Turning Point

By Lucy M. PritchettFor many women, moving seamlessly from a career in fashion to a career in freight might take some doing. But Cindy Collier, president and CEO of Mister “P” Express, Inc. in Jeffersonville, carried what she had learned in retail fashion and joined her father in founding the trucking company.“I came from working in beautiful malls where the girls dress perfectly to an industry where the fashion standard is boots and jeans,” Cindy says.At one time Cindy worked in cosmetics at the old Stewart’s department store in Louisville. After that, she went to [...]

By Lucy M. Pritchett Her Turning Point begins with a toddler meltdown over bananas and ends with her own meal-prepping business. It seems fitting that Amber Peppers’ new life as an entrepreneur began at the grocery store. “I was 25, divorced, and had two kids,” Amber recalls. “I had been a stay-at-home mom. I had no college and no plan. I had lost my home, my car, and I was trying to get out of debt.” Amber says she started cooking for herself and a friend simply to make her grocery purchases last and to [...]

By Lucy M. PritchettEmily Poe Stumler’s Turning Point came when she put down her fiddle and picked up her law degree. She seemed to be headed toward a career in music. She had started taking violin lessons at age 6. She was class president and a cheerleader at Floyd Central High School in Indiana, and she played violin in the school orchestra. She attended Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue her music career. Then, in her senior year, she auditioned to be a fiddle player for Taylor Swift.“No one knew her then. She was [...]

By Lucy M. PritchettThe saying goes that two wrongs don't make a right, but in this Turning Point, it turns out that two negatives did make a positive.Just ask Kathy Morris, who on the same day in 2003 received two phone calls: one from her doctor telling her that she had breast cancer and one from her boss telling her that the executive position she held at a local bank had been eliminated.“Those disturbing phone calls turned out to be blessings,” says Kathy, who is now director of the Louisville Nature Center, which is situated [...]

By Lucy M. PritchettSometimes a Turning Point is a turning toward something rather than a turning away. For Jill Doyle that was a turning toward the beauty of flowers.Jill is co-owner of J. Elizabeth Designs, a special event florist in Lyndon. While she was at the University of Louisville working toward a degree in liberal studies focusing on pre-law, she was also working for Nanz and Kraft Florist and later Colonial Designs, learning both the mechanics and the design principles of the floral business.“Once I graduated,” Jill says, “I really couldn’t face the three more [...]