Ep. 115: Mandy Shoemaker, Entrepreneur, and CARE in leadership

For those who've met her in the last 10 years or so, Mandy Shoemaker is an entrepreneur. And rightly so. In 2013, she and her sister-in-law Michala Gibson founded Prairie Elder Care, which provides residential care in a unique setting for people living with Alzheimer’s and dementia. And then last year they launched Connectivities, a subscription-based service that provides boxes of supplies for activities to help build connections for families and other caregivers for people with dementia and Alzheimer’s.Before 2013, though, Mandy had a much different career. She started as an elementary school teacher in Oregon, where she worked in some challenging circumstances. She returned to the Kansas City area -- her childhood home -- in 2005, first as a principal in the Blue Valley School District, before moving over to the Olathe School District.With all of this awesomeness that she’s been a part of, Mandy was a 2019 Women Who Mean Business honoree from the Kansas City Business Journal, and then in 2020, Prairie Elder Care was one of the Kansas City Chamber’s Top 10 Small Businesses.We chat with Mandy about her career, building relationships, the importance of CARE in leadership, and much more. LINKS:To learn about Prairie Elder Care, go here.For info about Connectivities, click here.Register here for the 2nd Annual C You At Topgolf event.For more information about the C-10 Mentoring & Leadership program for high school students, visit our website.To make a financial gift to give students life-changing one-on-one mentoring, visit our secure donation page.For all episodes of the C-10 podcast and ways you can listen, click here.If you’d like to make a comment, have a suggestion for a future guest, or your company would like to help underwrite this podcast, please visit our contact page.