Nominee Narratives

Person of the Year

Mark Hansen – Collierville Schools School Board

You might be surprised to learn: In 1993, my law practice was primarily limited to federal regulations pertaining to airline safety and operations. I dealt with pilot training, aircraft maintenance and engineering, flight safety and accident investigation, FAA oversight, and many other issues. It was highly specialized, and I had many opportunities to speak at worldwide conferences pertaining to airline operations.

I attribute my success to: My late mother, Margaret. She instilled in me a lifelong curiosity and desire to learn new things. It mattered not what the subject was, or whether the learned information was particularly relevant; instead, it was the pure joy of discovering something previously unknown that mattered. Had she lived into the digital age, she would have been overjoyed at the information available at her fingertips.

One piece of career advice: Young people today, reflecting society in general, are impatient and seek instant gratification. If I could offer any guidance to someone commencing their career, it would be to seek a vocation in an area about which one has a passion, and have the patience to allow one’s career to develop and mature.

Favorite destination: As a school board member, I had countless opportunities to visit our schools. I remain awestruck at the magic that occurs between great teachers and their students. The joy and enthusiasm that I routinely observed in the classrooms of Collierville Schools is infectious (apologies for a bad description in 2021) and make our schools my favorite place to visit.

Watty Brooks Hall  – Owner of Brooks Collection

You might be surprised to learn: In my earlier years, I was a hand model and was featured in advertisements for print magazines across the country.

I attribute my success to: My beloved parents, Kelsey and Tom Brooks. At an early age, they taught me the importance of a strong work ethic. They also instilled in me the importance of respecting others, no matter the situation.

One piece of career advice: Find something you are passionate about and pursue it with all you have…because if you are passionate about your career, you will never regret the path you’ve chosen.

Favorite destination: My very favorite place to be in Collierville is our beautiful Town Square. Every year, I look forward to watching the seasons change from my shop window. The Town does such a wonderful job of making it look like something out of a Hallmark movie (oh yeah…it was the setting for a Hallmark movie).

Sheila Moody – Owner of The Quonset 

You might be surprised to learn: After my sons got older, high school and middle school, it was time for me to work outside the home. I had been very involved in Relay for Life for the American Cancer Society over the years, with team leader for our subdivision, team development committee person, co-chair and chair of the event. These experiences led me to a Development position at the Cancer Society, another customer service job. After working there several years, I became the Associate Director. This new position required that I be away from my family several evenings a month. This wasn’t good for my family, so I looked for other employment. There was a listing in the paper (The Herald) for a special events coordinator for the Town of Collierville. So, I applied. Working for the Town of Collierville as their special events coordinator and adding Tourism responsibilities the last couple of years (of my 9 years there), was a great opportunity to sharpen my customer service skills even more. Having the years with the Cancer Society and the Town gave me the skills to apply to the Quonset.

I attribute my success to: My husband, Mark, and our children have supported me in everything I have set out to do. Renovating the Quonset was an experience and I couldn’t have done it without them. I had not had commercial construction experience before and really didn’t have a grasp on how it worked. So, I learned a lot from the months of renovations. I love the fact that we were able to take something (building) that had been around since 1952 and repurpose it. The Quonset was the old Wonderhorse manufacturing company. That history is something that we share with all our visitors.

One piece of career advice: Know that you can learn something from every experience. Those small things you take with you throughout your life and build into something wonderful. Also loving what you do makes a world of difference.

Favorite destination: I love the Town square…….. when we were first moving here, we went to Fair on the Square and LOVED it. We go to most of the Main Street concerts, ALL the Christmas events, Arts in the Ally, shopping, restaurants, and just walking around the square for exercise. We even built a house two blocks from the square to be closer to it (and the Quonset)!

Spirit of Collierville

Landmark Community Bank

What we offer: Landmark Community Bank is a full-service bank offering a comprehensive suite of personal and commercial services. The bank, 7 locations total, offers checking, savings, CD’s and IRA’s with competitive interest rates as well as consumer and commercial loans, mobile banking, remote deposit capture and cash management services. At Landmark we make sure to give each and every customer red carpet service and treat others like we want to be treated.

Our favorite ways to give back: As a Community Bank, our focus is giving back to the community. In 2020, we have given back in many ways to local charities, schools and groups. We have contributed to the Collierville Education Foundation, My Town Miracles, American Cancer Society/Real Men Where Pink Campaign, Newberry Heights Assisted Living Elderly Abuse training, Education Foundation of Williamson County, ECS Career day, Collierville Arts Council, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Brinkley Heights Urban Academy, Bridges, TN Jump$tart Coalition, Everfi and Soulsville School. We also donated face masks to the Town of Collierville employees and Collierville citizens, collected and distributed goods for the Nashville tornado storm victims, participated in a food drive in Orange Mound, treated the Methodist Germantown Hospital nursing staff with goodies from My Cup of Tea Organization and hosted numerous Collierville Cop Stops in support of our Collierville Police Department. Our heavy involvement in the Collierville Chamber and Collierville Rotary Club is another way we try to give back to the community.

