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Tildet Varon and Leroy Hite on Family Business Success

August 21, 2025 by John Ray

Family Business Radio

Tildet Varon and Leroy Hite on Family Business Success

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Tildet Varon and Leroy Hite on Family Business Success (Family Business Radio, Episode 67)

On this episode of Family Business Radio, host Anthony Chen welcomes back two powerhouse guests: Tildet Varon, founder of Growing with Truth Inc., and Leroy Hite, founder of Cutting Edge Firewood.

Tildet shares how the painful loss of her family’s business in Turkey fueled her lifelong mission to help other family enterprises thrive. She reveals why communication is the root of both peace and profits and how “hidden conversations” within families often shape business outcomes more than strategy or operations.

Leroy recounts his journey of transforming firewood from a commodity into a luxury experience, overcoming years of grueling labor, financial strain, and near-collapse before scaling nationally and ultimately selling the business. He explains why risk-taking, perseverance, and humility are essential traits for any entrepreneur.

Anthony adds his own financial planning perspective, tying together lessons on values, vision, and long-term purpose.

This episode offers hard-won insights for family business owners, entrepreneurs, and anyone seeking to balance grit, growth, and legacy.

Anthony concludes the show with thoughts on crafting a legacy of memories, reminding us that you can’t buy time or memories.

Family Business Radio is underwritten and brought to you by Anthony Chen with Lighthouse Financial Network. The show is produced by John Ray and the North Fulton affiliate of Business RadioX®.

Key Takeaways from This Episode

Tildet Varon, Growing With Truth

Silence is often mistaken for peace in family businesses; avoiding hard conversations creates hidden resentments.
Communication with clarity, care, curiosity, and compassion is the foundation for both harmony and profitability.
Helping families surface their “hidden conversations” builds trust, belonging, and collaboration.
Self-awareness and emotional intelligence are essential to breaking barriers and sustaining success.

Leroy Hite, Founder, Cutting Edge Firewood

Firewood isn’t a commodity, it’s an experience—people will pay a premium for ambiance, aroma, and connection.
Entrepreneurship requires grit: he worked 100+ hour weeks, sold his house, and lived on maxed-out credit cards to keep his dream alive.
Success comes from embracing hard things; failure teaches lessons that can power future ventures.
Leadership demands humility—outsiders who won’t learn from the ground up make poor decisions.
Barriers are opportunities: don’t quit, but pivot and persevere.

Anthony Chen, Lighthouse Financial, and Host, Family Business Radio

Financial planning shouldn’t start with numbers; it begins with clarifying vision and purpose.
The key question is, “What is my ideal lifestyle and why?” before designing any plan.
Aligning money with values ensures financial strategies truly serve family and personal goals.

Topics Discussed in this Episode

00:00 Introduction to Family Business Radio

00:37 Tildet Varon’s Family Business Journey

02:24 The Importance of Communication in Family Businesses

04:42 Challenges and Lessons from Tildet’s Experience

14:50 Leroy Hite’s Firewood Business Story

17:32 Overcoming Obstacles and Achieving Success

28:34 Organizing Priorities for Success

29:21 Moments of Recognition and Growth

31:01 Transitioning to New Ventures

35:00 Starting a Business from Scratch

38:15 Overcoming Fear and Taking Risks

42:23 Learning from Failures

48:24 Advice for Family Businesses

Tildet Varon, Growing with Truth Inc.

Tildet Varon is the President of Growing With Truth Inc., where she has dedicated over 20 years to helping family businesses thrive both in relationships and profitability. She specializes in guiding family business leaders through the unique challenges they face, including managing family dynamics, legacies, emotions, and expectations. With a hands-on approach, Tildet helps break cycles of stress and power struggles by creating clear roles, improving communication, and building effective succession plans. Her work focuses on turning conflicts into collaboration so that family relationships and business performance can flourish simultaneously.

With a rich background as a keynote speaker, trainer, business coach, and Inner Mastery Specialist, Tildet combines lived experience with proven strategies in leadership and conflict resolution. She has also been an organizational development consultant and mentor to many leaders. Tildet tailors her approach to each family business’s unique needs, placing a strong emphasis on strategic decision-making and holistic growth. Her mission is to help family businesses transform internal challenges into lasting legacies, supporting both the health of the business and the well-being of the family members involved.

