A Journey of Resilience and Leadership, with Maggie DeCan, Author of Humbled on Purpose (North Fulton Business Radio, Episode 810)
In this episode of North Fulton Business Radio, host John Ray interviews Maggie DeCan, author of Humbled on Purpose: Discovering Strength Through Vulnerability, Humor, and Grace. The episode examines Maggie’s personal journey from a traumatic childhood—one that included her mother’s death by suicide and the resulting family difficulties that trauma caused—to becoming a successful leader in the corporate and nonprofit sectors. Maggie shares how her past shaped her as a manager and motivated her to foster empathetic leadership. The conversation highlights her career transition to nonprofit work at the Children’s Development Academy and her journey to writing a book sharing leadership lessons and personal growth. Maggie discusses the importance of resilience and finding strength through vulnerability and faith. The episode emphasizes the book’s mission to inspire others to overcome victimhood and choose a path of resilience and purpose.
John Ray is the host of North Fulton Business Radio. The show is recorded and produced by the North Fulton affiliate of Business RadioX® inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta.
Maggie DeCan
As of Saturday, 10/5/24, Maggie DeCan stepped aside as the CEO & Executive Director of the Children’s Development Academy (CDA) in Roswell, GA, where she served for nearly 8 years. The CDA provides high-quality early education to children from low-income households. She drove strategic priorities focused on increased enrollment, sustainable giving and quality outcomes.
Maggie is the author of the just published book from Ripples Media, Humbled on Purpose: Discovering Strength Through Vulnerability, Humor and Grace, about her life’s journey, including from the c-suite to running a small nonprofit. She is also an ICF-trained executive coach, mentoring and coaching other nonprofit leaders, and she also serves as a speaker and consultant.
Prior to taking the helm at the CDA, Maggie was with HoneyBaked Ham for 14 years and ran day-to-day operations for their national system as president and COO, leading a team responsible for $500MM annually of system sales in 500 corporate and franchise operating units as well as e-commerce. Before HoneyBaked, Maggie served in human resources and operations for well-known retailers Circuit City, Belk and Macy’s.
Maggie graduated with a bachelor’s degree in political science and communications from current CFP national champions, the University of Michigan Wolverines. She is still actively involved as a national volunteer with her women’s fraternity, Chi Omega, where she serves on the Chi Omega Foundation steering committee and as an ambassador for and mentor in the Pearl Program connecting alumnae and college students. Maggie is also actively involved in her parish, St. David’s Episcopal Church of Roswell. She also serves as a volunteer ALTA Coordinator for the Sunday Business Women’s League and proudly serves as the president of the Atlanta chapter of the University of Michigan Alumni group.
Maggie’s leadership experience extends to the community, where she is a respected leader and educational advocate, receiving awards from the State of Georgia PTA for visionary leadership, the Turknett Leadership Character Award, the National Diversity Council as a “Most Powerful and Influential Woman” in Georgia and a Womentics P.O.W. winner. She is Chairman Emeritus of the Roswell North Elementary Education Foundation, a 501(c)3 that she helped found in 2009. She is also past president of the Woodstock Junior Service League.
Maggie has been married to her husband for 38 years, Bob, a retired high school economics teacher and tennis coach. Maggie and Bob have two boys, Riley, a UGA graduate who works for Truist and is about to marry his middle school sweetheart and fellow UGA grad Emily Amour, and Brady, studying marketing at GCSU. Maggie enjoys spending time with her family, friends and dogs, playing tennis and time in the northeast Georgia Mountains at their lake home in Blairsville.
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Topics Discussed in this Episode
00:00 Introduction and Welcome to North Fulton Business Radio
00:29 Meet Maggie DeCan: Author of Humbled on Purpose
02:05 Maggie’s Early Life and Childhood Trauma
03:33 Career Journey: From Corporate to Nonprofit
04:19 Impact of Childhood Trauma on Career
06:00 Finding Strength and Resilience
16:55 Transition to the Children’s Development Academy
20:52 Lessons Learned and Future Plans
25:11 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Renasant Bank supports North Fulton Business Radio
Renasant Bank has humble roots, starting in 1904 as a $100,000 bank in a Lee County, Mississippi, bakery. Since then, Renasant has become one of the Southeast’s strongest financial institutions, with over $17 billion in assets and more than 180 banking, lending, wealth management, and financial services offices throughout the region. All of Renasant’s success stems from each of their banker’s commitment to investing in their communities as a way of better understanding the people they serve. At Renasant Bank, they understand you because they work and live alongside you every day.
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About North Fulton Business Radio and host John Ray
With over 800 shows and having featured over 1,200 guests, North Fulton Business Radio is the longest-running podcast in the North Fulton area, covering business in our community like no one else. We are the undisputed “Voice of Business” in North Fulton!
The show welcomes a wide variety of business, non-profit, and community leaders to get the word out about the important work they’re doing to serve their market, their community, and their profession. There’s no discrimination based on company size, and there’s never any “pay to play.” North Fulton Business Radio supports and celebrates business by sharing positive business stories that traditional media ignore. Some media leans left. Some media leans right. We lean business.
John Ray is the host of North Fulton Business Radio. The show is recorded and produced from the North Fulton studio of Business RadioX® inside Renasant Bank in Alpharetta. You can find the full archive of shows by following this link. The show is available on all the major podcast apps, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google, Amazon, iHeart Radio, and many others.
The studio address is 275 South Main Street, Alpharetta, GA 30009.
John Ray also operates his own business advisory practice. John’s services include advising solopreneurs and small professional services firms on their value, their positioning and business development, and their pricing. His clients are professionals who are selling their expertise, such as consultants, coaches, attorneys, CPAs, accountants and bookkeepers, marketing professionals, and other professional services practitioners.
John is the national bestselling author of The Generosity Mindset: A Journey to Business Success by Raising Your Confidence, Value, and Prices.
