June 7, 2023 • 27 mins
Executive Director of Defending Dreams and restaurateur, Kelly Davis, joins Kristen to discuss her mindset of becoming an entrepreneur and creating community initiatives in the Carolinas, while balancing motherhood. The pair also unfolds the vision and process behind opening a sports bar, Ten58, with her husband Thomas Davis.
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
We do all of this stuff just to show that
even though we're in this position, we can help, you know,
and not only just helping our family and our friends
and things that we do, but helping people that we
don't know, because that's what we're supposed to do, you know.
We're supposed to love everyone and help everyone whenever we can.
And of course we get a ton of asks, you know,
with the foundation, and we can't help everybody, but we
try to pick and choose everything based around youth, kids
(00:25):
and family.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Welcome back for another episode of season three of the
Inspire podcast presented by Atrium Health. This is a podcast
series for Panthers fans where we highlight admirable women from
across the Carolinas as they share stories and lessons from
their lives and careers.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
And oh my.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Goodness, my guest today is Kelly Davis. She is the
executive director of the Defending Dreams Foundation. She is the
co owner of two successful businesses in Charlotte and many elsewhere,
Sky Salons in Charlotte and ten fifty eight Incredible Restaurant.
She is a mom, and she and her husband, Thomas Davis,
are a huge part of the Carolina Panthers, legacy and family,
(01:07):
and I am tired just.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Reading all that. Kelly, thank you so much for being
here you. I appreciate it. This is great. It's an honor.
Oh my gosh, it's an honor for me. Are you kidding?
I feel like I'm back at home.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Yeah, that's where you are, back at home, and we
definitely have to get into that in addition to everything
else that you do. So I'm truly my first question.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Is like, how do you do all of this?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
So what is your how do you organize your time? Because,
like I said, I'm tired just reading all of that.
How do you live it every day?
Speaker 3 (01:35):
I don't. I don't. It's literally by the grace of God.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
I just get up and I know that, hey, I've
got to do this, this and that, and I go
day to day because things just change.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Our life is ever changing.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
We have four kids of our own, and most recently
we took in four more kids, so we have eight
total now. So it's literally like, Okay, God, this is
what you want to meet, then yeah, we're gonna do it.
And I just keep pushing with whatever I have to
do that particular day. Sometimes some things may not get done.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
You know. I explain it to Thomas all the time.
All Right, you want this done or that done? Today?
Speaker 1 (02:04):
What do you want to happen? Because I have to
try to keep my sanity in all of this. But
I know it's only a short amount of time that
you're gonna have your kids and they're gonna be at
home with you. It's going to be a short amount
of time that you're able to, you know, diversify your
portfolio and get into different businesses and do different things
that Thomas and I are doing at this age before
we really want to sit down and just not do anything.
So this is a time where I have to just
(02:25):
dive in and do it. Lots of cries in the shower,
I've been there.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Also, I can't imagine you and Thomas not doing anything either,
So I'll check back in with you when we get
to that point, because neither one of you strike me
as people that just want to sit around. Although I
know at some point you're like, Okay, we'll stop doing
eight thousand.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Things we tried and it didn't worry. Yeah, right right.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Speaking of which, you came in here, and I hope
this is okay to say you were like Oh yeah,
I've got a flight and an hour and a half
that just got booked and I'm not worried about it.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Take all the time you need on this podcast.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
So we're I mean, you're just so relaxed, and it
feels like you're one of those people that can go
with the flow and not let anything overwhelm you, except
for when you have to cry in the shower.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
I can't.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
I can't, and then if you do, because you know,
we're human, right, so if something just gets to you
or if something takes you over, you get it out,
you let it go, and you keep it pushing because
things have to happen. Life has to move on. I
found out last night that I had to take this fight.
Thomas booked the flight for me last night at probably
one o'clock in the morning or something like that. He's
actually in California right now, and he's like, I'm gonna
(03:27):
go ahead and book the flight for you to go,
and I'm like, cool, whatever, I'll figure it out. I
called around, got people to help me with the kids,
and here we are, like, you know, you just make
it happen, you make it.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
What am I going to do complaining about it? What's
not happening? Yeah, me complaining like what's that gonna do?
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Well, you guys are a great team, and I love
that attitude. I need more of that in my own life.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Right. Like I said, I always use this podcast as
like advice. I'm like, how do you? How are you
doing all of this? It just helps me with.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Because I'm a huge worrier, Like I will share that
my anxiety is always through the roa, Like I worry
about when my kids are starting a job and they
lead out.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
Because now we're in the teenage. Ye, how could you
not worry about that? Everybody's a teenager?
