Renegade Ventures

Ellie and Maggie welcome Mary Kay Shields, owner of Triple Crown Dentistry in Louisville, to discuss the often-unspoken reality of owning a business with a spouse and navigating divorce alongside a partnership split. Mary shares her path from starting her dental practice in 2012 to expanding into a larger, purchased 8,000-square-foot building in 2019, and how differing leadership styles created team division and conflict despite years of intensive counseling. After deciding the marriage and business partnership couldn’t continue, she describes employee turnover, the relief of resolved conflict, and rebuilding culture and leadership through executive groups like Vistage. Mary also recounts a major mistake made during a tax-related entity change when she unintentionally documented 50/50 ownership, complicating the divorce and buyout, and emphasizes leaning on experts—attorneys, accountants, and advisors—and following through on their guidance.00:00 Podcast Catch Up01:10 Meet Mary Shields03:45 Mary’s Dental Journey06:25 Building The Practice09:21 Marriage And Leadership Rift14:10 Decision To Separate16:45 Rebuilding With Vistage22:46 The 50 Percent Mistake28:42 New Culture And Confidence32:28 Advice For Business Divorce35:33 Behind the Scenes Shoutouts36:15 Why This Topic Matters38:16 Meeting Through Vistage38:59 Marys Dental Journey41:47 Building the Practice Together44:40 When Partnership Breaks Down49:36 Divorce Decision and Team Fallout53:39 Rebuilding Leadership and Culture58:43 The 50 Percent Ownership Mistake01:04:35 Confidence Returns and New Culture01:08:43 Advice for Others Mid Divorce01:10:21 Final Thanks and Wrap Up

Reinventing First Aid with Green Goo: Rapid Growth, a COVID Pivot, and a Hard-Won BuybackOn the Renegade Ventures podcast, Ellie Puckett and Maggie Harlow interview Jodi Scott about building Green Goo, a mission-driven, plant-based first aid company she founded with her mom and herbalist/midwife sister to disrupt chemical-laden OTC first aid by leading with efficacy and family-safe, sustainable ingredients. Jodi shares her shift from a pre-med path and health psychology career into entrepreneurship, first via a bed-and-breakfast venture, then scaling Green Goo from farmer’s markets into major retail after an early break with the Army & Air Force Exchange, reaching over 150,000 distribution points in under five years while preserving their in-house plant-processing method. She describes the near-collapse during COVID due to a 98% retail dependence, the rapid DTC pivot, a partnership that unraveled when the acquiring company’s founder faced federal allegations, and an 18-month effort to buy the company back, rebuild inventory, and relaunch with renewed focus, joy, and resilience.00:00 Welcome and Setup00:41 Origin Story Green Goo01:54 First Entrepreneurial Leap02:56 From Kitchen to Market05:30 Rapid Retail Expansion06:11 COVID Pivot to DTC07:08 Choosing a Partner09:09 Retail Playbook Lessons12:40 Scaling and FDA Path15:05 Deal Fallout Rock Bottom18:11 18 Month Buyback Fight22:41 Rebuilding With Joy25:07 Closing and Where to Buy

What do you do when the system you trained in no longer aligns with how you want to serve people? In this episode of Renegade Ventures, we sit down with Kristina Pohl, founder of Eternity Wellness in Louisville. After years as a NICU nurse and nurse practitioner, Kristina saw the gaps in traditional healthcare — and decided to build something different. With $5,000, a single treatment room, and a newborn at home, she launched her own integrative wellness practice just months before the pandemic. What followed was a crash course in entrepreneurship: learning business from scratch, hiring intentionally, investing in financial literacy, and scaling without losing the mission. Today, Eternity Wellness offers IV therapy, aesthetics, hormone care, gender-affirming care, medical weight loss, movement classes, and more — all rooted in prevention and whole-person health. We cover: -The moment getting laid off became her catalyst -Moving from provider to CEO -The hardest part of hiring and building culture -Bridging gaps in menopause and affirming care -What aspiring entrepreneurs really need to know before starting -If you’ve ever felt called to build something better — this conversation is for you. Learn more at eternitywellnesscenter.com and tune in to hear how courage, clarity, and community built a thriving wellness practice from the ground up.

In this episode of the Renegade Ventures podcast, the hosts discuss the shift from hands-on operator to leader and coach—highlighting the importance of clear “don’t do” goals.They’re joined by Lauren and Pamela of Splendid Events, a mother–daughter event planning team who share how they built their business over 16 years and successfully pivoted during COVID to virtual events through studio partnerships and digital event strategist certification. Pamela’s corporate background in healthcare insurance and project management shaped their operational systems, while Lauren brings strengths in tech, registration platforms, and event execution. Together, they divide responsibilities across strategy, client management, and on-site operations.They explore what it takes to run large-scale events—detailed systems, trusted vendors, adaptability, and calm problem-solving—along with the realities of family business, industry shifts like AI-assisted tools, and their move toward corporate and nonprofit clients. They also discuss certifications (WEBC/WBE), challenges including racial bias and vendor risk, and why they avoid bringing services in-house to stay flexible.Looking ahead to strong demand through 2026, they share plans to expand into speaking and education, including their upcoming anthology chapter in She Knows Best (January 2026). The episode closes with insights on how hiring an event planner can elevate both the experience and the bottom line.

What happens when you intentionally build a business to sell — and actually do it?In this episode of Renegade Ventures, Ellie sits down with serial entrepreneur Diane Prince, who went from failing out of a PhD program to building and selling a staffing agency for $28 million in just six years — and then doing it all over again.Diane walks us through how she and her co-founder engineered their exit from day one, scaled to $35M in revenue, survived payroll weeks north of $700K, navigated a failed acquisition post-9/11, and ultimately structured a deal that paid out the entire earnout — without staying in the business.Now, she’s building again — this time with offshore talent, a radically different vision, and a focus on leverage, lifestyle, and fun.If you’re an acquisition entrepreneur, operator, or founder thinking about scale, exit, or doing it smarter the second time around, this episode is packed with real-world insight.