Latest / The Inspired Stories Podcast / Building A Company That Values Employees: How Bellamare Challenges the Status Quo of Corporate America with Anna Jane Stanley

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Building A Company That Values Employees: How Bellamare Challenges the Status Quo of Corporate America with Anna Jane Stanley · The Inspired Stories Podcast

0:04
Welcome to another edition of the Inspired Stories podcast,
0:08
where leaders share their experiences so we can learn from
0:11
their successes and be inspired by how they've overcome
0:14
adversity. My name is Anthony Codispotti
0:17
and today's guest is Anna Jane Stanley, Vice President at Bella
0:21
Mare Development in Ridgeland, Ms. They are a boutique real
0:26
estate firm focused on community transformation through
0:29
innovative projects and responsible investment
0:32
strategies. Their portfolio includes
0:35
everything from historic renovations to large scale
0:38
residential and commercial developments.
0:41
Anna Jane leads key projects along the Mississippi Gulf Coast
0:45
and beyond, ensuring properties meet high standards.
0:49
She is a proud graduate of the University of Mississippi and
0:53
joined Bella Mera after serving in leadership roles at Mulberry
0:56
Vicksburg. Her dedication and Dr. have
0:59
earned her several honors like the 2023 Certified Hospitality
1:04
Management Shining Star Award and a nomination for the 2024
1:10
Mississippi Apartment Association Rising Star Award.
1:15
Now before we get into all that good stuff, today's episode is
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2:01
All right, back to our guest today, the VP of Development at
2:04
Bella Mer Development, Anna Jane Stanley.
2:07
Thanks for making the time to Share your story today.
2:09
Absolutely. Thank you for having me.
2:11
So Anna Jane, you're relatively early on in your professional
2:14
career. You spent about 18 months with
2:17
Mulberry Vicksburg, which is an amenity, amenity driven
2:21
community that has both hotel and apartment options, right?
2:26
How did that opportunity first come about?
2:29
Yeah, so I was actually at Ole Miss and fully invested in going
2:33
to law school. I had wanted to go to law school
2:36
since I was 18 years old and I really didn't have my sights set
2:40
on anywhere else. But an opportunity came about.
2:43
I had gotten connected with a hair and makeup artist who knew
2:46
a guy who was opening a multi mixed-use hotel and apartment
2:52
type of amenity driven community in Vicksburg, Ms., right on the
2:56
Mississippi River. And that person to be who we now
3:00
know as CEO Bellerin Development, Sunny Seti.
3:03
So Sunny has been a mentor to me since the very beginning.
3:07
But before we even knew each other, he invited me and two
3:12
other girls down to kind of the atmosphere models for the grand
3:16
opening event of Mulberry Vicksburg.
3:18
And so I was able to tour investors around the bank.
3:22
There was a lot of bankers involved, so pretty high profile
3:26
people that I was allowed to kind of showcase the the
3:30
property too. And that was kind of my first
3:33
taste of hospitality. I didn't know anything about
3:36
hotel, the hotel industry. I have no one in my family in
3:39
real estate. So it was definitely a different
3:43
environment for me, but I liked it.
3:45
And so when I was there, I was, I was with two other girls and
3:49
after, after everything, we kind of showed everyone around and we
3:53
were wrapping everything up. I asked Sunny, I walked up to
3:56
him and introduced myself and I said, is there anything else I
3:59
can do for you? And he was like, well, I would
4:00
love if you girls could get some pictures and, you know, tag
4:04
Mulberry in it just to, you know, promote and get the word
4:07
out that we're open. And I was like, oh, absolutely.
4:10
Like no problem at all. So we went around and we took
4:14
pictures and I guess he'll tell you in his own version of his
4:18
story is that he watched me tell them and be a leader in that
4:23
situation to kind of guide and and say, OK, this is what we're
4:26
going to do. This is where we're going to go
4:28
to the other two girls and I'll tell you a quick story.
4:32
So when I was in kindergarten, we did a kindergarten graduation
4:36
and each person who walked across the stage to graduate
4:39
from kindergarten got, you know, most likely to be one day award.
4:43
And you know, the the usual is that most likely to become a
4:47
doctor one day, most likely to be a veterinarian.
4:51
Well, when I walked across the stage at five years old, I was
4:55
told they said most likely to become someone's boss one day.
5:00
And so my mom started clapping and she was like, wait a second.
5:04
I don't know if that's a compliment.
5:06
And so I think that that is very true, even in my, you know,
5:10
early years of my life, I've always been just very just felt
5:15
like I needed to lead and, and be in a position of not a
5:18
demanding authority, but a voice that respects others in the
5:22
situation, but also commands a room in a way that I don't
5:26
really have to say much. I just kind of allow myself to
5:29
be me. And naturally, that's how that
5:31
leadership is born. And so I think that that kind of
5:34
shined through when I when I was there at Mulberry that day.
5:37
So about two weeks later, I get a phone call from Sunny and he
5:41
was like, I want to offer you a job.
5:42
And so at that point in time, I was like, you know, I, you know,
5:47
I'm going to law school. I'm about to take my LSAT, Like
5:50
I'm really not interested. And he just pursued and pursued
5:53
and pursued. And he was like, now I really
5:55
see something in you. I think you have a lot of
5:57
potential. And I was like, no one's ever
5:59
told me that before. I've always felt very confident
6:02
and in, you know, going to law school and succeeding in that
6:05
aspect. But him showing me that I had a
6:08
lot of potential in in areas that I had never explored.
6:11
It allowed me to, you know, go into business, work for a year,
6:16
get hands on experience and then be able to say at the end of
6:19
that year, OK, yeah, I love this or no, I think I'm going to
6:22
still go to law school. So that was that was kind of the
6:25
beginning of how that all began. And I I started my role as
6:28
events manager four days after graduation from Ole Miss, from
6:31
the Ole Miss Business School. OK, so go back and unpack a
6:35
couple of these things here. First of all, I've never heard
6:38
of an atmosphere model. What is that?
6:41
So essentially it's sort of like modeling, but it's not
6:46
photography. You actually you can hire models
6:49
to come out. Basically, you put on a pretty
6:51
dress, you show up with a pretty face and you show people around
6:55
and it allows, it curates an atmosphere that is upscale, high
7:00
quality, sort of that sort of vibe going on.
7:03
And that was that was the brand of Mulberry.
7:05
That was what Mulberry exuded. And so the the atmosphere needed
7:09
to match that. So in order to continue that
7:12
brand experience, you had someone who was dressed up very
7:16
professional and showed you around the property.
7:19
So that that was kind of where that came into play.
7:23
Gotcha. And then as we think about that
7:26
fateful day in kindergarten, as well as you sort of taking
7:29
charge of the room to get photographs taken for Sunny,
7:34
there's always sort of been this leadership quality in you, kind
7:38
of pre wired from birth, so to say.
