Partnerships That Hold When Life Doesn't

Executive coach Ally Stone on building a $40M business, surviving a medical crisis abroad, and why leaders can't pour from an empty cup.

Marie and Anne-Marie welcome Ally Stone, international keynote speaker, executive coach, and founder of The Inspired Leader, for a conversation that moves from boardroom to hospital room and back again. Ally opens up about becoming an entrepreneur at 22, scaling a restaurant company from four locations to nearly 100, and the people-first culture she and her husband built along the way.

Then the story turns: a medical crisis during the Tokyo Marathon leaves Ally's husband with permanent memory loss, and Ally has to decide whether the leader she'd become still fits the life she now has. The conversation draws a clear throughline to relationship capital, the everyday deposits of trust and support that carry partnerships through the moments no one can predict.

Ally also shares how that season led her to found The Inspired Leader and Inspire and Awaken, her annual leadership and wellness event for women in Edmonton, and what she has learned about building partnerships rooted in reciprocity rather than transaction.

This is a conversation about culture, resilience, and what it really means to lead from a place of wellness rather than depletion.

Transcript

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Anne-Marie Pasquino

All right. Welcome back, everybody. Usually, you guys all hear Marie's voice, but today it is mine. I have the honor of kicking us off today, and I'm really, really excited about today's podcast episode, and specifically about today's podcast guest. I would like to introduce you all to Ally Stone.

Ally Stone is an international keynote speaker, executive coach, and the founder and CEO of The Inspired Leader, where she helps leaders and organizations build stronger cultures and bring more humanity into the way we lead. Now, that's all I'm gonna say about Ally 'cause she is gonna share her story. But I have had the pleasure of meeting Ally in person.

We actually live in the same city. So for those of you who don't remember, I live in Edmonton, Alberta, and so does Ally. We met at an event this year, the Alberta Women's Entrepreneur event here, and Ally did a fireside chat. And I had never met Ally before, but I absolutely fell in love with her. I also loved, Ally, that you have your best friend in your business, 'cause I connected with her at the event.

And I'm like, "Oh my God, this is so amazing". So I loved her energy. I loved her story. And I really just love the way she talked about people in leadership. I'm so excited to have you here on our podcast. Welcome to Partnerships on Purpose. I'm gonna let you introduce yourself. I'm gonna let you share your story, and then we're just gonna do what we do and have a great conversation. 

Ally Stone

Okay. Sounds good.

Anne-Marie Pasquino

Welcome, Ally.

Ally Stone

Thank you. I'm very... Excuse me, a little frog in the throat, really excited to be here. I love good conversation with other women, so it's like, oh, so good. Anyway, so I got very excited this morning. So, you know, as mentioned, my name's Ally Stone. Marie saw me speak at this AWE event, and that was a really interesting event because it was a really candid conversation about my, you know, my experience and my journey.

But I've had quite an interesting journey through my adult years, for sure. So I became an entrepreneur when I was 22. So I was pretty young. I was a baby. Had the opportunity to buy into a local restaurant brand here called Original Joe's, and at that time, Original Joe's only had four locations. So, like, we kind of thought, one and done.

This would be the restaurant, and that would be it. And unbeknownst to us, over the next 10 years, Original Joe's would explode. And by the end of that decade they would have, you know, almost 100, like, I think 98 locations across western Canada. We would end up with 17 units in our partnership group under our belt.

We'd be leading a team of 550 people and running a $40 million a year business. And so, really interesting 'cause it all happens from the age of 22. So through this whole process of, like- Wow ... learning and growing and growing business, I remember saying to my husband a lot... So my husband was one of the partners.

We had another partner. It was kind of a triad of us. And I remember saying to my husband a lot in meetings, like, "Somebody's gotta go to school," like, "Somebody's gotta get an MBA," like, "What are we doing?" Like, "It'll just keep, keep growing." But there was no time for that. And, so I had this really, like, I would call it a really visceral experience of growing and being in business and having business grow really fast and just really learning through, like, the hard knocks school of life and business.

