5 Ways to Pivot your Dream into a Career

Krissy Manzano: Hello and welcome to the Talent GTM podcast, where we discuss a range of topics related to hiring, team building, and leadership across GTM organizations today. I am so excited to introduce you all to my friend, but also woman led business owner, boss, Dr. Allyson Brennan. She is a clinical pharmacist with 17 years experience in neurology, is the head chemist and founder of Emogene and Co. Skin Care here in Nashville, Tennessee, and she received a bachelor’s in have science degree in psychology with a minor in chemistry biology from Millsaps College and received for bachelors of science and pharmaceutical sciences and Pharm D from the University of Mississippi. Emogene and Co focuses on effective pharmacist formulated skin care using naturally derived ingredients to bridge the gap between science and nature. Dr Brennan provides customer education about effective ingredient selection while leading her all female team to produce high quality skincare with no outsourcing from formulation to fulfillment shipment.

She was recently awarded the rising star award in health beauty and wellness category by drugstore news as well as Who in America by Marquee. So I am out of breath in talking about your accomplishments, your degrees, everything, but everyone, please. Welcome my friend, Dr. Allyson Brennan to The Talent GTM podcast. So welcome, Allyson. So happy to have you here.

Allyson: Oh, my gosh, Krissy, you’re the sweetest thing ever. I’m so happy to be here.

Krissy Manzano: It’s also, knowing you, I just calling you, Dr. Brennan is awesome. we chuckle, but also I’m like, I forget how accomplished you are. when I just go through all these things, so it’s so impressive and inspiring and lots of women, but, even just founders, I think can really get something and some gold nuggets out of your story. And today, what we’re talking about are the five ways to pivot your dream into a career. Right. And I think this is something that, I think a lot of women come to at some point in their life where they’re like, what’s my passion, what do I do? what road do? I choose? And so I’m excited, for our listeners to get, some wisdom and guidance from you today, because you’ve done it really well, 

Allyson: Oh, my gosh. Well, I mean, it feels like 50 lifetimes ago, everything that you just read off, but along the way, I have learned some lessons, sometimes they’re by, uh, what my dad calls them vault lessons. Those are the lessons that stick. and sometimes you learn them by osmosis And sometimes you just learn about application. So I hope that I can help a little bit in one of those places.

Krissy Manzano: I have no doubt you can, so I guess just kicking it off, like, share with us, a bit about your background and the journey that kind of led you to pursue your current, company and career.

Allyson: Oh, my gosh. Well, it all starts honestly, everything will always go back to pharmacy for me. That’s where it all starts and where it comes from. And, I was a pharmacist in a hospital, specializing in neurocritical care. So, that is taking care of very, sick, stroke patients, hemorrhagic stroke, seizure, like, seizures. severe seizure patients, TBI or brain injury patients. So a totally different world than what I do now. Uh, but what’s crazy is there’s still applications that. That just integrate across the lines, and so a lot of what I started my company with now and that we still put into practice with my employees every day or things I would not have known if I was not a pharmacist first and foremost.

So I was a pharmacist in a hospital. Like I said, for pretty sick patients for a very long time, clinically taking care of them. and then I’m, I rotated, uh, that kind of experience into management experience within the same hospital company. I had my daughter, Parker. And when the babies are young, they don’t stay awake very long.

And I felt like I was missing out on so much. So much of her life very early on because I was at the hospital for hours, just really crazy long hours. And being a healthcare professional is such a giving, profession where there’s a lot of giving. and then when you come home with a new baby and continuing to give and as a, wife, I was feeling depleted in a way that I did not know how to recognize yet. and while I was in management. What’s crazy is this story is very organic how I started my company. so I hope that this is helpful for anyone that has like a little passion kind of in the back of their mind and they’re like, I don’t have time for that. 