Speaker 1 (04:03):
We have aged thirteen to twenty one. We have four
fifteen year old boys at home. Oh my gosh, I'm great,
a seventeen year old boy at home, a nineteen year
old college boy, twenty one year old just graduated college.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Congratulations by the way, thank you.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Everybody's graduated. I mean everybody's you know, doing something. Everybody's driving,
and I worry. So I kind of use that same
thing that I do when I'm worrying about them, like
driving or going out into the world or doing things.
I kind of apply that to everything else to try
to get myself to calm down and to relax. It's
not going to change anything. I'd me worrying about it.
Let's keep going, let's move forward whatever it is we
got to do for the day.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
That is great advice, and that's great advice to just
check in with yourself and remind yourself on a daily basis.
That's like real actionable, not going to change it now
if you worry.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Absolutely, And you mentioned I want to talk to you
specifically about all your businesses and how you choose a business.
But first when you said like, oh, yeah, we tried
relaxing for a little bit and that didn't work. I
do want to talk about the transition out of the
NFL as a family into everything that you're doing now.
You know something that I think a lot of people
understand a little bit more now and we go through
(05:07):
it my husband and I on our side, is that
the NFL is a family thing. It is a commitment
from every single person in the family.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
In your family.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
It's from you, it's from your children, and certainly it's
from Thomas. And that requires so much, especially you know,
if he's not when the years that he wasn't in
Charlotte right, and he talked to me about how heartbreaking
that was about, you know, being away from his family
in those years. So what is it like to go
from that huge twenty four to seven commitment to then going, okay,
(05:36):
this is the next chapter of our lives. What are
we interested in and what are we going to do
as a family.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
So it was really tough. And I know, like a
lot of people may ask Thomas, and I'm sure he
won't mind me sharing is they'll say.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
How are you doing in retirement? And he's going to say, fine,
I'm doing great. You know, I feel good. You know
all this kind of stuff.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
But everybody doesn't see the other side of the kids
changing in ages and them growing up and us having
to deal with different things. They don't see the other
side of you had a routine literally from kindergarten on.
You had to get up, you had to go to school,
you had to get up in the morning, you had
to do something, and then.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
It just stops.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
And we were blessed to play in the NFL for
sixteen years. But think about even the guys that only
played two or three years, But for Thomas to do
that for sixteen years, to do college, you know for
four years to do high.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
School and then everything just stops. It's different. I've talked,
I've heard that from so many NFL players. It is.
It really is a big change.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
And now the best way that I describe it is
that he's entering our world. We were picking up and
we could go, we could travel. I never missed any
of Thomas's games.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Never. The only games I didn't go to what when
he was hurt. I didn't go.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
And I still, you know, caught a couple of those,
just because I'm a football fan too.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
But I didn't go when he was hurt.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
And there was a really really cold game they played
in Green Bay one time, I don't remember a year
and he was like, Kelly, do not do it.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
You want to keep your fingers and toes. Don't do it.
But every other game I was there, and a lot
of times.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
I took the kids with me because I knew that
this was going to be a short experience for them,
this was going to be life changing.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
So we would literally travel.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
They may have like sports on that Saturday, we would
get on a flight, we would travel. We would be
home Sunday night or either early Monday morning. They've gotten
dressed in the lounge bathroom at the airport to go
to school because I didn't play that like you going
to class. If you can go to a football game,
you can go to school.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Well, no wonder none of this other stuff now because
look at what you were doing before.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
You're traveling with the kids and they got to experience
that watching dad work doing all of this. So it's
like all of us retired, right. So now it's like
Daddy's home. He's here and everybody's jumping at him to
do stuff. Everybody's like, can you do this? Come you
come here?
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Can you do that.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
He's literally busied himself and made himself more busy than
he was when he was playing. Because I think it's
tough being thrown into our life with all of the
stuff that we have going on, with all the kids' activities,
with you know, the stuff that we're doing with businesses,
with me giving him a honey do list of things
to do, you know, at the house, and he's overwhelmed.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
He's probably like, you know, this is a lot.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
But I will say he does a great job now
that we've kind of like you know, the divide and
conquered tech.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Do this, you help with the boys. I'll help with
the girls.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
You know, it is getting way better, but that first
year two out, I kind of prepare for it.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
I don't think he did.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
I've heard that from so I've heard that from so
many players, former players and their families that it is
the biggest transition, right. I want to ask you about
opening a restaurant together as we transition into this, into
this phase of your life. So ten fifty eight incredible
restaurant in Charlotte. I'm sure a lot of people listening
have heard of it or have eaten their great wings,
(08:31):
great food overall. And you know, I work with Thomas
on our TV show Panthers Huddle, and really got you know,
my dad worked in the food business. But then hearing
him come in every week and even when things go great,
there's so much to it, and I had a little
bit of a sense of what that is of just like, okay,
well the permits for this, for this are this, this
(08:51):
got pushed back. I've got to go meet with someone
really quickly, and just like hearing we as a staff
got to hear a little bit of what you guys
were going through even when it all went great, What
was it like doing that together and what was it
like opening a restaurant.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
We were about to get a divorce. That's how it was.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
It was insane because this kind of fell into our lap.