And one of the things that became really clear to me through that journey, number one, you know, my husband and I said when we got into it, "If we're gonna do this, we're gonna do this different." We were actually in the hospitality industry because we weren't really sure what we wanted to do when we got out of school.

So he and I kind of met, and we were in that place. And so hospitality is actually a really great place to fall, 'cause you make really good money, you can take time to make a decision, you can travel, you can do all the fun things. There's a lot of freedom in it. And then we find ourselves buying into it.

But one of the things about hospitality is that it doesn't have a great culture. It's not necessarily a great working environment. It's not necessarily a place people wanna stay for the long term. And I remember when we had the opportunity to buy the restaurant, saying to him like, "Are we sure?" Like

Anne-Marie Pasquino

 Yeah

Ally Stone

I'm not sure that I wanna run a business that doesn't treat people well. And, you know, I really want to explore this before we get into this." And so we kind of made a pact with each other that we were gonna do it differently, that we were going to create a space where people felt welcomed, where they felt like they belonged, where they felt like they could be part of the process and be in the messy middle with us and grow the organization. And, I'll tell you ladies, like that experience of running that organization for me profoundly changed my life. Now, if you're listening to this, you won't see it, but if you're watching it on YouTube, I'll go this way. The people make the world beautiful sign ... behind my head is like our purpose statement, and that was what we actually formulated the entire organization on, and that was very much internal and external in the way we saw people and how we showed up and how we created partnership within Original Joe's with those 550 people in the community around us.

And so that was kind of like the first jump of that journey. I'm gonna pause because there's lots to that journey you probably want to explore. But that was kind of my, bolstering into leadership and business and where it all started and the initial stages of that journey.

Marie Mack

I absolutely love all of this, of course. Like, we're people people, right? So we wanna make sure the people are taken care of, and it's everything that we do, not... And to your point, it is, like, what we do inside of our business, and then also how we are on the outside. And I was just thinking about this. I was like, it's so much easier just to have this through line of who we are inside, outside, in family, everywhere.

It just takes so much less energy than to be like, "How do I have to show up here? How do I have to show up there?" Just be true all the time, and then you're fine. So that's what I hear you saying is, like, you've created this culture in your who you are internally, 500-plus people, and then also externally as people are joining inside of the mission that is your business.

So do you still have these restaurants? I don't know anything about, like, your journey now. So where are you now that you had, like, 40 million, and you've got all this team? Are you still running all of that?

Ally Stone

 I'm not.

Marie Mack

Okay. So I was- so what's happened in between then?

Anne-Marie Pasquino

Part two of the story. Part two. Yeah.

Marie Mack

Okay.

Ally Stone

Part two.

Marie Mack

Ready to go.

Ally Stone

So it's always important to pause there because it- that's such a big part of the journey. So- yeah ... so we're vibing, Marie. Like, things are awesome. We're thriving. We're building this business. Things are incredible. And one of the things that happens during all of this is that my husband becomes a competitive marathon runner.

So almost Olympic, like could almost qualify, ~um,~ maybe in other places, not in Canada. But, ~um,~ he's really competitive, and so we're out there. He's running marathons all over the world. We go to London, we go to Chicago. I'm at the Boston Marathon finish line six times. I'm standing there the year of the bombings.

Like, that's the kind of crazy stories around all of this. And so every year was like this adventure for us, and it was actually really baked into the organization 'cause everybody was cheering. My husband's name's Chris. Everybody was kind of cheering Chris on, and we had created this culture of supporting each other and these things, and he was really achieving great things. And so in 2018, he wanted to go to Tokyo to run the marathon there. He was trying to run all, I believe, the six or seven of the world majors. I'm not the runner.

Marie Mack

I think it's like eight. I think they added a new one. I don't know.

Ally Stone

Okay.

Marie Mack

I'm like, I'm a baby runner. I haven't done a marathon

Ally Stone

Okay

Marie Mack

Cause I feel like it's really long, but I have done half-marathons, so I love this. Oh, cool. But I think they've added a new one. I think it was, like, Sydney or something. Sorry

Ally Stone

Oh, cool. Oh, my gosh ...

