Nancy May Food Podcaster

Show Notes

Recorded 01/26/2026 31 MIN

Released 02/04/2026

Episode 6 Nancy May Food Podcaster

This is Shaping Our Story where I talk with exemplary leaders about their success to inspire others to thrive. This week's guest is award-winning leader and podcaster Nancy May, who shares how kindness drives corporate governance, elder care leadership, and the meaningful stories that begin at the dinner table. Please like, subscribe, comment, and share to inspire others.

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Podcast: Family Tree, Food & Stories

Book:  My Family Tree, Food & Stories
Facebook Group @FamilyTreeFoodStories

Instagram Stories @FamilyTreeFoodStories

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Information

Louise Krikorian’s outline of questions comes from her years of researching the psychology of learning, motivating students, and researching Dr. Angela Duckworth’s work on Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance (Scribner, 2016). For more information on Dr. Angela Duckworth, you can visit https://angeladuckworth.com/.

Creator: Louise Krikorian

Years Active: 2025

Episodes: 6

Rating: Clean

Hosted with Buzzsprout www.buzzsprout.com

Transcript

Intro

Hi, I’m Louise Krikorian. This is Shaping Our Story where I talk with exemplary leaders about passion, purpose, and perseverance—to show you how to thrive.

Today, our guest, Nancy May, is an exemplary leader in Corporate Governance, Elder Care and Food. Her three podcasts are Boardroom’s Best, ElderCare Success and Family Tree, Food & Stories, which she co-hosts with restauranteur, Sylvia Lovely

Nancy was chosen for the 2025 Top 50 over 50 Podcaster’s worldwide Award, The Eldercare silver source award, And the Forbes top corporate governance Award. Her book My Family Tree, Food & Stories is a Journal that prompts you to write and share your Favorite Foods, Recipes, and Stories. As Nancy says, Great stories and memories begin at the dinner table.

 Interview

Welcome Nancy May. Thank you, Louise. It's great to be here with you. Unbelievable. When did we meet? We must have met about, I don't know, maybe about a year ago or so. A year or two? I think so, yeah. And uh, we were at the Florida Podcasters Association meeting at um.

In Tampa, Florida at Oxford Exchange. And we've talked about Pod Fest because we've both attended Pod Fest. I volunteered there, but it just, it just goes to show that when you walk into a meeting or some sort of conference or workshop, look around and see who you wanna sit next to get there early and. Choose your seat. Absolutely. Yes. Because I got there early and then I was looking around and I think I actually moved my stuff when you came in. 'cause I was one seat away from you. That's funny. So you have so many, um, interests. Uh, two podcasts, a completely different background. What is actually, actually three podcasts, but three podcasts.

Okay. Um, so the three podcasts are, you have the one on Elder Care and the one on food, and then what's the other one? And then I started, yeah, the, the, the Elder Care and the food. The food, well the Elder Care. And the first one I did was Boardroom’s Best, which is where I started dealing with corporate governance issues.

Uh, back in, God, that was my first one back in 2016 or 2017 when I first started. So, and then you had the idea for working with Elder Care because that's personal for you and helping your parents. 

I was taking care of mom and dad from 1200 miles away and saving $260,000 a year. People said, how are you doing it?

And I said, well, I'll write a book. And, uh, which I did on how to survive 9 1 1 Medical emergencies, which has got all sorts of great ratings and said, well, I'll just, you wanna know, I'll do a podcast. It was a lot easier than doing it one-on-one and showing people how to do things. And when did you start that?

Oh, I think that was, I'm gonna say 2000. Let's see. 17 when I started. 2020. So almost six years ago. Six. Well, it had to be more than that 'cause my dad passed six years ago, so, uh, it was probably close. It was, I'm gonna say 2019 probably when I started. Okay. Then you started Family tree food and stories.

Yeah. That's only, it's a little over a year old. That's, it's interesting because the first one that you did on, um, on your corporate world, the corporate life right, seems to be more serious. Very well. It is serious. There's some, there's some lightness to it, but it's. Corporate governance is not exactly woo, you know?

