Breaking Barriers and Building Empires: The Inspiring Story of Multi-Entrepreneur Cynthia Stephens

Get ready for a high-energy, awe-inspiring podcast episode featuring the incredible Cynthia Stephens, a powerhouse entrepreneur, army veteran, philanthropist, and mother. Host John Hutchings takes us on an unforgettable journey through Cynthia's inspiring story, starting with her humble upbringing in East St. Louis, Illinois, and her unshakable determination to forge a better life through education, military service, and entrepreneurship.

Dive into the exhilarating world of entrepreneurship as Cynthia and her husband Eric launch seven successful businesses, including Stephens Electrical Group, a union electrical contracting firm, SnL Group, a general contracting company, real estate investments, and even CEM Media Company, a content creator for platforms like Netflix and Amazon.

Facing numerous challenges, including gender and racial biases in the male-dominated construction industry, Cynthia triumphed by sticking to high standards, employing thorough vetting processes, and ensuring fair pay for their employees. Cynthia emphasizes the crucial role of faith, love, and service in their incredible success story. She believes that focusing on these core values has enabled her and Eric to navigate the rocky waters of entrepreneurship while maintaining a strong partnership in business and marriage.

Cynthia encourages women to put love first, as it will ultimately lead to a positive impact on their lives and communities. Don't miss this electrifying podcast episode, jam-packed with motivation, inspiration, and valuable insights from a trailblazing entrepreneur who defied the odds to create a lasting legacy. Tune in now and prepare to be blown away by Cynthia Stephens' extraordinary story.

Thanks for listening to the Forward Drinking Podcast! If this episode has motivated you to create your own amazing story then please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast app. You can also follow the Forward Drinking Podcast on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok @forwarddrinkingpodcast. Thanks again for listening! Until next time!

Transcript

VO-1:
Some of the most epic things ever accomplished began with the phrase, "Hold my beer and watch this," so chill, those ice cubes, pop that cork, or crack open that can, because we're about to share an amazing story. Welcome to the Forward Drinking Podcast. Here's your host, John Hutchings.

John Hutchings:
Welcome back to The Forward Drinking Podcast. I am your host, John Hutchings. Today we have a very special guest to honor women in business and entrepreneurship. Cynthia Stephens is an army veteran, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and mom, all in her day job. She is a woman of strength and grace, and I'm thrilled to have her share her story with you. So grab a cocktail, kick back, and prepare to be inspired. This is one you won't want to miss. Cynthia, welcome to the show.

Cynthia Stephens:
Thanks for having me, John.

John Hutchings:
Yeah. Glad to have you here, so what have you selected for us today?

Cynthia Stephens:
Oh. A refreshing, delicious gin and tonic with cranberry and five lime slices.

John Hutchings:
Cranberry and five. Now, I've never had a gin and tonic with cranberry in it, so I'm really looking forward to this. As I oftentimes say, this is the first time we're having a cocktail on the show, so don't threaten me with a good time.

Cynthia Stephens:
Right. It's delicious. The cranberry and the lime make you think like, "Hey, I'm doing something better for my body. I'm not really drinking alcohol. This is like a fruit beverage drink."

John Hutchings:
Perfect. All right. Well, let's see what we got here.

Cynthia Stephens:
Yummy, yum.

John Hutchings:
Yeah. Hopefully I didn't get that a little too potent. I kind of like my gin.

Cynthia Stephens:
Yes, like two shots. That's good. That's good.

John Hutchings:
Yeah, if you need a little bit more, have at it.

Cynthia Stephens:
Thank you. Thank you.

John Hutchings:
Okay, so we've got our tonic. All right, and then let's hit it with that splash of lime. Going to make this thing pretty. How's that?

Cynthia Stephens:
Yummy. Yum.

John Hutchings:
All righty. There you go.

Cynthia Stephens:
All right. Thank you so much.

John Hutchings:
Little splash for me. Cheers.

Cynthia Stephens:
Cheers. To health, wealth, and prosperity.

John Hutchings:
That's right. Ooh, that is fantastic. I think I just got myself a new summer drink.

Cynthia Stephens:
Right?

John Hutchings:
All right, so normally we just roll right into people's personal lives, but I think that this show is very important in that I want listeners to understand, as we're going into this, who we're actually talking to here, because I'm quite impressed with what you have done with your time in entrepreneurship, but not only just your time in entrepreneurship, everything else that you've done. So real quick, Cynthia, before we get started, just real quick for our audience, how many businesses have you and your husband started since you guys got into entrepreneurship?

Cynthia Stephens:
Seven.

John Hutchings:
Seven?

Cynthia Stephens:
Yes.

John Hutchings:
And you're currently operating six.

Cynthia Stephens:
Yes.

John Hutchings:
So you've sold one of them.

Cynthia Stephens:
We sold one of them. Mm-hmm.

John Hutchings:
So you've gone through an exit. Fantastic. You're a mother of two children.

Cynthia Stephens:
Adults though.

John Hutchings:
Two adults.

Cynthia Stephens:
But yeah-

John Hutchings:
At one point in time, they were children.

Cynthia Stephens:
They were children. 21 and 24 years old, girls.

John Hutchings:
During the fray of all of this business building.

Cynthia Stephens:
Exactly.

John Hutchings:
Oh my goodness, gracious.

Cynthia Stephens:
Yes.

John Hutchings:
Also, very active in philanthropy and volunteering.

Cynthia Stephens:
Yes.

John Hutchings:
And then lastly, when you're not doing all those things, do you just rip open the shirt, and it's a Wonder Woman leotard, the cape comes out, or what?

Cynthia Stephens:
No, I sleep.