7:41
Pretty much yes. So my parents are divorced so I
7:43
I grew up with both parents very present in my life, but
7:47
separated and that allowed me to watch my mom put herself back
7:51
through master's school when I was 10 years old, had a house to
7:55
herself. So she showed me what it meant
7:58
to be a strong independent woman and and allow you know, you
8:01
don't need anyone else to depend on you.
8:03
You can do it yourself and your own, your strength that you use
8:07
your brain, use your intelligence to get you to the
8:11
next level and where you need to be in life.
8:12
Don't don't ever depend on anyone else.
8:15
Now I can say that I'm engaged now, so I will depend a little
8:18
bit on the love of my life. But at this point in time, it's
8:23
always been a very independent driven nature.
8:25
Just to say, you know, I am a female in a male dominated
8:29
industry, but I think that independence allows me to hold
8:33
my own in situations. Well, and I'm a big fan of sort
8:37
of healthy partnerships, right? And so it doesn't, you know,
8:41
committing your life to somebody doesn't mean giving up that
8:44
strength and independence, which I think is something that you're
8:46
acknowledging. Just saying hey, this has got an
8:49
additive effect to my life and I am still strong enough to stand
8:53
on my own. Correct, correct.
8:56
And so Sunny, he kept in touch with you.
8:58
He kind of wore you down over time.
8:59
He got you to come in as an events manager and then you
9:03
later moved into the GM role after being there only for a
9:07
year. Yeah, that is very true as well.
9:11
So when I first joined Mulberry, I was the events manager.
9:16
But let me preface it this way, that there were no events.
9:19
There was no such thing as an event at Mulberry.
9:22
I was curating a an entirely new revenue stream that had not
9:27
existed prior. So when I walked in, I was
9:30
tasked with having events. Well, how do you do that if you
9:33
have no playbook? You just, you have to look at
9:37
other inspiration. I've pulled a lot of inspiration
9:40
from Vegas. I was like, well, who does
9:41
events better than anywhere else?
9:43
And that's Las Vegas in my opinion.
9:45
And I looked at, OK, we need to have pool parties.
9:48
We had a gorgeous pool area and I was like, we have cabanas
9:52
surrounding it. We need to activate this area
9:54
and, and allow it to be an additional revenue stream for
9:57
the hotel. Well, it was just me and the
10:00
general manager at the time. And we continuously did events
10:04
throughout the summer, which then LED into, you know, the
10:07
upscale Italian wine dinners. We did a murder mystery dinner.
10:11
We did a lot of different things that really gained traction in
10:15
the area and got us connected and allowed us to showcase our
10:19
abilities and, and what we had to offer at Mulberry.
10:22
And that kind of propelled me to to realize that.
10:26
OK, I didn't know what I was doing before, but I'm going to
10:30
figure it out no matter what. And and so that I think Sonny
10:34
realized that too. He, he gave me an opportunity to
10:36
sink or swim and and that was it was it was on me to whether
10:41
which way I wanted to go with it because.
10:43
There was no playbook. You hadn't come from a role at
10:46
another company where you had any experience in this.
10:48
You were making it up as you went along.
10:52
None. None at all.
10:54
Yeah. And what were the, what was the
10:57
overall purpose of the events? What were you guys trying to
10:59
accomplish through this? I think mainly it was one, we
11:03
were just a young company being a boutique hotel.
11:05
You don't have the loyalty program, you don't have the,
11:09
the, you know, property operating systems of a major
11:12
brand flag. So you really have to curate
11:15
your own standard operating procedures.
11:18
You have to kind of just make all of it up on your own and,
11:21
and hope that, you know, it catches on.
11:23
Well, part of that is getting, you're getting the word out in
11:26
the community. And for us, it was it we, we did
11:29
that. We activated it through events
11:31
and allowed for people to come see it without the commitment
11:35
of, you know, buying a hotel room or buying something else.
11:37
They could just come to an event.
11:39
And that allowed them in turn to kind of convert that into hotel
11:43
stays once they realized, oh, wow, this is really cool because
11:47
how do you get the community to walk through a door when they
11:50
have a house 5 minutes up the road?
11:52
They're not going to necessarily stay at a hotel.
11:54
They don't need it. They'll come to an event, right?
11:56
But they'll come to an event. So that was kind of the the game
12:00
plan of how do we get people in the door to show them what we
12:05
have to offer because Instagram, all of the social media
12:08
platforms can only do so much for you.
12:10
You actually need to make that physical connection.
12:13
And I think that was a big player for me too, was once I
12:16
started realizing, OK, these public events are really
12:19
starting to kind of pop off a little bit, but we also have so
12:24
much request for private events. And so the private events
12:27
started going crazy. And so it was just like a
12:30
continuous, you know, evolution of this event program that we
12:35
had going there. And then once I, you know, kind
12:38
of transitioned out of that, I actually, and and this is like
12:43
what I was telling you earlier, the public eye of what actually
12:46
happened. What you see on my LinkedIn is
12:48
that, you know, I just converted whoop went over to general
12:51
management, but I was actually already at Bella Mer.
12:54
I had already told Sonny that I was ready to I wanted to explore
12:59
the development side of the company and.
13:02
So just to be clear here, and you were the events manager
13:06
specifically for one hotel property, correct?
13:09
And there's a bigger portfolio here, bigger umbrella that we'll
13:13
get into here in a moment. And so you went to Sunny and
13:15
say, hey, I want experience kind of on the other side of this
13:18
business, right? Yeah.
13:19
So essentially at the time that this conversation was had,
13:23
Bellamare was a one man show. It was sunny all by himself.
13:26
He was he was the only one doing developments or any sort of
13:29
historical renovations. So there was nobody else really
13:32
that knew this side of the company, but I was very
13:35
intrigued by it because I was like, Oh, it sounds like a new
13:38
challenge that you know, I can find problems and and solutions
13:42
to it in the new area to grow. I love being a lifelong learner.
13:45
I think that's really important to my growth and, and the
13:48
success that I have had up to this point is just being a
13:51
sponge with every single thing that any mentor, anyone that's
13:55
walked the path for 10 plus years.
13:58
I want to know everything that they did, all of the mistakes
14:01
they made, all of the the wins, the losses.
14:04
I want to know everything. And and so that kind of, and I
14:08
think Sonny realized that he was like, look, I, I, I'm fully
14:12
ready for you to come to the development side, but wait, now
14:15
you have to figure out who your replacement is for Mulberry.
14:18
So now I had to not only work for Bella Mer for this new
14:23
development side, but also figure out who my replacement
14:26
was going to be. So then I turned into a hiring
14:29
firing type of manager. And and then also, you know,
14:33
when I transitioned over to Bella Mer, there was, you know,
14:36
a few things that could, I guess could have been run a little bit
14:39
better of some standard operating procedures that we can
14:41
tighten up on. And just round table open
14:45
discussion of, you know, how do we, how do we fix some of these
14:48
issues that we're having at Mulberry?
14:50
And, and they were ancillary things, nothing that was huge.
