BrandBuilders

Lauren Ulrey is co-founder of The Queen’s Mahjery, Charlotte’s first dedicated mahjong studio. Lauren and her co-founders, Jennifer Ross and Patti Roth, met through their daughters’ gymnastics team and deepened their friendship playing mahjong in Lauren’s home. After Jennifer visited a mahjong studio in Dallas, the three saw an opportunity to create something Charlotte didn’t yet have. The result is a nearly 2,400-square-foot studio in Oakhurst Commons designed as a true third space: somewhere t

Fewer people have shaped modern Charlotte — or modern North Carolina — more than our next guest. Pat McCrory was elected to the Charlotte City Council in 1989, and then spent a record fourteen years as the city’s mayor. Along the way he chaired the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ Environmental Committee for six terms, founded the North Carolina Metropolitan Coalition, and served on the U.S. Homeland Security Advisory Council. In 2012 he was elected the 74th Governor of North Carolina, serving from 2

Our next guest has spent more than two decades guiding families through one of the hardest passages any of us will face. Jennifer Torpey Szakaly (pronounced “sockeye”) is the founder and CEO of Caregiving Corner, the Charlotte-based firm she launched in 2005 to help families navigate aging, caregiving and long-term care. What started as a solo vision has grown into a team serving more than three hundred clients a year across Charlotte Metro. Her leadership reaches well beyond her own company. Sh

Our next guest is proof that you don’t have to wait for permission — or a diploma — to start building something that matters. Justin Kornblum is a student at Tulane University and a co-founder of The Second Half Network, a career development platform built exclusively for collegiate student-athletes. The idea behind Second Half is simple and, frankly, overdue. Ninety-nine percent of college athletes will not play their sport professionally, yet the transition out of competition is largely unmeas

Terri L. White is President and CEO of the Charlotte Museum of History, home to the Rock House, the oldest surviving structure in Mecklenburg County, built in 1774. She’s the first African-American to lead the museum in its history. Terri came to Charlotte in 2019 after an operations role at Lowe’s, following years of development and operations work at the Heinz History Center, the Carnegie Science Center, and the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. She stepped into the CEO role in July

Thomas Girdwood is Senior Estimator and Project Manager at Kingdom Demolition, a Charlotte-based demolition company founded in 2016 that specializes in commercial and residential demolition, selective and total demolition, and concrete cutting services across the Carolinas. Thomas has been with the company since 2017, starting as Director of Operations before moving into estimating and project management. Kingdom Demolition operates on a philosophy grounded in the company’s biblical namesake: cl