John Hutchings:
You sleep. Well, heaven blessed, as much as you've got going on, it's surprising there is any time for sleep, so it's amazing. I just wanted to share that with folks, because I don't think most people understand what an amazing feat that is. So we're just going to jump right into it, and Cynthia, tell us about where you grew up, because obviously, this has all played a role in this amazingness.

Cynthia Stephens:
It's totally played a huge role into where I grew up. I am from East St. Louis, Illinois, and I like to specify East St. Louis, Illinois, because a lot of people get that confused with St. Louis, because they hear St. Louis, and they're like, oh, you're from Missouri. I'm like, "No. I'm like five minutes over the bridge from St. Louis, Missouri." You can see the arch, though, from my back porch. But I grew up in a very small town, very small community in East St. Louis, Illinois.

John Hutchings:
Love those small town people.

Cynthia Stephens:
Yeah.

John Hutchings:
Yeah. I can relate to that. So growing up, you went to high school there. Did you spend your whole time, through high school, growing up in that area?

Cynthia Stephens:
I did.

John Hutchings:
Or did you move out of that?

Cynthia Stephens:
I think we moved into that home when I was two, and I didn't leave until 1994. After high school graduation, I moved to Georgia. Augusta, Georgia.

John Hutchings:
Gotcha.

Cynthia Stephens:
I joined the military.

John Hutchings:
Joined the military. Well, thank you very much for your service.

Cynthia Stephens:
You're welcome.

John Hutchings:
So was there any point in time during your growing up phase, as a child to going into adulthood, that you thought, "I'm going to be a mega entrepreneur someday"?

Cynthia Stephens:
So I didn't use the word mega, but I remember thinking, "Well, honestly, I don't want this type of life." I mean, you can Google now, but East St. Louis, that's just not a place where you saw real leaders, entrepreneurs. You didn't see that. I just knew that I wanted more. So for example, when I was growing up, it was a cool street. Everybody knew everybody. Parents looked out for all the kids. Then, right about junior high is when drugs came into the streets, the community.

John Hutchings:
Sure.

Cynthia Stephens:
So the church that we used to go to became a brothel.

John Hutchings:
Oh, man.

Cynthia Stephens:
And the store that we used to buy candy from became pretty much a drug street with crack, so I had a choice. "I can go to the left and become a prostitute, or I can go to the right and become a prostitute and a crack head," so I chose education, the straight and narrow. I chose to not become one of those negative stats. That was my goal. Growing up, it was, "I do not want to have this life, and I do not want to disappoint my parents," so I had to choose differently. I had to choose differently.

John Hutchings:
That's fantastic. I feel very fortunate that, even though I grew up in a very small town, we were pretty sheltered from things like that. It's amazing that, even at a younger age, being able to look back at yourself and just go, "I know what I want to be," and to be able to make those choices and move on with it, it's amazing. Is that part of what led you into the military, or what drove you into that?

Cynthia Stephens:
Oh, gosh. Let's get real personal, right? So military, so I went to Georgia to be with this guy, the love of my life, not my husband now, but this other guy, and things didn't work out. I ended up saying, "What am I going to do?" So I had this conversation at my 21st birthday. I was sitting in a restaurant called The Huddle House. It'll kind of remind you of IHOP or a Denny's. So I'm sitting in there, and I'm like, "Lord, what am I going to do with my life? I'm now 21 years old. I'm working two jobs. I didn't go to school like I promised my mom I would, because I ran away with some dude," but not like really running away because I was already 18 years old, "But I'm running away, and what am I going to do, Lord, with my life? These two jobs and all, and I don't have no man. What am I going to do?"
He was like, "Join the military."
I was like, "Oh. Nobody in my family has gone to the military, but okay. I'll do this, but I'm not going to commit as much, so let me just do the reserves, because I want to do other things in life." I knew that I wanted to help people.

John Hutchings:
Sure.

Cynthia Stephens:
That was first and foremost. I knew that I wanted to become a teacher since I was five years old. I knew I wanted to teach. I used to pretend to be a teacher by lining up my stuffed animals and pretending they were in a classroom, or I would tell my friends, "I can't play with you right now, and so you play school." So I knew that I wanted to teach people, preferably younger people, but we'll dive into that transition leader. I knew I wanted to do something. I knew I wanted to start a business after teaching. I knew that I wanted more in life, and business is not cut out for everybody. When you say you want more in life, you could be that rockstar that helps businesses grow. I just knew that I wanted to be an entrepreneur of some sort.

John Hutchings:
Gotcha, gotcha. Now, did you mention earlier that it was in the military that you met your husband?

Cynthia Stephens:
Yes.

John Hutchings:
Gotcha.

Cynthia Stephens:
We met on post.

John Hutchings:
On post.

Cynthia Stephens:
In 1996?

John Hutchings:
Wow.

Cynthia Stephens:
So yeah, been together ever since. We met on a Friday, went out on a Saturday, and really never left each other since. This year it'll be 27 years of togetherness and 25 years of marriage.

John Hutchings:
Wow. Congrats on that.

Cynthia Stephens:
Thank you.

John Hutchings:
That's awesome. Both of you, congrats to both you for your service. Well, what happened after the military?

Cynthia Stephens:
Okay, so what happened after the military is that Eric didn't want to stay in Georgia. He didn't want to raise kids in Georgia, and we didn't have kids at the time, but we're planners. So we were thinking about the future, and we weren't married then. We were engaged, and he's like, "I'm from Oregon, so I'm going to go back to Oregon. You can come if you want."

I'm like, "But we're engaged. Shouldn't I come?" And then me, being the non-committal, like at the time, I'm like, "Well, if it doesn't work out, I'll just go stay with my sisters. They're in Washington. They're only three hours away, so I'll just go stay with them." After the military, we moved to Oregon. He got a job for Union Pacific Railroad, and that's what brought us to Dunsmuir. At that time, we were pregnant, and I was a full-time wife. He did marry me, y'all. I'm legit, so full-time wife and a mom, and that was in 1998.

