In this episode of Uncensored Entrepreneurs, the hosts sit down with Kelly Price, founder of Thrive HR and a seasoned human resources leader with experience spanning hospitality, corporate HR, and executive leadership. Kelly shares how her unconventional career path shaped her people-first approach to leadership and why so many founders struggle once their business growth outpaces their management skills.

The conversation explores the hidden cost of fear-based decision-making, the realities of workplace culture, and why human resources is not just a compliance function but a strategic foundation for sustainable growth. Kelly also reflects on pivotal moments from her corporate career that reshaped her values, boundaries, and definition of success. This episode offers founders a grounded, human perspective on leadership, accountability, and building teams that thrive without sacrificing integrity or well-being.

Key Takeaways:

• Leadership sets the emotional tone: A leader’s attitude, behavior, and self-awareness directly influence team morale, engagement, and performance.

• People strategy is business strategy: Without clear expectations, consistent processes, and intentional communication, long-term growth becomes unsustainable.

• Fear delays progress: Avoiding difficult conversations or decisions often creates larger problems that are harder to fix later.

• Turnover and disengagement are early warning signs: Declining productivity and quiet quitting signal deeper cultural or leadership issues that require attention.

• Boundaries protect sustainability: Defining values, limits, and non-negotiables helps leaders build businesses that support both performance and personal well-being.

Featured Guest:

Kelly Price is the founder of Thrive HR and a seasoned human resources executive with experience ranging from Marriott International to serving as Vice President of HR for a high-growth, multi-location organization. With a background that blends psychology, hospitality, and leadership development, Kelly partners with small and mid-sized businesses to build strong people strategies, navigate growth challenges, and create healthier workplace cultures. Through audits, advisory support, and consulting, she helps founders align their business goals with the realities of managing people effectively.

🔗 Learn more: https://www.thrivehrkc.com/

Your Hosts:

Starr Codd is a business strategist, SaaS founder, and seven-figure entrepreneur who helps business owners scale online with automation, lead generation, and systems that create real freedom. After breaking through corporate glass ceilings and building a seven-figure beauty brand, she launched her all-in-one software and now empowers others to stop admiring someone else’s empire and build their own. Learn More: shehasclients.com

Tina Torres-Wilson is a self-publishing expert and founder of Pink Door Marketing Agency, helping female entrepreneurs and coaches write, publish, and market their books to become best-selling authors. After overcoming personal hardships, she rebuilt her business and now empowers women to share their stories and grow their brands through her signature programs like Aspiring Authors Academy and 120 Days to Best Seller. Learn More: ⁠pinkdoormarketingagency.com/ ⁠

Robert Wall is a best-selling author, transformational speaker, and business strategist who’s helped launch over $28 million in new programs. As the founder of The Branding Collaborative and creator of the YOUniversal Brand Alignment method, he guides entrepreneurs and leaders to build authentic brands aligned with their heart, mind, and soul. On stage or behind the mic, Robert brings real-world wisdom, unshakable faith, and a mission to help others rise, reconnect with purpose, and create lives they don’t need a break from. Learn more: brandingcollaborative.com

In this episode of Uncensored Entrepreneurs, the hosts sit down with B. Lorraine Smith, a former corporate sustainability consultant turned regenerative business practitioner, to examine why many well-funded ESG and sustainability efforts fail to create real change. Drawing from more than two decades of experience advising global corporations, Lorraine shares what she witnessed behind boardroom doors and why she ultimately chose to walk away from traditional consulting work.

The conversation explores the concept of “industrial healing,” the limits of metric-driven decision-making, and the courage required to question business models that no longer serve people or the planet. Lorraine also opens up about navigating entrepreneurial pivots, financial uncertainty, and personal transformation while building work aligned with her values. This episode invites leaders and founders to slow down, sit with complexity, and redefine success in ways that genuinely serve life.

Key Takeaways:

• Question the system, not just the strategy: Real change begins when leaders examine the underlying business models, not just surface-level goals or metrics.

• Metrics don’t tell the whole story: Data matters, but ignoring lived experience and human impact limits meaningful progress.

• Courage creates clarity: Walking away from misaligned work can open the door to deeper purpose and more sustainable leadership.

• Complexity requires patience: Lasting solutions come from resisting quick fixes and learning to sit with uncertainty.

• Change starts with a clear “from-to” shift: Defining exactly what is changing, and why, helps leaders recognize their role in making it real.

Featured Guest:

B. Lorraine Smith is a regenerative business practitioner, facilitator, and former corporate sustainability consultant with over 20 years of experience working across industries including banking, food, media, mining, and agriculture. After stepping away from traditional ESG and CSR consulting, she founded Practice Change, where she supports mission-driven leaders and entrepreneurs in aligning their work with life-affirming values. Lorraine’s work focuses on industrial healing, systems thinking, and helping individuals and organizations navigate meaningful change in complex times.