14:53
But I just started and now in hindsight, I'm like, I should
14:57
have just kept my mouth shut, but I started offering solutions
14:59
to some of the issues that from a general management standpoint
15:03
could be adopted. And when I said that, I think a
15:08
light bulb went off in Sonny's head to be like, Oh, perfect, we
15:12
know exactly who can go do be an interim general manager here for
15:15
a little bit. And so I, I honestly, you know,
15:19
people will see that that's like a stepping stone to the next
15:22
level. But for me, it was almost a set
15:24
back because I felt like I had, you know, finally gotten to the
15:28
development side and then. Which is really where you wanted
15:30
to be. You wanted to be on the
15:32
development side. You were just curious about
15:34
that, OK. Correct.
15:35
And so I, I realized like I had made it there and then it was
15:39
like a month into it and now I'm back at the same property where
15:42
I've once was. And not only that, but I was
15:44
also 45 minutes away from my house.
15:46
So I was driving 45 minutes back and forth to work every day.
15:49
So mind you too, that our, our main location was only like 10
15:53
minutes from my house. So I went from, you know, this
15:56
easy commute to the office every day to back to 45 minutes on a
16:01
busy Interstate. So it was, it was a little bit
16:04
of a, you know, I felt like, oh, you know, I'm, I'm getting
16:07
demoted again. I'm getting like, I'm just
16:09
having to go through all of the these tests and these, you know,
16:12
trials and tribulations to get to where I want to be.
16:15
But so honestly, looking back on it, I, Sonny knew exactly what
16:19
he was doing in that that moment, because what it allowed
16:21
me to do was learn every piece of the operations.
16:25
So I was able to see it from an operational standpoint.
16:28
I got to see it from the event side.
16:30
How do you build new revenue streams?
16:31
And then I got to see the general manager portion of it.
16:34
And while it was only a short stand of time, there was a
16:37
wonderful general manager who came in after me to fill that
16:40
spot who really, really wanted it.
16:42
And what it allowed me to do was get a, a quick glance of how do
16:48
you run PNL's? How do you look at, OK, we have,
16:51
you know, really high room revenue this month, but maybe
16:54
our ADR average daily rates aren't as high as they could be.
16:57
So then I started breaking into some of that data and analytics
17:01
that are behind all of the hotel stuff that I never really got
17:04
exposed to on the event side. Now I built out, you know,
17:08
smaller PNL's for events, but not necessarily the whole
17:12
operations, all of the net operating expenses that were
17:15
going on. So, but now as I converted over
17:18
into development, I'm like, oh, this is easy.
17:20
Like when I look at projections and performers, I'm like this is
17:23
exactly what you know. You had to cut your teeth there
17:26
at the hotel level. First, yes, yes and no one was
17:30
it and I will say to I had a great team around me too.
17:34
You know, if I had any questions any I had all the resources in
17:37
the world. Sunny Sunny has been such an
17:39
amazing mentor to me. But so the whole company has,
17:42
and I don't think anybody really sees me as like the baby of the
17:46
group, even though I, I am the youngest.
17:49
I, I am always, I've always been kind of that.
17:52
Let me just learn, teach me. If you teach me one time, I'll
17:55
get it. You just have to sit down with
17:57
me one time and explain it to me.
17:59
And then I will let you know if I have any questions.
18:01
And that was how I continue to grow kind of a pawn where I
18:05
wanted to be and, and get to that next level.
18:08
And so I always, I always treated it as this is just the
18:11
next step towards a greater goal.
18:13
And and if you treat that every step was a, a stepping stone and
18:17
into your next milestone, that's that's ultimately where it led
18:21
me to. OK, so let's get into a little
18:23
bit more specifically about what all Bella Mare does.
18:27
What's under this umbrella? Right.
18:30
So, OK, I can give you, I wish I could have like a family tree
18:34
here. So Bella Mare is the parent
18:36
company that houses pretty much all of our all of the arms that
18:40
kind of extend off. So we have a construction
18:42
company that handles all of the contracting work.
18:45
We have a management company that handles all of the
18:49
hospitality management. We have third party contracts
18:52
with other hotel management companies that we kind of
18:56
partner with on. And then we also have the, the
18:58
arm that houses all of the owner operated hotels, which we have 8
19:02
in our portfolio that are owner operated.
19:05
So we oversee all of the the income and the revenue that
19:09
comes in from those and also all of the training, hiring, firing,
19:13
all of the all of that stuff. And so what's different about
19:17
Bella Mer? Lots of companies do similar
19:19
kinds of things. What sets you guys apart?
19:22
Yeah, I think for Bella Mer, it was never about just going out
19:26
and and, you know, having as many hotels as possible is never
19:30
a volume game. It was all about, you know, we
19:32
realize we're all Mississippians, we're local to
19:35
the area. And when we realized that, OK,
19:38
we are really behind a lot of US travel and we like to get
19:42
inspiration when we travel to other places, Sunny especially.
19:46
He's been all over the country. And I think a lot of his
19:48
inspiration pulls from seeing how far advanced that Dubai and
19:52
Japan are and why can't America be in that same situation?
19:56
And I think it's starts at the at the lowest tier, which is
20:00
essentially Mississippi. So we are we are growing an area
20:04
that aligns with the state. So one thing that we really
20:07
looked at into was. Our governor, Tate Reeves talked
20:11
about, you know, attracting talent and but also retaining
20:14
the talent. Well, to retain talent on the
20:18
level of, you know, you're talking about your post grad
20:20
employees, you have to have the quality of life indicators.
20:23
You have to have apartments or somewhere that they can afford
20:26
that they're, you know, it's upscale, but you're allowing
20:29
them to have a space that can be called theirs once they're in
20:33
sort of that adult job. So I think for us, it's all
20:36
about finding ways to enhance the, the community around us.
20:40
And, and we, we also sort of benefit too, because we're part
20:44
of it. Like, OK, if, if I want a nail
20:47
salon down the road for me, well, we can, you know, I can
20:50
put it in a little tidbit there and say, Hey, let's go find a
20:52
really good nail operator who, you know, we can place here.
20:56
And that actually has happened before.
20:57
And I'll tell you a quick story about that.
21:00
I walked into a nail salon. It was right next to my
21:02
apartment. They were over in Jackson.
21:05
And next thing I know I am talking with the owner of the
21:09
the nail salon and I'm like, look, I'm in really development.
21:12
We have a property coming soon. Would you be interested in
21:15
having a second location? And he jumped all over the
21:18
opportunity to have a second location.
21:20
He was like, look, I've been looking for so long for
21:23
something that would align like with our branding and our, you
21:26
know, we have upscale luxury type of nail salon here, but you
21:31
know, no one really aligns with that unless you build it.
21:34
There's not really anything that kind of gives that just innately
21:37
out there. And So what we try and and
21:40
cultivate is not only helping the local community, but also
21:43
helping out the local small businesses.
21:45
We're not, we really try and go after the local businesses who
21:48
want to grow and and give back into Mississippi and instead of
21:53
going after national chains. While yes, national chains can
21:57
give you the highest dollar for sites, it's not necessarily
22:01
what's going to transform our community.
22:03
And we're very cognizant of that.
22:04
And a lot of thought process goes into what we do.