John Hutchings:
Gotcha.

Cynthia Stephens:
Yeah.

John Hutchings:
And so was that about the time that you guys decided to jump into entrepreneurship, or how'd you make the transition?

Cynthia Stephens:
No, no. I mean, when you're dating and all those romantic feelings, here we are, as planners of, "What do you want to do in the future? Where do you see yourself in the next five years?" that kind of stuff. So when we were 21, we were talking about entrepreneurship then, and I remember telling Eric, because I'm 5'10. As you can see, I'm pretty tall, and he's 6'7, and so in high school it was always difficult for me to find clothes to fit, and particularly pants. I ended up wearing my brother's jeans, so I always thought I should have a fashion store that is geared toward the big and tall, but I was going to call it Fine for fine people, fine clothing.

Then, Eric said, "Well, I want a business, but I don't know what. I just know that I want to be an entrepreneur," because when he grew up, he worked on the farm and all of that stuff. He started, I think, his first business at 13, as cutting grass, so we knew that we had that in us, to start a company. We just didn't know which one to start, so when he was working with the railroad, he was gone a lot. We were living out of our suitcases at hotels. We had one child at the time, and then the second child came. I said, I can't do this. I feel like a single mom because now I'm not traveling as much with you because I have the two littles.

What we did first is, Eric started making these little wood, like a rubic's cube, but these are the wood pieces that he put together. I went kind of door to door. I first started with some of our insurance provider and the teachers at the kids at school to try to sell that door to door. He goes, "Well, we need a factory to do this. We can't scale, just me working in my garage on these little pieces that take me a day to do, right?" He's like, "This is not going to work." But see, that led me to believe there's more out there. I had to make our business cards and our flyers, so that was that. We called it woodworking, like wholesome wood. And so that didn't pan out. Then, we regroup, and he continued to work with the railroad, and then decided to join the electrical apprentice program.

John Hutchings:
Gotcha.

Cynthia Stephens:
So then, the day of graduation, he decided, "Hey, let's start our own company."
I was like, "Hey, you didn't walk across stage yet."

He said, "Let's step out in faith."

And so I said, "Okay. Let's step out in faith," and we started our first company, and that was in 2005, the electrical company, Stephens Electrical.

John Hutchings:
Sure.

Cynthia Stephens:
In 2005.

John Hutchings:
Wow.

Cynthia Stephens:
Yeah.

John Hutchings:
Wow, and just like that, the first company's born, and you're off and running.

Cynthia Stephens:
Then, you say, "Just like that. Yeah, let's snap our fingers. Just like that. That's how the company..." No. The decision was-

John Hutchings:
The decision, yeah.

Cynthia Stephens:
... Just like that. The decision, actually, was at the table, just like that. Then, I'm like, "Okay, so what does this mean?"

He's like, "Well, we know what not to do."

John Hutchings:
Sure.

Cynthia Stephens:
"And we know we want to treat team members well," and all of that.

So I was like, "Okay. What is my part in this?" Because at this time, I was taking one class at a time, going back to school, one college course at a time, because we had two kids, and I'm still nursing. And so I'm like, "What is my part in this?" So my part was of course the business cards, the marketing.

John Hutchings:
Sure.

Cynthia Stephens:
The advertising, electrical submittals that I had to put together, and I didn't know what I was doing as I'm nursing a baby at the kitchen table, getting frustrated. "I've got to call CED. What are they looking for with this bid?" Like, crying moments up to the crack of dawn, going to bed at 2:00 AM, waking up at 5:00 AM. The decision was overnight, but the process is still going.

John Hutchings:
Sure.

Cynthia Stephens:
It's still going.

John Hutchings:
Yeah.

Cynthia Stephens:
Yeah.

John Hutchings:
Excellent. Now, can you walk us through what you guys did to physically start Stephens Electrical? I know my podcast and some of the others, at least from my standpoint, it was always my big hold up, was you can make the decision, but then it's like, "How do you actually do it?" A lot of that, for me, the big hold up was, "Where's the funding come from?" Can you walk us through how you guys bridged that gap?

Cynthia Stephens:
Okay. So the funding, oh, a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow type of wish. No.

John Hutchings:
I kept shaking a money tree, and I was getting acorns.

Cynthia Stephens:
It didn't come. It didn't come. We didn't have parents to help us financially.

John Hutchings:
Sure.

Cynthia Stephens:
We both grew up in very, I don't want to say, from the bottom, but our humble beginnings is how we both grew up. Our parents were there for us emotionally, physically, but not financially, right?

John Hutchings:
Sure.

Cynthia Stephens:
So Eric and I, we were homeowners, fortunately, so we used our home.

John Hutchings:
Oh, boy. There you go.

Cynthia Stephens:
We financed our home, took the equity out of it. At that time, I was working part-time at the school. I think I was bringing in $500 a month, and then we had a credit card, which had a limit on it, so we lived off of that credit card, and we did a lot of praying about the next step. To bond our very first big projects, we did put our house up, but that's when I made the decision, though, that this is serious business, right?

John Hutchings:
Yeah.

Cynthia Stephens:
This is our shelter, and we have two kids, and I'm still nursing one. But the desire and the ultimate goal outweighed all of that, outweighed all of the doubt, the fear, and the, "We're going to lose shelter." Then, I look at the shelter, and I'm looking at now in the studio guys. I'm looking at the roof, the shelter, and I'm like, "Oh, gosh. We have to make a deal now, Eric. Your life is set apart. I know that. It's different. Just don't lose our shelter. You have to do what you have to do to make this work, but you cannot lose our shelter," and that was part of our rule. "Just don't lose this shelter," and we've not. Almost 18 years later, we started and grew multiple successful businesses.