Mm-hmm. It's, it's serious. It's serious. Then you move into elder care, which is very touching and difficult at times. Yeah. 'cause I've dealt with that too, and mm-hmm. And that's advice and helping people, um, maneuver a difficult time in their life. Correct. And then you come to Family Tree Food and Stories podcast where I was reading your reviews and you had a review recently where the woman was talking about how funny the two of you are and how delightful it is to listen to you.

And you know, it's interesting how you can make things so funny when you're talking about dog food. Woof. Yes. You say woof in it several times. Yes. I beco, I'm morphing to the dog at one point in the show, so, you know, do your hearing ears hang low as they say. That's so funny. So of all of those things, and it might even be something other than that, what is your greatest passion or your greatest interest?

My greatest passion and greatest interest is not necessarily related directly to podcasting, but I think it is really pushing the creative edge whenever I possibly can. That includes some serious things as well, and always. You know, what's the different twist? How can I make it different? How can I make it interesting and make it relevant to what I like to do, as well as being of value to somebody else?

So I've always been known for being pretty direct in, in working with people, but the family tree, food and stories is a little bit of my creative. And zinging this where I started in, in advertising in my career. So I'm bringing all that sort of full circle, which is rather fun. And you have a co-host with that as well. Me too. That's Sylvia Lovey, Lovely. Sylvia lovely. Up in Lexington, Kentucky. Mm-hmm. 

She's funny too. Oh, she's funny. Yeah. We've got, I've got the northern and she's got that southern twang and you know, the two meet in, in the middle. And you start talking about wine and all different kinds of things in your pizza episode and chianti, and she just gets going.

She's really funny as well. Yeah. It's a, it's a good match. Yeah. So, so just to summarize what you said about your greatest interest, it's to. In essence with this podcast, I think it's really bringing your, um, your sense of what you love to other people and they enjoy that. Absolutely. I am not a great cook, so it's not necessarily about recipes and being perfect in the kitchen.

It's, it's truly about how food Im impacts our lives every day and brings us closer to the people that we love and care about, and maybe don't care too much about because there's a little bit of that too. Who was the first person who inspired you? Oh, um. It sounds kind of trite, but I think my dad was a big inspiration in my life for many, many reasons.

He was an entrepreneur himself. He took over his own father's business and, um, over the years I just learned so much by watching and being part of, I mean, not really directly related to what he was doing, but just watching everything. Every time he came home, I would. See what he'd brought home, what magazines he was reading and going through what research he was doing.

I loved walking the factory floor and being part of the, the conferences and conventions, which were our family vacations. And, um, both he and, and, and my mom worked together on that. Later on, my mom got involved in it. And he had a, a poster which said, uh, "Protest Against the Rising Tide of Conformity". That as kids, my mom and I made a needlepoint pillow out of.

And I would say that that mantra has rung pretty deep in my DNA. So, um, he was a great mentor. I had a mentor at Jay Walter Thompson, the advertising and agency that I first started my career in, who is truly a, a, a very.  Good and grounded and, and decent man. And if I hadn't had a, a boss like that in the course of my career, I really would not have known what a, what a good bo what somebody good to work for.

Really was 'cause I didn't work for my dad. And um, and then I had another fellow who one day pull me aside Bob Lee, who was the founder of Lee Hec Terrace in the outplacement firm, who called me into his office one day, said, Hey, Nancy, I wanna talk to you. And I said, the great Bob Lee wants to talk to me.

Why? And he said, I, I have to tell you why, why people wanna follow you. And he, and he did. And that was. I appreciated his feedback and his honesty and his desire to share that with me. So I would say, um, a mentor doesn't have to be with you your entire life, but sometimes it's just a moment that they take out of their time to share with you and, and give you the support that you need. 

And he told you why people wanna follow you. Mm-hmm. Huh? Meaning they're willing to, well, you know what, what, what was the attractor. Because I think, you know, whether we're in business or we're creators, we have to, I would, following is probably not the right word, but um. Either people are gravitated toward you, some people more than others, or they're repelled by you.

Hopefully they're not repelled by me, but he said, um, look at, you know, people are not interested in what you think is you as a brand, people care about what you have to say. You Nancy May and how you deliver it, and it's different than anybody else, and that is. Something special. And I appreciated that. He actually said that.