I don’t have time for that but I was 38 at the time and I remember up until that point, I’d never done anything for my skin other than wash it and put like. We’ll have a lay on it, and, I remember when I was 38, I looked in the mirror one day And I was like, well, I guess I have to start doing something. I did not know what that doing would be. And I bought a very expensive vitamin C serum, knowing a little bit about antioxidants for the skin. I didn’t know what I know now. but the applications there from all of the previous experience of becoming a pharmacist. And so I bought a very expensive vitamin C serum, turned on the back of the bottle, because becoming a mom, you start to pay attention to a lot of things you not necessarily were paying attention to in the beginning before you had your child. And I just was really looking at the ingredients, noticing where the vitamin C was sourced from, what it was, the chemistry brain kicked in, and I was like, huh, I wonder why this esther version of a vitamin C. Again, I’m just a big chemistry nerd and that’s where my mind went. 

And I went to Google, it started that easily. I went to Google and I Googled what this ester version of vitamin C was better than the original version of vitamin C, in regards to skin health. And before I knew it, I had opened Pandora’s box. And I really brought this creativity that I’d put away as a child, really and married it with this science and math background I had just honed and chiseled for years. and the more I started to teach myself about ingredients topically for the skin, again, this is in maybe just like a four week period, I was just loving the learning of it. I had grabbed a hold of something that grabbed a hold of me. and before I knew it, I was like, I could make this. This is, this makes sense to me.

I knew what concentration you needed to penetrate the skin. I knew what ingredients worked well together, which ones didn’t, or they precipitated. Again, all the chemistry knowledge just started to come forth very, organically. So I told no one about this, but I went ahead and calculated out what I would consider a great vitamin C serum.

No interest in creating a company from this, just more a DIY for myself. I bought this cute little scale. from Amazon and bought all these ingredients after finding ingredient sourcing companies. And I made my own vitamin C serum. And I would say about two weeks later, I was having wine night with some girls in my neighborhood and I walked in the door and they said, what are you doing to your skin?

It looks really good. And I said, I’m making a bootleg vitamin C serum at home. And they asked if I would make them some, I was like, sure. And before I knew it. I was now creating things and really opening up this creativity, whether that’s essential fatty acids and facial oils, whether it was, other very potent antioxidants for the skin and everything just clicked.

And again, no interest in creating a company, but I did that over maybe 9 to 10 months. And my girlfriends were my guinea pigs of just what I would create, again, just having fun. And then later, like I said, maybe 10 months later, I had a wine night with these same girlfriends. And, I guess I had just enough wine for them to talk me into, Allyson, this stuff’s really good.

The integrity of your knowledge base for creating products is really good. We are seeing benefit from our skin. You should create a company. And that is how Emogene and Co was formed just like that. 

Krissy Manzano: Wow. That’s, I mean, you can follow all of that and it makes sense. Right. But when we think about starting a company and how you get into it, that’s not typically, what, where your mind goes, right. And how you’re going to be an entrepreneur and, pursue something. So it’s really like following your intuition and, listening to yourself and, not forcing yourself down a path that isn’t organic, which I think is so key. 

Allyson: The reasoning or the perspective of doing this type of thing and creating these products was not to create a company. It really took. Yeah. It took them pushing me. But at the same time i’m a very Stubborn woman. I am a very gritty woman and that does come into play when you need to follow a dream and create a career and a company out of that, you have to have a drive that is relentless.

You have to know when you’re going to build in a set of tools for when you know you’re close to burnout. So you don’t burn out. I mean, that’s why you understand this. There’s so many small businesses or companies that fail. And I hate to use the word fail because now I understand why they, you put that dream back in the box in less than five years.

I mean, it, what is it? It’s like a high eighties or low nineties percent of people that start a dream and create a company that don’t continue it because they might not. Everyone’s different, but, I can truly see how you might not have The recognition or the tools built in to know when you are about to burn out because it is a very intense journey to do.

And you have to be gritty and you have to have discipline and a lot of self starting capabilities and characteristics. So, I’m, I just happen to have those. My mother and father would agree that I’ve had those since I was a child. So I guess it worked in my favor. 