John Hutchings:
Absolutely.

Cynthia Stephens:
Just from that deal of not losing shelter.

John Hutchings:
Yeah,

Cynthia Stephens:
Yeah.

John Hutchings:
Yeah. Making the bet to trade comfort for freedom.

Cynthia Stephens:
Exactly.

John Hutchings:
You bet at all. I mean, that all-in proposition is a little bit of a spooky one to make.

Cynthia Stephens:
Right?

John Hutchings:
Yeah.

Cynthia Stephens:
It's scary. I remember telling him too, because we have tons of conversations, but I remember telling Eric, "Hey, I can live in a shack with you, or I'll sit with you as long as we're together," and that sounded all romantic and stuff, but I'm not living in no tent or no shack, by any means. I don't even go camping, so that's not going to work for me. But yeah, we did do a risk, but then you have that reward.

John Hutchings:
Absolutely.

Cynthia Stephens:
At the end.

John Hutchings:
So how long did you guys grow Stephens Electric until you felt that you had it into something that you're like, "Okay. We've got a hold of something here. This feels like we should take what we have and launch ourselves into another one."

Cynthia Stephens:
Oh, yes. Great question, so two years. Two years, because then, as you know with construction, is feast or famine-

John Hutchings:
Absolutely.

Cynthia Stephens:
Is what they call it, feast or famine. And so we just decided, "Hey, we have to do something in case of that famine season that we keep hearing about and that we've lived through, so we have to be strategic." One way to do that is to purchase something that never depreciates and that you cannot make more of, so what's that? Land.

John Hutchings:
Yeah.

Cynthia Stephens:
Let's get into some real estate.

John Hutchings:
Brilliant.

Cynthia Stephens:
Let's do that. Yes, so we started with a mentor, of course. We had a husband and wife team, and they were our first, pretty much our only mentors, excluding our moms and my dad. We got into some real estate investments, and that was a hard decision too, by the way, John. You have to still have capital right?

John Hutchings:
Yeah.

Cynthia Stephens:
To purchase. It's just not like, "Oh. The banks or anything are giving you things for free." You still have to qualify. You still have to have some asset, some tangible asset to even qualify, if you were to pursue a credit line or a loan. So unfortunately, we had those mentors, but then we also had a good community bank behind us and banker behind us, so that was good. We dabbled into some real estate. And so we bought and sold our first property. We had to wait sometimes 6 months, sometimes 18 months to get our return, and then we just kept going from there.

John Hutchings:
That's awesome.

Cynthia Stephens:
Yeah.

John Hutchings:
Now, did you guys utilize that to parlay yourself into your next full-time venture?

Cynthia Stephens:
Yes, we did.

John Hutchings:
Amen.

Cynthia Stephens:
Here we are, SnL Group, so Stephens Electrical 2005, real estate investments 2007, 2008, around that recession time. Then, 2013, we started SnL Group.

John Hutchings:
Wow.

Cynthia Stephens:
Inc, and that's our general contracting company.

John Hutchings:
Gotcha.

Cynthia Stephens:
Yeah, so we started that company, purchased it from a couple. They were in business for 32 years, B & J Paving.

John Hutchings:
Gotcha.

Cynthia Stephens:
So we purchased their company, including their equipment, their team members, and their building. The first day, October 31st of 2013, we went on the project site, but before that we had to, how can I say this? We had to do a pre-employment screening, and we did lose half of those team members. We're on a job with half team members, and then our paver broke down, and we're like, "Oh. This is a paving company. We don't even have a paver. What are we going to do now?" Fortunately, there's heavy equipment rental places out here that we were working with that that helped us out, so I use that. We don't have a paver, because our resiliency in that, losing half of the team members and your equipment breaking down, and this is your first project. If we can get through that, then you can get through a lot more.

John Hutchings:
Yeah, absolutely. I think it's an absolute testament of the resilience. I mean, not only are we dealing with those challenges, which are challenges that can happen from a changing of the guard of business ownership, right? But the economy was still in a really, really rough point during the entire time that you guys launched, not only your first startup from scratch, electrical contracting company, as well as when everybody else was running out of housing, because people were foreclosing left and right, you guys are going into housing against the grain, acquiring assets, doing well with it.
And now launching, what I believe, in my opinion, because I come from a construction background, especially site work, paving, grading, underground, which I believe to be one of the most difficult businesses there is in the world. Very, very rewarding when done right, in my opinion, but one of the absolute most difficult businesses there is. And what I find amazing about it, you guys have done this in a short period of time, but with SnL Group, can you walk us through how you guys have been able to grow that company so successfully in such a short period of time? Because I find that amazing.

Cynthia Stephens:
Thank you. I'm going to go back to when you said when people were losing their houses and renting. So what we tend to do is, when everybody's run running in one direction, we run the opposite way. I know you've heard this before, all the adages and cliches, they do ring true. Scared money does not make money, so we can't be fearful like some other people. We have to work differently. We have to strategize differently, because we have people dependent on us. Not only us, but we have Stephens Electrical. We have those team members, right? So we have to make sure they're okay. So with SnL, to grow that, oh my gosh, that is one of the hardest businesses that we have, for me, because like you said, general contracting is different. We turned this 32-year-old's paving company into site work, underground, structural.

John Hutchings:
Correct.

Cynthia Stephens:
Now we're going vertical, so that that's a feat in itself, but then our vetting process, it's wonderful. Now, I got some pushback, John. Let me tell you. I got some pushback because, first of all, I'm a lady in the industry, so when I walk in, it's like, "Oh. She just works. That's the husband's secretary." They use the word "just," and I am putting [inaudible 00:24:41]. "She just works for her husband."

I'm like, "Okay." Walking into meetings, I'm like, "Okay." I had to wear the tallest heels, even though I'm tall already, but just so I can look down at the men that were second guessing me.

