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Meet Ria Story of Top Story Leadership in South Metro

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Ria Story.

Ria, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Like many, I faced adversity in life. Raised on an isolated farm in Alabama, I was sexually abused by my father from age 12 – 19. Forced to play the role of his wife, and even shared with other men at times, I was tied up, beaten, raped, and photographed. I was desperate to escape, and even considered ending my own life. I left home at 19 to escape, leaving behind the father who abused me, and the mother who blamed me for it. I didn’t have a job, a car, or even a high school diploma.

With zero social skills, no GED, and no experience or qualifications, my job options were pretty limited. I started my career working as a waitress in a pizza restaurant. I was waiting tables and picking up the half eaten leftover pizza crusts off the floor for $2.13 an hour plus any tips the lunch buffet customers chose to leave. There’s nothing wrong with that – it was good work, and I was glad to get it. But, it didn’t take long to realize I didn’t want to stay there the rest of my life. I set my goals high – and started working to achieve them.

I had a very successful career in the healthcare field. I worked my way through school and up through the ranks, including several years in management and later, as Director of Compliance and Regulatory Affairs for a large healthcare organization.

In early 2013, I heard motivational speaker Les Brown speak. He said, “You have a story to tell and someone needs to hear your story. Only you can help that person.” He was speaking to a room of several hundred people but his words went straight to my heart. I knew I had a story to tell – but I didn’t want to tell it. I wasn’t sure I could.

Mark Twain said, “The two greatest days in your life are the day you are born and the day you discover why.” On August 14, 2013, I found my “why” and shared my story publicly for the first time. My “why” is to share my story and inspire you to reach your potential, regardless of your past or present circumstances. Because regardless of what happens to us in life, we can be bitter about it or better because of it. The choice is ours to make.

Ten days after discovering my “why” I resigned from my career to pursue my calling. I founded Top Story Leadership with my husband Mack, offering motivational speaking, leadership development and training. Today, we have 19 published books on motivational and leadership topics, and we travel internationally speaking and teaching on leadership and personal growth.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
The biggest obstacle I had to overcome was the sense of shame that I carried about my past. I made the decision to share my story for the first time at a Les Brown speaker training event. Part of the event was a contest for all the attendees – we were given one minute to speak on anything we wanted to, but we could only speak for 60 seconds and it had to be an impactful speech. I rehearsed my story silently to myself, so ashamed that I couldn’t even say the words out loud when I practiced. Up until that point, only a few close family members knew of my past. The most difficult part was that first time – getting on stage and telling 200 people I wasn’t going to let years of being sexually abused define the rest of my life – and in doing so I proved it. I actually was one of the five winners chosen to speak on stage with Les Brown at a later date!

Being vulnerable about our scars from the past is never easy, but when we are, we find the strength to overcome. I published two books about my story, and have found it incredibly rewarding to help others realize that regardless of their circumstances, we can reach our potential by making the right choices in life.

There have been many other challenges along the way. I resigned from a steady job to become an entrepreneur, cashing in my retirement fund and living off of that until it ran out. Building a business from scratch hasn’t been easy – and we’ve made plenty of mistakes along the way. We lost $30,000 the first year, investing heavily into the business and marketing, as well as some opportunities to host our own conferences, which didn’t do nearly as well as we had naively hoped. That’s why today I invest some of my time by helping other aspiring speakers and authors get started, and avoid some of the mistakes I made! As many other entrepreneurs have discovered, when you work for yourself, you work much more than a 40 – 50 hour work week. However, when you love what you do, and are passionate about it, it’s not work!

Another challenge was realizing that the small town we lived in was limiting our business. In 2015, we sacrificed again and sold our home so we could move closer to the Atlanta area.

We’d love to hear more about your business.
We offer motivational speaking, leadership development, training, coaching and consulting. We specialize in taking complex principles and making them simple to understand and easy to apply.

At Top Story Leadership, leadership principles are the foundation for everything we do. We apply these principles, not only in our professional lives, but also in our personal lives by talking it, living it, modeling it, and teaching it every day. These principles are powerful agents for transformation for organizations and individuals but they can seem difficult, complex, or even confusing when applied to our lives at home and at work. We work to unleash leadership potential by taking the complex and making it simple.

What sets us apart from many others is the degree to which we have lived the principles we teach. I want to inspire others to overcome whatever obstacles life throws at them – because I’ve done it. We all have a story to tell. Our story isn’t about what happened to us. It’s about what who we decide to become from that moment on. That’s what changes us from victim to victor.

What were you like growing up?
I was always very mature for my age. Perhaps forced by my circumstances to grow up fast, I learned far too early that life isn’t fair. I grew up on a farm, very isolated and social opportunities were very limited since I was homeschooled all twelve grades, and we didn’t go to church. I wasn’t an introvert, I simply didn’t have the skills to interact with people because I’d had so little opportunity to do so. Because of my abusive situation, I had very little sense of self-worth as a teenager, even considering ending my own life. I acted out, ran away from home, and desperately searched for a way to escape. When I finally did break away, I realized just how ill-prepared I was to become a self-supporting adult. Fortunately, I had always loved reading, and so I had a good education – just not the diploma to go with it. I also had become interested in playing bridge about age 16, and though I don’t play anymore, I realize bridge taught me critical thinking and strategy.

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