Krissy Manzano: No, 100%. 100%. Going into talking about passion and dreams. Can you define the difference between a passion and dream, especially in the context of making a living? Right? And I say that I’ll give you an example. Like I love doing interior design. It is, I’ve gotten really good at it. But to me that is like,

I don’t think it’s something I would ever take money for, even though I’m really good at it, I think that would almost ruin it for me. Right. And so I think sometimes people are trying to figure out like, well, I love doing this, but like, would I want to do a business with that? So I’m just curious if you have any thoughts around that.

Allyson: It’s so funny. You just brought up interior design. So my version of kind of that, illustration is before I even went to pharmacy school, I wanted to be a large animal, not even large animal. I wanted to be an equine vet. And so this is a veterinarian dedicated to only horses. and I wanted to specialize in leg surgery for these horses. I rode competitively growing up. This is going to be like 18 years of school. I mean, I know I’ve had a lot of school, but I have not had that type of schooling. And I remember, when, before I transitioned to pharmacy, in college to really get ready to get, go in to get my doctorate in pharmacy, I was dead set on vet school, and I shadowed a very sassy, spicy female vet, and I loved her. She was exactly what I needed to really meet at that point in my life. And at the end of the day, with her, I sat and she said, Don’t do it. And I was like, Come again? And She said, Don’t do it. And I was like, Why? And she said, Because the passion, your passion for horses, if you turn that into your career, when people get sick, they’re, they need to take care of themselves before they’re animals. That’s just the way life goes. And you have such a niche of what you’re wanting to do on the racetrack with these horses or whatever that, what you love and what brought you to want to do this will end up being the detriment and you will no longer have that as a passion. So it was probably some of the best advice I’ve ever been given. Very hard advice. But I think if I was to take that and kind of answer the question that you’re saying about the difference of a passion and dream, I think a passion is something It’s something that lives in a bubble that is just yours and yours alone that you love and that it’s your place you come for letting your mind relax. I think that a passion is where I would go like I am very passionate about some crazy things. I am passionate about high altitude mountain climbing. I do that in my spare time. 

Would I want to make that my job? Absolutely not. I’m very passionate about riding horses and my daughter now riding horses. Would I want to make that my living? Absolutely not, because the real life discipline that it takes to make that into the dream that you grow into a career can sometimes cut the legs off of what that passion was in the beginning. And I think that is probably the best way for me to answer that. And so, giving you that illustration that female vet knew that she saw that and to share that with me at such a young age was really beneficial because it led me into pharmacy, which was easy for me.

And I’m not saying like, easy as in a way I didn’t struggle in school or whatever, but It was something that my brain understood. My brain understands math and science. So I was able to pivot that into a career where I could make the money I wanted. I could give back to people the way I wanted. But then all of that gave me the wherewithal, the discipline, the know how and all the little tinkerings of chemistry and math. I have to be the head formulator and create a company for skincare. That’s safe. 

Krissy Manzano: Yeah, no, I couldn’t agree more. And I think that’s something that is so important, especially for women that are looking for entrepreneurship. Right. Cause even for myself, like. People will ask me for owning a recruiting firm. Is that just, are you, just love recruiting or so passionate? I’m like, no, not really. And it 

Allyson: But you’re good at it. 

Krissy Manzano: You’re we’re really, I love helping people and I’m like in the professional world in particular. Right. I love helping people match with the, I’ve always loved leading people and there’s an element of that, but I started my company, not because actually wasn’t even started on recruiting a story for another time, but, started it because I was so tired of hearing from particularly men of like, in order to be an entrepreneur, you have to be X, Y, and Z. 

Allyson: Mm 

Krissy Manzano: And that’s the only, as if there was no other ways to be successful. Right. I was like, I’m a new mom and I’m really smart. And I’m a good leader, and I feel like I could run my own thing at this point with experience. I haven’t just focused on executing versus just fixing everyone’s mess while trying to execute.

And I was, I wanted to take that chance on myself, but also to kind of prove out a hypothesis was like, I can do this. I can be all the things that I want to be no one is going to tell me what I can, not limited to I can’t do all things, but I can’t have it all. And all

Allyson: I love that. 

Krissy Manzano: Right. And so I think that’s the difference. Like, you still have to have boundaries and know that, I’m not trying to be perfect, but like, I want to have my own business. I want to be a mom. I want to be the wife. I want to be in the friend. I want to be right. And I think it’s just, it’s really important that, people understand that. Right.