John Hutchings:
Atta, girl.

Cynthia Stephens:
Right, so I'm like, "Okay." I developed these scripted questions, because in this industry, all you had to do was show a driver's license, and then you'd be hired, right?

John Hutchings:
Right.

Cynthia Stephens:
That's what I heard.

John Hutchings:
Sure.

Cynthia Stephens:
We interviewed. We checked references. We did the whole thing, so I developed an interview panel. At first, we had three panels: panel one, panel two, and then I was the third panel by the time, because I've delegated some of the hiring out. At first, I used to do it, like years and years, sitting with guys, and mainly guys interviewing them and their potential. You could tell they were uncomfortable-

John Hutchings:
Sure.

Cynthia Stephens:
... Interviewing first and foremost, but then they were, second, uncomfortable with me, honestly. You guys can't see, but you can hear. I am a lady, but I am of a different ethnicity here in little, old Redding, and John said I could be as real as I want to be.

John Hutchings:
Oh. Keep it real.

Cynthia Stephens:
So I'm going to be real. I'm going to authentic. You have this Black girl that is not from here, and you already have this brother, that tight-knit group here.

John Hutchings:
Sure.

Cynthia Stephens:
And, "What are you doing here? Why are you in this meeting? Why are you in this store?" So I got those type of looks, and I actually was questioned by, I'm not going to say who, but one of the mechanics. He basically told me, when I was checking on a piece of my equipment, "Don't worry your pretty, little head. I got this," when I'm asking him, "Why is it taking so long to fix it?" When he was like, "Don't worry," and then I added, "Your pretty little head," I had to tell him, "I'm not worried. I am concerned, because you have been out here quite a long time. This is the end of the week. I need a status on this equipment, and really what was wrong with it and taking us so long?" So when you question, but I didn't question in a rude way, but just to question a man in this industry that has been in this industry for a very long time, you do get pushback. I did get pushback with my hiring. That's not going to mean I'm going to change for you. I'm trying to change this industry.

John Hutchings:
Absolutely.

Cynthia Stephens:
This great industry, because it is bigger than a glue gun. You're building a society. You're building a community. You're building the world. This is science, technology, engineering, and math. This is STEM. This is education, so I'm going to treat it as such. We are just not laborers, so to have my vetting down, to have my interview processes in place, to have my panel that I've trained in-house, which really are managers that I'm training and bringing up, our field managers, our office staff, so that was hard. It was difficult, but then the guys were like, "Wow. We appreciate this process, because now we're getting quality people."

John Hutchings:
Absolutely.

Cynthia Stephens:
So our vetting, our interview process, our pay, as we pay really well, and it's state mandated anyway, because most of our projects are prevailing wage or public works projects. They make a nice living, and so then they have the new trucks and the tools, and they have owners that are really there for them every single day. We're reachable, text, phone call, walk in the office, anything. We are on. We're still there, so that's how we managed to scale super fast. We did estimate, "Oh. We'll be good in about six years." Actually, it was about three.

John Hutchings:
That's awesome.

Cynthia Stephens:
It was three years that we were like, "Whoa. This is huge. This is major," and now it'll be 10 years. We've done the bigger projects here in the community. We see downtown, downtown circulation project. Now we're on the other streets, the beautification down there. We've done power plants and sewer treatment plants. Then, from [inaudible 00:29:12], Yreka, Dunsmuir, we're like all over northern California in such a short time.

John Hutchings:
That's amazing. You know what? I think I'm glad you touched on those things, because, I think, it brings up a couple of pretty amazing points. Number one, the fact that it's sometimes, as a business owner myself, I know it's difficult to take that high road to have to tell people what you're willing or able to tolerate and not tolerate, and hold that level of standard to bring in the quality people that are going to build your business. You and I talked about before, a lot of these folks have control of your financial future, right? I mean, if they fail, they go get a new job. If they fail, they financially ruin you and Eric, financially ruin your family.

Then, I think this just goes to show the job that you've done to retain and grow those people, and especially not just across one business, across multiple business. And number two, though, what I think is amazing, and one of the reasons why I wanted to have you on the show, is you show that breaking of that glass barrier that a lot of folks talk about existing between woman in construction. It's a very male-dominated industry. You guys are doing extremely well at it. Number two, being a female of another ethnicity in this business and saying, "No. Bullshit. I'm here. This is my company. I run this show. We're going to do this my way."
And the results speak for themselves. We'll talk about another question. I want to ask you about that later on the show. We had this show set up, last month was International Women's Day, and it was set up to be for that month. Obviously, it takes time to get these put together, but I think that is just a prime example of the reason why we wanted to have you on the show. As I'm looking at my glass right now, this delicious cocktail is getting a little thin, so we're going to take a break and fill our cocktails back up. Stick around for our little mid-episode of commercial,` and we'll be right back. Thanks.

VO-2:
Inspired by the unspoiled nature of the Fall River Valley, our craft beer community is always open to adventure. It's the spirit of innovation and exploration to move us forward. We push through tough times, step beyond our boundaries, and expand our horizons at every opportunity. Our beers have scaled mountains, floated downstream, been fireside, and a part of all the little moments that make up a life well lived.
From small beginnings to big ideas, it's our passion for craft beer and the community that we've created to keep the heart of Fall River brewing. Whether it's the crack of a can, the rush of a tap, or the clink of a glass, these are the sounds that pull us forward toward connection, connecting to nature, connecting with friends, and connecting the memories you make with Fall River Beers. Fall River Brewing Company is proud to sponsor the Forward Drinking Podcast. We hope these stories motivate you to think creatively, take risk, and put a plan into motion. Fall River Brewing Company. Redding, California. Please enjoy responsibly.

