20: Partnerships That Hold When Life Doesn't
In this episode of Partnerships on Purpose, Marie and Anne-Marie sit down with Ally Stone, international keynote speaker, executive coach, and founder of The Inspired Leader, for one of the most candid conversations the show has featured. Ally built a $40 million restaurant business by her early thirties, only to have her world reordered overnight by a medical crisis that took her husband's memory. She talks with Marie and Anne-Marie about walking back into the company she loved and realizing she had changed, why she ultimately stepped away from the business she and her husband built together, and how that season became the foundation for The Inspired Leader and Inspire and Awaken, her annual leadership and wellness event for women in Edmonton.
What You'll Learn
How Ally and her husband built a people-first culture inside a restaurant company that grew from four locations to nearly 100 — and why that culture is what carried the business through crisis
What happened the night Ally's husband collapsed after running the Tokyo Marathon, and the diagnosis that changed both their lives
Why Ally believes leaders cannot build sustainable culture, performance, or partnerships from a place of depletion
How the “relationship capital bank” shows up in everyday partnerships, not just polished collaborations
Why Ally created Inspire and Awaken, and what she has learned about what women need from community and collaboration
Episode Highlights
From four locations to nearly 100 — Ally shares how she and her husband built a people-first culture while scaling a $40M business.
The night everything changed — Ally recounts waking up to find her husband unconscious after the Tokyo Marathon, and the crisis that followed.
The relationship capital “bank” — Marie and Anne-Marie connect Ally's story to the idea of investing in people before you ever need to withdraw.
Building The Inspired Leader through partnership — Ally credits her working relationship with Kate, and what real collaboration built on trust looks like.
“I often think we're just one conversation or one connection away from our next level up.” — Ally Stone
Links Mentioned
The Inspired Leader: theinspiredleader.com
Inspire and Awaken (Ally's annual leadership event, October 16–17, Westin Edmonton): theinspiredleader.com
Connect with Ally: @allystone__ on Instagram · LinkedIn
Work with Marie and Anne-Marie: powerfulonlinepartnerships.com
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