And then having your passions outside of work, like the question I get asked all the time is like, what books do you read? Like, what, I’m not saying this is a bad thing. If you, should be more studios than I am, but at the same time, for me, if I like encapsulate my world and all those things, I have no outlet or escape, so then I’m just business and then I’m a parent and I have no free time for Krissy and to totally like unwind and release my mind into something else, whether that’s interior design.

Or watching Real Housewives, like those things truly like allow me to separate and kind of reset that part of my business side or even being a parent and like be ready and recharged. Right. So I think it’s so important to understand you can have that balance, but you also have to be a part of it. And sometimes some passions are really good to help you be better at your job, right. And keeping them separate. So, 

Allyson: Oh, I could talk for hours on this subject. I’m like, preach girl, because here’s the thing. I, I, to summarize it, I would think that a passion is something that you hold sacred for your special time to fill you up as, Krissy, or as Allyson, or as an individual that you come back to the, you find relaxation and appreciation in, and I think a dream is honestly taking every gift that we have. You have very different gifts than me and I had very different gifts than the next woman and taking those gifts and being able to utilize them in a way to grow some dream that you have to give you the life that you want. And I think that is what I did.

By creating Emogene and Co without even knowing it was happening and by doing so it’s so important for

 I grew up in this in a household of wonderful parents, but also like the way I’m wired is a very people pleasing characteristic. And so I really, but I also know, like, I can’t be good for other people if I’m not good for myself. And so I felt conflicted growing up of I am here to serve and I’m here to give everyone what they need.

But I also knew from a very early age. But I felt selfish about it. I didn’t know how to separate the two because I was young that I need the time for myself to fill myself up and whatever that is so I can be good for others because I’m still here having the human experience too and I can’t be a great mom or a great leader or a great employer or even formulate great skincare if I am literally running on steam and I’m running out of, I’m running on fumes, to give myself enough bandwidth to stay creative, to stay organized, to stay sharp.

And I think that whatever outlet women need for that, take it. If it’s a healthy outlet for yourself, because we do wear many, hats, especially if you’re a mother, especially if you’re a partner. it, It goes way beyond just starting a company and in the grit that it takes for that. When you add that hat to the other hats that women are expected to wear, but at the same time we are honored to wear, it’s a whole different ball of wax when it comes to how you organize your life and create kind of that little cutout for yourself to stay focused enough to still keep growing that dream. 

Krissy Manzano: Yeah. I mean, one thing I want to highlight something you said that really stood out to me. was just like the gifts that everyone has. and when I look at that, it’s really like when you, whether you’re owning your own business, starting your own business, starting your own, career or applying for a job in corporate America or somewhere else, you have to have the right skills and behaviors and qualifications in order to set yourself up for success.

So maybe part of like, how do I figure out what that would look like is also just understanding, like Do I have the skills that are needed to be successful? Like where I can push through, I can pivot all those types of things. And again, we don’t ever want to make becoming an entrepreneur, like a box. So this is, one size fits all. There’s a lot of different, uh, ways you can kind of, attack that, but there are some key skills and behaviors that are needed and. I guess kind of going into, the meat portion of this episode is we’d love to hear just as we talk about the five steps, but can you kind of outline the first step someone should take when they decide to turn their dream into a career? 

Allyson: I think, you, you identify your gifts. I think that this would be a great thing. And, I did not even just sit with a pen and pad, and like, write out what my gifts were, we all pretty much have a, have an understanding of where we excel and where we are not as strong and I just went straight in, right?

And, use these gifts that I had that I did not even realize they were my true gifts until I was, deep into the web of entrepreneurship. but I think that’s really important because like what you said, you have to know what skills you have to have. You have to also define what your why is for why you want to create a company, a business, really go down that entrepreneurial path with your dream.