He said, you walk, this sounds a little obnoxious, but he says, you know, you walk into a room and people wanna know who you are. And, um, like you said, you moved your chair to sit next to me. I did. I, and I don't know why. I honestly don't know why something. I have no idea why either. I just, but what, whatever it is, something's happening.

So what did he say was the reason that people wanna follow you? Well, he, he said you have a, a, a spark, um, you're honest, you're direct, you're not mean, but you're always on target with the things that you say, whether you realize it or not. And, um, I was, at the time, I was trying to create a, a brand around.

What I was doing, the, the consulting work that I was doing. And he said, forget the brand people are buying you. People want Nancy May. That's it. People don't want the brand. They want, they want the source. So, um, maybe it sounds like, 'cause you were authentic, I'm just guessing. Yeah, I'm pretty direct when people, in fact, I did a, a program up in New York not too long ago for, uh, a company that was dealing with boards of directors.

And the folks who attended it was really kinda shocked me, but one fellow said it was life changing, which I thought was rather interesting from a board perspective. And, um, a a, a number of them said they had never gotten such direct and. Unfiltered information to help them in the course of what they were doing from a, a board perspective. 

And that's kind of who I am. I, I'm not mean about it, I'm just, I tell you what you need to hear in a very, um,unvarnished way. So, and people don't do that. I think people are too careful about what they. How they, how they share information, um, or their knowledge with individuals that can be of value to somebody else. It's, this is what it is and you know, if I can get you to, to point Z or B or whatever you need to go to faster by just being direct.

I will do that. Mm-hmm. That's me. Well, the, the sense that I've always had working with you is been that you, you've done that with me, but you've always done it with respect. Yeah. Yeah. I, I don't intend to be mean in any way, shape, or form. No. But if I can get you there faster. So that I can move on faster in some cases than I would do that.

There we go, right? There's a little directness. So I was listening to a podcast, and I really like the way that this question was asked in an episode of the Mel Robbins podcast with guest Angela Duckworth. Okay. And I'd like to ask you the same. Would you agree that purpose is having a sense of responsibility then acting with the intention of helping others? Ooh, good question. It depends who the purpose or what the purpose is for. Is it for you or for somebody else? Because I think that there, you could do something purposeful for yourself or you do it with a purpose of. Changing or impacting an individual or the world in a different way.

So I'm not, um, not sure if that actually answers the question. I don't think it's necessarily one thing or the other. Mm-hmm. Well, do you feel like you have a purpose?

I think I have a purpose to achieve. A goal, you know, it, I wouldn't call it a, a socially responsible purpose. I'm not out to change the world and, and make the world, um, more lovable or woo woo or whatever the case might be. But I certainly, I certainly don't want to. I guess if I go back to, I'm gonna turn this back.

So if I go back to something that I learned as a kid in Girl Scouts, right? The Old Girl Scout mantra, um, is, uh, leave things better than when, um, leave things better, when make things better when you leave than when you got there. So. I guess you could say hopefully the world will be just a little bit better when my time is up.

So if that's a purpose, that's a pretty big one. Well, my life is better because of you. Well, thank you. It's a very nice thing to say. Yeah. So like one tick off I've got when Mark done. And what would you say you've learned from your biggest professional failure? Ooh, you, uh, you sent me that question over and I thought about that, and this, this, again, that sounds pretty, you know, trite. I'm not sure that, that I look at, I'll call them zigs and zags as failures. They're learning opportunities. But, um, I do remember getting fired. Once and um, that was, that was certainly an experience, but I would say my biggest fa failure, my biggest mistake was taking a job that I realized was the wrong job. About a month and a half in. Mm. And uh, I'm not particularly a quitter, but I know when to, when to leave.

And in this case I thought, okay, so two points. If the company matched my 401k at the time, I was in my, in my twenties, my late twenties, I matched my 401k and I thought, okay, if I stick it out for a year, I've got, I've got a match. Maybe I'll learn something along the way, which I did. Um, I, uh, at the end. I learned more about kindness that was not being given to, um, a certain, a certain individual, a couple of different individuals in, in the department.

And I learned more about listening and just how to be empathetic in a way that maybe I hadn't, has been, hadn't been as observant with before. I also learned how important reputation is, and my exit strategy at that company was to the boss, um, his name was Tom, and I said, Tom, I have to be honest with you, I can no longer personally, professionally represent this company, and this was a big Fortune 500 company anymore.