Website | LinkedIn

Leroy Hite, Founder, Cutting Edge Firewood

Leroy Hite transformed firewood from a mere commodity into a luxury brand featured in prestigious venues including the Oval Office, Netflix, the Today Show, and Fox & Friends. He revolutionized the perception and consumption of firewood by creating an entirely new industry. Leroy’s philosophy centers on the belief that extraordinary results come from embracing discomfort and risk and that growth does not happen when you are comfortable. His journey from having only $12 in the bank to building a premium nationwide brand exemplifies his commitment to breaking conventional boundaries and thinking boldly outside the box.

Leroy’s impact is demonstrated not only by millions in delivered value and a wave of competitors he inspired nationwide, but also by the recognition he has received, such as the Berry College Entrepreneurial Spirit Award and being a two-time 40 Under 40 honoree. Cutting Edge Firewood, which he exited last year, elevated a product often plagued by quality issues—half of the firewood market was bug-infested—into a status symbol of quality and craftsmanship. Leroy’s story is one of grit, perseverance, faith, and relentless innovation, proving that with the right mindset, anything once deemed impossible can become a defining success.

Anthony Chen, Host of Family Business Radio

Family Business Radio is sponsored and brought to you by Anthony Chen with Lighthouse Financial Network. Securities and advisory services are offered through OSAIC, member FINRA/SIPC. RAA is separately owned, and other entities and/or marketing names, products, or services referenced here are independent of OSAIC. The main office address is 575 Broadhollow Rd., Melville, NY 11747. You can reach Anthony at 631-465-9090, ext. 5075, or by email at anthonychen@lfnllc.com.

Anthony Chen started his career in financial services with MetLife in Buffalo, NY, in 2008. Born and raised in Elmhurst, Queens, he considers himself a full-blooded New Yorker while now enjoying his Atlanta, GA, home. Specializing in family businesses and their owners, Anthony works to protect what is most important to them. From preserving to creating wealth, Anthony partners with CPAs and attorneys to help address all of the concerns and help clients achieve their goals. By using a combination of financial products ranging from life, disability, and long-term care insurance to many investment options through Royal Alliance, Anthony looks to be the eyes and ears for his client’s financial foundation. In his spare time, Anthony is an avid long-distance runner.

Follow this link to access the complete show archive of Family Business Radio.

Leroy Hite with Cutting Edge Firewood and Dr. Akash Trivedi with Northside Hospital Orthopedic Institute

October 3, 2024 by Mike

Gwinnett Business Radio

Leroy Hite with Cutting Edge Firewood and Dr. Akash Trivedi with Northside Hospital Orthopedic Institute

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Leroy Hite/Cutting Edge Firewood

Cutting Edge Firewood is based in Gwinnett and was created in 2013 to provide the best firewood and cooking wood available. The wide variety of firewood, cooking wood and pizza cut wood from Cutting Edge Firewood undergoes a special drying process to ensure it is free from unwanted pests, mold or fungus and provides an unmatched clean and bright burn with pleasant aroma.

Cutting Edge Firewood uses only the best hardwoods for firewood and cooking, including oak, hickory, cherry, apple, pecan, and maple. All wood ships complimentary to the continental US.

Dr. Akash Trivedi/Northside Hospital Orthopedic Institute

The Northside Hospital Orthopedic Institute provides all the services you’ll need over a lifetime to manage aches and pains in your bones, joints and muscles. Their board-certified surgeons lead a comprehensive team of specialists focused on a personalized patient experience and restoring your quality of life so you can resume your everyday activities.

Dr. Akash Trivedi is an Orthopedic Surgeon fellowship-trained in sports medicine. His areas of clinical interest include management of trauma and degenerative conditions affecting the shoulder and knee across all patient ages, but he enjoys all aspects of orthopedics including comprehensive fracture care, management of conditions affecting the hand and wrist, and joint replacement.

