Big Ideas Need a Way Forward: Meet Shannon Shores of Bertie Mae Consulting
Welcoming Shannon to GlowInto’s Inside the Workplace
You can believe in your business and still feel unsure about its next move.
Maybe you have more ideas than time. Maybe your business has grown faster than its systems. You know there is an opportunity to reach more people, build a stronger team, or develop another source of revenue, but you need help deciding where to begin and following through.
That is where Shannon Shores wants to meet you.
Through her independent practice, Bertie Mae Consulting, Shannon brings together business ownership experience, executive leadership, and a background in social work to help owners and leaders turn possibility into a practical plan.
She describes herself as a fractional growth partner: someone who works alongside a business to help shape and carry out its next stage of growth.
“Practically speaking, I get in the boat with you.”
As we welcome Shannon to GlowInto’s Inside the Workplace, I also want to share why this introduction feels especially meaningful to me.
When I began the GlowInto adventure by creating the online publication and writing editorials for O’Fallon Area Living Magazine with Megan Grandone, Shannon was the very first person Megan introduced me to. Early in that venture, Megan told me I needed to meet her. Obviously, Megan saw something special in Shannon, and something that connected the two of us, for her to be my first introduction.
I also find it wonderfully fitting that I was introduced as GlowInto through O’Fallon Area Living during the same month Shannon appeared on its cover. You could say it was a little meant to be.
And yes, I am biased: Shannon is my coach. I say that with pride because I do not believe that talking about a woman through GlowInto when I have a personal connection to her somehow muddies the portrait I paint. If anything, it gives me the opportunity to introduce you not only to the work she does, but to the woman behind it. I typically interview women I do not know very well on purpose. It allows me to enter their stories without preconceived notions and discover who they are as we talk. With Shannon, I wanted to introduce you to Bertie Mae Consulting, but I also knew I would not be doing her justice if I did not tell you about the woman I have had the privilege of getting to know over the past nine months.
Shannon is the woman you want in your corner. She is the person you want on your team because she is there to help you build, and she does it selflessly. She is a fierce, smart businesswoman, but she is also an extraordinarily kind soul.
She brings with her a lifetime of memories, disappointments, lessons, and joyful experiences, just like all of us. What matters is what she has chosen to do with them. Shannon has turned those experiences into empathy, courage, perspective, and a deep commitment to helping other people move forward.
If you are going to talk about Shannon’s work, you need to talk about Shannon herself. That is what Bertie Mae is: more than coaching. It is having this woman in your corner and knowing she is there for you. Those of us lucky enough to call her a friend already know this about her.
What Shannon Brings to the Table
Shannon holds a master’s degree in social work and is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker. Her career has taken her through healthcare, sales, business development, entrepreneurship, leadership, and executive roles. She has been an employee, an executive, and a business owner. She has built teams, grown revenue, and experienced the responsibility of turning a vision into something that works.
Before Bertie Mae, Shannon owned Wellex. She says the business grew significantly, including doubling revenue year over year, and she eventually went through the process of preparing the business for sale. That experience gives her an understanding of what business decisions feel like when your own money, team, and reputation are involved.
“A spreadsheet can tell you to hire someone. It doesn’t tell you what it feels like when you’re responsible for making payroll.”
Her social work background adds another dimension: understanding how people communicate, respond to change, navigate conflict, and function within systems.
“I know how to listen for what someone is saying and what they’re not saying,” she explains.
For an owner trying to grow a business while keeping a team moving together, those skills have practical value. A plan needs people who understand it, clear responsibilities, and the ability to address difficult conversations.
“I’ve learned that leadership isn’t about having all the answers,” Shannon says. “It’s about having enough courage to ask the right questions, enough self-awareness to hear the answers and enough discipline to actually do something with them.”
From a Good Idea to Something That Works
Shannon says clients often come to her wanting more without having a clear path to get there.
More revenue. More clients. Better recruiting. Stronger leadership. Clearer priorities. A new service line. Systems that can support the next stage of growth. Sometimes, she says, an owner has 47 ideas and needs help identifying the three that matter most. Her work begins with listening and asking questions: What is working? Where are the gaps? What opportunities are being overlooked? What is keeping the business from moving forward?
From there, she helps build the strategy and the work needed to carry it out.
Depending on the business, that can include:
Developing a growth strategy or new revenue stream.
Building a recruiting pipeline and strengthening leadership accountability.
Establishing measures of progress and clearer priorities.
Improving the customer journey and market positioning.
Making introductions and developing strategic partnerships.
“Strategy without implementation is just a really expensive pile of paper,” Shannon says.
“I want to help build it.”
For someone considering a business coach, that is a useful distinction in understanding her approach: Shannon describes hands-on involvement in business growth, alongside the conversations that help an owner make decisions with greater confidence.
She wants to understand what is possible, sustainable, and aligned with what the owner is trying to build.