Spirit of Collierville means: To us, “Spirit of Collierville” represents a business organization that truly invests in the Collierville community and always looks for opportunities to give back and serve others in the area. Collierville is not just any community and we aren’t just any Community Bank. We believe our customer service sets us apart and we believe in making our Town a better place and strive to do that each and every day.

Why Collierville: Collierville is a great place to live, work and play because of the people. The citizens and leadership of this Town work hard each and every day at making this the place where people want to live, raise their kids and do business. As someone who was born and raised in Collierville, I truly couldn’t imagine raising my children and living anywhere else.

Allstate Insurance – Carrie Moore

What I offer: We offer home, auto, life, boat, motorcycle, workplace benefits, annuities and other insurance and financial products.

My favorite way to give back: Early in 2020, I was asked to become the president of the Collierville Literacy Council (CLC). At the time, the organization was in a dire financial situation.  I took on the task and we have had many ups and downs. In the second quarter, we find out we were losing our United Way funding due to COVID-19, which was about 25% of our annual budget. We led a capital campaign and multiple fundraisers to keep the organization afloat. I am proud to announce that we have a new executive director now and a plan to add services to include reading intervention help for children and teens in addition to adults.

Along with CLC, my staff is also an integral member of the Collierville chapter of the American Cancer Society.  We are a corporate sponsor for Collierville High School athletics, Collierville Elementary School PTA and West Collierville Middle School PTA. We also regularly sponsor and participate in other fundraisers across our community.

Spirit of Collierville means: To me, it means that a business has a high-level of community engagement and exemplifies outstanding leadership.

Why Collierville:  The school system and park facilities make Collierville the perfect place for anyone to plant their roots. You also can’t beat the charming ‘small town’ feel that Collierville is famous for.

Thomas Meat & Seafood Market & Catering

What we offer: Thomas Meat and Seafood Market & Catering is your local butcher, meat market and professional catering company based here in Collierville, TN. We are a company that prides itself in carrying on the tradition of delivering the best cuts of meat and the freshest seafood with comparable prices along with superb taste. Additionally, we are a catering company that provides a large menu full of salads, chilis, hot lunches and desserts that taste like they were made right at home. We even have our own line of seasonings that we use to add a custom flavor to our dishes that will leave you and your guests talking long after the plates are cleared.

Our favorite ways to give back: There are many ways Thomas Meat and Seafood Market gave back to the community during 2020.

The pandemic placed a mental and physical strain on every resident of Collierville. Thomas Meat and Seafood Market felt it was our responsibility to accommodate our customers in any way we could. These trying times placed us in uncharted territories as well. Toilet paper was not a staple to order for our customers, but we did and sold out immediately. We searched endlessly for vendors that could provide the freshest, highest quality and most abundant products available.

Last year, donations and service were two big ways we gave back to our community. A few of our food donations went to our fearless firefighters, brave military and first responders. Along with that, we hosted and donated to two Cop Stops. We are also passionate about feeding those in need. In this way, we were able to give box lunches to the homeless downtown, Fayette Cares, Memphis Food Bank and to our very own Junior Auxiliary of Collierville.

Last but not least, our most favorite time of the year is always during the holidays when we are able to help families in need. This Christmas our workplace came together to give gifts and meals to a family in Collierville through an Angel Tree program. This is something all of us are passionate about and enjoy doing. These are all the different ways we show our gratitude to Collierville.

Spirit of Collierville means: The spirit of Collierville is in the people and the community. Our town is full of energy and love. We love how Collierville strives for excellence in education and community building. The spirit is felt in every aspect of government, first responders, education, religion, business and most of all the citizens. As Collierville continues to grow, we are elated to grow with it. We are proud to play a small part in the lives of such a wonderful community.

Why Collierville: Collierville fits the personality of the owners of Thomas Meat and Seafood Market. Family roots have been a part of Collierville even before the 1950s. Our generation is of the same cloth, from a great grandfather who was the blacksmith on the side street of the Town Square to a great grandmother who sold Red Goose shoes at the Kelsey Brothers and notoriously had her recipes published in the Collierville Herald. With that said, we wanted to be in an area where we had more of an opportunity to connect with our community. If we don’t know your name when you walk in, we will when you walk out. Thomas Meat and Seafood is grateful for EACH customer, and we are thankful we can call Collierville home.