I'm afraid that my reputation is going to be damaged if I hang out any longer. And he was shocked. I explained in a very thoughtful, not a nasty kind of way what was happening and why I was concerned that in the long run it was gonna be bad for me. And after I left eight other people left. So like very soon after

Yeah, with within two months they were gone. They, and nobody had left the year before I had gotten there. They were all there. So. I would say, um, the biggest lesson there I learned was to, when you make a, a decision to go into something and it's not right, um, maybe it's, it's important to, not maybe, but I think it's important to assess the situation before you make a rash decision on, on leaving or mm-hmm.

You know, exit stage left, um mm-hmm. I've done that before and each time I did not. Just cut, you know, cut it off immediately. I thought about my decisions and why, and that that's been helpful over the years. Well, that's interesting because my next two questions talk about dedication and perseverance. So the question about giving up when things aren't easy, you could be in a situation where you have a new job and then you find a month in that it's not the right.

It's not the right place for you. Mm-hmm. But you per persevere and you stay and you try to make changes and that isn't necessarily positive. And you were aware. You, you decided, you know. That this is not the right place for me. Mm-hmm. And it wasn't just because it wasn't easy, it was because it wasn't gonna be good for your reputation.

So you, and, and the boss ended up with, I, I ran into his wife at mm-hmm. I was co-chair of a, a gala, a local gala event, not-for-profit. And I thought, oh my God. I don't want to talk to him like, uh, but um, I learned afterwards another consultant had, had met him and said, you know, Nancy? And he says, oh yeah, I wish I'd never let her go.

But apparently, which was a very lovely compliment. We had a great conversation when we met up at this, this event. And, uh, I learned the stories of what he battled as a result of everything that I saw at the time that came back to bite him too. Um. But it was, you know, it was a learning lesson for him as well in the long run.

Mm-hmm. So, speaking to doing things, if they come easy or they come natural, do you feel that way with your new podcast, with the the Food podcast? Does that come easy to you? Is that natural working with a co-host, having fun? Well, let's, let's put it this way. I would say it, it's certainly enjoyable, but anything worth doing well takes.

Time and commitment and easy is relative because I'm the kind of person who, if I start here, I always wanna know how do you get it better? Where do you tweak it? What do you do? What am I learning in different areas that I can bring in different psychological factors, different research factors. Uh, I am not a food expert, although I'm becoming one, so.

You know, it's, it's an entirely different industry that I'm applying skills that I have and assets that I have in, in different multiple disciplines to a new category, which adds a different perspective of color and light to things. So hopefully that brings a different kind of value to the show that people are enjoying and I'm learning along the way.

So if you, if things come easy, I think you're not learning. That's my asset or my, my assessment. If they're difficult, you have to figure out why are they difficult and how do you make it a little less stressful? 'cause difficult can be stressful at the same time. Um, just like taking care of my parents. It was not an easy thing to do, but.

I learned how to, I say, take care of mom and dad, Inc. Taking care of mom and my, my and parent, my parents was, and I see people struggling with this emotionally and such great turmoil and, um, it destroying their lives. And I treated it like another business without being, without sounding callous about it

Mm-hmm. It was very personal in, in many ways, but as they say, you know. All business is personal, and I think that's true of anything true, whether it's a craft or business's. True. Does that keep you inspired, um, the personal aspect? Or well, the fact that, number one, you're doing things that you, you're not used to doing.

You're doing new things. Even if they're hard, you're sticking with 'em. Yeah. But then you also know that you're helping other people because you're giving information to other people that's useful for you, but then it's also educational and entertaining. And, and how do you push that envelope even further?

I, I've got plans to do bigger and other things with that as an anchor. So I'm always looking for how do you, how do you, how do you break barriers and, and change boundaries and make sure that there are no boundaries and. Enjoy what you're doing at the same time. So if there's a creative edge to test and constantly challenge my own thoughts and beliefs, then I guess you could call that inspiration.

Well then that, that segues right into, um, what are you hoping to do next? What am I hoping to do next? Well, what I'm planning to do next is how do you take this to the next level and add other shows? Ideally create a network and bring other people into the fold so that we have a, a series of, uh, a network really, uh, shows that, that create a desire and a, a.

