Celebrating our WBE Star: Angela Garmon’s Journey to Empowerment

Intro: Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studios, it’s time for Women in Motion. Brought to you by WBEC-West. Join forces. Succeed together. Now, here’s your host.

Lee Kantor: Lee Kantor here. Another episode of Women in Motion. And this is going to be a good one. But before we get started, it’s important to recognize our sponsor, WBEC-West. Without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories. And this is going to be a very special Women in Motion because today, we’re going to celebrate the 2025 winner of the WBE Star Award. And WBE Star Award is the nation’s top recognition for excellence among women-owned businesses, honoring 14 women from across the country within each of the 14 regional partner organizations, who are leaders in their local business communities and respective fields, and an inspiration to women business owners across the country. Today, on the show, we have Angela Garmon and she is with ARG Coaching and Consulting Group, and she has been named a 2025 WBE Star. Welcome and congratulations.

Angela Garmon: Well, thank you so much, Lee. It’s always an honor to be on your show again. Super excited to dive into the conversation with you.

Lee Kantor: Well, before we get talking about the award, let’s talk about your business. Can you tell us a little bit about ARG Coaching and Consulting Group? How are you serving folks?

Angela Garmon: Yes, of course. So, ARG Coaching and Consulting Group is a strategic change management consulting firm serving clients nationwide. We specialize in helping teams enhance their resilience and building strong, collaborative environments that inspire peak performance as they align, redefine, and grow through change. Our motto is that you can conquer, change and cultivate results.

Lee Kantor: So, what’s your backstory? How did you get involved in this line of work?

Angela Garmon: Oh, my goodness. So, I started the business in 2016. Prior to that, I worked in the hospitality industry, and I specialized in project management. My background is Six Sigma. And what I learned over the time that I was in hotel management is in rolling out best practice projects is that teams or individuals resist change. And we know that how we handle change today really impacts the results that we cultivate for tomorrow. And as I look back over my journey and my career, I really excelled in those spaces where I helped other individuals and teams as they conquered change and cultivate results. And so, when I embarked out on this journey on my own, it was the pivotal moments from my hospitality career that helped me to develop out all of the services and the products that you get from ARG Coaching and Consulting Group.

Lee Kantor: Now, was it kind of a little counterintuitive for you? Because everybody says change is the only thing you can count on. And if people have an apprehension or anxiety around change, it’s going to be difficult to kind of evolve and grow. So, how did you, kind of, make that mental leap to embrace and lean into change and help people get through that transition?

Angela Garmon: You know, I think that understanding that the only thing, to your point, the only thing constant in life is change, right? And to help people overcome the hurdles and, really, it’s just those spaces where we get stuck and it’s where, you know… Excuse me. So, when we work through those spaces where we’re stuck, that’s really where we’ll start to see growth. And so, it was an opportunity for me to really look back over those times and those careers where people excelled beyond their own hurdles. And so, that’s really what has driven my passion and my desire to see other people and organizations grow.

Lee Kantor: Now, when you made the transition to working for somebody, to working for yourself, when did you get kind of clues that you were on to something, that you had a service or an offering that people would buy and that they would benefit from?

Angela Garmon: I think that especially for when we look at it from a small business perspective, we always look at it from the ability to test your products and your services in the market. And so, I think that when I started working with another small business owner, she was growing her law practice, and I was actually working with her as an employee. And our first couple of years when I helped… Our first year, excuse me, when I helped her grow her practice, she was able to expand her business by 40%. The second year, we were able to increase her revenues by another 45%, and then also help her bring on a larger team and stabilize her firm. And I think it was her that really acknowledged the breadth of work that I did within her firm and encouraged me to expand out on my own.

And when I look back over my career and even the results that I cultivated when I was in the hotel industry just starting out my career as a Six Sigma Green belt, I was able to help the Phoenicians save over $1 million that first year by rolling out a project that went on to become a national best practice project. And so, it was those pivotal moments that really catapulted me into this space that I’m in. And so, when you talk about testing your products and your ability to serve your clientele, I would have to say, it’s just looking back over those moments, but most importantly, when I was working with that other small business owner and she showed me or working with her really illustrated to me the services and the impact that I can have not only on a small business but also a large organization as well.

Lee Kantor: Now, as we mentioned early on, you’ve been named a 2025 WBE Star. Can you talk a little bit about how it felt when you got this kind of important recognition? Like, were you just… I mean, you must have been so excited.

Angela Garmon: Right. You know, Lee, I don’t really know if I’ve fully taken on the magnitude of this recognition. It was just… I think I was really at a loss of words. I had a loss of words. There are over 2000 certified WBEs in WBEC-West and there are some phenomenal WBOs or women business owners, excuse me, that are doing some amazing work. And so, WBEC-West has one of the highest engagements across our RPOs. So, to be recognized in such a way for me is just, again, I still don’t know if I fully have recognized it, but it is an amazing experience, and I know that I have shared it out with friends, and family, and to my network. But it is truly an honor to represent the RPO in this manner.