22:08
You know, there's always, there's always going to be
22:10
people who say, oh, well, they're just a big development
22:13
company who does a lot of projects and they're all over,
22:17
you know, the now they're expanding.
22:18
But if you look at our portfolio, we really don't have
22:22
that many in our portfolio because it's not about, it's not
22:25
a numbers game for us. It's about we want to take our
22:28
time through every single detail and make sure, OK, are we
22:32
selecting the correct site? Are we doing feasibility studies
22:35
that that showcase that not only is this going to transform a
22:38
community, but it's going to create jobs, it's going to
22:40
create economic development. If we put this on a particular
22:43
location, what does that do for the rest of the community around
22:47
it? Are the values of the properties
22:48
around it going to go up? So we really look at it from a
22:51
holistic perspective and our mission has always been
22:54
transforming communities, 1 connection at a time.
22:56
And I think that is that is that's that's shown very
22:58
strongly in my nail salon story of, you know, meeting, meeting
23:02
with that owner. It's all about connections.
23:04
We're we're based on we're reputation, relationship based
23:08
company. Is there a way to incorporate
23:12
feedback from the community on what it is that they're looking
23:15
for? Absolutely, Yeah.
23:17
So we, we utilize social media platforms a lot for that.
23:20
And you'll see if you go through some of our Facebook post on
23:23
there, we'll say, hey, what would you like to see at this
23:26
property? This is coming soon or I can
23:29
give you an example of 1. So we had a kind of a retail
23:33
shopping center area that we needed to fill with tenants, but
23:36
we're very strategic on who we place and, and tenant placement
23:40
is huge for us. And so we asked what would you
23:43
like to see in this area? And you would not believe how
23:46
many comments were we wanted a dog boarding and, you know, a
23:49
boarding place for our dogs. That's really nice.
23:51
We want a nail salon. We want, you know, an express
23:55
help. And so we get, we were able to
23:57
give people what they wanted and, and we're able to select
24:01
the right operators to go into those buildings.
24:04
And, and in turn, now we have a really successful retail
24:08
shopping area that that is all a one stop shop type of place
24:12
where, you know, I can board my dog, I can go get my nails done,
24:15
I can get poke, I can get a poke bowl and I never have to leave.
24:19
I just walked to it. And so that that's what we're
24:22
trying to do is really just keep doing developments that really
24:27
go back towards developing the community around us, but
24:30
transforming it while we're doing it.
24:33
Anna Jane, as you think about some of the stops that you've
24:36
had, events manager, general manager, now on the development
24:39
side, is there one of those transitions that was more
24:43
challenging than the others for you?
24:46
Yes, for sure, General manager is definitely not an easy
24:50
position, but neither is managing a portfolio of 130
24:54
properties that gross about $3,000,000 in revenue.
24:58
So it was, it was challenging. You have to imagine that I'm
25:04
dealing with operators who are coming in and they are
25:09
successful businessmen and women and you're 24 years old and
25:14
you're telling them that they have to pay rent to you, that
25:16
that's a little challenging. So I think they're you.
25:19
I really had to dig deep into building a relationship 1st and
25:23
then gaining the respect of of the people that I was associated
25:27
with. And then from there the
25:29
relationship and the the connection was a lot easier.
25:32
So anytime that you know, there was a maintenance issue that was
25:35
going on, we have a platform app folio that we use that is is
25:40
very useful in these situations where the tenant can plug in
25:43
there any type of maintenance request.
25:46
And so for me, it was about, now I may not be the most
25:49
knowledgeable about your HVAC system, but I can be the fastest
25:52
to get you a solution. And so that was really my goal.
25:55
And, and each jump that I made was I may not be the smartest, I
26:00
may not be the, the best experienced person in the room,
26:04
but I can be the fastest. And, and for me, the speed of
26:08
getting back to people responding and following up and
26:12
making sure that everything is, is handled appropriately was
26:16
always the, the indicator that, you know, when we got that
26:19
survey back of the maintenance surveys, it was like 5 out of
26:22
five stars because you were so quick, you had this done within
26:25
24 hours. And, and it wasn't just me.
26:28
It was, you know, I had to call Sunny or I had to call, you
26:31
know, one of the operators who we've networked with on other
26:35
properties to say, Hey, I really need you to come out as soon as
26:38
possible to this property. So it's not only about
26:40
networking and, and building relationship with your tenants,
26:43
but also the people who fix the the properties that you own.
26:48
And so dealing with, you know, the plumbing guy, the the
26:51
roofing guy, there was all of these certain situations where,
26:55
yeah, I don't know anything about shingles on a roof and
26:57
what type of shingle, you know, the types of shingles that go up
27:00
there. But I can tell you that I have a
27:02
guy who can get it done. And that was always kind of the
27:06
way that I was able to execute as quickly as possible on that.
27:09
But it goes back to show that that was probably the hardest
27:12
transition because you can imagine it was just me and 130
27:17
properties. You can imagine what happens in
27:20
a on a daily basis, just dealing with that and then collecting
27:24
rent every month and having to follow up on all of those leads
27:27
and make sure that we're collecting.
27:29
So moving into these new roles and including the one on the
27:33
development side, which was the most challenging for you?
27:36
What was your coping mechanism? Anytime you felt like I'm, I'm
27:41
in a little bit over my head, like I'm sort of swimming here.
27:44
Yeah, I think for me it was. Well, I'll I'll tell you, my
27:48
guilty pleasure is ice cream. So if I ever had a really bad
27:50
day, you can find me on the couch at night eating Vin and
27:53
Jerry's. Ice cream, What's your flavor?
27:55
Sure. Well, I do dairy free, so I like
27:58
the fish food is really good. And then there's also a dairy
28:00
free caramel sutra that is probably one of my top
28:04
favorites. But I'm I'm now a Talenti
28:06
coffee. It's Talenti brand but it's the
28:08
coffee dairy free Gelato. So good.
28:11
Very very good. Would highly recommend.
28:13
All right, so other than ice cream, what?
28:17
What else? How do you how do you work for
28:19
this? Yeah.
28:20
So I think for me it was about, you know, compartmentalizing
28:23
some of everything is not a disaster And and really thinking
28:28
about OK, in the grand scheme of things, this is all going to be
28:31
OK and reassuring kind of that mental work of and this took
28:36
time. It was not just, you know, I
28:38
used to get very flustered and very just frazzled kind of in
28:41
these situations, maybe not in public, but in private I would,
28:44
you know, it'd be stressing about, OK, I have to do this,
28:47
this and this. And, you know, I got to a point
28:49
where Sonny actually approached me one day and he was like,
28:52
you're not actively leading. And I was like, what?
28:54
I feel like I'm being a leader. And he was like, no, you're
28:57
actively doing, which is burning even like you're, you're
29:00
stressing yourself out because you're doing everything for
29:02
everybody. He's like, you've got to start
29:04
compartmentalizing. Realize make yourself a priority
29:07
list of what you need to get done and when it needs to get
29:11
done. And, and then also under promise
29:14
over deliver always. That's always been my motto.
