Meet the Founders

Photo of Honor Belew

Honor Belew

For 25 years, Honor enjoyed a successful corporate career which culminated in her role as partner and head of European operations for Alvarez & Marsal based in London.

She forged cohesive cultures in newly assembled, multinational operations. She helped organizations find, develop, and retain talent. She oversaw corporate financials and team performance.

In 2012, she began her journey as an entrepreneur. Initially, she launched a residential construction business to create and sell beautiful homes. By learning lessons the hard way, her business evolved to become quite successful. But she was lonely, and needed a change. She then tapped into all her experience and became a certified executive coach helping peer groups of high-caliber CEOs, business owners, and key executives solve their greatest challenges.

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Michelle Crissey

For almost 30 years, Michelle competed in the fast-paced world of tech with Fortune 200 companies like IBM, Symbol Technologies, and Motorola Solutions. She is an accomplished business executive with an extensive background in consultative sales, sales management, and corporate go-to-market strategy. Having led teams across North and Latin America, Michelle moves easily from business strategy to tactical execution. 

And it was fun — until it wasn’t. That’s when Michelle made the leap from the relative safety of corporate America to the relative uncertainty of starting her own business.

Her new journey led first to investing in women-centric start-ups, then to starting a residential real estate investment company. While those endeavors pushed her outside her comfort zone, she knew she needed more. She likes business and solving challenges, so she started A2B Management Group, a small business advisory firm working closely with the owners of privately held businesses.

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How their stories came together

Both Honor and Michelle were enjoying success in their respective businesses. And yet, they both felt completely alone.

In 2020, Michelle and Honor fortuitously met at a training class for business coaches. They very quickly aligned around the idea of helping women entrepreneurs like themselves — women business owners with proven concepts who were scaling their businesses past $100,000. They wanted to help women enjoy the same level of success, growth and visibility as their male counterparts. 

More importantly, they discovered they loved working together. From her headquarters in Nashville, Honor brought visionary ideas and relational leadership skills to the table. From Dallas, Michelle brought data-driven execution and the ability to integrate best practices content, be it from books, podcasts, Masterclasses, or TedTalks, into actionable ideas.

The Women’s Growth Collab was born.  

Michelle & Honor on the value of mentoring

“This is part of what led us to form these groups – to bring women together because we didn’t take or have the time in corporate America.”

Honor speaks to us about being an executive coach

“For me, it’s about encouraging people to follow their gut because oftentimes that’s where the answer lies.”

Four Questions with Honor & Michelle

  • What’s your favorite drink?

    HONOR:

    That’s easy… red wine.

    MICHELLE:

    Wine. Any color.

  • What is something you think everyone should do at least once in their lives?

    HONOR:

    I think everyone should travel internationally at least once to experience different cultures and understand diverse perspectives. I suggest starting with London because it’s my favorite city in the world!

    MICHELLE:

    I think most people have not taken time to figure out what they want to do when they “grow up.” Many people fall into a career and find themselves successful but not fulfilled. At least once, take the time to find work that fulfills you.

  • What songs do you have memorized?

    HONOR:

    I grew up in Oklahoma so mine would include songs like Garth Brooks’ “Friends in Low Places,” but I’m definitely a rocker at heart! A few songs that come to mind are Joan Jett’s “I Love Rock ‘N Roll” and “Photograph” by Def Leppard. Just thinking about these songs makes me happy!

    MICHELLE:

    At any given time, I’ll get absolutely hooked on a song and play it non-stop so at that moment I know all the words. Thankfully, today it is easy to look up lyrics so I don’t have to make up words I don’t know. My sisters and I absolutely wore out Carly Simon’s “You’re So Vain” but we had no idea how to end the line: “You had one eye in the mirror as you watched yourself bah bah.” Who knew the word was gavotte?

  • What did you think you would grow out of, but haven’t?

    HONOR:

    Being silly! Halloween is one of my favorite holidays and we typically host a costume party where we often unleash our creativity to get some laughs with our costume selections. I also love small group karaoke – fun and dancing for hours!

    MICHELLE:

    Being an introvert. I have forced extroversion when required. Now I’m more of an ambivert - meaning I’m an introvert until I get to know you. Once I know you (see wine and music in the other questions), I’m much more extroverted.