And Thomas knows I have a little restaurant background, like
I kind of grew up waitress and bartend and when
he met me, I used to be a bartender at Applebee's. Really,
he would come in and he would sit at the bar,
and he was so he died to like get my tips.
But you know whatever, He's like, uh and he you know,
(09:29):
he's this millionaire NFL player, Like, you know, like why
are you still working here? Like I got a good job,
and I'm like, because I'm so used to working and
I'm finishing college. Like it didn't bother me. So I
knew a.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Little bit, you know about the restaurant business. I think
I think you knew a lot. Even if that helped,
it helped.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
So I was able to help pick our GM who
actually was somebody that I grew up with in childhood,
and she helped open up a lot of restaurants in
the Baltimore, DC area, And I was like, you want
to come down here, you know, and help us and
all this kind of stuff, and so she did. She
came and worked at another restaurant here in Charlotte and
then switched to work for us, and it's just been great.
And Thomas did such a good job. Not knowing what
he was doing. He's like, Kelly, can you help me?
(10:06):
You know, like do you want to do this?
Speaker 3 (10:07):
And I'm like, all right. I was like, but you're
gonna help, Like this is gonna be a lot of work.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
And literally he does something for that bar every single
day and it's crazy that we opened up this sports
bar and restaurant and lounge. And he doesn't drink. He's
never had a simple alcohol in his life. So I'm like,
how are you gonna even tell people that our drinks
are good? He said, I'm not. He's like, I'll tell
my wings are good, you know good. And he's like,
I just really think we need like a good spot
(10:32):
that's close to the stadium that's really giving you that
sports bar field and that's what it as soon as
you walk in the door, that's what you get exhaust.
And he did a great job with helping us. Like
I always tell people, I joke around. He helped pick
out flowers for the wedding. He helped do all this
stuff that hen normally don't know. He was hands on.
He was hands on for the wedding years ago. We
got married in two thousand and eight, and he kind
(10:54):
of did the same thing with the bar. He was
helping with the decor, wanting to, you know, tell us
where to put this picture, that picture, little mind details
that he was just he was I.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Remember him talking about he showed us some pictures one
day of the booth, like the big booths in the back,
and like this is what this is gonna be, and
here's the lock up and you could tell or like
here's where the women's rooms and the men's rooms are
gonna be.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
And that said he was he.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Was so into it and that was like really refreshing
to step back and see him in another role doing that.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
And he can do anything you puts his mind to.
That is like free.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
He like kind of just jumped in and very hands
on with the staff and with our GM Like she
can call him even if she can't talk to me,
she probably calls him more now asking questions saying what
do you like about this? And he's just he's in it,
like he's in it. It's it's amazing to see.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Did you guys do the divide and conquer like you
were talking about where you were like, Okay, these things
are my things and this is what I know, and
then these things can be your things.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
So when it came to getting the permits and those
kind of things, dealing with the city and dealing with
getting a liquor license and all of that, he kind
of jumped in and did all that kind.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Of stuff and it worked.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
It was it was just better for him to do that,
and I just kind of took the backseat of working
with you know, us foods and getting THEO and picking
that out and picking the staff and hiring and doing
all that kind of stuff. So it worked out great
because if we had to try and did everything together again,
we would not be together.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Oh that's what I think about too.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
My husband and I always joked like, oh, if we
ever run a business together, oh, it wouldn't work out.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
But that is the thing, right where you move a house.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Certainly, we've never opened a business, but whatever it is,
it's like, okay, you handle your stuff and I'll handle
my stuff and will come together at the end.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Different, right, Yeah, And we're not gonna think the same
work differently. We're gonna agree.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Yeah, we're not gonna like we were, I think arguing
about the sign in front of the building and I
was like, you know what, we're not about to do this.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Just pick it whatever it is.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
But he did such a great job and it ended
up coming out perfect. Like my business partner that works
with me on Sky Salons, which is amazing. She kind
of did the whole concept for Sky Salons and everything.
She helped us also with the decor and everything for
ten fifty.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Yeah, so we didn't even have to hire an intil
your decorator. Between her and Thomas, like it was, it
was great.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
That's awesome. That was my next question. I was going
to ask you about Sky Salon.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
So tell me, so that is a venture that that
you have on your own without time.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
He kind of helps still, yes, it's like yeah, it's
like me, Thomas and Chastity.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
So it was Shastity's baby.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
She graduated from LSU and always wanted to open a
salon suitees and it kind of got popping in the
Charlotte area with these salon suits. So we talked about
it for years, like doing it together, and we finally
decided to go ahead and do it, and Thomas wanted
to help, so we were like, all right, you know,
let's do it. And it turned out to be amazing.