29:17
So if I can tell someone I'll have it done in 48 hours and I
29:20
have it done in 24. That to me is, is how I operate.
29:25
I always will tell someone a little bit of a different time.
29:27
Sorry if that's a little bit of a white lie, but that is one way
29:31
that I kind of contain that the perception of how, how things
29:36
are done. But also, I think for me, it
29:38
was, you know, I have a fiance now who I've been dating for
29:42
over 2 years and he really just grounded me.
29:45
And, and you know, he, he's always been the calming presence
29:48
in my life to say, Hey, you're going to be OK.
29:51
Everything's going to be fine. Work is not the end of the
29:53
world, but you're going to, you know, it's a bad day, not a bad
29:57
life. And that's another great motto
29:59
that I always think about. You know, dealing with mental
30:03
health is, is been a huge aspect of our company.
30:05
And, and how do you, how do you overcome challenges when you
30:09
feel like the world is crashing down around you?
30:11
And I think for us, we really wanted to hone in on the aspect
30:16
of let's give back to our people.
30:18
Let's make sure that we're, you know, giving them the quality of
30:21
life in the same way that we do developments.
30:23
Are your employees happy is going to show way more than than
30:27
the developments that you do or the properties that you own.
30:31
When you walk into one of our hotels, you'll see smiley faces,
30:34
I can assure you, because it is one of our biggest meetings that
30:39
we talked about. I mean, it's one of the topics
30:41
that every meeting that we, we weren't, we have.
30:44
So for us, it's really just keeping everyone aligned and on
30:49
the same page, but also doing the mental work yourself and,
30:53
and having the resources to go to when you do feel like, hey,
30:56
this is really overwhelming. But also speaking up, saying,
31:00
saying something, if you're feeling overwhelmed, you have
31:03
resources around you to, to kind of mitigate some of that.
31:07
And I think it's, it's very, it's very admirable to utilize
31:11
those resources instead of just trying to be the hero in the
31:14
situation. And that's been very hard for me
31:17
to as very independent person who I used to never ask for
31:20
help. And now I see it as as a
31:22
precursor of growth. I, I feel like maturity comes
31:27
when you realize, hey, I can do all this on my own, but have
31:30
people around me who can support that.
31:32
And, and really Bella Mare has, is allowed.
31:35
All of our companies really that are underneath the Bella Mare
31:38
umbrella are all about coming together and and making sure
31:42
that these employees are treated the right way and that that
31:45
starts from the top and trickles all the way down.
31:48
I'm kind of curious to hear a little bit more about what that
31:50
looks like because you talked about kind of the bigger
31:53
Mississippi State plan. You know, the governor talks
31:55
about, hey, we want to attract, you know, good workers into the
31:58
state. We want to retain those good
32:01
workers. And this sounds like it very
32:03
much aligns with what you guys are doing at Bella Mare and your
32:07
sister company, the certified hospitality Management that that
32:10
manages the hotels. You know, when you think about
32:12
those frontline workers and how to make their job more
32:16
attractive, how to bring in good folks, how to retain those good
32:20
folks, how do you guys think about that?
32:22
What are some things that you found that have have been
32:24
successful for you? Yeah, I'll tell you that we are
32:28
not the conventional corporate strategy of how hiring and
32:31
firing should go. We actually we really kind of
32:34
turn away from that method. We feel that there's much better
32:37
employee employer relationship practices that we can implement
32:41
and it really does go to show how effective that it can be.
32:45
I think for us when we look at the employer employee
32:48
relationship, we don't necessarily get put out job
32:52
applications. Now, to some extent you do, but
32:56
again, it goes back to the reputation, the relationships
32:59
that you build along the way. You would not believe just
33:01
talking to anyone. If you go through a fast food
33:04
drive through and you say, Hey, I love the way that person was
33:07
very respectful in the line and you say, hey, if you're ever
33:11
interested, here's my card or here's you know my my number.
33:14
Please call me if you're ever interested in doing hospitality.
33:17
I think you would be amazing. Your personality is a great fit
33:19
for this because you're so bubbly and you're, you're so
33:21
light on your feet and you love what you do and it shows in your
33:24
work. And, and I think just
33:27
intentionality through every interaction that you make is so
33:31
it is so vital to what you, what needs to be, what's, oh, sorry,
33:35
what needs to happen? The, the hiring firing process
33:40
of, you know, interviewing and having four or five rounds of
33:43
interviews is it worked in one day and age, but now people
33:47
don't really want to go through the, the headache of that.
33:50
And when you think about you, you put mental health on top of
33:53
that, think about the people, how anxiety ridden people you
33:57
may have a a wonderful candidate who is a terrible interviewer.
34:02
And and that doesn't mean that's not a reflection on themselves.
34:05
It's not a reflection on who they are as a person.
34:07
You just didn't get them in the right, you're not getting them
34:10
in the right scenario to really shine through and what they are
34:14
capable of. And so for us, it's about making
34:17
those organic connections, but also finding the people and then
34:21
placing them in roles. And like I said, it kind of goes
34:24
back to just finding the people first and then building the role
34:28
around them. Now, like you said, your line
34:31
level employees sort of those sorts of people already have,
34:34
you know, there's, there's a guideline around all of that.
34:36
So yes, there are certain requirements, but I think
34:39
another aspect that that goes deeper than just hey, you can
34:42
come work at the hotel is in front desk.
34:45
We also offer therapy options. So we're actively implementing
34:51
having the therapy sessions. We have an in house therapist
34:54
that comes into our office to on Thursdays for the executive
34:58
leadership team. But our main goal in that is to
35:01
kind of be a test run for how we're going to implement that
35:05
across all of our properties. And I think that eventually will
35:10
trickle all the way down to the line level employee, offering
35:13
them free solutions for therapy when that's needed.
35:16
You'd never imagine what people go through on a daily basis.
35:20
And you really, you don't know what people's walks of life are
35:24
until you talk with them and really allow them to open up.
35:28
I was the general manager at the time when I had an employee
35:32
whose sister passed away in a terrible car accident.
35:35
And and for me, it was I had to really understand, OK, she's
35:41
still showing up to work. This is really this is a really
35:44
tough time for her in her life. How can I show up for her?
35:48
And so we started a go fund me for her sister.
35:51
And, and that was not something that I was told to do or, you
35:54
know, that was the employees around us saying, Hey, we really
35:58
need to show up for her in a big way for, you know, all of
36:02
everything that's going on in her life.
36:03
And offering those those therapy sessions, but also general
36:08
management sometimes means that you are the therapist and you do
36:11
have to kind of lean into your employees and be intentional
36:14
with those relationships. I think if you cultivate a a
36:17
good employer employee relationship, even at the hotel
36:20
level, that goes way beyond any job title you could ever have.
36:26
I really love that. I appreciate you sharing that
36:28
because, you know, one of the things that we talk about
36:30
frequently on this show is mental health.