And a value to other people that are fun and entertaining and informative and impact, um, everyday lives. Because honestly, that's the, as we say in the show, every meal has a story and every story is a feast. So. That's true no matter what platform you put it in. Mm-hmm. Whether it's a business platform or a personal platform or an entertainment platform, um, you know, food impacts every everybody's lives, including in business.

It's, I can't tell you how many deals and conversations I've had over coffee and eggs and Yeah. A glass of wine or mm-hmm. A steak or whatever that might be. Mm-hmm. And they're always more, the relationships become. Either stronger or you know, it's time to go next. Yeah. Always over a meal. Right. Yeah. No, definitely.

Even if it's just over coffee. Absolutely. You're sharing something. I mean, that goes back to early civilization. Mm-hmm. Even before we had civilization, just people sitting around a campfire. So yeah. Gotta go get that mammoth. Gotta eat the wooly bear one bite at a time. Well, Valentine's Day's coming up, so I'm hoping to eat some chocolate. Oh, well we have a Valentine's show coming up on um, aphrodisiac. 

Foods and the stories around that. And it's not what you think. Sounds like fun though. Absolutely. So if you're thinking of starting a network mm-hmm. And it sounds to me like you're, you're going into that more of that line of work, even though you still do work in corporate governance.

Correct. Um, what would your advice be for someone who's starting their own journey in podcasting or in anything? Well, either podcasting or in corporate governance? Either one. Well, in Well, or in business? In in general. In general. I would, I, yeah, I would say surround yourself with people that are smarter than you and that you are curious about somebody, people who have done things that you wanna learn from.

I always had the ability to. To open, I wouldn't say open doors, but when the door was even opened a little bit, I stuck my foot in and I made sure that I was not going to be kicked outta that room. Mm-hmm. And ask questions. Be the one that makes others feel comfortable by asking questions in a way that makes them think, and they become a, um, a contributor too.

Your life lessons along the way. I've met some amazing, talented leaders over the course of, of my career and everybody as my, I go back to my dad and said, look at, we are, we're all cut outta the same cloth. Ultimately, whether we're a black, white, purple, green, we still deal with pain and sorrow and joy and laughter.

Many of the same ways. And if you treat people like equals, no matter who they are, mm-hmm top or bottom, you'll learn and do better for yourself and for them. So ask people questions, be curious, be curious, and don't be a pain in the neck about it. But, you know, ask open-ended questions. Do not have, never feel like you have to be the one who knows everything because you don't, you never will.

Good. Well, I'm gonna ask you one more question. Okay? Go right ahead. What, what do you do consistently? So, is there something that you do every day? And I don't mean brush your teeth, I don't mean brush your hair, just something that you do consistently that, um, that helps you, um, I guess grow your passion, grow your purpose, um, make your life better every day.

Oh, yeah. Um, I, I cannot start day without having a cup of coffee. It's a food thing, right? It's, and if it, if it's frothy coffee, so you can froth the milk on top, right? Oh, it makes it so much more special. So, um, I like doing that and I enjoy, at the end of the day just reading something that is not business related, um, before I go to bed, got my Kindle.

I know it's a bad thing to do when you're sitting in bed reading, but it's something just to take that edge off and escape into another world for a little bit. So, and I, I listened to, I listened to podcasts in the shower. I, I multitask in the shower. I use the, I use that time. Yeah. Oh, that's funny. I really enjoyed this time with you.

I really have. I enjoy all the time that I'm with you because Thank you, Louise. You do ask questions. You ask me questions. When I ask you a question, you'll come back and ask me one. Mm-hmm. You know, well what do I think? What are my thoughts? And I really do appreciate that. So thank you so much for your time today.

You're welcome. And I look forward to seeing you the next time. You got it. Take care. Bye-bye bye.

Outro

To learn more about Nancy May, visit her website podcast dot Family Tree Food Stories dot com. Thank you so much for joining us at Shaping Our Story.

Thanks to our guest Nancy May. Her ability to listen and act with kindness is proof that she combines her passion with persistence. If you enjoyed this week’s episode click on follow and leave a comment to inspire us or suggest a guest. And remember to “If this made you think, share the thought. See you next time.