Gwinnett Business Radio is presented by

Sylvia Reisman, Purity Patient Advocates, Leroy Hite, Cutting Edge Firewood, Steven Lustig, Loh Medical, and Todd Souto, Sutter, McLellan & Gilbreath

February 21, 2023 by John Ray

Family Business Radio

Sylvia Reisman, Purity Patient Advocates, Leroy Hite, Cutting Edge Firewood, Steven Lustig, Loh Medical, and Todd Souto, Sutter, McLellan & Gilbreath

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Sylvia Reisman, Purity Patient Advocates, Leroy Hite, Cutting Edge Firewood, Steven Lustig, Loh Medical, and Todd Souto, Sutter, McLellan & Gilbreath (Family Business Radio, Episode 41)

On this episode of Family Business Radio, Anthony welcomed business leaders Sylvia Reisman, Leroy Hite, Steven Lustig, and Todd Souto. Sylvia Reisman talked about her health journey, the services she provides to clients and the difference between a hospital patient advocate vs an independent advocate like herself, and health insurance coverage for her services. Leroy Hite discussed why he started Cutting Edge Firewood, their mission, the biggest growth challenges he’s seen, what makes his company innovative, and much more. Steven Lustig discussed the benefits of an independent board of directors and what they can provide to family-owned businesses and why corporate governance is important for family-owned businesses. Todd Souto talked about the commercial insurance market, getting quotes from different brokers, cyber coverage, and much more. Anthony closed the show with a commentary on advice for entrepreneurs and business owners.

Family Business Radio is underwritten and brought to you by Anthony Chen with Lighthouse Financial Network.

Purity Patient Advocates

Purity Patient Advocates’ comprehensive assessment method and the “Plan of Action” that it produces are designed to identify areas that many physicians and medical practitioners overlook (or miss) due to patient appointment time constraints and lack of training on complex illness. Their goal is to help clients who are suffering unnecessarily find a correct diagnosis and treatment plan with an integrative or functional medicine physician who aims to get to the root cause of their symptoms.

Website | Facebook | Instagram

Sylvia Reisman, Founder & Chief Patient Advocate, Purity Patient Advocates

Our current healthcare system is fragmented and failing millions of people suffering from complex illness. The conventional American medicine model is not designed to effectively evaluate and correctly diagnose a complex patient. It is only designed to treat symptoms and not get to the root cause.

This has created the perfect storm: Millions of invisibly ill people suffering unnecessarily, and in particular women, are left chronically ill and lacking a correct diagnosis as they run from doctor to doctor in search of answers. Many are gaslighted, dismissed or told “It’s all in your Head or it’s just anxiety or stress.”

Sylvia’s company’s mission is to help complex clients obtain a correct diagnosis and improve their quality of life. Sylvia has always served as an advocate for her clients. Her professional career gravitated towards building lasting relationships with internal and external customers, serving as a trusted advisor and educator. She is passionate about building trust with her clients and going the extra mile to find effective solutions for them.

Her past career positions were in marketing and sales, including stints as an Account Manager with Reebok Southern Division, Member & Board Services Director of the Georgia Association of REALTORS, Development Officer for a children’s hospital in Savannah and National Account Manager with Concentra Occupational Health.

In 2006, She became mysteriously ill with unusual symptoms and ran from doctor to doctor in Florida and Georgia with no concrete diagnosis. She found herself suffering physically, emotionally and financially as a result. Desperate for answers, she became an avid researcher and discovered functional medicine, a treatment approach that goes outside traditional boundaries to identify root causes of a medical condition. After experiencing the benefits of functional medicine, she felt a sense of obligation to help people with complex medical conditions, many of whom had been misdiagnosed.

This led her to develop a comprehensive assessment, which she utilizes with her complex clients. A customized “Plan of Action” is developed and executed from the assessment results. Sylvia decided to start Purity Patient Advocates LLC, a patient advocacy service that replicates closely the navigation process she learned from personal experience. To validate and find improvements for her service delivery process, she joined the Alliance of Professional Health Advocates which provides peer-based and structured training events.

As a result, Sylvia believes her clients can be confident that an empathetic and professional health advocate is available to them through her company.

Just a bit more on the personal side… Sylvia is an Air Force Brat, grew up in Savannah and enjoys hiking and cycling.

Cutting Edge Firewood

Cutting Edge Firewood is an ultra-premium firewood and cooking wood company. At Cutting Edge, they are passionate about great fires and exceptional customer service. They hand-select our hardwood species and put it through the most rigorous drying process in the industry so each piece burns clean, ignites easily, burns hotter and longer, creates less smoke and smells great. The unmatched quality of their firewood combined with unparalleled delivery service creates an unequaled fire experience.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram

Leroy Hite, Founder and CEO, Cutting Edge Firewood

Leroy Hite is Founder and CEO of Cutting Edge Firewood. He is on a mission to make every fire the perfect fire because he knows that some of life’s best memories are made in the warmth of a fire’s glow.