It's like a boutique style salon suites and we rent
out ten suites that it's just an amazing place. You've
(13:26):
never seen anything like it, Like if you look at
our website or even take a look at our Instagram,
you'll never see a front lobby that looks like ours,
Like I've seen it, Yes, I've seen it in Tech Savvy.
And then just the processing units that we have for
the stylists that are in there. We have estheticians, nail
text like it's just a great place to work.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
People love it and.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
They're like, please let us renew our leaves, please let
us stay here, like it's easypsy, easy peasy business.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Well, and that's what I wanted to ask you about.
You know, I think it's interesting to talk about when
what makes you feel confident because you're putting your name
on something. Obviously people know you and and your name
and reputation aren't important to you. How do you pick
what to invest in what to put your name on?
And what to invest your time in.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
So Thomas and I get a lot of things that
come our way, and sometimes I get things and I
present them to him. He gets things, he talks to
me about it. And one rule that we've always had
is we don't make a decision unless we talk to
each other about whatever it is. We present it to
our attorney or our financial advisor CPA, everybody and get everybody,
a whole team on board, to say what do you
think about this? You know, we have this just whole
group that we talked to and we've confided in them
(14:30):
the past probably six to seven years, because early on
we didn't know, we didn't have people telling us that,
you know, what to invest in, what to do when
you're coming in twenty twenty one years old, you're getting
millions of dollars. What you're gonna do. You're gonna go
buy a car, you canna go buy jewelry, a house,
all of this stuff that you never had. You're gonna
help your family, and you're gonna go broke. That's what's
gonna happen. And so we had to stop midway in
between his career and say, you know what, this is
(14:51):
how much money we're spending, let's budget better. What do
we want to do business wise? So one thing we
did which I would tell a ton of you know,
athletes and athletes anybody's listening. That's just in the business
world period. Start young, like start planning ahead for retirement young.
Don't wait until you're older and think like yolo, I
can live like this.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Start young.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
You don't know what life's going to bring. Like, nobody
knew the pandemic was going to come and we were
all going to be on lockdown and businesses were going
to lose money. So we started just making those decisions
early on, like what we wanted to do, and then
when people brought stuff to us, we would say, hey
this is for us, or hey this.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Is not for us.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
And we've had some deals that have come our away
that we're like, dang, we should have done it. And
then there's a lot of stuff that's come our way
that you know, we banked on and that was it.
And we've had took a couple of l's too. You know,
that's how you learn. But I think Thomas does a
really good job of coming to me and talking to
me about stuff instead of just you know, making a
decision because he gets way more self presented to him.
You know, people wanted him to get involved and stuff,
(15:46):
and that's just what we do. We talk about it,
we pray about it, and we make a decision and.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
At the end of the day, you know, there's been
so many things that you guys have been successful in.
But like you're saying, if everything is in perfect or
you go, oh gosh, I wish I did not. If
you have that system in place, Okay, we're both going
to agree on this, then we're going to take it
to the people that we trust that can vet these things.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
Then at least you can like go to sleep at night.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Right, you know, whether it works, whether that idea is
the next uber or whatever, and you don't make it
in or whatever it is. Right, if you have this
system that hasn't failed you, then you go, okay, like
I feel good about passing on this, or I feel
good about putting our hard earned money and reputation into something.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
And that's the thing too, Like you know, sometimes we
will say do we want to attach our name or
do we want to just kind of be behind the scenes,
And there's a lot of stuff we do that we're
behind the scenes zone, like we own sixty nine Sonic Restaurants.
People don't even know that out of Louisiana, Like we
have no ties to Louisiana. But you know that's something
that we're behind the scenes on, you know. Yeah, And
some things that we do attach our name to and
we have to know that if we attach our name
(16:43):
to it, we want it to be presented a certain way. Yeah,
you know, And so that's just how we look at it,
and we make the decision in that aspect and we
keep it moving.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
That is incredible advice for anyone at any level, you know,
when it comes to making it. Thank you when it
comes to making these big decisions and knowing you know,
what feels right and how people that have been doing
it for a long time very successfully approach those things.
