Christina Ford is the founder of The Rebound Foundation, which provides housing and support to survivors of domestic violence, and the owner of Kids Inn Child Care Center, which provides drop-in care. Christina and her family moved to Springfield in 2018 when her husband, Dana, was hired to coach the Missouri State University men’s basketball team. She quickly planted roots in the community, opening transitional housing for women and children fleeing abuse. Her nonprofit is inspired by her own story and her family’s story of domestic violence. In this conversation, Christina talks about the uncertainty that comes with being a coach’s family, not knowing when or where their next move will come. She also shares about the death of her daughter, Promise, and what she has learned about herself in grief and motherhood.

Paula Dougherty is a certified financial planner and private wealth adviser leading the Achieve Private Wealth office of Ameriprise Financial Services. Starting out in the field in the mid-1990s, Paula says she had to learn how to trust herself and step outside her comfort zone to build a book of business. Today, her office is one of Forbes’ Best-in-State Wealth Management Teams and she was named to Forbes’ 2024 Top Women Wealth Advisors list. She says her work is about relationship building and being steadfast in financial advice to clients, even in a crisis. In this conversation, Paula talks about building an office culture that matched her values and her journey to develop her own style of leadership over her nearly 30-year career.

Alex Erwin is the manager of scientific programs at Susan G. Komen. Her work involves bringing together industry leaders and patient voices to identify gaps in breast cancer research and needs in patient care. She moved back to the Springfield area after the birth of her daughter to be closer to family, and says she benefited from a post-pandemic shift to remote work that made the job at national nonprofit Komen possible. In this conversation, Alex talks about the impact of her mother’s breast cancer diagnosis on her work, and how emigrating to the U.S. from Russia as a child with her single mother has shaped her perspective and identity. She also discusses the ongoing focus of Komen on data collection, aiming to collect information from diverse patient populations to improve health outcomes.