🔗 Learn more: https://www.blorrainesmith.com/

Your Hosts:

Starr Codd is a business strategist, SaaS founder, and seven-figure entrepreneur who helps business owners scale online with automation, lead generation, and systems that create real freedom. After breaking through corporate glass ceilings and building a seven-figure beauty brand, she launched her all-in-one software and now empowers others to stop admiring someone else’s empire and build their own. Learn More: shehasclients.com

Tina Torres-Wilson is a self-publishing expert and founder of Pink Door Marketing Agency, helping female entrepreneurs and coaches write, publish, and market their books to become best-selling authors. After overcoming personal hardships, she rebuilt her business and now empowers women to share their stories and grow their brands through her signature programs like Aspiring Authors Academy and 120 Days to Best Seller. Learn More: ⁠pinkdoormarketingagency.com/ ⁠

Robert Wall is a best-selling author, transformational speaker, and business strategist who’s helped launch over $28 million in new programs. As the founder of The Branding Collaborative and creator of the YOUniversal Brand Alignment method, he guides entrepreneurs and leaders to build authentic brands aligned with their heart, mind, and soul. On stage or behind the mic, Robert brings real-world wisdom, unshakable faith, and a mission to help others rise, reconnect with purpose, and create lives they don’t need a break from. Learn more: brandingcollaborative.com

In this episode of Uncensored Entrepreneurs, the hosts sit down with Laurie Kennedy, motivational speaker, mentor, caregiver advocate, and executive producer , to explore what it truly means to rebuild your life after everything falls apart. From loss and burnout to rediscovering purpose and clarity, Laurie shares her powerful story of transformation and how one simple yes changed the entire trajectory of her life.

Through her experiences as a lifelong caregiver, community builder, and co-founder of The 1%, Laurie teaches that healing and growth aren’t about massive leaps , they’re about small, consistent steps forward. Her message of resilience, self-compassion, and renewal offers both practical tools and deep encouragement for anyone walking through a season of transition or reinvention.

Whether you’re navigating burnout, rediscovering your identity, or learning how to care for others without losing yourself, this conversation is a heartfelt reminder that even in your hardest moments, you are still becoming.

Key Takeaways:

• Say yes to growth: One brave decision can change your direction and reignite your purpose.

• Small steps, big impact: Progress doesn’t come from giant leaps, it’s built 1% at a time, every day.

• Clarity through connection: Knowing who you are and what you need begins with stillness and self-reflection.

• Community heals burnout: Finding safe spaces and supportive people helps you recover faster and stay aligned.

• Journaling builds awareness: Putting thoughts to paper transforms confusion into clarity and emotion into understanding.

• Resilience is a practice: Strength isn’t about never falling, it’s about choosing to get back up, again and again.
  

Featured Guest:

Laurie Kennedy is a motivational speaker, mentor, caregiver advocate, and co-founder of The 1% , a growing community for women committed to becoming just 1% better each day. With over 26 years of caregiving experience and a deep passion for helping others overcome burnout, Laurie empowers individuals to rediscover their identity, embrace their resilience, and produce a life they love. She is also an executive producer for the Broadway show Produce Your Dream Life and the creator of the Five for You method, teaching women how to reclaim energy and clarity through daily self-care.

🔗 Learn more: https://thereallauriekennedy.com/

Your Hosts:

Starr Codd is a business strategist, SaaS founder, and seven-figure entrepreneur who helps business owners scale online with automation, lead generation, and systems that create real freedom. After breaking through corporate glass ceilings and building a seven-figure beauty brand, she launched her all-in-one software and now empowers others to stop admiring someone else’s empire and build their own. Learn More: shehasclients.com

Tina Torres-Wilson is a self-publishing expert and founder of Pink Door Marketing Agency, helping female entrepreneurs and coaches write, publish, and market their books to become best-selling authors. After overcoming personal hardships, she rebuilt her business and now empowers women to share their stories and grow their brands through her signature programs like Aspiring Authors Academy and 120 Days to Best Seller. Learn More: ⁠pinkdoormarketingagency.com/ ⁠

Robert Wall is a best-selling author, transformational speaker, and business strategist who’s helped launch over $28 million in new programs. As the founder of The Branding Collaborative and creator of the YOUniversal Brand Alignment method, he guides entrepreneurs and leaders to build authentic brands aligned with their heart, mind, and soul. On stage or behind the mic, Robert brings real-world wisdom, unshakable faith, and a mission to help others rise, reconnect with purpose, and create lives they don’t need a break from. Learn more: brandingcollaborative.com