Sometimes, no — every time, the things we’ve been through push us. Make us stronger. Change us for the good. Resiliency is the name of the Women of CLT game and we have been enjoying the message.
These women are doing spectacular things in Charlotte.
Follow @womenofclt to check out whom we’ve posted over the past 9 months. And for who’s yet to come.
You?
Tracey L. Street embodies what it means to have passion for teaching. She’s a 3rd grade Teacher/Principal Intern at Ballantyne Elementary. She’s a University of Alabama Alumni certified Prek-6th grade teacher with a Masters in Reading from Queens University. She’s also currently completing her Administration License with Queens. ⠀
Tracey’s personal mission? To encourage and help her students grow while creating an engaging, exciting, and fun learning environment focused on relationships.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Powerful stuff.
Teaching has been in Tracey’s heart from a very young age — as the youngest of 3 siblings from a military family, she has always wanted to teach others new things. Tracey used to play school with her older sister and friends.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Tracey was awarded a soccer scholarship to The University of Alabama where she met her husband who has always encouraged her to grow in her education. As Tracey got older the ‘playing school’ turned into coaching soccer. She coached from when she was a senior in High School until a few years before her first daughter was born in 2011. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
That evolved into a love of teaching colleagues and students the many uses for 21st century technology. In 2019, Tracey had the opportunity to visit The Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta, GA where she was able to observe teachers in their classrooms and see the evidence of teaching with a balance of rigor and relationships.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Tracey’s daughters are now following in her athletic footsteps. And we’re willing to bet, a whole lot more:⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
When Ruby is not on the morning news for Wakeup Charlotte, she runs House of Ruby Durham where she offers high-end interior design and professional organizing services.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
The oreos in the pic tho.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Ruby loves organizing. She loves kitchen supplies and home decor. She likes the process between purging or decluttering and then creating a system that saves time and money. A system that also looks beautiful. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
She also finds it therapeutic.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
One of Ruby’s initial clients outside of friends and family asked her to re-design two kids rooms. She asked Ruby to take everything out and start fresh. Ruby never thought organizing would lead to interior design — it was a challenge her client believed she could handle. So she went for it.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Always go for it.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Ruby’s dad is a contractor and has a team of folks that help her. Ruby has aspirations set in the direction of her own warehouse where she would have a team of folks who would craft upholstery, custom art, and drapery for luxury spaces. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Yes, Ruby’s still on the news. She says she’s actually producing some of her best work since the beginning of the pandemic.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Going for it:⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
FACEBOOK: @houseofrubydurham
TIK TOK: @houseofrubydurham
SITE: houseofrubydurham/connect
Chantal Wells is the founder of Adeline’s Aid, the nonprofit in honor of her daughter Adeline. While alone in the hospital on bed rest due to preterm labor, Chantal gained strength from connecting online with other mothers going through similar experiences.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Adeline was born with a hole in her tiny heart. It has shrunk in size small enough to not need surgery *thankfully* but she has severe hearing loss in her right ear due to unknown causes (presumably Covid), therefore she wears a hearing aid. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Those three and a half weeks on bedrest and seven weeks in the NICU significantly changed Chantal. Originally from South Africa, Chantal did not have a large support system prior. With her new community, she built on those tough experiences and now offers extensive support and love to those high-risk pregnant mothers on hospital bed rest & families with premature babies in the NICU.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Adeline’s Aid also advocates for women’s mental health. According to studies, the chances of antepartum depression during a high-risk pregnancy is almost 50%. Pair that with the common NICU stay following preterm labor and that statistic increases.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Ever changing us.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Partnering with Novant Presbyterian, CMC Main, CMC Pineville and Piedmont Medical Center, Adeline’s Aid is setting the tone.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
For mothers:⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
FB: adelinesaid.npo
Monique McGrant is a native of CLT and current Vice President and owner of McGrant Tax & Bookkeeping. Monique started her college career at UNC Greensboro as a sociology major, later earning her Master’s in criminal justice at UNC Charlotte.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Go Charlotte.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
How did her passion for taxes come into play? Her mom, Evelyn McGrant, started preparing taxes in their kitchen when Monique was a kiddo. Evelyn opened a franchise during Monique’s middle school years and Monique grew up around the craft of tax prep. Later, she watched her mom grow her business (McGrant Tax & Bookkeeping) into what it is today, which inspired Monique to follow. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Moms are the best kind of role models.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Monique has always had a niche for helping people. Her jobs have always been customer service based. Now Monique gets to use her knowledge and expertise to promote financial literacy with her customers and small business owners. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
