a chill. It actually, the the physical reaction changes to something very different. And um ah for me, what I did is ah i i um I do a lot of yoga.
31:23.37
Melissa
And at the time I was in the studio doing yoga like every day. And I would basically, that was my mantra. It’s not fear. It’s excitement. It’s not fear. It’s excitement. It’s not fear. It’s excitement.
31:34.93
Melissa
And like, Make that whatever that feeling was, whether it was in my stomach or my chest or my neck, my throat, you know, like when I feel that that’s exciting. It’s good. It’s a good.
31:46.29
Melissa
And you feel like a crazy person at first, but eventually you, you your mind, it’s mind over matter. And um it allows you to become fearless.
31:57.58
Melissa
I think at least it is.
31:58.51
Lorie Jones
I like that.
31:59.01
Melissa
It worked for me.
32:00.48
Lorie Jones
Yeah. I’m going try it. I’m going to try it. Cause there are those times when you just start like, Oh gosh, I’m going to fall flat on my face and everyone’s going to see.
32:07.48
Melissa
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that’s like, um you know, it’s like when we were getting dressed to go to the events yesterday, i didn’t have the right shoes.
32:18.81
Melissa
And ah my coworker said to me, nobody’s looking at your shoes. And when you start to think about that, then you stop thinking about it. Nobody’s looking at my shoes.
32:30.94
Melissa
And that’s the truth. Like, unless you’re in their head and you know, you know what they’re thinking, Who cares?
32:36.93
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
32:37.36
Melissa
It’s only to get your own shoes, right?
32:37.82
Lorie Jones
They’re probably looking at their own shoes. They’re way more worried about their own shoes.
32:41.01
Melissa
We’re all doing that. Yes.
32:42.24
Lorie Jones
Yeah. um What about any unique challenges? Did you face any unique challenges through this journey?
32:48.22
Melissa
Oh, yeah.
32:49.62
Lorie Jones
Because you weren’t.
32:49.82
Melissa
I mean, listen, being completely financially unstable, um, uh, to this day, I think my husband and I have PTSD, but, um,
32:50.17
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
33:02.79
Melissa
I’ll tell you about the challenge first and then I’ll tell you kind of where it got us. Because this is the other thing, like when when you overcome something big um and you can look back and you have someone that you’ve been through that with, it’s kind of amazing.
33:16.89
Melissa
But, you know, I i um was in a position where we had no money coming in, right? No income whatsoever. And it was like, you couldn’t even get a job at a Starbucks because Starbucks were closing, you know? And um ah I remember thinking, um you know, okay, worst case scenario.
33:38.05
Melissa
What’s the worst case scenario? We have to sell our house. We have to, you know, and we and that that exercise with, you know, the people you love who, ah you know, I’m the breadwinner in the family.
33:48.89
Melissa
i mean, we were crying on the couch, like crying and fighting. Oh my God, the fight.
33:55.77
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
33:57.16
Melissa
the fights, because i and I understand where my husband’s coming from. Like his expectation was I’m taking care of the kids. You’re taking care of, you know, bringing in the money to allow us to live the life that we want to live.
34:09.58
Melissa
um And he was very supportive of, yes, I want you to start your own business. And I want you to do this for you. and to that, you know, even through these like fights, you know, at me like blowing up and saying, you wanted me to do this.
34:24.55
Melissa
You supported me, you know, then we, calm down and it’s like, yes, I’m sorry. I will get through this. And I think like when we finally turned the page, he he also now had this like panic and anxiety about going back to work after seven years, which I know a lot of women face, which is also a real challenge.
34:31.85
Lorie Jones
Yeah. Yeah.
34:43.67
Lorie Jones
yeah
34:45.94
Melissa
And he was having that. he couldn’t He couldn’t get himself to even like request an interview. and um So we’re going through all of this at once. Right. And finally, he goes, he finally gets a part time job.
35:00.44
Melissa
Goes and he’s killing it and he’s doing great. And then, you know, my business takes off and it’s like, um you know, and we kind of looked at each other like, are we there? No, no, no, no. Keep the budget. Keep let’s like, you know, and now like, you know, we come full circle, like we couldn’t be happier with each other. We understand when things go up and down and you know, that that’s going to be part of life.
35:23.65
Melissa
And yes, we still fight, but we’re there for each other through it because we went through what was, you know, the hardest thing for us, you know, so far in our lives.
35:27.24
Lorie Jones
yeah
35:34.30
Melissa
And, you know, now we think about our financial future differently. Like we’ve, We are very good budgeters. And like the idea that, you know, the way that we spent money before, like I think about it, and and there’s a regret like, damn it, we should have been putting that in this and saving it here.
35:43.42
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
35:54.14
Melissa
And, you know, that’s, you know, that’s one thing I don’t want to ever have again in my life is regretting financial stability.
35:57.46
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
36:03.29
Melissa
And we’re on our path back and and we’re getting you know back to having the money that we’ll need you know to retire and very focused on that.
36:03.30
Lorie Jones
and
36:11.25
Melissa
But that was that was challenging. And there was no one you could go to. are going to talk to? i have no money. and Even my siblings, like the idea of like coming to them with that during that time, it’s just not something you can do.
36:23.50
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
36:27.35
Lorie Jones
Yeah, it’s a very lonely, scary place. And and it it would be challenging. um You know, it your roles were reversed where you were the breadwinner and your husband was the stay-at-home mom, you know?
36:41.45
Melissa
Yeah.
36:41.36
Lorie Jones
So it it just…
36:43.24
Melissa
Yeah, they nobody gets that.