Marie Mack

We had a small tangent. But anyway, yes, so he's going all over, and he's going to Tokyo.

Ally Stone

He's going all over.

Marie Mack

Oh, my gosh.

Ally Stone

He's trying to get that giant medal. You know the giant medal?

Marie Mack

Yeah, the big one.

Ally Stone

Yeah, yeah.

Marie Mack

And they, like, add them all together. Yeah. It's, like, really ridiculously huge. I'm sorry. I'm just like

Ally Stone

It's really cool, but, like, I don't know what you do with it. It's like

Marie Mack

I don't know. You just put it on your wall as like a diploma. You just put it back there or something. I don't know.

Ally Stone

Well, for your reference as a baby runner, he's trying to run a sub two-hour and 30-minute marathon, so you can imagine.

Marie Mack

No, that's so not me. That is so not me.

Ally Stone

Not even within my realm.

Marie Mack

Good for him.

Ally Stone

I watch him. Much love over here. I'm like, "Yeah, that's nice. I'll go have a beer. I'll see you later," right?

Marie Mack

I'm happy to be at the finish line to cheer you on.

Anne-Marie Pasquino

I'm like you, Ally. I'm like, "Marie, you go run for both of us. You go do the thing." Yeah.

Ally Stone

We'll cheer you on.

Anne-Marie Pasquino

Yeah, exactly.

Marie Mack

Wow. So cool. Okay.

Ally Stone

So we go to Tokyo, yeah, in 2018, and he trains for a year for this run, so this is a really, like, big thing. There's lots built around it. We get out there. He runs the marathon. He runs it in, like, two hours and 32 minutes, so he doesn't quite make the mark, but oh, my gosh, like, he's up there running with the Kenyans and, like, right, the fastest people in the world, and it's such a cool experience. We go to bed that night after the marathon, and I wake up in the middle of the night, and I'm, like, freezing cold.

And it's almost like the air conditioning's on, and then I realize I'm freezing because I'm soaking wet in the bed. And as I kind of, like, wake up and become more conscious, I realize it's not me. I turn on the light, and my husband is in a coma in the bed beside me. And this is one of those moments in our lives that just, like, changes everything.

So by the time I get him to the hospital, he's conscious, which is a good thing, but neurologically he has no idea where he is, that he ran a marathon, that we're in Tokyo. So we spent about 35 hours in the emergency room. They run every test, like CTs, MRIs- ~Mm~ ... every blood workup, PET scans. They're checking him every couple hours, and really he just doesn't even know what's going on.

And I remember the ER doc in Tokyo sitting me down near the end of it, and he's like, "You know, this is probably really unconventional advice, and I'm not really sure what you, you want to hear or think to hear here, but we can't find anything wrong with him." ~Mm.~ "He's fine. Like, he, not, he hasn't had a stroke.

We don't think he's having an aneurysm. He's testing positive for the flu," but this is 2018, nobody cares about that at this point. And he's like, "I know this is gonna sound really crazy, but I think you should put him on a plane and take him home. Because if he becomes bedridden here, how long can you afford this, and when does your insurance tap out?"

And all of these things. And he's like, "I, it's not great advice, but it's the best advice I have for you right now." And so I remember sitting there; I was really alone in that moment. Like, you're in a country where you can't even speak the language. I remember when we got him to the hospital, and he's, like, on the stretcher, and I'm like, "He needs help.

He needs help." And they're, they're talking to me; everybody in there is talking to me in Japanese, and I'm like, "I don't understand. I don't under- like, he just needs a doctor." And they're pointing to a machine that I have to put my credit card in before they'll see him, and it's, everything's in Japanese anyway.

It was just, like, so the whole experience was so traumatizing and terrifying. I ended up paying. I found a young nurse, an intern, who was finishing her shift as she was leaving, and she heard me talking. And she's like, "Oh, I trained in Vancouver." And I said, "Can I pay you to, like, stay here and be my translator?"

