Meet Stephani Marshall-Ross | Marketing Strategist, Business Builder & Consultant

We had the good fortune of connecting with Stephani Marshall-Ross and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Stephani, can you tell us more about your background and the role it’s played in shaping who you are today?
I was born and raised in Carrollton Texas. Initially, Carrollton was not exactly the most diverse place but as I got older the demographics changed quite a bit and Carrollton became more of a melting pot. I was born into a family of business-minded and entrepreneurial-spirited individuals. From an early age, I saw my mother running her own business and I thought that it was the coolest thing to be able to see someone use their God are God-given talents and turn that into income. Eventually, my parents joined forces and started their own business together which is a Taekwondo studio. Martial arts is something that we have done as a family for over 20 years. I learned the art of discipline; hard work, perseverance, integrity, honor, as well as grace, and remaining calm under pressure. Teaching taught me how to adapt quickly to different environments and how to be malleable in my delivery. I believe growing up in a blended environment as well as seeing entrepreneurship on a daily basis gave me the foundation that I needed to be successful today. I learned how to communicate and interact with people from all walks of life.

What should our readers know about your business?
I started off as a digital marketer and in 2013 I opened up a web design agency. I have a passion for small businesses being that I come from a family of small business owners. I saw a need in the market for small businesses to gain online visibility. Most businesses knew that they needed to be online but had no idea of how to do it so I took the expertise that I learned in Corporate America in sales and marketing and applied it to the businesses that needed it the most. I took some time off and went back to the office to sharpen my marketing skills, but when the pandemic hit, I along with millions of other Americans was furloughed so I decided to turn lemons into lemonade and help small businesses as well as start-ups again but this time I took a little bit of a different approach. I started showing people how to monetize their gifts and skills and turn their passion into profit. In the process, my husband and I also started our own clothing line ‘Fresh24 Collective’ which just gives people that daily reminder that, ‘every day you wake up you have a fresh start a brand new opportunity to live the life of your dreams.’ Since we both come from athletic backgrounds we decided to pair it with our personal training initiative of helping couples lose weight, get in shape, and get the most out of life. I’ve helped new entrepreneurs start beauty businesses, hair care businesses, clothing lines, candle companies, and much more. I would say the thing that sets me apart from other business consultants, mentors, or coaches is that I take a very holistic approach to things. I went to college to study psychology to become a therapist but God had other plans after I graduated. However, I implement a lot of the things that I learned in school to help my clients get through tough points in their entrepreneurial journey. Sometimes it looks like helping my clients with having a healthy mindset, sometimes it’s helping them develop good sleeping and eating habits so they can have better mental clarity sometimes it’s helping my clients identify self-limiting beliefs so that they can become their greatest version. I’m the proudest of the fact that I was able to merge my love for the mind as well as my love for helping businesses together to create my unique methodology. Getting to this point was not easy but I realized that the only thing that made it hard was myself and my fear of failure and fear of judgment because I’m not a traditional coach or consultant. I struggled with “canned content” and “traditional frameworks” getting to the core of my client was what was most important to me and allowed me to help them with their business even further. I would say the biggest lesson that I learned truly is just to be yourself, there may be several people out there doing what it is that you are doing but you are your own “secret sauce”. I want the world to know that when you focus on providing value and genuinely loving what it is that you do everything else will fall into place. We can be our own worst critics but the time that we spend judging ourselves is time that could be spent helping push and propel someone into their destiny so we have to be excellent stewards of our time.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
And I am a total foodie so we will take the week to explore different places to eat. I am a lover of Brazilian food so we would go to Fogo de Chão or Texas de Brazil for dinner one night. We will definitely catch brunch at Lo Lo’s chicken and waffles. We would take a day to relax and unwind at Spa Castle. We would catch a concert at Lava Cantina in the Colony. We would enjoy the sights and sounds of Klyde Warren Park downtown. And grab a couple of scooters and hit deep Ellum for a slice of ‘Serious Pizza’ followed by an impromptu photo shoot. I would also take them on a tour of one of my favorite havens for creatives, ‘Makers Gym’ in Frisco. I love that the Dallas metroplex is so diverse you could go see an opera in the evening and attend a swanky soulful brunch the next day, or see gondoliers serenading groups of friends or couples on Lake Carolyn all within minutes of each other.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I want to dedicate my shout-out to my amazing husband LaMarcus Ross. He pushes me daily to be the best version of myself that I can be. He helped me realize that I truly had greatness within me even when I didn’t always see it in myself. He never allows me to operate in mediocrity and always shares his love and encouragement when I need it the most. I’d like to shout out my mother for being such a great example of what a “Boss” truly looks like and showing me the ropes in business at a very early age. I’d like to thank my father for always instilling in me the importance of education and constantly reminding me that I can do anything that I put my mind to. He’s truly the smartest man I’ve ever known and I’m so grateful that he has made it his mission to teach me everything he knows. Last but not least I’d like to thank my little ones for being my ‘Why’. Every day I look at them I feel compelled to go harder each day I had a great life growing up and I want to give them something even better than what I had. It’s up to me to be a great example for them I need to show my daughter and son what a hard-working woman looks like and that they can have the world if they put their mind to it.

Website: www.stephtheresource.com (website coming soon)

Instagram: @stephtheresource

Image Credits
Darryl Golden