I think that's helpful for anyone listening to know how
those decisions are made. So I want to ask you
also about the Defending Dreams Foundation is because something that
(17:13):
I think everyone in Charlotte knows about your family is
that it's giving back first.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
You know.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
I'm Thomas was Walter Payton Man of the Year, which
is me talking to NFL players. Aside from winning the
super Bowl. There is no higher honor than that. And again,
I know that's a family thing. I know that is
a family ethos that you guys have is giving back
from very young ages.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
So tell me about the foundation.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
So the foundation, I consider some things like business and
something's kind of like our passion project. And so the
Foundation is definitely a passion project for us. The way
that Thomas and I both grew up, we knew that
we had to give back to the youth in our
community and then surrounding areas. So we do work in Charlotte,
we do work in Greenville, South Carolina, and then also
in Georgia, because he's from Georgia. And I'm talking about
(17:58):
anything you can think of pertaining to care kids, from
giving away college scholarships to help them with youth sports teams,
to help in churches with you, to doing Christmas events,
Thanksgiving events, football.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
What's the event where you take a big eighteen wheeler down?
Speaker 3 (18:12):
Is that around oh Georgia.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Yeah, we give away Christmas gifts and we to we
do toys and stuff too, but we also try to
give away laptops and TVs and stuff that some of
these kids may not be able to get for Christmas
because sometimes their parents are struggling.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
You know, we do where we pay utility bills.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Sometimes where we get a list from the school of
about twenty to thirty of the kids from different schools
and their families and we say, hey, what bill do
you guys need to pay, you know, for this holiday.
So we do all of this stuff just to show
that even though we're in this position, we can help,
you know, and not only just helping our family and
our friends and things that we do, but helping people
that we don't know, because that's what we're supposed to do,
(18:46):
you know. We're supposed to love everyone and help everyone
whenever we can. And of course we get a ton
of ask you know, with the foundation, and we can't
help everybody, but we try to pick and choose everything
based around youth, kids and family. So we do a
ton of things, and Charlotte is definitely the basis in
the home. We knew that when Thomas retired, we were
gonna be here. We're gonna stay in Charlotte, and we
were gonna stay involved in the community for sure.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
What are some of the moments that have that give
you goosebumps or that you're the most proud of. I
know there are many, but what are the ones that
you go, oh my gosh, like I will never forget that.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
So there was one time there was this family. There
was this mom who passed away and it was unexpected,
and she had four kids and they lived in some
apartments I don't remember the name, somewhere in Charlotte, and
the grandma was left to take care of them and
she wasn't working. The kids didn't have beds in their rooms.
They were like sleeping on mattresses, like sheets up on
the windows, that kind of thing. We went in and
(19:38):
like redid their entire apartment all of their rooms, got
them school clothes, got them book bags, got them everything
they needed for the school year, school supplies, made sure
that grandma had enough money to get groceries for like
six months, like.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
Stuff like that. I have goosebumps right now. There was
another kid we helped.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
He got hurt and he was a really big time
football player, like definitely was gonna go play in college
and just beat this great football player.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
And he got hurt to where he was put in
a wheelchair.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
So we made sure that his family was able to
get a handicap accessible van and a wheelchair for him
to be able to ride around Charlotte, and to also
provide him with clothes, his family with food, help them
get into a new place to live because where they
were living. So those kind of things that are like
people don't see on the media, I mean, you know,
out on TV or whatever, and we do those things
behind closed doors, like from the goodness of our hearts.
(20:27):
And Thomas has always been this big person. Like we
would tell him, all right, we're doing an event. They're
gonna be cameras there, like we invited the media, and
he would get ticked because he's like, I don't do
it for the media, and we like, we understand. But
there's also a side that we have to show people
what we're doing because we still take donations. A lot
of the funding for the foundation has come from Thomson
I and our pockets. So we're like, we need to
(20:49):
let other people know what we're doing because we're not
a big organization. You know, we're not Red Cross or
you know, American Cancer Society. Nobody's gonna be writing us
million dollar checks. So we need to let people know.
And we had to explain to him in detail, they
need to know a little bit what we're doing so
we can get a few donations to help out, because
we want to be able to keep these things going,
and we wanted the Defending Dreams Foundation to be alive
(21:10):
beyond him playing for the Panthers.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
Yeah, and it did.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
We were able to do some things in California when
he was with the Chargers, we were able to do
some things in Washington when he was with the Commanders.
So it worked out perfect. And we're still rolling, still
rolling now. Yes you are, Yes you are. That's just
absolutely incredible. Like I said, I have goosebumps hearing those stories.
Thank you for all that you're doing in all of
those communities.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
And you know, like I said, I do use this
podcast sometimes to get advice, so I need some mom
advice as well before give it to promise you you're
going to make your flight on time. But you know, I,
like you said about having kids at all different ages
and now they're in this teenage. I mean I'm already
worried about my kids a year and a half and
I'm already like, oh, one day he's going to be
a teenager. Gosh, how do you first of all, how
do you manage the schedules of eight different kids.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
So it's very different now that we're in this digital
world and technology is taken over. I tried to do
the whole chart thing, and you know with the Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday writing everything down, that didn't work. They wouldn't look
at it, they wouldn't read it, they wouldn't go look
at their chores.