And I paid. She stayed the whole time. Like, it was... just insane. So I booked him on the flight. I'm like, "Okay, let's get out of here." I put him on a plane, and I'm like, I remember being like, "Don't talk to anybody." Like, oh my God. We could, like, totally get ejected from this plane even. Like, I don't even know, right?

And it's just all, everything is just chaos. It's 911. It's all... And so by the time I get him back to Canada, he's worse. He's not really awake, and, you know, he's in and out, and all of these things. And so we go directly to the hospital. The hospital looks at him here, and the ER doc says He's not in life-threatening danger, so we don't have a bed for him.

Marie Mack

Oh, gosh.

Ally Stone

And they sent him home. And I'm like, "Holy..." Can I swear? Yeah. Holy shit.

Anne-Marie Pasquino

Yeah, you can.

Marie Mack

Holy shit. This is fucking amazing. This is crazy town. What are people thinking? Yeah, that.

Ally Stone

Yeah. So I get in my car, and I go home, 'cause I'm just in a complete daze. I mean, I've just flown all the way around the world- right in, like, 72 hours. I'm a complete mess. We walk into our house, and within five minutes he opens the front door, he walks out, our dogs run away, and he's lost on the street. It's like Alzheimer's.

Anne-Marie Pasquino

Oh, my gosh.

Ally Stone

And so I'm immediately back at the hospital. It takes three visits before they actually get a neurologist to look at him, and they say, you know, "You actually don't have anything to worry about."

And I was like, "What do you mean?" They're like, "We think that he has encephalopathy." So it's a virus or an infection that you get from a mosquito bite, and it's common in Japan, and it causes this delirium. It can cause unconsciousness. It can cause memory loss. Crazy. Right? Apparently you can get a vaccination for it, ladies, so just throwing it out there.

Anne-Marie Pasquino

Okay.

Marie Mack

Okay.

Ally Stone

We have gotten

Marie Mack

Good to know.

Ally Stone

So get it. But we still don't even know if that's what happened to Chris. So they said, you know, "Go home. We know this sounds, again, kind of crazy, but in four to six weeks he should be improving. His memory should be coming back. He should be feeling better. The delirium should be going away."

So we went into complete chaos. I was just sent home to care for my husband in a moment where I had no idea. What was happening. And at the end of those six weeks, he wasn't better. And he never actually did recover. So what ended up happening, and what is still true today, is that he has lost the memory centers in his brain.

And, ugh, it's all... It makes me a little bit emotional- 'cause I don't, like, say it out loud a lot anymore, but- yeah, every day is a challenge for him to live his life. And so he was never able to go back to work at Original Joe's, and I stayed home for quite a while taking care of him, like probably four months. And then I started to be like, "Oh my gosh, somebody needs to go back to the company. Like, who's running the organization?" Like, right?

Marie Mack

Yeah.

Ally Stone

And in all of this, we had actually spent, you know, 17 years building this really incredible culture, and the way the team showed up and took care of us in our time of need is just... Like, I have stories there that'll bring you to tears. And so that was part of my like, "I need to get back to these people. I love them. They're like my second family." Like, I really treasure what we've built. And so I remember going back and feeling excited about it and feeling like, "This will be good.

Like, this will be good for me. It'll kind of break me out of this really, like, terrible time my life is in right now and where I don't know where things are going, but I can go back to something I knew." And then I walked back into that something that I knew, and I didn't know it anymore. Because who I was had changed, and it's like such a jarring experience because I loved it.

Like, I loved it so much. And then I was walking in, and I was like, "Ugh, I feel a little sick. I don't know if I wanna do this." And I kept thinking, "Oh, it's just 'cause Chris isn't here. It's just 'cause I don't have my partner in crime." But the truth was that moment in my life profoundly changed who I was and changed my values and changed the way I saw the world and changed the way I wanted to create my life in the future.