36:33
And like you put it like the struggles that are going on
36:36
under the surface now in this one scenario, you know, it was
36:40
very public. People knew about the horrific
36:42
car accident. Even still, you don't know
36:46
what's sort of coming up for them under the surface.
36:49
And beyond those really public things, there are things that
36:51
are very much under the surface. You have no idea.
36:54
You come in contact with somebody at work every day and
36:57
you don't know what their their struggles are.
37:00
I I'd be curious, Anna Jane, to hear about maybe a big challenge
37:03
in your life that you've gone through, how you work through
37:06
that and you know what you learn going through the other side of
37:10
it. Yeah, Well, can I tell you first
37:12
of all, that Sunny Katie of Bella Mare is one of the most
37:16
incredible humans in this aspect.
37:18
He really does care about mental health because he has he himself
37:22
has shared in these challenges. And I'm going to try not to cry
37:25
when I talk about this, but we really got vulnerable from the
37:30
start of our relationship, our working relationship.
37:32
And I think that, you know, when we got opened up to each other,
37:38
it allowed us to really connect on a deeper level and
37:42
understand, OK, she's not, you know, not being productive
37:46
because she doesn't she's lazy or she doesn't want to be, but
37:49
her mind is going 90 to nothing on stuff.
37:52
Unsolved issues from the past, unsolved trauma that has never
37:56
been unpacked by a professional. And so I was sexually assaulted
38:00
when I was in college at Ole Miss and I didn't tell anybody
38:04
for eight months. It was, it was a very hard topic
38:08
to even talk about without, you know, these emotions just
38:12
welling up and and bursting into tears.
38:14
And because I, I really felt like there was no hope that I
38:18
was worthless. I didn't feel like I had the
38:20
shame and guilt of this was my fault.
38:22
I should have never allowed this to happen.
38:25
And when I stepped back away from the issue and look at it
38:28
from a 1/3 perspective, I opened up to sunny and I was like,
38:33
look, I, I really don't know why this happened like years and
38:37
years and years ago, but I can't get it out of my head.
38:39
And it's affecting my work. And he realized that and he
38:43
didn't, he met me where I was. And so we sat down and we, we
38:47
literally said, do we think that we need to bring in a therapist
38:51
and, and not just therapy for you, but therapy for all of the
38:54
employees. If, if you're struggling with
38:56
this, imagine what other people have never, ever talked about in
39:00
their life. And, and it's really hard.
39:02
You know, sexual assault is so stigmatized because people who
39:07
you know, are, are survivors of it.
39:09
Don't ever speak up. Sometimes you never know.
39:11
And it happens so frequently that you never truly know what
39:15
happened. You never know in detail what
39:19
someone is going through and it how much it impacts you.
39:22
The trauma lives in your body. And I actually got a book from
39:25
the therapist after I started going through Bella Mare
39:28
offering free therapy services and I was able to unpack that
39:33
through EMDR which I highly recommend.
39:35
Eye movement, desensitization, recovery.
39:41
It unlocked a different side of my brain to be able to speak
39:45
about this today without again bursting into tears.
39:48
Because it, it, it allows you to process what happened and
39:54
disassociate from the fact that the shame and the guilt and the
39:58
emotions that you feel around it.
40:01
And once I did that, it was like this weight lifted off of my
40:05
shoulders and I was able to my capacity for what I was able to
40:10
achieve was exponentially. I was just next level and I and
40:15
I don't know how to tell anyone without someone actually going
40:19
through that, going through the process of therapy and, you
40:23
know, unpacking the trauma that happened.
40:26
But when you do it, you will notice a difference.
40:29
And it wasn't just me. It was sunny as well.
40:32
Like when he was doing the therapy, he realized, Oh my
40:35
gosh, like I've kept all of this stuff buried inside of me and
40:38
didn't realize how much it was affecting me because your
40:41
unconscious mind is just filtering through.
40:45
I should have, how should I have, you know, gotten myself
40:48
out of that situation? And you never realize that
40:50
that's running in the background.
40:51
So it clouds what you're doing in front of you.
40:56
So that really, you know, that was my indicator of this is
41:00
where I need to be. This is these are the people
41:02
that I need to surround myself with and my next journey of
41:05
through life. And you know, I really just
41:08
believed in the company after that point.
41:11
I said, you know, if if someone is willing to meet me where I
41:13
am, imagine what we could do for an entire community.
41:16
And if we can transform communities through the people,
41:19
the employees themselves, you can see it in US.
41:23
And then in turn, that allows people my age and you know, who
41:27
are going through post grad, who may not know, Hey, I don't know
41:30
which career path I want to go down, but you know, that company
41:34
sounds awesome. And I really haven't heard of
41:36
any other company doing it. So to be a trailblazer in an
41:40
area that is almost like taboo or used to be taboo is it's it's
41:48
an honor to be in such a wonderful experience.
41:52
I'm so grateful for you opening up and sharing about that, Anna.
41:55
Jane, I'm curious, how long ago did you and Sonny have this?
42:00
Sit down where you're like, hey, I, I, I think I probably need
42:03
some help with this. Pretty early on I was, I believe
42:10
it was 2023, so right after I started in sales and events.
42:20
This is a couple years ago, yeah.
42:24
And then once you started therapy, how long was it before
42:27
EMDR was introduced to you? The MDR started pretty early on.
42:33
She, she realized that there was a lot to unpack there.
42:36
So we started almost that was my first understanding of, OK, I
42:42
really do need to go see a therapist.
42:44
I thought I could work through it on my own.
42:46
I thought I didn't need the help.
42:48
I thought that again, this is about some of that maturity, the
42:51
growth that happened through this.
42:52
But I really thought, you know, this happened so long ago.
42:56
I shouldn't even like give it a thought.
42:58
I shouldn't have to worry about any of this, but it was like
43:01
every single time that the date that it happened came up, my
43:05
body shut down and. And I didn't know how to explain
43:09
that. And so I took a day that I never
43:12
took, sick days I never took all like if I had to take off,
43:16
something was bad wrong. And I texted Sonny one day and I
43:18
was like, look, I don't think I can.
43:20
I don't think I can do it. And so he's like, let's talk and
43:23
let's like, let's unpack some of this.
43:25
And yeah, that that conversation happened and and we, you know,
43:31
he saw exactly what needed to happen.
43:33
And then the EMDR started probably my second session of
43:37
therapy. My first one was kind of the
43:39
introduction. I'd already met the therapist
43:41
beforehand, so she knew who I was, knew that I was in the
43:44
company that did not know my story, obviously through
43:47
confidentiality purposes. But yeah, she she realized that
43:52
there was a lot to to go through in that that time period.
43:55
For people listening who have never heard of EMDR before, can
43:58
you quickly explain what the experience is like?
44:02
Yeah. So I'm not as knowledgeable in
44:05
this aspect of the therapist. Would be much better to explain.
44:08
From your perspective, like what took place?
44:10
So, so EMDR allows the brain to activate both sides.
44:14
So you have a logical brain and an emotional brain, your left
44:17
and right brain. So when you do EMDR, you're
44:20
actually tricking the brain to use both sides.