36:43.20
Lorie Jones
um Yeah, yeah. no That must have been a really difficult, you know, it’s, I’ve already heard from other people that, you know, it’s just difficult taking on those, those, especially at that time, taking on different roles. Now it’s a little bit more common.
36:59.98
Melissa
Yeah, and and thank God for that because fathers are so good at taking care of kids and the experience is different you know and and it’s so amazing to see.
37:13.25
Lorie Jones
Yeah, my brother-in-law does. um He stays at home while my sister um works. And he does such a great job with those kids. I’m just always so impressed with with what…
37:23.67
Melissa
and sir Yeah, i don’t I don’t think a lot of people were, you know, they really questioned that relationship early on with us. Really? and you you aren’t You know, you you’re not, you know, this is how it works.
37:34.41
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
37:35.70
Melissa
You people like my mom, like this was definitely against the norm. And when they saw the, like, when they see these kids today and the work that he has done, like, we’ll call it work because that’s what it is.
37:49.26
Melissa
um They have a whole new respect. for him and and for you know that dynamic.
37:52.01
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
37:54.51
Melissa
And yeah, it’s good to see that that is changing.
37:59.02
Lorie Jones
What, Melissa, what is the thing you are most proud of?
38:03.27
Melissa
Oh my God, the hardest question by far, because I don’t i don’t take time to sit and take pride in my work.
38:05.66
Lorie Jones
and know.
38:13.07
Melissa
I don’t, and i I need to learn how to do that. um i’m I’m certainly proud of jumping off into this new business and you know working to build these companies founded by women. like I’m very proud.
38:29.11
Melissa
that I said to myself, I can do this and I’m i’m going to do this. But I take more pride in the people around me and um the the teams that I have had the pleasure of working with.
38:43.31
Melissa
i mean, almost everybody who’s ever worked with me or for me, like they are family and um they are friends. um It’s just, it’s amazing when you work with like-minded people, what you’re able to accomplish together.
38:59.28
Melissa
And I think I’m really proud of being able to pick the right people to work with and and to work together with people that, you know, are kind of want to achieve the same thing and and know that we can do it together.
39:14.02
Lorie Jones
Yeah, I think that you also, um you probably bring that out in those people, maybe not picking the right people to work with, maybe they become the right people because they’re in an environment where you’re supportive and helping.
39:28.39
Melissa
Yeah, I mean, I like to think of that. I like to say that I’m i’m proud of the leader that I have become, um that I can lead by example.
39:35.03
Lorie Jones
hmm.
39:37.40
Melissa
um Every now and then, you know, I make mistakes and, you know, it’s something to learn.
39:42.08
Lorie Jones
We all do.
39:44.20
Melissa
but um But yeah, I am proud of that.
39:47.77
Lorie Jones
Yeah. Yeah. um Any advice for a young lady who’s just kind of starting down this path that you’re so successful at that you would give her?
39:56.15
Melissa
You know,
39:59.16
Melissa
There’s a couple of things that I say a lot, I think. um I mentor a lot of women, so especially young women. And um you know everybody’s very different. it For the women that are, you know i want a career, i want a family, this whole idea of you know you can’t have it all.
40:17.56
Melissa
um I always remind them that I had my kids in my 40s. Now I know physically that can be impossible. i know physically i know physically in general,
40:28.97
Melissa
There can be challenges with having families. um But I think everything happens for a reason. And so it if you choose your career first, know that there are options.
40:40.57
Melissa
And don’t put the pressure on yourself on both sides, right? So if you’re like, I want a career, but I really want a family, um the partner that I i referenced, you know that I had that great idea in my twenty s
40:45.53
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
40:56.11
Melissa
um She ah never really settled down with anybody. And she was like, I i just really want a family. And she went and she got herself a family in her way.
41:09.65
Melissa
And um she’s such an inspiration for that because it was like, she actually wanted a family more than she wanted a husband or partner.
41:17.93
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
41:19.57
Melissa
And so, um you know, I think the advice is really like, you know, what is it that you want
41:19.53
Lorie Jones
Mm-hmm.
41:27.11
Melissa
And don’t be afraid to make that the priority. there’s you know don’t Don’t worry about what other people are doing and other people are saying, oh my God, especially in your 20s, that’s where that all that bad advice comes from. Everybody wants to tell you what to do.
41:41.87
Lorie Jones
in
41:42.56
Melissa
um Don’t listen to them. I think you know the the path is going to be a long one. And there’s lots of ways that things are going to change in your life that you have no idea about yet. So do what makes you happy.
41:58.38
Melissa
Focus on that. And the other things will come. I think that’s probably the, ah especially for early 20s, you know, when you’re a little bit older, i i might, you know, say, hey, leave that job.
42:01.23
Lorie Jones
Yeah.
42:10.59
Melissa
Try something new.
42:13.62
Melissa
As someone who’s been laid off five times, each of those experience were experiences were amazing for me. When you have the opportunity to go try something new and anything can happen.
42:26.48
Lorie Jones
And just keep reminding yourself that it’s an adventure and it’s exciting, right?
42:30.90
Melissa
It’s exciting. Right. Embrace that feeling. It’s exciting. Excitement. Yeah.
42:37.42
Lorie Jones
Well, thank you, Melissa, for the time that you spent with us today and going through your journey. If I have a young woman who’s listening, who wants to get in touch with you and just um chat, ask questions, how does she do that?
42:48.99
Melissa
Melissa at the fierce foundry.com. That is my email address.
42:51.79
Lorie Jones
Well,
42:52.70
Melissa
Feel free to reach out.
42:54.39
Lorie Jones
Thank you. Thank you so much for spending the time with us.
42:57.34
Melissa
My pleasure.