✨Inside the Workplace✨
Inside the Workplace explores the realities women face at work during one of the most complex stages of life. Drawing from decades of professional experience, leadership roles and hard-earned insight, our contributors bring honest perspectives and practical guidance to the conversations that matter to women over 40.
Here, we explore workplace relationships, leadership, business growth and the systems that help us work smarter. We also make room for the personal questions behind our professional lives: setting boundaries, feeling valued, finding our voice and deciding what we want next.
Whether you are navigating a career, leading a team or building something of your own, Inside the Workplace offers fresh perspectives to help you move forward with clarity, confidence and purpose.
Shannon Shores
Bertie Mae Consulting
Shannon Shores is the founder of Bertie Mae Consulting, a business growth partner, connector and badass who helps leaders turn big ideas into action.
With a background spanning healthcare, sales, entrepreneurship and executive leadership, Shannon understands what it takes to build a business and carry the responsibility that comes with it. A Licensed Clinical Social Worker with a master’s degree in social work, she combines an understanding of people with practical business experience.
Through Bertie Mae Consulting, named for her grandmothers Alberta “Bertie” and Lena Mae, Shannon helps business owners find clarity, strengthen leadership and create momentum. She has a special passion for women building businesses, taking up space and betting on themselves. Her goal is to leave clients stronger, more focused and more confident in what comes next.
Shannon’s accomplishments include recognition as a 2026 St. Louis Titan 100 honoree and a 2020 Enterprising Women of the Year Award winner during her leadership of Wellex. Her commitment to developing others extends to mentoring and speaking through Midwest BankCentre’s Rising Leaders program, where she has presented on authentic leadership and personal growth. She also serves on its Women Connect Advisory Board.
A self-described “Kind Hearted Badass,” Shannon brings that same spirit to helping women own their accomplishments, use their voices and recognize what they are capable of building.
Shannon Shores
Email: shannon@bertiemaeconsulting.com
Phone: 314-479-2905
LinkedIn: Shannon Shores, LCSW
Latonya Duncan
Latonya Renee Consulting
Latonya Duncan is the Founder and CEO of Latonya Renee Consulting. She partners with established women entrepreneurs to simplify and streamline the behind-the-scenes of their business, so they can grow without losing their sanity or the personal touch their clients know and trust.
Known to many as the Chaos Coordinator ,a nickname she earned back in her preschool teaching days, when she discovered she could calm a room of two-year-olds just by walking in the room. Latonya has built her career around a simple belief: most successful women don't need more ideas, they need structure that actually supports how they lead.
Her path here started in the classroom. Latonya spent 17 years as a preschool teacher, an experience that taught her firsthand what it means to pour into someone and watch them grow. She went on to earn her bachelor's degree in Early Childhood Education from Fontbonne University while working full-time, before moving into a 7-year career at Parents as Teachers national center, where she supported over 200 programs across 8 states and trained more than 30 leaders.
When working with clients, Latonya always starts with a Business Walkthrough, taking a closer look at what's really happening behind the scenes of the business. Based on those findings, clients move into deeper work, either The 30 Day Reset, which supports building the foundation of their systems, or The Scaling Blueprint, an even deeper dive for businesses with systems already in place that aren't serving where they're growing. Both offerings are built around creating automations, workflows, and a day-to-day rhythm that supports the way they lead.
What changes for her clients isn't just their operations, it's how the business feels to run. The overwhelm lifts. The to-do list stops living in their head. And for the first time in a while, the business starts to feel like it's working with them instead of against them.
Outside of consulting, Latonya is a wife, a bonus mom, and a godmommy to five incredible kiddos. You'll usually find her wandering wineries, tending her garden, or cheering her husband on at the racetrack.
Through Latonya Renee Consulting, Latonya continues to help women build businesses, and lives that feel good on the inside.