And so there was this real dark night of the soul moving through that to be like, "Oh my gosh, like, can I walk away from this? Like, is that even a thing? They've already lost him." But if I stay, am I actually being the partner? Am I actually being the leader? Am I actually still creating the thing, the magic that we had created all those years, or is it time to step aside and see if somebody else can do that?

Marie Mack

Yeah. That's huge. Holy moly.

Anne-Marie Pasquino

Told you.

Marie Mack

Crazy town.

Anne-Marie Pasquino

I told you.

Marie Mack

So crazy.

Ally Stone

Yeah.

Marie Mack

Well, and, and what I'm hearing is, like, this experience you can never predict, right? Nobody can. ~Um, ~and then at the same time, I'm just, like, tying it back to so many conversations that we have. Like, if you are true to who you are on that inside, and you show up every day as that, like, the people, the culture, the those that see you will come around you and support you in so many ways.

We talk about, we have several episodes about relationship capital. And that's what you're talking about, too, right? Like, it's all around that. You're talking about it as the team on the inside, which is just as much a partnership in any other way, right? Like, those are the people who are there to support you.

And such a profound and huge example of that is when you can't predict what's coming in the future, and, like, doing the right thing now will always pay off in the, in the future. I love to think about it as, like, a bank, right? We're putting into that bank because at some point in the future we're gonna have to pull from that bank.

We may or may not know- when or how and we talk about it in the partnership world, right? Like how businesses are working together or supporting systems, but it's also around those people who are just your everyday, right? Like, I feed into Anne Marie as my business partner all the time, knowing that sometimes it's gonna be like, "Hey, I gotta be out this week."

And then, you know, she's like, "Hey, by the way, I got family coming for two weeks. Can you hold the fort down?" I'm like, "Yeah." Like, we go back and forth. It's not quite as profound as your story, but it's just so huge and massive. So, thank you for sharing. I absolutely love it. Anne Marie, did you have something on it too, or did you-

Anne-Marie Pasquino

No, I just wanna build on what you were saying. Yeah. 'Cause that bank, right? 'Cause we just did two episodes on that. And you put everything into that bank, Ally, right? So how... What are the next steps? Like, you now moved on. You're now like, okay, do you withdraw? Like, what is the next step for you? 'Cause you are doing some amazing stuff, and I wanna talk a little bit about, like, partnerships and...

'Cause you did start your story by saying, you know, it was a partnership of three, right?. And your husband was your life partner. He was your business partner, right? And just I'd love to hear kinda where you are today, and, we can... I have a whole bunch of questions afterwards.

Ally Stone

Yeah. So I mean, I don't run the restaurants anymore. So I did come to that place, make that decision, have those hard conversations, step out. We're still partnered in a few. You know, you just don't just get a buyer when you walk out of something like that. But I think the goal is probably eventually to transition that legacy to somebody else.

Marie Mack

And we talk about it. I'll give, like, connections 'cause I always talk about it as, like, a blessing and release, right? Like when we're holding onto something that we are no longer aligned with, we're taking that opportunity from somebody else who's super excited about it. And so when we bless it and release it, Anne Marie's heard me say this for I don't know how long: the right people will come in, and it's so perfect. So all right, so now you're kind of moving away from it, so share with us a little bit more about where you are now.

Ally Stone

Yeah, so I made the decision to transition into what's called The Inspired Leader. It's my company now. And really, like, when I started, my vision was to create an executive coaching company for women leaders and entrepreneurs.

I really recognized as I transitioned out, and then even looking back through all my young years as a leader and entrepreneur, that it's different being a woman in business. We have different experiences. We go through different things. And I often think, you know, I started working with a coach about a decade ago.

I really attribute that a lot to the success that I had even in original shows, but, like, to today, ~um,~ in this business. And we have conversations that I'm like, "Oh, I wish I could've had this conversation when I was 25," right? Like-

Marie Mack

Right ...

Ally Stone

I wish we had more spaces as women to have these conversations, so I wanted to create that. And, you know, I did. I built a thriving coaching practice. It was really great. And I still have a pretty thriving coaching practice. At this point, I've started moving away from individual coaching, and we're building out programs and cohorts. And so it's really gone through a whole evolution.