Speaker 3 (22:04):
Thomas wouldn't go look at it and see who had
to be picked. You're like, am I the only one here?
I could see that, you know?
Speaker 1 (22:10):
So then I started just sending text messages. So what
we would do is just send text and we have
group chats like family group chats, and it's like, this
is what's going on for the week, this is what
time you know, this is what we have to do.
And that works for us, even even sharing a calendar,
like sometimes we forget to even go look at a calendar,
so who's gonna do that? We just send it out
in a text message in our family group chat. It's
something changes the kids now they're teenagers. They're able to
(22:30):
say this time change, that time change. I have to
do this, and it works perfect for us, and we
know that each kid is different, each kid has a
different schedule, so we know, for this week, this is
what this kid has to do. And with having so
many at home now and all of those boys, I
can't say that I'm thankful that all of the boys
pretty much do the same stuff. Yes, so that keeps
them intact. And then we have the baby girl who's
(22:51):
the youngest of the bunch, so she's doing a couple
of different things. But and then we just start with, hey,
this week, I'm gonna do Monday, Tuesday morning, you know.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
Carpool you're or do Wednesday, Thursday.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Friday, or help whatever days you can in the morning,
and then this is what's gonna happen in the afternoon.
This is gonna be pick up, this is gonna be
and then we just work it out like that and
Thomas does great. So I will say that he loves
the pickups. He loves the morning drop offs and the pickups.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
But why is that, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
I think it's because for so many years he wasn't
able to do that, and now like he doesn't have
a problem if I say, hey, can you do the kids,
and like I got a headache, can you take the kids?
Speaker 3 (23:26):
You know, this is my day but can't.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
He'll pop up and he'll just take them like, and
I love that.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Yeah, I'm not a morning person.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
That's hey, none Of'm sorry, but how could you be.
You've got so many things going It's.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Something a lot going on.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
And one thing that I can say that even though
he's busy, he's doing you know, commentating stuff.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
He's coming up here doing stuff with you guys. He's
definitely been very.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Involved in helping with the kids, and I think that
helps him again to see, wow, this is what she
used to do. One day, Yeah, one day he was
running and we had a flight to catch and then
we had to hop on a bus for something and
like go to this place or that place and then
get a show uber and then the driver was it
was all kind of stuff going on. It was just
one day. At the end of the day, he was like,
(24:06):
this is crazy. I am exhausted. My back is hurting
it my feet are hurting. And I looked at him
and I said, oh, really, like years, Welcome to my world, sir,
Welcome to my world. And of course he can always
throw up football, you know, he's in a car rick
every time he hit somebody.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
But what I love.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
Though, that even with all of that contact that he took,
he was tired. After a day, he was done.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
And I laughed because I used to like when he
was playing and he would say, I need to get
a massage.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
I would say me.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Too, Okay, yes, because self care is very important. I
know that's the nutrient, but it's always been important to me.
So just because you need a massage because you played football.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
Bro at me in and now he knows. Now he
gets it. So it's great, it's fun. What is it
like sending your kids to college? Oh my gosh, I
cried again. I'm already nervous about this side. So Sky
are oldest. She's twenty one.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
She just turned twenty one last week and she graduated
from the University of Kentucky last week. She actually used
to work here. She interned here for a while when
she was fifteen. She's just so smart and so advanced
and she was ready to go. So we let her go.
At the time when we made the decision that she
could go ahead and go to school early because she
graduated when she was sixteen, Wow, we were like, uh,
do we want to do this? And she's like, we like,
(25:22):
do you want to take a gap year, and she
was like, no, I think I'm ready.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
So Thomas and I kind of went back and forth
about it a little while. We let her go.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
Right after we made that decision in January to say
you can go ahead and go to college, we found
out he was going to be going to California like
January February. Found out founding he was no longer going
to be with the Panthers like beginning in January. So
it was like, all right, where are we going to
be living? What's going to be going on while our
daughter is going to be in college somewhere. So she
chose to go to University of Kentucky, got accepted to
everywhere she applied to Kentucky.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
She wanted to go to Georgia.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Of course, but that she had passed the application deadline
because we didn't know she was gonna graduate.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
But you know, Thomas.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Fully yeah, And we ended up going to the Chargers
and I bawled my eyes out because I'm like, how
am I going to go from being in California and
go across the country to go see her, you know,
in Kentucky?