John Hutchings:
All right. Welcome back to the show. So we just freshened up some new gin and tonics. While we were away, I had this epiphany. I thought of a name for this drink that you've come up with, Cynthia.

Cynthia Stephens:
Okay.

John Hutchings:
We're going to call it The Wonder Woman to memorialize this episode. We had Bruce Dean on the show last time, and we memorialized his episode with a couple of Black Bear Diner coffee mugs, so this one's going to be memorialized with the Wonder Woman cocktails. For those that are wondering, again, this is your regular gin and tonic; however, with Hendrick's Gin, which I love that gin, a whole bunch of limes, but then a splash of cranberry on top of it. This is delicious.

Cynthia Stephens:
So refreshing.

John Hutchings:
I love it. Jumping back into it here, so we've gone through the rise of SnL group, so we've gone as to kind of backing it up. You guys launched Stephens Electrical Group. It's an electrical contracting firm, a union electrical contractor firm, correct?

Cynthia Stephens:
Yes.

John Hutchings:
Okay. It's a whole nother side of that in itself.

Cynthia Stephens:
Yes.

John Hutchings:
You guys got into some real estate investments that were amazing decisions to do, and you also launched SnL group, which is a full, general contracting, site work, paving, underground, you name it, do-it-all firm. In my opinion, one of the hardest businesses in the world to be successful at. You guys have done very well. It's obvious, at this point in time, you guys are probably getting a hold of, "Hey, we're pretty good at this."

Cynthia Stephens:
Exactly, or just crazy.

John Hutchings:
Well, I think in order to be good at doing any of this, you've got to be a little bit crazy. You've got to have that feeling of really wanting to chase the awesomeness of freedom and excitement over comfort and security.

Cynthia Stephens:
I like that, John.

John Hutchings:
Well, thank you.

Cynthia Stephens:
Freedom and excitement.

John Hutchings:
I'm a bit of a scholar, myself.

Cynthia Stephens:
Right?

John Hutchings:
It's the gin bringing that.

Cynthia Stephens:
It's the gin, wow. Oh, gosh. Freedom. As an entrepreneur, what do they say? You just choose which 80 hours a week you want to work, right? Because the freedom part, no. We were slaves to the company, like literally chained to the company, so much so that I was becoming miserable, like real talk, right?

John Hutchings:
Yeah.

Cynthia Stephens:
So I'm miserable at SnL, that I started giving my two weeks notice every two weeks. I'm like, "I'm out of here. I'm going back to the school, where I'm dealing with little tykes." So the freedom part, it is the freedom of the ability to start companies. Yes.

John Hutchings:
Yeah. Freedom of choosing your own path and road, but sometimes it's marred with brambles and broken glass and-

Cynthia Stephens:
And all sorts of-

John Hutchings:
... Hot lava.

Cynthia Stephens:
All sorts of chaos, drama, and tears. Oh my gosh. I think I've seen more guys cry, being in the construction business than any other entity.

John Hutchings:
That's a tough one.

Cynthia Stephens:
And I was one of those guys though, but I'm talking about men. I've seen men cry.

John Hutchings:
I've been one of them in the past. Not going to lie. So walk us through your seven companies that you guys have started. I mean, let's just list them off.

Cynthia Stephens:
Yeah. Let me list them off, and I like to list timelines too.

John Hutchings:
Sure.

Cynthia Stephens:
Okay, so Stephens Electrical, 2005. Real Estate Investments, 2007. SnL Group, 2013. Our heavy equipment, ENC Properties rental company, that's 2017, along with LED Concepts USA, 2017. Then, 2020, we started Beacon Fire Alarm & Security. That's in Palo Cedro. Woo-woo. And our CEM Media Company based in Atlanta.

John Hutchings:
So CEM Media Company.

Cynthia Stephens:
Yes.

John Hutchings:
Let's dive into that one here a little bit. Now, is this one, if I had to ask, I know it's hard, I know it's hard. This is like talking about children, because I know this business that we're sitting in right here, it's my wife and I's, the Fall Brewing, is like our first child. Then, I have Gracie and Cam that are second and third, but if you were to look at these businesses, would CEM be the favorite?

Cynthia Stephens:
No.

John Hutchings:
No?

Cynthia Stephens:
No, no, no. CEM is interesting. I will say that that's the most, I can't even say the most interesting. It's interestingly different, because you're working with talent. They're called talent, the actresses an actors, right? So then you're working with talent.

John Hutchings:
Just so folks know, this is a media and broadcasting company. You guys create movies for Netflix and-

Cynthia Stephens:
And Amazon.

John Hutchings:
And Amazon.

Cynthia Stephens:
Yes, and whoever else that we can sell it to.

John Hutchings:
Sure.

Cynthia Stephens:
Yeah, so we started filming in 2021, and so we have three projects. That's two movies and one docuseries.

John Hutchings:
How did you go from starting construction businesses, contracting, and lighting companies, to getting into making movies? How does that happen?

Cynthia Stephens:
Lights, camera, action. It's pretty much the same thing. Think about it, so we have our vetting process down. That's casting, right? Then, you have your storyline, which is your blueprint, right?

John Hutchings:
Sure.

Cynthia Stephens:
Your blueprints, you use those, and you design a building. Well, you have your story, your script, and you're going to make a movie. We're always into production. We love to produce, so we've been producing since we were dating, but then we started producing in the business world, right? So we used a lot of our same qualities, our same character, our same skillset with doing a media production company. We use the same that we would use. What's different, though, is coming from having our multiple businesses based in Redding, California, versus Atlanta. That's a whole other thing, because their culture is a little bit different.

John Hutchings:
Sure.

Cynthia Stephens:
Especially in the entertainment industry. I'm used to more of teamwork effort, and they're not as much. They're called talent. As the actors and actress, they're called talent, so some of their heads are inflated. Some of the C-listers, they pretend like they're A-listers. Yeah, I said it. I said it. So that part was different, and they're not as collaborative.