But I think the important thing, or the important message through these years with The Inspired Leader that's come up for me is that- As women, and it's not never been about excluding men for me, but I think we just need a different space to have a different conversation. As women, we need some of these spaces.

And, so I started creating them. I started creating them through events in the Edmonton area. I created an event called Inspire and Awaken, which was really born out of all of these golden threads I was hearing from all of these women, and then my experience as a woman and as a leader and an entrepreneur and navigating all of the complexities.

And, so I wanted to create a space where we could come together, support each other in a non-competitive environment with this belief that a rising tide lifts all boats, 'cause sometimes we can all be our own worst enemies. And to bring in this idea that we can hold space for success and being well.

Because I will tell you, when Chris got sick, I became sick. I became very unwell. The point at which I made that decision that I had to leave the restaurants came to a breaking point, like a true breaking point where, yeah, I was very unwell. And I remember sitting down at the end of that day being like, "And if I don't figure this out, I'm not gonna make it.

I'm not gonna be able to take care of Chris. I'm not gonna be able to run this organization or transition it over." Like, we are so important, the way that we take care of us. And so when we create a community of people around us who believe in that, I think it gets normalized. And I think women

care about different things, right? And so, it's been really, it's been really amazing. We've seen, well over 1,200 women, I think, through the iterations of the event. We're expecting 350 this year. The message is resonating, and ~um,~ so that's become a big part of what I do as well. And maybe, like, the passion project, you know?

Marie Mack

Right ...

Ally Stone

And just creating space for this conversation, I think it's really important.

Marie Mack

Yeah. Well, when you create space, like, people are... Well, and safe space, intentional space, like, all of those things. Like, we can create a room, right? We can put people in a room. But there's a vulnerability that kind of has to be a part of the conversation as well, so people do trust and say, "I'm actually having a big issue," or, "I need help and support in this."

And I think as women, we kind of try to, like, put the blockers on and be like, "How much can I share or not share?" So to create that space is huge. And Anne Marie and I talk about vibe a lot, right? We talk about vibe when we're on calls with people, when in our own membership, like, we bring people in, because that sets the tone for how people are comfortable sharing, and then also, like, partnering with each other.

I assume you're making a room. You want those people to network. You want them to support each other. We're in so many different communities that are, ~um,~ primarily women, same as you. Like, we don't exclude men; we just sort of gravitate towards that space, but that's how we help those people grow, is to create safe spaces where they are welcome, where they can share those struggles, and then not be looked at as, I don't know, what men...

I don't know. I, we just don't even surround ourselves with men who think negatively about women, you know? So it's like we get people who are like, maybe a man in the audience, and they're just like, "Yeah, great, how can I help?" Like, nobody is saying anything negative. I'm sure that there's toxic things out there; it's just not in our world.

We just keep it out of the little bubble. So I love that you're bringing people together. I love that this is happening. What kind... And maybe I'll just ask this because we love events. We love that women are getting together. I love that you have an in-person event. Anne-Marie and I are huge fans of that.

Obviously, virtual's wonderful, too, so, you know, if you ever wanna expand, just let us know. But when you bring these women together, what are you finding, like, how are they working together? How are they supporting each other? That's the partnership, beautiful part of getting people together. So, maybe you can share a little bit about how you do that for your, in your event.

Anne-Marie Pasquino

How do they collaborate? Let's use

Marie Mack

How do they collaborate?

Anne-Marie Pasquino

How do they collaborate?

Ally Stone

Yeah. Well, I've seen many collaborations come out of these events. I've seen a lot of women go into this event and have ideas, like start a podcast or

Marie Mack

Right

Ally Stone

Things like that, and then come out and collaborate with other women. And so I've seen some really neat things. Some businesses come to life, some career changes, some leveling up in businesses through partnerships, through coaching. The one thing about Inspire and Awaken, and I struggle with it because I'm not a marketer, right? Like, I'm like, "What am I doing in this event space?"