Two Grandmothers Behind the Name
Bertie Mae Consulting officially began two years ago, Shannon says, although the work feels like something she has been doing throughout her career.
“I just finally gave it a name.”
That name came from her grandmothers, Alberta “Bertie” and Lena Mae.
Grandma Bertie was under five feet tall and sat on a phone book to see over the steering wheel. Shannon remembers going with her to bingo, sitting at the end of the table with beef jerky and Pepsi Cola. As a child, Shannon thought people were calling her grandmother “Birdie.” That memory helped inspire the two birds in the business logo, representing the grandmothers she considers her guardian angels. Lena Mae, who lived to 90, was a fashionista whose philosophy stayed with Shannon: dress up, show up, and appreciate a fabulous bargain. Her favorite color was red.
Two women. Two red birds. A business name rooted in the people who shaped her.
“And now I get to carry their names into rooms they never had the opportunity to walk into themselves,” Shannon says. “That part means more to me than I can probably ever put into words.”
Finding Her Voice and Helping Others Use Theirs
Shannon shares more of that personal foundation in her chapter in Living Well with GRIT, the anthology compiled by Jennifer Bardot.¹
The book brings together women’s stories about finding joy, staying true to themselves, and evolving through life’s experiences. Shannon approaches those ideas through a letter to her younger self, reflecting on the women whose lessons helped her grow.
She remembers a little girl who felt insecure about her clothes, glasses, and ears. Someone who struggled with bullies and sometimes wanted to shrink. Over time, teachers, mentors, friends, and her grandmothers helped her learn to speak up, accept opportunities, and trust her own ability.
One line in her chapter captures that growing self-acceptance: “People may say you are too much, and you will say, go find less.”
Reading her chapter alongside her interview answers, there is a connection between the girl who struggled to feel confident and the woman who now helps others recognize what they can do.
“I have a special place in my heart for women building businesses, leading companies and finally deciding they are done asking permission to take up space,” she says.
Her grandmother’s lesson about showing up also takes on deeper meaning in the chapter. Dressing well becomes a way to gather herself on difficult days, enter the room, and make an impact. The chapter gives readers insight into the person behind the practice: someone whose confidence developed through experience and encouragement, and who wants to pass that support along.
What Success Looks Like to Her
The achievements Shannon remembers most are often the moments when someone finally sees a way forward. An overwhelmed owner knows what needs to happen. A leader stops trying to be everything to everyone. A woman recognizes that she belongs in the room.
“One of my favorite things is watching the energy change when chaos becomes clarity,” she says. “You can physically feel it.”
That clarity matters because it changes how people act.
Shannon wants clients to leave the work stronger, more confident, and better equipped to continue.
“Success to me is helping build something that continues working when I’m no longer sitting at the table.”
She is also protective of the businesses she works with. While she can describe the kinds of challenges she helps address, she respects clients’ privacy.
“Their businesses aren’t my case studies unless they want them to be.”
Who should meet Shannon?
Think of the owner who says, “I know there is more here. I just don’t know how to get to it.”
“That is my person,” Shannon says.
She wants to work with growth-minded businesses and leaders: entrepreneurs whose systems need to catch up, founders who need help focusing their ideas, organizations with opportunities they have not yet developed, and companies ready for another chapter. A business can already be doing well and still benefit from another perspective.
“Sometimes I’m there because something is already working and I can see how much bigger it could become.”
For Shannon, the work returns to a question that connects her business philosophy with her personal journey:
“What happens when you become MORE of who you already are?”
More focused. More confident. More strategic. More visible. More willing to bet on yourself.
“I don’t want to build your business for you,” she says. “I want to stand beside you, see the possibility you might be too close to see, and help you turn it into something real.”
To connect with Shannon about Bertie Mae Consulting, email shannon@bertiemaeconsulting.com.
We’re welcoming Shannon to GlowInto’s Inside the Workplace, where we’ll continue exploring the people, choices, and experiences that shape how women lead and grow.
Look for her episode with me this October on Glow & Tell, inside the GlowInto podcast. Our conversation, “The Woman Everyone Counts On: What Happens When She Wants More?”, will explore making room for your own next chapter while showing up for others.
¹ About the Book and Jennifer Bardot
Living Well with GRIT, compiled by Jennifer Bardot and published by MDC Press, brings together women’s personal stories about finding joy, embracing who they are, and growing through life’s experiences. Shannon Shores is one of its contributing authors.
Bardot is an author, speaker, and founder of G.R.I.T., which stands for Growth, Resilience, Intention, and Tenacity. Through collaborative books, events, and coaching, she creates opportunities for women to share their experiences, build connections, and pursue meaningful growth.
Purchase the ebook: Living Well with GRIT on Apple Books.
Explore the books, community, and events: My G.R.I.T. Community.
Learn more about Jennifer: Meet Jennifer Bardot. YouTube