Lee Kantor: What do you think that are some of, kind of, those key accomplishments or milestones you reach that enabled you to get this recognition?

Angela Garmon: You know, I think that over the past few years, I have worked not only within the community but also worked within the WBEC-West community to help other women business enterprise thrive and to be successful as they look to achieve their own business goals. You know, I often tell the story whenever I speak on different platforms about how Dr. Williamson, she and I were sitting down talking, I want to say it was back in 2019 or so, when I was about to step into a role as president of NAWBO. And she said to me, “Angela, you know what? That is all well and good, but what are you going to do with it?” And her words have echoed in my mind for the last, what, 5 or 6 years? Because we all have… many people have businesses or we’re leaders in some type of facet, but when we think about the impact that we can make, man, we have such a greater… you know, we can make such a greater impact when we think about the community at large.

And so, I’m always thinking about, “But what am I going to do with… in this? What am I going to do with the spaces that I have been granted access to?” And so, when I think about just some of the achievements that I’ve been able to make, just working within WBEC-West in a couple of different capacities, helping other women grow but, most importantly, also help reaching back out to the community of other women businesses that are looking to grow their business, that has been instrumental. And then, also, trying to identify ways to collaborate not only with other WBEs but also collaborate with corporations that are looking to support small business development growth. I think both of those have really been instrumental in achieving this work.

Lee Kantor: Now, any advice for others, maybe people who want to shoot for the award for next year, how best to lean in locally? Like you mentioned the importance of contributing to your local business community. What advice would you give somebody on how to do that in a way that kind of provides the most value, not only to yourself and your career, but also to the community itself? Because a lot of times people are like, “Oh, I got to join these groups,” and they just join and they never participate or they just put their name on a list of, “Yeah, Yeah. I’m just going to sign up for this thing, but I never really do anything with it.” Like, how do you choose the right group for you? And how do you get the most out of that once you have chosen?

Angela Garmon: Great questions, Lee. And I’ll start, a couple of weeks ago, I was talking to another WBE, and she said, “Man, I want to get the next Star award.” She’s like, “What did you do to get to that space?” And you know, the one thing that I shared with her is don’t focus so much on the award, focus a lot more on the impact that you’re going to make because there’s always someone watching. And again, this award was truly unexpected. It’s nothing that I necessarily strived for, but it’s truly appreciated. And I think that the one reason why I obtained the award is because I was so focused on building up everybody else. Well, let me take a step back. I was focused on building my business, first and foremost, because I think as a business owner, that is truly important, but also focused on building other people up along the way as well because I found that as long as I’m doing what it is that I’ve been called to do and as long as I’m also reaching back and supporting other people’s efforts, that someone is going to recognize not only the impact that I’m making but also recognize all of the work that I am doing and how I am engaged.

One of the questions that you also asked is, how do people choose the networks that they want to be part of? And I think that’s a great question as well. The one thing that I always consider every single year as I’m strategizing for my business or putting a strategic plan in place for the business is I also look at the networks that I’m connected to. How are those networks either connecting me with my ideal clients, how are they helping me to create exposure for my business, or how do they align with my mission and values of my business? And so, I would encourage any business owner to look at those three areas for themselves and to try and determine which organizations or associations are driving or helping them in each of those efforts. And that’s how they can really select organizations that are going to support them.

And then to your other question is how do you choose to get engaged? You know, I often will look and see, how can I support other people, which is really that mission-driven work. So, I would tell in any small business owner to really look and see what their mission or their overall purpose is, and then figure out how they can tap into the associations or the organizations that they’re part of to help them build out their mission-driven work as well.

Lee Kantor: Now, who is the ideal client profile for AAG? Who is your ideal client and how can we help you get them?

Angela Garmon: Yeah. Thank you for that question. ARG, again, works with clients nationwide. We really specialize in utility construction and government spaces. So, if there is a… there’s a lot of change right now going on in the world. And so, if your team right now is struggling with building out cohesion or if individuals are impacted with understanding how changes that are going on within your respective organizations, so if they’re having challenges understanding those changes and you just want someone to come in or organization to come in assess your team where they are from a change management perspective, then please consider AAG Coaching and Consulting Group. We’ll assess your team’s readiness for change. We’ll offer recommendations and solutions that will help enhance the culture of your organization. And then, finally, we’ll be able to assist you as you put growth measures in place to help sustain those change efforts.

Lee Kantor: So, if somebody wants to learn more, have a substantive conversation with you or somebody on your team, what’s the website? What’s the best way to connect?

Angela Garmon: Best way to connect is www.argccgroup.com.

Lee Kantor: argccgroup.com?

Angela Garmon: Correct.

Lee Kantor: Well, Angela, thank you so much for sharing your story today. You’re doing such important work. And we appreciate you. And congratulations on being named the 2025 WBE Star.

Angela Garmon: Thank you so much, Lee. It’s always a pleasure.

Lee Kantor: All right. This is Lee Kantor. We’ll see you all next time on Women in Motion.