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Like how am I going to do this? But I
did it. I was taking flights.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
I saw her probably six times that whole time that
we were in California. For those months, I was taking
flights back and forth. I was making Thomas's games. I
had the kids out there in California, put them and
rolled them in school in California are amazing.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Oh my god. And that was a good experience for them.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
They got to live for six months in a whole
nother place, very different culture.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
You know.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
They loved it. And then it was packed up in January.
It was time to come back home, and we figured
it out. And I think now in hindsight, I look
back on it like whoa.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
Like that was a lie. Yeah, I had a world one.
But we did it, you know, and they loved it.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
They're like, yeah, we had fun living in California, but
we were ready to come back to Charlotte, of course.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
But we did it. And she graduated, made the Dean's List,
Magna cum Lave. So it worked out.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Look, and I think that's the biggest thing that I
can take away, and I think everyone listening will take away.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
It's like, you just do it. You just do it.
Have to, Yeah, you have to, you have to.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
One thing that I can say, if you're married, make
sure you prioritize your marriage, makes you prioritize that time.
Keep dating no matter how many kids you have from
one to eight, you know, make sure that you do
that because you can get so engulfed in work and
all the busy.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
Sure that you forget about each other.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
So that's something that me and Thomas have been working
on even more lately the past few years.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
I think we can all work on that as well
as couples.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Yeah, and then if you're single, make sure that you're
taking care of yourself. You know, put your own oxygen
mask on before you're trying to help family, help friends
do That's what they tell you to do on the airplane, right,
So make sure you're taking care of yourself and you're
preparing yourself for whatever it is is coming NEXTPERI.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
So there's always ways that you can help and that
you can work on yourself.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Kelly, I could talk to you for another four hours,
but you have a flight to catch.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
I cannot thank you enough for taking the time to
do this.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
The problem at all, absolutely amazing, no problem at all,
any time, yo.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
Well I'll take you up on that. Thank you, Thank you.
I appreciate it,
We do all of this stuff just to show that
even though we're in this position, we can help, you know,
and not only just helping our family and our friends
and things that we do, but helping people that we
don't know, because that's what we're supposed to do, you know.
We're supposed to love everyone and help everyone whenever we can.
And of course we get a ton of asks, you know,
with the foundation, and we can't help everybody, but we
try to pick and choose everything based around youth, kids
(00:25):
and family.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Welcome back for another episode of season three of the
Inspire podcast presented by Atrium Health. This is a podcast
series for Panthers fans where we highlight admirable women from
across the Carolinas as they share stories and lessons from
their lives and careers.
Speaker 3 (00:43):
And oh my.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Goodness, my guest today is Kelly Davis. She is the
executive director of the Defending Dreams Foundation. She is the
co owner of two successful businesses in Charlotte and many elsewhere,
Sky Salons in Charlotte and ten fifty eight Incredible Restaurant.
She is a mom, and she and her husband, Thomas Davis,
are a huge part of the Carolina Panthers, legacy and family,
(01:07):
and I am tired just.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Reading all that. Kelly, thank you so much for being
here you. I appreciate it. This is great. It's an honor.
Oh my gosh, it's an honor for me. Are you kidding?
I feel like I'm back at home.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Yeah, that's where you are, back at home, and we
definitely have to get into that in addition to everything
else that you do. So I'm truly my first question.
Speaker 3 (01:26):
Is like, how do you do all of this?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
So what is your how do you organize your time? Because,
like I said, I'm tired just reading all of that.
How do you live it every day?
Speaker 3 (01:35):
I don't. I don't. It's literally by the grace of God.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
I just get up and I know that, hey, I've
got to do this, this and that, and I go
day to day because things just change.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Our life is ever changing.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
We have four kids of our own, and most recently
we took in four more kids, so we have eight
total now. So it's literally like, Okay, God, this is
what you want to meet, then yeah, we're gonna do it.
And I just keep pushing with whatever I have to
do that particular day. Sometimes some things may not get done.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
You know. I explain it to Thomas all the time.
All Right, you want this done or that done? Today?
Speaker 1 (02:04):
What do you want to happen? Because I have to
try to keep my sanity in all of this. But
I know it's only a short amount of time that
you're gonna have your kids and they're gonna be at
home with you. It's going to be a short amount
of time that you're able to, you know, diversify your
portfolio and get into different businesses and do different things
that Thomas and I are doing at this age before
we really want to sit down and just not do anything.