Latonya Duncan
Business Systems Partner
FB: https://www.facebook.com/latonya.hicks.duncan
IG: Latonyarenee_consulting
www.latonyareneeconsulting.com
Felisha Ford
FF Consulting Solutions
In 2025, Felisha started her own HR firm, FF Consulting Solutions, LLC. She has close to two decades of human resources experience spanning across multiple industries and on a corporate level. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Lindenwood University. She’s earned a Human Resources Management Certificate and a SHRM Essentials certificate from Prince George Community College.
Some of her leadership achievements include, Executive Director for the E. St. Louis Chapter of National Association for Colored Women, a proud member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, a Committee Member of St. Peter Claver Social Justice Society, Urban League Young Professionals Board Member,Board Member for the Call for Help Center in East Saint Louis, President of the St. Louis Human Resources Hospitality Association, Business Liaison for St. Charles Chapter of Project Search & national member of SHRM.
Felisha has worked for DraftKings at Casino Queen as the Director of Human Resources, Bob Hall Beverage, an Anheuser Busch Wholesaler, as the Human Resources Manager. She was the Human Resources Director for Embassy Suites St. Louis, MO and a Taskforce Human Resources Director for Atrium Hospitality Midwest Region. She was Human Resources Manager for Holiday Inn Route 66. She has also worked for large companies in HR such as Amazon. I have engaged with all levels of associates: HR staff, entry level staff, supervisors, area managers, directors, senior operations and general managers. My experience also includes 13 years in the Sales & Hospitality community. My experience has allowed me to lead in various roles producing results that align with the company's vision.
She has experience with implementing HRIS systems, building company handbooks, creating new policies and procedures, establishing performance management systems, talent acquisition, leadership development, succession planning and much more.
Felisha Ford
CEO & Founder
FF Consulting Solutions, LLC
Developing People, Elevating Your Business
Your Business Grew. Did Your Systems Grow With It?
Your business has grown, but are your systems keeping up? Latonya Duncan explores the signs that you’ve outgrown the way you work, why another tool isn’t always the answer, and how stronger processes can protect your time and energy as you build your business after 40.
Big Ideas Need a Way Forward: Meet Shannon Shores of Bertie Mae Consulting
Big ideas need more than inspiration—they need a way forward. Meet Shannon Shores, the woman behind Bertie Mae Consulting and the newest voice joining GlowInto’s Inside the Workplace. Drawing on business ownership, executive leadership, and social work, Shannon helps turn possibility into practical action. Discover the women who shaped her, the experiences that helped her find her voice, and why she’s passionate about helping other women lead, build, and make room for what comes next.
Creating Systems That Help Women Over 40 Work Smarter, Not Harder
Meet Latonya Duncan, Founder and CEO of Latonya Renee Consulting and a new contributor to GlowInto's Inside the Workplace pillar.
Known as the "Chaos Coordinator," Latonya helps established women entrepreneurs simplify and streamline the behind-the-scenes of their businesses so they can grow without losing their sanity—or the personal touch their clients know and trust.
Before consulting, Latonya spent 17 years as a preschool teacher and later worked with the Parents as Teachers national center, supporting more than 200 programs across eight states. Today, she brings that experience in leadership, organization and supporting others to women in business.
Her philosophy is simple: most successful women don't need more ideas—they need structure that actually supports how they lead.
We're excited to welcome Latonya to GlowInto and Inside the Workplace.
“Women in Flight”
This article is dedicated to the women who have found themselves building their business plan while flying at 50,000 feet.
“The Truth, The Whole Truth & Nothing but the Truth”
I was having a cup of coffee with a friend and she said, “I think you need to start telling real life HR stories to get your point across of why people need HR.
Employers & Employees: The Great Divide
“In that moment I realized that there is a great divide between job seekers and employers.”
“Pivoting and Excited About It”
When you’re overflowing with experience, there is no better decision than to pour out what has been poured into you.
FMLA WHAT?
FMLA What?
How many employees have the same issue of not being educated on what options they have for leave time? Too many.