BrainTrust

BrainTrust BrainTrust is a collective of diverse women business owners intent on using our businesses to build financial independence, wealth, and influence – together.

Learn more about membership: ourbraintrust.org/become-a-member/

Most business stories get cleaned up before they are told.The milestone gets the spotlight.The hard call gets one tidy s...
09/02/2026

Most business stories get cleaned up before they are told.

The milestone gets the spotlight.
The hard call gets one tidy sentence.
The expensive lesson gets turned into wisdom after the fact.
The season that nearly took her out gets renamed “growth.”

But that's not the whole story.

BrainTrustLIVE 2026: Off the Record is about the part women founders don't always get to say out loud.

What almost didn't work.
What they had to change.
What they would do differently.
What they know now because they learned it the hard way.

That is the part that helps.

Join us October 2 in Nashville for BrainTrustLIVE: Off the Record.

The hard chapters get the mic.

$1 million in annual revenue changes things.For women business owners, it can mean choices.More stability.More room to h...
08/31/2026

$1 million in annual revenue changes things.
For women business owners, it can mean choices.

More stability.
More room to hire well.
More money moving through households, teams, and cities.
More proof that women-led companies are not side stories in the economy.

BrainTrust exists because too few women-owned businesses ever reach this line, and that is a problem worth doing something about.

Because when more women cross $1 million in annual revenue, the impact doesn't stop with the founder.

It changes what she can build, who she can employ, how her family lives, and the economic footprint of the city she does business in.

That's why this milestone matters.
Not because $1 million is the finish line.

Because it changes what becomes possible next.

One has spent 30 years helping entrepreneurs succeed. The other helped turn a bold idea into a billion-dollar media bran...
08/27/2026

One has spent 30 years helping entrepreneurs succeed. The other helped turn a bold idea into a billion-dollar media brand. Both know the public version of success is never the whole story.

Meet two of the voices joining us at BrainTrustLIVE: Off the Record: Dr. Michael Burcham and Traci Schubert Barrett.

Michael is an entrepreneur, investor, executive coach, Professor at Vanderbilt University, and BrainTrustLIVE’s first-ever male speaker. He has built and led three companies to successful exits, coached hundreds of founders, and helped launch more than 40 startups through the Nashville Entrepreneur Center.

Traci was one of the founding executives of HGTV, spending two decades helping scale the network into a billion-dollar media empire. Today, she is an international keynote speaker, business and leadership coach, and bestselling author of What If There’s More? Finding Significance Beyond Success.

Between them, there is a lot of success on paper. But Off the Record is about the part that does not always fit neatly into the bio: what scaling costs, what failure teaches, what leaders quietly carry, and what it takes to build something that lasts without losing yourself in the process.

Hear Michael and Traci at BrainTrustLIVE: Off the Record.
Get your ticket at the link in bio.

Some conversations need more room than a monthly meeting can hold.A Vault Retreat gives members time away from the noise...
08/26/2026

Some conversations need more room than a monthly meeting can hold.

A Vault Retreat gives members time away from the noise of the business to sit with the bigger questions, talk through what is actually happening, and hear from women who understand the weight of the work.

It's still BrainTrust.

Just with more space around the conversation.

And with Nashville applications opening soon, this is a good time to say: if you have been wondering what it looks like to be in this kind of community, start with a Lowdown.

Nashville Lowdown
August 27
9:30–11:00am CT
Sunset Place Studio

08/25/2026

No stage. No pitch. Just women business owners who understand the work and are willing to have the conversation go a little deeper.

The official meetings matter.

So do these moments in between, when members catch up, compare notes, ask better questions, and remember they are not building in a vacuum.

Charlotte applications are officially open! DM for info on how to apply.

08/21/2026

When Sherry talks about why BrainTrust exists, it never sounds like a polished membership pitch.

It sounds like the truth.

Building a business can get complicated fast. The decisions get heavier. The questions get more specific. And at some point, another networking event is not going to be the thing that helps you see your next move.

That’s where BrainTrust comes in.

If you have been curious about what this community can and cannot do for you, start with a Lowdown. You will hear how the process works, meet the team, and hear from members who can speak to what it actually feels like from the inside.

Upcoming Lowdowns:

Charlotte
August 25
10:00–11:30am
Insperity

Nashville
August 27
9:30–11:00am CT
Sunset Place Studio

Atlanta has plenty of networking.That was never the gap.The gap is having women who see and speak truth to your most con...
08/19/2026

Atlanta has plenty of networking.
That was never the gap.

The gap is having women who see and speak truth to your most consequential decisions. Women trusted enough to know the real numbers and the real story. Curated, confidential, peer-to-peer advisory.

That is what BrainTrust Atlanta was built on.

And these are our FOUNDING MEMBERS. We proudly present ATL Vault 1 and ATL Key Club 1 🎉 Thriving from day one, bringing the kind of experience, perspective, and ambition that make these conversations worth having.

Welcome to the women who have become the heart and soul of BrainTrust Atlanta! We’re so glad you’re here, and we have a feeling Atlanta is just getting warmed up.

Kinda chic to say the ambitious thing out loud before you've figured out how. BrainTrust is for the questions you can’t ...
08/13/2026

Kinda chic to say the ambitious thing out loud before you've figured out how. BrainTrust is for the questions you can’t ask just anyone, and the women who help you see them more clearly.

Coming to Atlanta for Invest Fest, Atlanta Tech Week, or RenderATL? ✈️Go to the sessions. Take the meetings. Wear the ba...
08/13/2026

Coming to Atlanta for Invest Fest, Atlanta Tech Week, or RenderATL? ✈️

Go to the sessions. Take the meetings. Wear the badge.

Then make time to experience the women-owned businesses shaping the city beyond the conference stage. The cafés, restaurants, boutiques, bookstores, wellness spots, and gathering places built by women who saw what was missing and made it real.

We pulled together a guide to Atlanta spots worth adding to your itinerary while you’re here. Breakfast before the first panel. A founder dinner after a long day. A local gift. A reset. A place to sit down and have the conversation that never quite happens in the hallway.

Because the best way to know a city is to spend money with the women building in it. 🧡

Read the full guide at the link in bio!

Not another networking group.Women business owners don't need more surface-level intros, lukewarm coffee, and business c...
08/08/2026

Not another networking group.

Women business owners don't need more surface-level intros, lukewarm coffee, and business cards they'll never look at again.

They need women who understand the weight of the decisions they're carrying.

The hire.
The pivot.
The client they need to release.
The next stage of growth asking something different of them.

BrainTrust was built for that.

Serious peer perspective. Honest conversations. A community of women building faster, further, together.

Nashville. Charlotte. Atlanta. Or virtual, wherever you are.

Address

1258 Martin Street
Nashville, TN
37203

Telephone

+16152149033

Website

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