Like, but it's, it's come together. I don't really know how to explain it. So I often say, "You just have to come," right? There's like this... You talk about the vibe and the energy. Like, you walk into the room, and there's an open-heartedness that happens in the room that allows space for these things to happen, and that's probably the accumulation of a million little conversations and pre-collaborations with all the women who get involved that I have before we have it.

And so when you walk in, there is just this safe space to create this. I was thinking- sure ... as you were saying that, I'm like, what do I hear?" And the one thing that was kind of ringing in my ear is that I heard it actually multiple times last year. They were like, "I came here not knowing what I needed, and left with everything I did."

Marie Mack

Yeah.

Ally Stone

And I'm like, "Okay." Yeah. And that's gonna be different for everybody, right?

Marie Mack

And that's the hardest part about, like, partnerships right now, I think, because we were just having a conversation about trust recession. People are in that space where they just don't believe that others can help them.

And then at the same time, when you show up, when you say yes to go to an event, then things will happen because everybody is kind of in a space where I think we do wanna support the right people. I think people are still very giving and loving, and they wanna see businesses thrive around them, and then also have that example of how they can support others.

Because we grow by helping others, right? Like, it's a constant flow of energy that is out there. I can get way too deep on energy, but I love that you're creating that, and then also that the women that do say yes to themselves and they do show up, they'll probably get something more than they ever expected.

And some of it might be actual collaborations to grow business, and some of it might be the one conversation that you needed to hear today because you showed up. Like, that's huge. Huge. Everywhere.

Ally Stone

I often think we're just, like, one conversation or one connection away from our next level up, and the more

Marie Mack

100, yes. We don't know where that's gonna be either. So when you have a partnership conversation, or you have a networking conversation, or you collaborate with somebody, you're gonna find that next thing. We talk about it as being the ripple effect, right? When you go out there and you share, like we're sharing some of our story, you're sharing some of your story with us, now we know more about it.

And then somebody's gonna come up into our world and be like, "Oh my gosh, you have to know Ally." And then you'll get these introductions because that's the way that it happens in the world. And, ~um,~ I absolutely love that you're creating everything in it. So good

Ally Stone 

Thank you. Yeah, it's been

Marie Mack

Anne-Marie, do you have something?

Anne-Marie Pasquino

I just came off mute. Obviously, you know when you're doing a podcast where you have to be on speaker, the people come and do the grass outside, so there's been machines and blowers—everything’s going on.

Ally Stone

Of course ...

Anne-Marie Pasquino

Ally, I wanna obviously, I know we're coming almost to the end of our time together. I wanna ask one very simple question, 'cause you talked about people coming to your event and what they get out of it. What role do partnerships and collaborations have in your business? ~Um, ~and can you maybe give us an example of a good and a bad, if you've had? I'd love to hear your thoughts on that, and specifically The Inspired Leader.

Ally Stone

Yeah, for sure. I mean, it's been everything, so I actually don't think that this company would be where it is in less than five years without it. People are often like, "Oh my gosh, you've only been doing this for, like, less than five years?" And I'm like, "Yeah, it's been a wild ride." Maybe this is my life's journey; I don't know in business. But I went into this with the intent to collaborate with other professionals, other women, to create environments where we could support each other.

And at the start, you know, that was, "I need an administrative person," "and then I need a social media person." And so I tried to find, ~um,~ specifically women, so my team is predominantly women. There is only one man on my team at this point, who is Daniel from Dash Productions. And support them in their growth, because I know that one thing I have as a gift is being able to help women grow and evolve through the mentoring and coaching that I have.

So I'm always like, "Okay, so how can I build reciprocity in this to support them, to help them get to their next level?" Even if it takes me forever, I don't care. I would love to see more women in this world succeed, thrive, live in their highest levels of success, whatever that looks like for them. So that's been a big part of my thinking in the background of the collaboration.