Healthcare Provider of the Year

Baptist Memorial Hospital – Collierville

The most challenging part of the pandemic: In early 2019, COVID-19 was an unknown virus that was making its way across the world.  When the first person in Shelby County tested positive for COVID-19 in March, 2020, these fears were immediately localized to our community. Physicians, hospital staff and the community were all afraid of this unknown virus, and efforts were initially focused on keeping everyone as safe as possible. With such unprecedented infection rates impacting populations worldwide, international, national and local health organizations experienced what seemed to be ever-changing guidelines…should we wear masks? is handwashing appropriate? should we close businesses and schools? As the pandemic extended into the summer months, patients who were admitted to the hospital were much sicker than usual because many had delayed regular doctors’ appointments or ongoing treatments, and what were once controllable illnesses had turned into something much worse. Patients with more critical illnesses need more intense clinical care.

Here’s what we took away from the experience: During these challenging times, we have learned that our healthcare heroes are very creative in solving problems. One of the first precautionary guidelines put into place was temperature checking for anyone coming into the hospital. While this sounds easy, it was quite difficult to accomplish for a hospital that is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Hospital departments quickly worked together to reduce access to the building, and then developed a schedule to staff these access points to take temperatures of everyone entering the building.  It has been amazing to see how flexible and compassionate our staff has been, and how committed they are to their professions.

You may be surprised to learn: The only consistent element in the everyday life of a healthcare provider is that no two days are ever alike. But while healthcare providers are familiar with change, since the start of the pandemic these changes have happened at an unbelievable pace. We have had to learn to quickly adapt, while being flexible and innovative with supplies, workspace and staffing. We also had to hone in our critical thinking skills. To say healthcare is “never a dull moment” is a very true statement, especially during COVID-19!

One memorable moment during 2020: Even with all the difficult days since the beginning of the pandemic, there have been many uplifting moments.  One particular event occurred early in the pandemic as our healthcare heroes were changing shifts one evening. Outside in the parking lot were community members of all ages who were holding signs thanking us and cheering for us as we left. Needless to say, there were many tears shed that evening because it was an unexpected and heartfelt “thank you” from our community. We have also been grateful for the many meals, cards, notes and treats provided to our healthcare heroes to remind us why we come every day to serve our community.

We also want you to know: We are so proud of our healthcare heroes at Baptist-Collierville and love our community!

Collierville Schools Nurses

The most challenging part of the pandemic: The most challenging part of the pandemic was helping our faculty, staff, students and parents feel safe while on campus. When school resumed in August, no one really knew what would happen with the spread of the illness. In order to help our Healthcare Staff feel empowered about bringing people back to school, we:  a) participated in trainings and webinars on contact tracing and how to manage the spread of COVID; b) updated our screening tools and created separate spaces for well children and those who were showing signs of illness; and c) implemented every tool in our box to mitigate as much risk as possible within our school buildings. Having a minimum of one healthcare professional on each campus has allowed our teachers and staff to focus on education, while our nurses continue to manage the health of our students and staff.

Here’s what we took from the experience: Many of the tools we’ve implemented, like our electronic hall pass and separate waiting rooms for children who are ill, we will continue to utilize after COVID. These changes have helped to reduce other common, childhood illnesses, like pink eye, lice and colds. Our goal is to help children remain in school, so having more resources to ensure the reduction of all illnesses is incredibly helpful.

You may be surprised to learn: Our nurses deal with quite a lot of mental health issues and have developed excellent relationships with our counselors to be able to address a student’s issues from many different angles. Oftentimes, stress or anxiety shows up as a stomachache or headache, and our school nurses are the first ones to begin to see a pattern. Collierville Schools take a “Whole Child” approach to education, which means that we have to address physical and mental health issues so that our children can be at their best to learn.

One memorable moment during 2020: In March of 2020, during the first stay at home order, we were concerned about how we were going to be able to safely bring in cafeteria staff so that we could continue to provide meal services to our most vulnerable students. Our team of nurses stepped up and made themselves available to screen every cafeteria employee before they began prepping meals. At the time, this was a big request of all our employees who helped with this feat, since we weren’t sure how bad COVID was or how easily it would be spread.

We also had one nurse who went to NYC to work in the hospitals when they were short-staffed there. Two other nurses worked the testing sites, all through the summer and are continuing to work the vaccine sites, in addition to doing their regular jobs with Collierville Schools. Our team of nurses have really stepped up to the challenges this pandemic has given.

We also want you to know: Our team’s primary goal is to keep children feeling their best and in school. We know healthy children are going to be most successful. We strive to remove the non-academic barriers to learning so that all children have equal opportunity to be their best.

YMCA

The most challenging part of the pandemic: Creating and supporting various plans and processes in a short amount of time and being prepared to pivot on a moment’s notice to ever changing dynamics at hand.

Here’s what we took from the experience: We have a very talented, passionate and committed team in every area and level of our organization where everyone has an opportunity to be heard so we may continue to be innovative and sustainable.