You have to define that because that has to be your fuel to get you there when you are, for instance, me when it’s 3 o’clock in the morning and I’m going to go back to the hospital because I was still working full time as a pharmacist as I was creating Emogene and Co I would work all day at the hospital. On the way home, I would be podcast interviewed or I’d be listening to business podcasts. and I would get home, throw my stuff down. And before it was time to cook supper, I was drilling out this company and then I was there for bath time and for bedtime. And then I was back to, building the company and creating formulations and tweaking and almost burning down my kitchen several times.

And so as that’s happening, that was still 3 o’clock in the morning every single morning, and eventually I felt like I was raising another newborn on a newborn schedule, so you have to be flexible and very realistic about what that why is because that is what’s going to feel you, But you also needed to find it.

So when you get to the definition of what it is, you have to be flexible with what realistically can I expect to do right now to pivot this in this dream into the career. what do I need to do to outsource? You have to be very honest with yourself. you also start at a level that you have to really be smart about prioritizing.

What’s the most important thing for you to get the dream? Building, but also without sacrificing mental health and your health, time with family, the things that really matter. and to do that, you have to know where can I really offload or delegate in the right places to help you do that. Now, this could be anything.

This could be anything from an accountant to a housekeeper. it’s whatever it is that if you truly have decided. Okay, here I go. This is going to be a long road. I’m willing to see it through. I have my tools. I’ve identified my why. It will be my fuel. I’m realistic about how to get there. How can I set that goal?

That goal in that timeline to get where I want to get. And some of you don’t even know where you want to get, if you’re just starting out, but you have to learn how to delegate and enlist the help to get there. I started it alone and I am, just one of those people who is a self starter and it’s not always a great thing in the manner that I do it.

I mean, I’m a workaholic. I, my, I get my value and worth from, Being able to achieve and get back in a manner that if you don’t keep that in check, you can really run yourself ragged. and with that comes a lot of workaholism and to be an entrepreneur and to grow something, it requires that to a point, but women are capable of doing this hand over fist.

They just can. We are programmed to do this. Uh, we can spend so many plates in the air and keep a smile on our face. it’s insane. So to do that. And to grow the business into the right way or whatever dream this is, you have to enlist that help. And you have to also learn to be comfortable with asking for help.

That’s something that it took me a little while to get to, but now I have a team of 10 women and I’m about to hire, I think one or two more in the next, couple of weeks because now I’m comfortable with it because I see that this dream could not function as an entrepreneurial company, a moneymaker, a successful giving back to women to improving the health of skin.

It can’t get that and it can’t sustain that title and continue to grow in the right way with integrity. If I don’t enlist the help and become very comfortable with the help that’s given to me. And that took me a little while to get there, and I’m so happy I’m there. So I think that those, that’s kind of me taking all of those steps, and putting them into one of defining your why, letting it be your fuel, knowing how to be flexible on what that looks like financially, as well as timeline.

I really also think it’s super important to surround yourself with that. So many people that have already gone before you, even if you don’t know them and they don’t have to be in your space. Just a woman that has the goal and the drive to create a company or to start, find a dream and then to grow that dream into something successful.

Follow her. Ask her really see if you can learn from her. I think that surrounding yourself with, the right people is one of the things that is just an absolute when it comes to becoming an entrepreneur. And then you take all of that and then you take the opportunity to learn. and by learning from these people, you learn how to step outside your comfort zone.

When you get to that entrepreneurial space where now it’s time to put my money where my mouth is, right? I’m not doing this behind closed doors. I need to learn how to sell myself. I need to learn how to sell what this dream is to others so that they get on the same bus with me and they want to take this ride and they want to buy into what I’m offering with these gifts that I’ve, really honed in on.

And by learning from people ahead of you, you get comfortable in the space of knowing how to sell yourself in the right way. And then. People take note and people want to be a part of that or they don’t. 

Krissy Manzano: Yeah. No, such sage and solid advice. I think I loved the women are programmed. We could to spin a bunch of plates in the air with a smile on our face. And I think that’s so powerful because when we hear what it takes to be an entrepreneur And all of those things And again, I don’t like anyone defining entrepreneurship is like. you have to be this but at the same time there are certain things that you have to have in order to push ahead for challenging times because there you are the one who has to push ahead in order to move forward, right? There’s not anyone else, but you or your co founder, if you have one, but we can do so much like, I think, that probably might be part of the intimidation factor, right? Is, Women, if we, get seats at the table, like we can really turn the table. Right. And I think for some folks, it. makes them nervous.