44:23
You're, you're mixing the logic with the emotion and it allows
44:27
you to unpack some of those, the emotional side of the trauma
44:32
with the logical aspect that this wasn't my fault.
44:35
And so the way that I handled it was.
44:39
She waved her fingers across my face in a very fast motion.
44:42
And. She didn't have the light bar.
44:44
This was. Different this was this was hand
44:46
in front of the face and I I was to follow the fingertips across
44:49
the face and so I focused on her hands moving very, very quickly
44:54
and she would ask me questions while doing this.
44:56
So this allowed this, my shifting was allowing me to
45:00
activate both sides of my brain because I was having to follow
45:03
one thing. And while she's asking me other
45:05
questions about my feelings. And so my logic brain was saying
45:08
follow the fingertips, follow the fingertips.
45:10
And my, my response, my verbal speech was unpacking the feeling
45:16
that came up. And so she asked me questions.
45:18
What did it feel like in this scenario?
45:19
I mean, she was detailed, very detailed.
45:21
I don't want to go too deep into it, but basically, you know, how
45:26
did this situation feel? How did it feel when when this
45:29
part of it happened? And then and so that I was able
45:33
to like literally say exactly everything without my conscious
45:38
brain thinking about what was the next word that I was going
45:41
to say because I was focused on the fingertips.
45:43
So it was just whatever was deep inside of me was just spewing
45:47
out it was crazy. And and so that situation if if
45:51
no one's ever experienced EMDR therapy, I highly recommend it.
45:54
I highly recommend doing a research.
45:56
I'm also very big on make sure that you're researching what
45:59
you're doing before you're doing it.
46:02
It would never recommend doing it without knowing what you're
46:05
getting into because it is it is very deep.
46:07
It is very it unlocks a different part of your brain, a
46:11
different aspects of the situation, but you view it in a
46:15
completely different light after that.
46:17
It's like the ball that was in your stomach at one point just
46:20
explodes. Yeah.
46:21
This is not something I'm an expert in either, but I've
46:24
talked with a number of people who have been greatly helped by
46:27
EMDR. And so I, I kind of echo what
46:29
you're saying, especially for folks who have had specific
46:32
elements of trauma in their life historically, this has been a
46:35
really effective tool for people to be able to let go of it much
46:38
in the way that you're describing here.
46:40
Anna Jane, I, I appreciate you opening up and talking about
46:42
that because I, I think folks that hear this, they're going to
46:45
be like, oh, OK, I wasn't familiar with that before.
46:48
This is something I need to check out.
46:51
And, you know, I kind of, you know, see like a little bit of a
46:54
of an arc in your life, right you and tell me if this this
46:58
sort of fits. You know, you grew up living
47:02
with your mother, you know, put herself through master's school,
47:05
strong, independent woman, you know, had you had a great living
47:09
example there in front of you and you're like, that's me too,
47:11
Like I'm I'm strong, I'm independent.
47:13
I can do this on my own. And you know, as you've matured
47:16
a little bit in life, now you, you're, you're coming to a new
47:21
realization that you can continue to be strong and
47:23
independent while also asking for help and while also inviting
47:28
someone that you love into your life.
47:30
Am I? Am I seeing this correctly?
47:32
That is correct, yes. I think it's a beautiful arc
47:36
and, you know, obviously a lot of the stories yet to be
47:39
written. How would you characterize Anna
47:42
Jane, your superpower? Oh gosh.
47:46
OK, so I feel that I have, I've had this gift for a long time
47:51
and it is the gift of discernment.
47:54
I feel that when I walk into a room, I can tell you exactly who
48:00
people are. I can read a room very well.
48:04
So I can I watch body language, I can recognize patterns in
48:09
people. So I can tell who's talking to
48:12
who and and kind of integrate that into a logical response to
48:17
say, OK, that guy looks important over there or this one
48:20
over here is the decision maker. But this guy's like kind of
48:23
leaning back a little bit on the wall.
48:25
So he may be the boss, boss of all of them kind of overseeing,
48:29
you know, his flock of sheep over here.
48:31
So I think that some of that is just innately in me, but also,
48:36
you know, I've I've also gained some of expanded upon that skill
48:40
with Sunny because Sunny has the ability to do some of that same
48:45
some of the same abilities. And so you know, it, it, it goes
48:50
over into the development side as well.
48:52
When you're thinking about the, the vision for a property or
48:55
what you want to put next or what needs to happen.
48:59
It allows you to say, OK, I can discern between this is probably
49:04
not the best option. And then this is kind of the
49:06
vision of what we wanted, you know, the direction that we want
49:09
to go in. And I think a lot of times, and
49:12
I've actually I haven't really unpacked all of this yet, but
49:16
Sonny and I have talked about it a few times about being creative
49:19
analysts. So we we put together creative
49:23
vision. So we have the strategic vision
49:26
that is going and and kind of the creative aspect of it.
49:29
So I really enjoy like the branding, the brand experience
49:33
how what is the customer experiencing from an operational
49:37
standpoint. But then I couple that with the
49:39
analytics of would this actually be viable property?
49:42
Would this actually be revenue producing asset?
49:45
And so I think for for that aspect of it, I'm still
49:49
unpacking some of that and what that looks like for me, because
49:52
I never really saw myself as a creative, I guess, but also not
49:56
really an analyst either. Like I didn't, I don't really
49:58
love Excel spreadsheets, but I can do them, you know, and I, I
50:02
love, you know, branding and, but I don't necessarily want to
50:05
be a marketing girl. You know, it's just like, where
50:08
do you fall in between? And so candidly, at one point in
50:11
time of my career path, I, I used to be called the the hybrid
50:14
because they didn't know what my job title was.
50:17
It was just kind of like, she helps everybody.
50:19
She's you know, she's she's here.
50:22
Whatever you need, let Anna Jane know or give it to Anna Jane.
50:25
She'll figure it out sort of situation.
50:27
And get you a T-shirt that says Swiss Army knife on it.
50:30
That, no, that's what they, that's what people used to call
50:33
me until I kind of found my niche with the development side.
50:37
So it's been, it's been a great journey.
50:39
Yeah, what's the future of Bella Mare look like?
50:44
Yeah, so obviously now my life has taken me to be with my
50:48
fiance and he is based in Bowling Green, KY, right outside
50:52
of Nashville, TN And so I have. That is not really close to
50:56
Mississippi. No, it's not.
50:59
It's about 7 hours. We used to do long distance
51:01
though, so 7 hours back and forth on a weekend.
51:04
So if you can imagine 14 hours round trip for 48 hours, not the
51:08
most ideal, but when you love someone, you do it.
51:11
So we used to trade off weekends.
51:14
Like we would be like, Oh yeah, by the way, it's your weekend
51:17
this time so you have to come down here.
51:19
But he he's been amazing throughout all of it.
51:21
So I think closing that gap was very strategic for us to build a
51:25
family and continue on. We are, we're planning to have a
51:30
wedding in June of 2026. So that's exciting.
