Before launching High Strung, Laura Nolen spent her career in the demanding worlds of AI and retail, building teams, products, and scalable businesses. It was fast-paced, high-pressure work that required constant reinvention — skills that would later become the foundation for entrepreneurship.
In 2004, registered nurse Alice Benedetto stood in a grocery store aisle—frustrated. Her two-year-old son was reaching for snack after snack, and every single option was filled with sugar, additives, and ingredients she wouldn’t recommend to her own patients. She went home and made something better.
Adrienne Fleming grew up in a dance studio. It was her world—her rhythm, her identity—and she always assumed she would pursue dance in college. But a visit to Vanderbilt shifted her path. She chose a more traditional route, building a career in marketing within a finance company.
If you are not going to Columbia any time soon and you want a skin care line made from botanicals like @Lotodelsur, look no further than Hillary Peterson’s brand @TrueBotanicals. She’s making women proud everywhere as an Inc. Female Founder Honoree for 2026! Yay!!!!
Often we have something happen in our lives that can be traumatic.