 You may be surprised to learn: We don’t turn anyone away for membership, swim lessons or childcare.  We are able to do this through the support of our team members, our members, corporate partners, community and donors. During the pandemic, the Y has continued to identify where the community need is and worked to find solutions where possible. A few examples of this are providing Child Care to essential workers, serving as a location for virtual learning  and serving over 2 million meals to children across the county since March of 2020.

 One memorable moment during 2020: It’s hard to single one moment out, but after being closed for almost 2 months, we reopened and started having some of our Group Exercise classes again.  The first class that we had after reopening instantly reminded us of the community that is within our walls.

Members and team members were squealing like kids with excitement to see each other again and continue their wellness journey together.  That was really special for all of us – they need us as much as we need them.

We also want you to know: We’re not just a gym.  We are so much more than that.  We are here for our community mainly through healthy living, youth development, and social responsibility.  All three of those support our mission of strengthening our community which was and still is prevalent especially during this pandemic.

Entrepreneur of the Year

Buff City Soap

What we offer: Buff City Soap offers an array of soap & skincare products. Bath bombs, body butter, shower oil and our famous laundry soap are a few of our most popular items. We also offer facial products including beard products for men.

Business advice for the new entrepreneur: Work hard and believe 100% in what you are doing.

The inspiration behind the business: Seeing our product from a customer perspective, and testing it as a customer first really opened my eyes to how great of a product it truly is. Our clean ingredients set it apart from anything else. This inspired me to be a part of creating a clean alternative to store-bought soap bars and body products.

Why Collierville: The people, hands down. They make it possible for us to be able to do what we love and have a great experience in this city. The selection of local businesses in Collierville is great and we love to support them just as they support us.

Germantown Day Spa

What we offer: We are a full-service spa, offering nails, aesthetics, massage therapy, medical injections and treatments and permanent makeup. We also sell complementary retail products (Oribe hair & body, Kerastase, Kevin Murphy, Leaf & Flower, Image, Obagi, Jane Iredale and Moongate candles).

Business advice for the new entrepreneur: You must have the ability to zoom in & out all day long. Balance is the key (too much of anything is a bad thing). It’s important to balance what one spends time on and know when to delegate as appropriate. It’s easy to get pulled into the (government) required pile of forms/tasks and miss revenue-generating opportunities which have been the key to my success.

The inspiration behind the business: Upon coming “home,” after running the corporate rat race around the world for over a decade, I wanted to invest in something local; community had become important to me. My business experience centered around helping people become their best, therefore the service industry seemed like a natural fit. That was the perfect match with my personal interest in health & beauty so the spa setting was a winner.

Why Collierville: Collierville and its residents are steady & dependable. The same charm from decades past still exists, but it has definitely found a new vibe. Collierville has transformed into a stimulating yet traditional culture. I absolutely want to be a driver of that change.

Thomas Meat & Seafood Market

What we offer: Thomas Meat and Seafood Market & Catering is your local butcher, meat market and professional catering company based here in Collierville, TN. We are a company that prides itself in carrying on the tradition of delivering the best cuts of meat and the freshest seafood with comparable prices along with superb taste. Additionally, we are a catering company that provides a large menu full of salads, chilis, hot lunches and desserts that taste like they were made right at home. We even have our own line of seasonings that we use to add a custom flavor to our dishes that will leave you and your guests talking long after the plates are cleared.

Business advice for the new entrepreneur: To be a successful entrepreneur, you must have Faith, dedication, and a great work ethic. As the new Thomas Meat and Seafood Market was being built, Bible verses were written in the doorways of each room under our new flooring. The day we opened our doors for the first time, my mother-in-law and I dedicated our business at the three-compartment sink in the cut shop. We knew the Market did not belong to us because our vision was to provide the absolute best service and product to the community of old and new residents. By sticking to these traits, we are able to have such a lovely and loyal group of customers.

The inspiration behind the business: In the areas of entertaining and food preparation, my family has been a strong inspiration. Having a large extended family allowed me the opportunity to cook and plan a get-together for weekends of fun and comradery. Hunting and fishing inspired me to work with family members in the butcher shops and learn a trade that always intrigued me.

Why Collierville: Collierville fits the personality of the owners of Thomas Meat and Seafood Market. Family roots have been a part of Collierville even before the 1950s. Our generation is of the same cloth, from a great grandfather who was the blacksmith on the side street of the Town Square to a great grandmother who sold Red Goose shoes at the Kelsey Brothers and notoriously had her recipes published in the Collierville Herald. With that said, we wanted to be in an area where we had more of an opportunity to connect with our community. If we don’t know your name when you walk in, we will when you walk out. Thomas Meat and Seafood is grateful for EACH customer, and we are thankful we can call Collierville home.

The Chiro Place

Answers TBA