John Hutchings:
Gotcha.

Cynthia Stephens:
That's different. So what made us get into that is, I mentioned to my husband that, "Hey, I want to do something, going into my retirement, fun yet profitable." Well, now it's not as profitable, because we just started filming in '21, and we just finished projects at the end of 2021, or 2022, my bad. So we were talking to neighbors in Atlanta. Our vacation spot is in Atlanta, and so we were talking to one of our neighbors, and his brother is in the industry for 16 years. At that time, it was 16 years. My husband thought, "Well, you're creative. You should have a meeting with him to see if this is something you want to get into."

So I spoke with him. I watched some of his content, and one of his content, it was making of a mogul. He's a Ghanaian, but he's also from the UK, so his content is overseas. It wasn't in America, and so part of the starting a business with him is that we want your content, and then I want to film making of a mogul here in the USA, and we're going to just go around this country and highlight entrepreneurs that started from humble beginnings, and that created these empires. The caveat to that is that they have to give back to the community. They have to give back to somewhere, somebody, because we get to a point that we feel like we've made it or we've arrived, but then we forget that other people need to have that help.

John Hutchings:
Sure.

Cynthia Stephens:
That you can actually mentor, so then we just make sure that our entrepreneurs, they are doing such, and they are. So you can watch Making of a Mogul USA on Amazon. Then, we filmed in Ghana. We were in Africa for a month filming our movie, Single Not Searching, so we filmed that in Atlanta and Ghana, about some college friends. One decided to get married. She lives in Ghana at this point, and those four friends travel from Atlanta to Ghana for her wedding. There's all sorts of shenanigans and all of that. Then, we have a movie called Lockdown, and that's on Netflix, and that's about a virus, and they're trapped in a hospital.

John Hutchings:
It sounds like something that happened maybe two years ago.

Cynthia Stephens:
I know. When I read the script, I was like, "I don't think I want to get behind this, because..."

John Hutchings:
You didn't film that one in Wuhan, did you?

Cynthia Stephens:
No. It was film in Nigeria, so we didn't go. Eric and I didn't go to Nigeria, but we did go to Ghana in Atlanta to film Single Not Searching and Making of a Mogul USA, so we're hoping to get picked up for second season of Making of a Mogul. This the first season.

John Hutchings:
Fantastic.

Cynthia Stephens:
But just an idea in somebody's basement. Like we always do, we talk to people, and then we say, "Oh. We can probably do that," and so then we do it.

John Hutchings:
Well, it's good to just not always have to do things that are maybe for money making, but hopefully they all make money, but at the same time, to be able to do something that's kind of a fun passion project, it's got to be a good pivot, I would say.

Cynthia Stephens:
Yeah. It's a good pivot, but I actually like our companies here, John. I've said I like the companies. I actually adore the team members, and honestly, when I did resign every two weeks, I had to come to the realization of, "I can't keep resigning and giving up on the people that actually want to be here, right?

John Hutchings:
Sure.

Cynthia Stephens:
The people that actually are doing what they need to do to help us out, right?

John Hutchings:
Yeah.

Cynthia Stephens:
Can't give up on them.

John Hutchings:
For sure. For sure.

Cynthia Stephens:
Yeah.

John Hutchings:
I wouldn't know the feeling, because Cynthia, I've never owned seven companies, but congratulations on that.

Cynthia Stephens:
Thank you.

John Hutchings:
Well, we're going to pivot here. You had mentioned that you come from an education background, obviously. You love the love for the education, and part of this podcast is always ends with some teaching, so this is your chance to shine. One thing that I really liked about this episode that I wanted to talk about, because I obviously am partners with my wife and our business, and we've had mentors in the past that mentored us, and one of the things that mentors we had dealt with talked about was husband and wife combos, and how they can either make the greatest of partnerships or the worst. Obviously, you guys have done a fantastic job at being a husband and wife combo, business partner. I've seen so many times that has torn people apart. It's kind of heartbreaking. Can you walk us through what you feel was very, very pivotal and very powerful from making that such a powerful thing? How you guys have pulled that off so well? We haven't killed each other, at least.

Cynthia Stephens:
No, right? So first, I'm going to say faith, right? A lot of people, and I've said a lot of people. I've listened to some interviews over the course of my years here on Earth, and we talk about faith over fear, but I'm going to say faith through fear, because sometimes you still have those fearful moments. Whether you're faith-based and you're a Christian, you have those fearful moments. You have those doubtful moments, right? Then, you have those moments where you do look at your partner. Well, I don't know. I'm not going to speak for Eric. I'm going to speak for me, whereas you do think about increasing their life insurance policy. You're like, "Why are you still breathing?" You're like, "Oh. I have this heavy equipment. We have this property. I can bury him. How much is he worth, dead or alive?" You have those thoughts. I don't know. I have those thoughts, so I have to go back to the basics, and the basic is, "Why? Why did we start? Why did we start this company or these companies?"

John Hutchings:
Sure.

Cynthia Stephens:
And the basic is, first, we wanted to provide for our families. Second, we wanted to pursue our desires. Third, we wanted to help the community, and then that third one though, we want to go on vacation too. That's part of taking care of our families, but the third one of helping this community, that became the focus, the center of, "No matter how difficult it was or it is, I'm employing people."

John Hutchings:
Sure.

Cynthia Stephens:
And I'm employing people in their careers. This is a career. This is not, "I'm just going to do this for two years until I just get by." No, these are lifelong people. These jobs, these opportunities that we've provided is helping build their families, right? Then, while they're building their families and they're restructuring this community, it's also about retirement, right?

John Hutchings:
Sure.