Right. And so this is where we can really shine because we’re already, whether you own a company or not, whether you’re a mom, not A mom, single, married, whatever, and in a relationship, like you’re already managing a 

Allyson: A million 

Krissy Manzano: and our brains just, I mean, it’s, so amazing what we’re capable of. We just have to believe it, right? That’s really like our biggest obstacles knowing that we can do that, But I think all the things that you’ve shared have been so powerful, and I’m hoping that, folks can kind of take this and hone in a little bit more. I’m like, what does that look like for me?

Right? Is, and maybe being an entrepreneur or doing your own thing isn’t what you want to do. And that’s also. Okay. I think it’s just being genuine to who you are, what you’re skilled at, and honing in on that naturally versus. Bye. trying to focus on something from an insecurity of feeling less than right, because I think that’s where people go down roads that become dead ends are real difficult.

when it’s just not. Intentional and, also organic to who they are. Right. So all roads in life are difficult. so choose the one that’s, going to be what you want, because that’s what makes it worth it. 

Allyson: I think one of the, best things that I have learned in the past three years, and I would say really in the past year is where it’s now a fully functioning part of who I am is listening to my intuition. Women are born, I mean, women and men both are born with that. We call it God. We call it the inside voice or the voice within.

We call it our gut. We call it intuition, whatever that may be. It is the knowingness inside of us of being able to be guided on the path that we were here to have. And I’m, very, passionate about whole concept, specifically for women, because we are given this as a gift when we’re born and mainly in, in our society, women are taught from very early on to really quiet that intuition, to put it in a box, to stuff it down, to shrink that, and to become much more capable, of, You’re a more capable woman if you’re able to, conform.

And I could not disagree with that more. and I have finally found that ability to know that my intuition rides shotgun with me every day. And she is the first voice that I will listen to over anyone else’s because she knows what is my heart and she knows what my gifts are here on earth to beget and to also to give to other people and that staying true to yourself is, the most, I mean, that’s, the most dedicated definition of authenticity. And I think that women all have this. We might put it in a box, but it’s time for us to know, how to listen to that. And when you listen to your intuition, That’s when it. becomes very easy to know what your gifts are, to define them, and to really then know how to create this.

Why, why do I have this passion or why do I have this dream? And then you know how to delegate between the two, because you now know how to listen to that inside voice or that intuition. That is. You’re God given birthright.

Krissy Manzano: I think that’s a great place to end right there because that is absolutely the finale. And if you’re not inspired by that, there’s may not be much hope for you. Love it. So I know we’re at the end of time and I’m so glad people could get have a small glimpse into your company, but also the person that you are, who was just wonderful.

in, so many ways and such an inspiration to others. And can you tell people where they can find you if they want to learn more about imaging and 

Allyson: Absolutely. So we Have a website online. it is full to the brim of, blog information where I get to put my pharmacist hat on and teach about anything from supplement health to skin health, as well as purchase our products. And that is emogeneandco.com that’s E M O G E N E end co. com.

And then on socials, you can find us on Instagram @emogeneandco. and then on Facebook and Emogene and Co. And we have a Tiktok and a Pinterest too. You can just search for Emogene and co. We are there as well. 

Krissy Manzano: Oh, awesome. As someone who has used your products, I will say they are. world-class. And I bought the really expensive stuff too. So, definitely check her out. but also, if you have tips or things that you’ve experienced as an entrepreneur, definitely comment below anything that you can share. We all need each other, especially in times like this. but this may be the year of the woman. So, couldn’t be a more fitting podcast. Make sure to follow us on blueprintexpansion. com. You can subscribe to our page or listen to our podcast on Spotify and Apple podcast or anywhere you do listen to a podcast, but until next time, we’ll see you later. And thanks again, Allyson, for joining us. 

Allyson: It was a pleasure. Thank you, Krissy.