Malorie Griffith

I attribute my success to doing it scared and having a clear purpose. When I sat down with my husband and we realized this job at Edward Jones could bring him home from the oil field within a year if we played our cards right, that became everything to me. I was terrified - I'm an interior designer and business owner, and I didn't think I would be smart enough for the finance side. But I knew that if this was what's best for my family, I couldn't have a Plan B. It was a do-or-die situation, and I just had to get through it. I spent 65 hours a week studying, passed all my licensing and accreditations, and went through really intense training. Sometimes I feel emotional just thinking about it, because now that I'm on the other side, everything from my past has unraveled and makes so much more sense. My experience as a business owner for 13 years taught me about the mistakes and loopholes, and now I can bring that to help other business owners. My connections from my business and the school system have leveraged me to this next level. At the end of the day, when something is meant for you to be there, everything that led up to that point is going to leverage you to that next level. You just have to take that leap and take it scared.

The best career advice I've received came from my brother-in-law, Matt Hale, who is a financial advisor. When I was discouraged about issues I was having in the school system, he told me he wanted me to look at Edward Jones and do some praying about it, because he really thought I would be a good fit since I love people and I love to help. When I felt like I couldn't make it through the licensing and training, he kept telling me 'you can do hard things' and kept pumping me up. He's been a wonderful mentor through my experience as a financial advisor. The other piece of advice that shaped my career came early on from Melanie Turner, a huge designer out of Atlanta. Her daughter is my best friend, and during weekends in college we would go and just job shadow her all the time. She helped guide me in my interior design work and former business. Both of them taught me the importance of finding mentors - you have to find someone that's better, find someone that is way above you, and then just learn from them. That's the biggest advice I can give someone starting a business or career in general.

Just do it. Do it scared. Do it knowing that if that's what's best for you and your family, you got to not have a Plan B - this is it, like, it's a do-or-die situation, and you just gotta get through it. Because at the end of it, when it's meant for you to be there, you're gonna look back and realize that everything that led up to that point is going to leverage you to that next level. I was terrified when I started, but I knew that my husband coming home and being with our family was the best thing for us, so I just went into it scared, saying that I have to get through this for my family. The biggest thing is to find a mentor - find someone that's better, find someone that is way above you, and then just learn from them. Never stop learning, and just take that leap and take it scared.

Family is my most important value - everything I do in my work is driven by making sure my family has closeness and that my husband can be home with us instead of working out of town in the oil field. That goal of bringing him home within a year was what got me through the fear and the intense studying and training. Faith is also central to my life - when my brother-in-law first told me about Edward Jones, he said to do some praying about it, and when the position opened up in my county just days later, I knew it was my sign from God. I'm deeply involved in our church, New Home Baptist Church, where I serve as event coordinator for the youth program. Being a lifelong learner matters to me too - I tell people to never stop learning. And giving back is important, which is why I volunteer my time doing financial literacy seminars at schools, at The Summit for women overcoming drug problems and incarceration, and at our entrepreneurial center. I also love coaching my daughter's basketball team - I played in high school and we won the state championship my senior year, so it's a fun experience to be on the court with my daughter now.