He founded Cutting Edge in 2013 with a goal to provide unmatched quality wood and unparalleled customer service nationwide.

Loh Medical

At Loh Medical their mission is to promote mobility & independence by helping people with physical disabilities through the application of appropriate Assistive Technology.

Medical technology has progressed rapidly in recent years. Today, we have wonderful technology-assisted solutions for people with mobility impairments. It is up to Loh, as professionals, to integrate this technology into their practices and use them to achieve their life goals.

Website | Facebook | LinkedIn | Instagram

Steven Lustig, Board Director, Loh Medical

Steven Lustig has a 25+ year track record of successfully leading and advising in International Operations, Supply Chain, Logistics, Quality, Project Management, Manufacturing, and New Product Introduction.

Steven’s insights have been featured in publications including the Atlanta Business Chronicle and Industry Week, and have been shared on panels hosted by various organizations, including the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and the World Trade Center Atlanta.

He is a member of the Board of Directors of family-owned Loh Medical. He has assisted the company by providing oversight, asking questions, and offering suggestions related to strategy, prioritization, risk mitigation, governance, finance, and succession planning.

At the request of the CEO, he also mentors the company’s Supply Chain Director. Steven serves on the Board of Directors for the angel investing organization Atlanta Technology Angels and for NCEF, a non-profit organization that raises funds in the US to provide scholarships to underprivileged students in Nepal. Steven holds a Certificate in Private Company Guidance from the Private Directors Association.

He is the Vice President of Global Supply Chain at East West Manufacturing and formerly was Vice President of Engineering. As an active member of the Executive Committee, he provides guidance on a wide range of strategies and operational issues. He played a key role in organic growth as well as the acquisition and integration of 7 companies.

He has also addressed risk and initiated the company’s first Sustainability Team Steven holds a BSME degree from MIT, plus MSME and MBA degrees from Georgia Tech.

Sutter, McLellan & Gilbreath

Sutter, McLellan & Gilbreath is a family-owned held insurance agency serving the northside of Atlanta since 1953. As an independent agency, they have the freedom to do what’s best for the client. They work with dozens of insurance companies to find the best fit. Two claims specialists work for the agency assisting clients every time they have a claim.

Website | Facebook | LinkedIn

Todd Souto, Account Executive, Sutter, McLellan & Gilbreath

Todd has been a commercial insurance agent for twenty years and specializes in construction. More specifically, he’s an expert at working with electrical contractors and stone cutters and installers. He has a proven process that makes shopping for commercial policies transparent and easy while yielding the best pricing.

In addition to commercial property and casualty insurance, Todd helps many of his clients with personal insurance and benefits. If you’ve got an insurance problem, Todd has a solution. His specialty is getting people the liability protection they need and carefully considering all risks before making recommendations.

Anthony Chen, Host of Family Business Radio

**Anthony Chen, Lighthouse Financial, and Host of “Family Business Radio”**

This show is sponsored and brought to you by Anthony Chen with Lighthouse Financial Network. Securities and advisory services offered through Royal Alliance Associates, Inc. (RAA), member FINRA/SIPC. RAA is separately owned and other entities and/or marketing names, products or services referenced here are independent of RAA. The main office address is 575 Broadhollow Rd. Melville, NY 11747. You can reach Anthony at 631-465-9090 ext 5075 or by email at anthonychen@lfnllc.com.

Anthony Chen started his career in financial services with MetLife in Buffalo, NY in 2008. Born and raised in Elmhurst, Queens, he considers himself a full-blooded New Yorker while now enjoying his Atlanta, GA home. Specializing in family businesses and their owners, Anthony works to protect what is most important to them. From preserving to creating wealth, Anthony partners with CPAs and attorneys to help address all the concerns and help clients achieve their goals. By using a combination of financial products ranging from life, disability, and long-term care insurance to many investment options through Royal Alliance. Anthony looks to be the eyes and ears for his client’s financial foundation. In his spare time, Anthony is an avid long-distance runner.

The complete show archive of “Family Business Radio” can be found at familybusinessradioshow.com.