An amazing collaboration is my... We don't know what to call her. So she was probably my first hire. Her name's Kate. If you live in Edmonton you had done any event, you know who she is. She now MCs the summit and all of this stuff. But she started as my social media person, and through our relationship, our reciprocity, our creating a safe space for each other to learn and grow and challenge each other, I would say she's like the director of operations

Anne-Marie Pasquino

I love that

Ally Stone

For The Inspired Leader. She is the one who is, like, holds the web and knows, you know what I mean? Knows every intricacy about the business. And when, you know, we talked about being on this podcast, she was like... And I read your question, I was like, "Oh, it's Kate." Like, and it hasn't been easy. It's been a journey.

We've had great moments, and we've had hard moments. We've cried, we've laughed, we've, like... But one thing that's true in all of it, from the very start, is that we have each other's backs. We believe in each other, and we believe that this partnership can change the world. And so- I love that ... that one's just been so good. I don't know if you want me to talk about negative ones after that, 'cause that's just such a good story, but

Anne-Marie Pasquino

Yeah, no, I think- I think we ended on that

Marie Mack

No negativity.

Ally Stone

No. Yeah.

Anne-Marie Pasquino

No, and I love that, Ally, just because, ~um,~ you know, we host a collaboration room in pop, and it's a monthly event. And Marie and I always start by telling... Because partnerships could mean something different to, you know, different people, right? Like, your definition of partnerships and collaboration can mean one thing. And, ~um,~ we're in the business of partnerships, so we tell people we help people create strategies around partnership and making them understand they're as important as a marketing strategy, as important as all your finance strategy, all of that stuff.

And we start by telling the story about Marie and I and how we became partners, you know, over the past six years. So very similar to your story with Kate. So thank you for sharing that. ~Um, ~Ally, you have an event coming up. It is in October. I believe it is the 16th, 17th?

Ally Stone

Yes.

Anne-Marie Pasquino

All right, perfect.

Ally Stone

I took my own advice.

Anne-Marie Pasquino

Awesome. Why don't you... All right. You should know that, Ally. I know. You should know that. It should be up to be-

Ally Stone

I will be there.

Anne-Marie Pasquino

Why don't you tell our listeners a little bit about your event, and how they can find out more information, how to connect with you, as before we wrap this up.

Ally Stone

Sure. Yeah, as mentioned, it was kind of what I alluded to in the story, but it's called Inspire and Awaken, happens once a year. I would definitely say it's one of Edmonton's flagship leadership and wellness events for women. It's becoming pretty highly coveted. It sells out every time, so that's...

Just, like, speaks volumes to what we're creating. It's held at the Westin, downtown Edmonton this year over two days. There's a VIP night on the 15th, too, if you choose to be bougie, which is always fun. And, ~uh,~ we're- That's a Daniel word, huh? It is a Daniel word. I'm, I'm taking it with... We're talking about boujee. You know, like...

Anne-Marie Pasquino

Yeah. Yeah.

Ally Stone

But

Anne-Marie Pasquino

I love it.

Ally Stone

Yeah. I mean, it's an incredible experience. I think it's about 70% sold right now, so we're getting pretty close, but there's definitely still some tickets left. You can go to theinspiredleader.com, and even if you heard something today that you're like, "Oh, I wanna ask you a question," I'm totally open to that, so you can connect with me on LinkedIn.

I'm super happy to. I love chatting with people. I'm sure things always come out of these things, so I'm happy to answer any questions along the way, too.

Marie Mack

Yeah. Oh, it's so good. Ally, thank you so much for being here and sharing your story, and just, you know, we are always so inspired when people come on, and they're a guest with us, and we get to hear more about what partnerships mean to them, how they're integrating it in their life.

Because it's really... It's not like you put it in a little bucket and it stays over here, right? Like, it just becomes a way that we do conversations in business. So thank you again for being here. We will see you all on the next episode. ~Uh, ~please be sure to check back. We will always put all of the show notes. Ally's contact information.

Take a look at that. Connect as needed. LinkedIn is our choice as well. Thank you again, Ally, and have a great rest of your day, everyone. We will see you on the next one.

Anne-Marie Pasquino

Thank you. Bye. Ladies.