Cynthia Stephens:
It is about the advancement and the growing of their families. When our team members walk in and they're like, "I purchased my first home," we celebrate with them because we know that it took them, but it also took our sweat equity, our finances, our resources to help that process.

John Hutchings:
Absolutely.

Cynthia Stephens:
So I go back to the basics. Even in the most frustrating, challenging, disheartening times, I go right back to the basic of the why, and the why still answers. That is still our calling. This is our mission in life. This is our lot in life, and we are not throwing in the towel, and I haven't given my resignation in so long, John, that I'm like, "Wait a minute. I must really be enjoying this, because I haven't decided to quit, kill him, or choke him out," so it is working. I mean, that's a whole other show of marriage and business, of our relationship, of how we navigate it through our marriage, the kids, and our family. When I say my family, I'm talking about moms, dads, sisters, like extended family, how we are still able to be in the same household together and still wanting to do what's next.

John Hutchings:
Yeah, absolutely. That's a fantastic answer. Thank you for sharing that. It's definitely a challenge, I think, a lot of folks don't realize and understand when they go to get into something like this. I've heard the same thing with even remodeling a home or building a custom home. It's the first time people have to work together, or at least husbands and wives, partners have to work together in that type of a fashion, and they just get to scraping so hard. They just can't get along.

Cynthia Stephens:
And we've done that, John. We've actually built a home for a real estate investment, and people were telling me like, "Wow. You guys are building a home together. You're going to end up divorced. You're building a home together," but we raised kids together.

John Hutchings:
Sure.

Cynthia Stephens:
And that's the ultimate partnership. You mean to tell me I can't have a business with you? I've seen your ugly side. I've seen your wonderful, magnificent, intelligence side. I've seen the side that I despise.

John Hutchings:
Sure.

Cynthia Stephens:
But if we can't work together in business, why are we parents?

John Hutchings:
Right.

Cynthia Stephens:
That's the ultimate partnership.

John Hutchings:
Yeah.

Cynthia Stephens:
Right?

John Hutchings:
True.

Cynthia Stephens:
So to me, it's odd though when people say, "I can't work with my spouse."
I'm like, "But do you have kids?" is what I asked them first.

John Hutchings:
Sure.

Cynthia Stephens:
"Do you have kids?"
"Yeah."
"Okay. You are working with your spouse."

John Hutchings:
Right.

Cynthia Stephens:
Unless one of you guys checked out. I don't know, but when you have kids, you're working with your spouse.

John Hutchings:
Sure.

Cynthia Stephens:
When you have a home, you're working with your spouse. When you're traveling, you're working with your spouse. When you're volunteering, you are working with your spouse. I just thought that was weird when people say that they couldn't work with their spouse, so much that I started second guessing myself like, "Okay. Am I the weird one then? Because I can actually work with him, ultimately."

John Hutchings:
Sure.

Cynthia Stephens:
And then I blamed it on my multiple personalities, and you can see that on the website. I said, "It's my multiple personalities, is how I can work with him," because I do work is work, home is home usually, but being that we have multiple businesses, sometimes I have to bring in work after five o'clock.

John Hutchings:
Fantastic. Well, the next question, this is a really important one, because it dovetails into what we talked about earlier with International Women's Day. If you could give a message to all women for not only just success and entrepreneurship, but just a message of encouragement for all women of all races, colors, creeds, you name it, what would that message be, Cynthia, to encourage them to be successful in the way that you have been successful?

Cynthia Stephens:
Oh, gosh. John, how much time do I have? Let me try to sum this up again. To love first. You have to love yourself. You need to love others. That'll help you serve others. That'll help you do the best that you can do with what you have in life when you put love first. I know I talked about faith over fear, but you have to love, I think we're missing that component, that it's sort of like a selfishness that I sense in today's society, that you have all that self-care. I'm not saying you shouldn't do a self-care, but you have this self, self, self, and I'm just saying love. Serve others. Be a servant to other people, because it ultimately comes back to you anyway.

John Hutchings:
Sure.

Cynthia Stephens:
So when you have that mindset of, "I am doing this to better the community, to better others, and in turn, better myself," then that's what you're supposed to do. This is what you're supposed to do. That got me through a lot.

John Hutchings:
Sure.

Cynthia Stephens:
Faith over fear, and then that love component gets you through things. So I would say that love, because that love helps you not to give up when you want to or when you feel like giving up. That love first helps you not to. That love first puts things in perspective. It is the bigger picture. We are here. If we're just breathing, and we're just so consumed with us and my gin and tonic, and I'm feeling all good, if we're just so consumed with that, then where is that love?

John Hutchings:
Sure.

Cynthia Stephens:
Really? So I would tell the women across the board, you have to love first, and that means you sometimes have to put down your exterior. Sometimes you have to regroup and to know that there's a bigger picture. That's what I would tell women, just to love. I think everything will fall into place.

John Hutchings:
Absolutely. That's fantastic. Well, I tell you what? I've gotten so many good nuggets out of this. I should just keep this episode for myself, so I can keep this as my own personal self-help episode to help me out, but thank you so much for being here today.

Cynthia Stephens:
You're welcome.

John Hutchings:
I know you're an extremely busy person with everything you have going on, and I really appreciate that. For everybody that's been listening, thank you so much for another episode of the Forward Drinking Podcast. If you haven't already, please go and like, follow our social media pages, and if you feel so inclined, leave us a comment. Let us know how we're doing, what you thought of the show. We appreciate it. We'll be back very soon. Thank you very much. Cheers.

VO-1:
Thanks for listening to the Forward Drinking Podcast, hosted by John Hutchings. If this episode motivated you to create your own amazing story, then please subscribe and leave a rating and review on your favorite podcast app. You can also follow the Forward Drinking Podcast on Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok @forwarddrinkingpodcast. Thanks again for listening. Until next time.