51:34
I'm also not only just in development, but I'm also a
51:37
wedding planner at this point in time.
51:39
So I had many hats at the moment, but also, you know, just
51:45
allowing the the ability to even go to Bowling Green and be with
51:50
the love of my life while also still working for Bella Mer is
51:53
huge because a lot of companies would say, Oh, you're moving
51:57
like bye, see you later, you know, but Bella Mer meet you
52:00
where you're at and it follows you where you go.
52:02
And I think that that's really the powerful tool that, you
52:06
know, I want other people to say, hey, if I really don't know
52:09
where I want to, where I want to be in life or what career path I
52:12
want to do, But, you know, real estate development sounds pretty
52:14
interesting or property management sounds interesting.
52:17
I think that people can see that pursuing your passion and, and
52:21
really believing in the product that you have at the end of the
52:24
day converts into if you're good at what you do and you love what
52:29
you do, it will follow you where you go.
52:31
And so I just my main goal in Kentucky and Tennessee
52:35
overseeing those divisions of development is to continue
52:39
transforming those communities where I live now.
52:41
So I think the the goal is to transform the entire United
52:46
States and beyond. I don't think we have a ceiling
52:49
of where we want to stop. I think it's more about
52:52
strategic placement of really being transformative.
52:55
And I think it even goes back to we have, you know, city planners
52:59
who are looking into economic development.
53:01
They're like throwing their hands up that I guess they're
53:03
like, I, you know, we really don't know what to do here, but
53:06
you guys are doing transformative projects, you
53:08
know, and our, for our neighbors over here in this other city.
53:12
Well, can you come do that for us too?
53:14
So now we're kind of dipping into that city master planning
53:17
and being that developer involved there.
53:20
So it really is a cool journey just to see, you know, how how
53:25
impactful you can be and how people recognize that you are
53:28
doing good and you are allowing that good work to show through
53:32
and, and allowing it to to go beyond boundaries that you
53:36
didn't imagine. So are you still doing a lot of
53:39
travel back and forth to Mississippi?
53:41
Are you carving out new territories you know, in the
53:44
Bowling Green area? Yeah.
53:47
So I am well currently. So this week I came back to
53:50
Mississippi and this is kind of just an example of before you
53:53
have kids and before you're really tied down to one
53:56
location, you, you have the flexibility to do all of this.
53:58
But I drove from Memphis to Madison, Ms. Then on Tuesday I
54:04
left and drove up to Gulfport, Ms. and we had a Christmas party
54:09
Tuesday night. Left drove to Gulfport, Ms.,
54:12
which about 3 hours from here and then he gave a presentation
54:16
Wednesday night to the Gulf Blue Initiative for the blue economy
54:19
up there and kind of told them about, you know, the projects
54:21
that we have going on how it impacts their economic
54:24
development. And then went Thursday, had a
54:29
partner flying from California toward him around the Gulf for
54:32
area and showed him, you know, some of our projects we had
54:34
going on. And then, you know, had a
54:38
meeting with him about some a new business concept that he
54:41
wants to bring from California. And then today I drove back
54:46
yesterday night back to Madison having the podcast with you
54:50
today. And then Saturday I will be up
54:53
at in Oxford at Ole Miss looking at sites for more site
54:59
selection. So it is busy, but this is the
55:02
best way to be as jam packed when I come back and travel back
55:05
down South. Luckily my parents are gracious
55:08
enough to let me come crash at their place for a little bit, so
55:10
I call it Hotel de Casa when I'm back.
55:13
But it allows me to, you know, see my family, see my little
55:17
sister who's still in high school, and be connected while
55:21
also, you know, pursuing my dreams.
55:24
I love it. What's your favorite thing to do
55:26
outside of work? What do you do for fun?
55:29
Travel. I love traveling recently.
55:32
So actually my fiance and I met in Rome, Italy while we were on,
55:35
I was on an awards trip with my dad and he was, he had also won
55:40
the award in pharmaceuticals and I didn't know who he was.
55:44
And really just that was kind of the start of our love story was
55:48
we sat on the couch for five hours talking and I was like,
55:52
yeah, I don't know, this is like way too good to be true.
55:54
You're we're in Rome, Italy, like when in Rome.
55:56
But I guess this is like really crazy that you live in Bowling
56:00
Green and not on the other side of the universe.
56:03
And so I, I really think, you know, everything happens for a
56:06
reason. I'm a firm believer in that.
56:09
And you know, we, we rekindled and about 8 months after that
56:14
trip and it was just, it was immediate.
56:17
I was like, this is the man I'm going to marry.
56:19
And, and so from there, I think our travel is just kind of been
56:23
ingrained in our relationship. And so we love to go explore new
56:26
places together. It allows us to understand
56:29
culture and the different communities and how they
56:32
operate. I think it's, it's important to
56:35
not be close minded and just stay where you are, where you
56:38
grew up and in your hometown. While that can be nice sometimes
56:42
it's not my story. And I think that integrating
56:45
some of the culture in the community aspects from other
56:48
places is very inspirational and in our projects and garnering
56:53
ideas and new, new visions that other people may have and, and
56:56
getting inspiration in those areas.
56:58
I. Like it?
56:59
Anna Jane, I've just got one more question for you today.
57:01
But before I ask it, I want to do 3 quick things.
57:04
First of all, anybody who would like to get in touch with our
57:06
guest today, you can find Anna Jane Stanley on LinkedIn.
57:11
Search for Bella Mare development and she'll come up.
57:13
We'll also include a link to that in our show notes as a
57:17
reminder, if you want to get more employees access to
57:19
benefits that carries a financial upside for the company
57:22
to reach out to add back benefits.com.
57:25
And finally, if you'll take just a moment to leave us a comment
57:28
or review on your favorite podcast app, you'll hold a
57:31
special place in my heart forever.
57:32
Thank you. So last question for you, Anna
57:35
Jane, a year from now, you and I reconnect and you're celebrating
57:38
something big. What's that big thing you hope
57:41
to be celebrating? Wow, I hope that in a year from
57:46
now, we've already broken ground on a new project in Bowling
57:50
Green. I think that would establish us
57:52
in the Kentucky area for Bella Merit would be the first Bella
57:56
Mer project that originated from my own relationships rather
58:01
than, you know, having the company to back that it was.
58:04
It was brought into the company. And so that is the next pillar
58:07
of where I want to be. I want to establish myself as a
58:10
woman developer and the youngest of the, the women out there.
58:14
And inspiring women to join a real estate development firm or
58:19
any other male dominated career path is, is very admirable.
58:24
And I think that if if that's your path in life, that you
58:27
should pursue it wholeheartedly and and don't let anybody tell
58:30
you differently, even if you're a female or if you're young.
58:33
I love it on both accounts. Anna Jane Stanley from Bella Mer
58:37
Development. I want to be the first to thank
58:39
you for sharing both your time and your story with us today.
58:42
I really appreciate it. Thank you.
58:45
I appreciate you. Folks, that's a wrap on another
58:48
episode of the Inspired Stories podcast.
58:50
Thanks for learning with us today.