Robert Shaw (S5E12)
Entrepreneurial Insights
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Susan Stepherson (S5E11)
Entrepreneurial Insights
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Stacy McCall (S5E10)
Entrepreneurial Insights
Stacy McCall, owner of ServiceMaster by Stratos, shares her remarkable entrepreneurial journey, highlighting the challenges, triumphs, and lessons learned along the way. Cheers to growth, innovation, and the entrepreneurial spirit!
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SweetBio (S5E9)
Entrepreneurial Insights
SweetBio is a great entrepreneurial story. Let’s meet Kayla Rodriguez Graff and Isaac Rodriguez, Co-Founders of SweetBio, who are revolutionizing wound care with collagen + honey products, starting in dermatology with skin cancer removal recovery. Kayla Rodriguez Graff, MBA, CEO, is a dynamic leader in healthcare and wound care industries, driving fundraising and advocating for women, diversity, and life sciences. She has been featured in Forbes, Inc. Magazine, and national TV commercials. Isaac Rodriguez, PhD, Chief Science Officer, brings 15 years of expertise in tissue engineering and...
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Carolyn Hardy (S5E8)
Entrepreneurial Insights
The Season Finale of our Entrepreneurial Insights Podcast was recorded at a recent Entrepreneurs Roundtable Meeting on Empowering Entrepreneurs through Mentoring. When Leta Nutt, Founder of NuttBio became ill and unable to present at the last minute, Jan Bouten, Partner in Innova Memphis (and Leta’s husband) and Dr. Mary McDonald, MCD Partners, agreed to present with Carolyn Hardy, Chism Hardy Investments. While we definitely missed Leta, what followed was an incredible, open discussion on mentorship. Issues addressed included: How can I identify potential mentors in my...
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Joshua D Poag (S5E7)
Entrepreneurial Insights
The Society of Entrepreneurs and Epicenter recently launched What’s Next, a series of lunches featuring new and exciting businesses in the Memphis area. This podcast was recorded during the founder of Avadain Brad Larschan’s, recent What’s Next presentation. Josh Poag serves as the President and Chief Executive Officer at Poag, a position he has held since its formation in 2014. He was previously President and CEO of Poag & McEwen Shopping Center from 2009 until 2014. With over 20 years of experience in the lifestyle center industry, Josh has worked on all facets of the business....
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Brad Larschan (S5E6)
Entrepreneurial Insights
The Society of Entrepreneurs and Epicenter recently launched What’s Next, a series of lunches featuring new and exciting businesses in the Memphis area. This podcast was recorded during the founder of Avadain Brad Larschan’s, recent What’s Next presentation. Avadain is at the forefront of nanotech, with the only known technology capable of manufacturing the world’s most highly sought-after advanced material – large, thin, and nearly defect-free (LTDF) graphene flakes. LTDF graphene flakes are the strongest, lightest, most electrically and thermally conductive material ever...
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Bob McEniry (S5E5)
Entrepreneurial Insights
Robert G. McEniry is retired Chairman of nexAir, an 83-year multi-generational company with headquarters in Memphis, TN. nexAir, founded in 1940 as Standard Welders Supply, was purchased by his father in 1950. Bob worked summers at the company during high school and college. Graduating from Vanderbilt University, Bob formally joined the company in 1963. He became President of the company in July 1971 and Chairman/CEO in 1996. Under his leadership, Bob guided the company and growth, which included acquisitions, mergers, start-ups, and joint ventures. During his 60 years with the company,...
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Leta Nutt (S5E4)
Entrepreneurial Insights
Meet the founder of Nutt Bio, a devoted dog mom and seasoned biomedical scientist with 25 years of expertise in unraveling the intricacies of cancer cell demise. She's on a mission to revolutionize the approach to addressing boar taint in piglets by replacing cumbersome procedures with a user-friendly single-injection sterilant. Drawing from her cancer cell research, she identified a delicate balance in metabolite concentrations influencing cell fate and strategically leveraged the external location of the testis for precise drug targeting. The drug she developed permanently eliminates boar...
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Johnny Pitts (S5E3)
Entrepreneurial Insights
Are you in the top 20% or the top 2%? Lipscomb & Pitts Insurance Managing Partner Johnny Pitts, a Higginbotham Partner and founder of CityCURRENT, explores how you can rise into the top 2% in all of your endeavors. As a born and raised Memphian, Johnny is very passionate about enriching, engaging, and impacting the community. We hope that you enjoy this conversation about Johnny’s entrepreneurial journey and passion for “powering the good”.
info_outlineNatives of Memphis, Andy and Michael began cooking as children. Their extended Italian families would gather for jovial Sunday suppers, where everyone would help make homemade meatballs and ravioli. When Andy and Michael met at Christian Brothers High School, they immediately connected over their similar ancestral backstories. After graduating from the University of Mississippi and Auburn University, respectively, Andy and Michael attended Johnson and Wales University in Charleston, SC and the Italian Institute for Advanced Culinary Studies in Calabria, Italy. Both Andy’s and MIchael's first formative kitchen experience was working under Chef Jose Gutierrez at Chez Philippe in Memphis.
In 2008, Andy and Michael opened Andrew Michael Italian Kitchen, which led to their first James Beard Foundation nomination. The duo followed their debut with Hog & Hominy, a wood-burning neighborhood restaurant that was recognized by Bon Appetit, GQ and Southern Living as one of the top new restaurants in the country in 2013. That year Food and Wine also selected them as Best New Chefs in the country, their cookbook Collards & Carbonara: Southern Cooking, Italian Roots was published and they were recognized as semifinalists for Best Chef Southeast by the James Beard Foundation. Two years later, Porcellio’s Craft Butcher highlighted their love of traditional butcheries and heritage meats. The 2016 opening of Josephine Estelle in the Ace Hotel in New Orleans, LA, was their first foray into a hotel space. Catherine & Mary’s a nod to their Italian grandmothers opened in 2016 as well. Gray Canary, located in Old Dominick Distillery in the South Main Arts District in downtown Memphis soon followed as their sixth concept.
For their seventh restaurant, Bishop, Andy and Michael dug into their French cooking foundation that began right out of culinary school. Housed in the historic Central Station Hotel, this latest concept continues as the third in their stable of downtown restaurant locations and continues to underscore the renowned chefs' company culture of family and friends.
They started the Andrew Michael Foundation in 2021 to help organize how the company can give back to our community.
Links to items mentioned in the interview:
Enjoy AM Restaurant Group
Society of Entrepreneurs Profile - Andy
Society of Entrepreneurs Profile - Michael
Andrew Michael Foundation
James Beard Foundation
Mid-South Food Bank
Collards & Carbonara: Southern Cooking, Italian Roots