We’re always learning:⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
@mcgranttaxbookkeeping⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Michelle Castelloe is the owner of Moxie Mercantile and Betty. Moxie Mercantile is a thoughtfully curated shop with both vintage and modern accessories and gifts. Betty offers customers a variety of apparel and accessories, including baby and kids clothing, toys and gifts.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Michelle’s mission is to support her neighborhoods by uplifting local creators/businesses through selling their products, donating more than $10,000 to local charities and partnering with other female owned businesses.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Michelle left her corporate job as a Brand Director at Anthropologie back in 2019 to pursue and solely focus on her childhood dreams of being a retail boutique owner.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Michelle selected the name “Moxie” because her grandfather often used the word to describe her — somebody who’s brave and willing to take a risk. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Why “Betty?” — The name is inspired by and named after Betty Ziegler Mims, the former owner of Bride’s House of Originals, which was homed in Moxie’s Plaza Midwood location.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Michelle is the mother of 4 amazing girls. Her kids and family inspired her to make this dream come true. She found herself in a corporate position, taking promotions just to make more money, when that actually was a contradiction to what she was trying to teach her daughters. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
We too teach our daughters that being happy is more important than being rich. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
It’s all in a good name:⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Moxie:@moxiemercantile
Twitter: @MoxieMercantile
FB: @moxiemercantile⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
@bettybymoxie⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
We are obsessed with Charlotte Lucas. She is owner & principal designer at Charlotte Lucas Design — with high-end residential & commercial projects here in the Queen City and across the country.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
We are also obsessed with her wardrobe, to be honest.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Charlotte’s mother was an interior designer and so she grew up in that world — going to flea markets, having creative liberty to design childhood bedrooms and so on. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Lucky girl.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Charlotte always knew she wanted to be a professional designer. She went to UGA and got her degree in Furnishings and Interiors, worked for several designers both in DC & Charlotte upon graduating, and then started her own firm in 2012.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Charlotte also launched a wallpaper and fabric line, House of Harris, in 2017, that she runs with her sister and fellow interior designer, Liz Carroll (Harris is their maiden name). ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Luck has nothing to do with it. Style is in Charlotte’s blood:
@charlottehlucas & @houseofharrisllc
charlottelucasdesign.com⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
10 years ago, Carolina Marrelli was in full-time music ministry, set to go on tour with her band. But after her 2nd child was born, ended up touring a hospital instead. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Carolina had gone septic with Group-B strep 8 days after her son was born, followed immediately with C. Difficile condition from the IV antibiotics she was given during her 2nd stay in the hospital. The doctors told her she was lucky to be alive and to do everything she could to stay healthy moving forward. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
So she does.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Carolina left her career in music to go back to school for holistic health coaching and plant-based medicine. She felt she had been given a second shot at life for a reason. With her EquiBalance Health, Carolina helps teach other moms how to stay healthy… ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
and how to keep their families healthy as well:⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
https://heyred.biz/speaker/carolina-marrelli/
Amanda McGough, PhD is a licensed psychologist who has a passion for suicide prevention and supporting those who lose a loved one to suicide. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Heavy subject. Needed work.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Amanda’s passion for suicide prevention was born out of her own loss. C. Kelly Strickland, a classmate and friend of Amanda’s, ended his life at age 22 after losing his mom to suicide when they were in the 8th grade. He had been a funny, athletic, and edgy guy who struggled with his own mental health and substance abuse. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
This directly impacted her career path as Amanda wanted to learn how to help others who were struggling. Amanda firmly believes that suicide is not only a mental health issue, but a social justice and equality issue.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
When Amanda’s not busy with her private practice work at Base Cognitive Behavioral (seeing clients ranging from age 8 to adults for a variety of concerns), she’s spending time volunteering with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. There she serves as the Board President, gives free suicide prevention trainings, runs an International Survivors of Suicide Loss Day event in the Queen City. And speaks to the press about how we can all be a part of stopping suicide.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
We’re glad she does.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Amanda’s work in suicide prevention has lead to some fun travel for trainings (Denver, DC, Atlanta) and valued connections with colleagues all across the US. It also got her onto Twitter. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Love the Twitter. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
Amanda enjoys sharing info and connecting with others on the bird app. You can follow her @DrAmandaMcGough on Twitter.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
For her ‘grams: ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
