Today we’d like to introduce you to Carley Stephens.
Carley, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I graduated college with a degree in philosophy, initially thinking that I would attend law school. Instead, I got married to a man in the Navy and moved from Michigan to Charleston, and then to St. Marys, Georgia. During that time, I worked many odd jobs – from a restaurant manager to a call center representative to a bank teller and associate executive.
After my divorce, I moved to Atlanta where I ran the Cherokee Board of Realtors for a year and then took a role as a development officer for United Way of Greater Atlanta. I quickly learned that I loved the nonprofit world and was promoted to lead development officer. I stayed with United Way for four years and ran some of their largest corporate campaigns including Delta, Equifax, Graphic Packaging and Newell Rubbermaid.
These campaigns were national, so I coordinated the United Way for all of their locations across the country and for all of their employees. Delta’s campaign, for example, had more than 80,000 employees and 20 locations. I managed all aspects of their campaign including securing their corporate gift (working with their CEO), coordinating employee fundraisers and drafting corporate communications. I secured over 9 million dollars a year for United Way from these companies and their employees.
From there, my career took me to Goshen Valley Foundation where I led development for a year before taking the opportunity to come and work for Gas South. Ever since first running Gas South’s United Way campaign in 2012, I knew I wanted to work for this company. I fell in love with the culture, values and leadership. I also knew I wanted to be in community affairs, but that role was not available when I applied.
I worked as the executive assistant to the vice president of Business and Governmental Markets for nine months, providing support with community affairs and continuing to learn about corporate social responsibility. When the community affairs position finally became available, I immediately applied and began my new role in September 2017.
In April 2018, I was promoted to program manager and I’m continuing my work through projects like free dental health screenings to our partner school, Norton Park Elementary, and creating the Gas South STEAM Lab at Carl E. Sanders YMCA for youth from the Westside. It has been a strange road, but with every job I’ve held, I gained skills and insights that have led me to where I am in my career and in life.
Has it been a smooth road?
Not at all! Personally, I went through a lot – including three moves across the U.S. before I was 30 and a divorce. And with that, I also faced challenges professionally. I found myself with small amounts of experience in many roles, but not a lot of experience in one singular role. I always had to start at an entry level position and work my way up. I believe this has really shaped my work ethic and my character. It has made me ambitious and focused on success. I have had to be my own cheerleader and support myself in new cities with no friends or family.
Now that I’m 35, have been happily married to my husband Tony for four years, we are expecting our first child and I am working in the role of my dreams at the company of my dreams, I finally feel like I’ve accomplished something. I need to remember to celebrate everything I’ve overcome to get here and not downplay the importance my past has had in shaping who I am today.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
With more than 300,000 residential, business and governmental customers, Atlanta-based Gas South is one of the southeast’s leading natural gas providers with customers in Georgia, Florida, North Carolina and South Carolina.
Gas South offers simple and competitively priced rate plans, outstanding local customer service and a promise to give back 5 percent of its profits to help children in need. I think as a company, what sets us apart are our values and our authenticity.
We have three main business goals: 1) simplify and optimize the customer experience, 2) enhance the employee experience and 3) be operationally efficient. We are focused on people – how we treat them and the experience they have matters to us.
I also believe our commitment to give 5 percent of our profits back to the community sets us apart. Our leadership has made the conscious choice to give back because they understand that we’re only profitable because of our community and those who live in it. We’re grateful for that and want to help those that have helped us.
Do you feel like our city is a good place for businesses like yours? If someone was just starting out, would you recommend them starting out here? If not, what can our city do to improve?
I love Atlanta and think it’s a great place for anyone to start out – whether that’s as an entrepreneur or in a corporate career. There’s a lot of opportunities and a lot of great “pockets” of business all around Metro Atlanta. I really think there’s something for everyone here and that’s why I love this city.
On the flipside, I think Atlanta needs to work on a better mass transit system to help our communities serve one another better. The workforce is expanding rapidly and there are open positions all over the Metro area. There are qualified individuals all over this great city, but they need to be able to access transportation to access the opportunity for employment.
Transportation will help to level the playing field by allowing more of our citizens to access more opportunity across this great city. It will also allow our youth to access cultural experiences, like concerts, museums, etc., which help to expand their knowledge.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.gas-south.com
- Phone: 1 (877) 472-4932
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gassouth
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/GasSouth
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