So this is a time where I have to just
(02:25):
dive in and do it. Lots of cries in the shower,
I've been there.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Also, I can't imagine you and Thomas not doing anything either,
So I'll check back in with you when we get
to that point, because neither one of you strike me
as people that just want to sit around. Although I
know at some point you're like, Okay, we'll stop doing
eight thousand.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
Things we tried and it didn't worry. Yeah, right right.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Speaking of which, you came in here, and I hope
this is okay to say you were like Oh yeah,
I've got a flight and an hour and a half
that just got booked and I'm not worried about it.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
Take all the time you need on this podcast.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
So we're I mean, you're just so relaxed, and it
feels like you're one of those people that can go
with the flow and not let anything overwhelm you, except
for when you have to cry in the shower.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
I can't.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
I can't, and then if you do, because you know,
we're human, right, so if something just gets to you
or if something takes you over, you get it out,
you let it go, and you keep it pushing because
things have to happen. Life has to move on. I
found out last night that I had to take this fight.
Thomas booked the flight for me last night at probably
one o'clock in the morning or something like that. He's
actually in California right now, and he's like, I'm gonna
(03:27):
go ahead and book the flight for you to go,
and I'm like, cool, whatever, I'll figure it out. I
called around, got people to help me with the kids,
and here we are, like, you know, you just make
it happen, you make it.
Speaker 3 (03:37):
What am I going to do complaining about it? What's
not happening? Yeah, me complaining like what's that gonna do?
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (03:41):
Well, you guys are a great team, and I love
that attitude. I need more of that in my own life.
Speaker 3 (03:46):
Right. Like I said, I always use this podcast as
like advice. I'm like, how do you? How are you
doing all of this? It just helps me with.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Because I'm a huge worrier, Like I will share that
my anxiety is always through the roa, Like I worry
about when my kids are starting a job and they
lead out.
Speaker 3 (03:59):
Because now we're in the teenage. Ye, how could you
not worry about that? Everybody's a teenager?
Speaker 1 (04:03):
We have aged thirteen to twenty one. We have four
fifteen year old boys at home. Oh my gosh, I'm great,
a seventeen year old boy at home, a nineteen year
old college boy, twenty one year old just graduated college.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Congratulations by the way, thank you.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Everybody's graduated. I mean everybody's you know, doing something. Everybody's driving,
and I worry. So I kind of use that same
thing that I do when I'm worrying about them, like
driving or going out into the world or doing things.
I kind of apply that to everything else to try
to get myself to calm down and to relax. It's
not going to change anything. I'd me worrying about it.
Let's keep going, let's move forward whatever it is we
got to do for the day.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
That is great advice, and that's great advice to just
check in with yourself and remind yourself on a daily basis.
That's like real actionable, not going to change it now
if you worry.
Speaker 3 (04:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Absolutely, And you mentioned I want to talk to you
specifically about all your businesses and how you choose a business.
But first when you said like, oh, yeah, we tried
relaxing for a little bit and that didn't work. I
do want to talk about the transition out of the
NFL as a family into everything that you're doing now.
You know something that I think a lot of people
understand a little bit more now and we go through
(05:07):
it my husband and I on our side, is that
the NFL is a family thing. It is a commitment
from every single person in the family.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
In your family.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
It's from you, it's from your children, and certainly it's
from Thomas. And that requires so much, especially you know,
if he's not when the years that he wasn't in
Charlotte right, and he talked to me about how heartbreaking
that was about, you know, being away from his family
in those years. So what is it like to go
from that huge twenty four to seven commitment to then going, okay,
(05:36):
this is the next chapter of our lives. What are
we interested in and what are we going to do
as a family.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
So it was really tough. And I know, like a
lot of people may ask Thomas, and I'm sure he
won't mind me sharing is they'll say.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
How are you doing in retirement? And he's going to say, fine,
I'm doing great. You know, I feel good. You know
all this kind of stuff.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
But everybody doesn't see the other side of the kids
changing in ages and them growing up and us having
to deal with different things. They don't see the other
side of you had a routine literally from kindergarten on.
You had to get up, you had to go to school,
you had to get up in the morning, you had
to do something, and then.
Speaker 3 (06:06):
It just stops.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
And we were blessed to play in the NFL for
sixteen years. But think about even the guys that only
played two or three years, But for Thomas to do
that for sixteen years, to do college, you know for
four years to do high.
Speaker 3 (06:18):
School and then everything just stops. It's different. I've talked,
I've heard that from so many NFL players. It is.
It really is a big change.
Speaker 1 (06:26):
And now the best way that I describe it is
that he's entering our world. We were picking up and
we could go, we could travel. I never missed any
of Thomas's games.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Never. The only games I didn't go to what when
he was hurt. I didn't go.
Speaker 1 (06:40):
And I still, you know, caught a couple of those,
just because I'm a football fan too.
Speaker 3 (06:43):
But I didn't go when he was hurt.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
And there was a really really cold game they played
in Green Bay one time, I don't remember a year
and he was like, Kelly, do not do it.
Speaker 3 (06:51):
You want to keep your fingers and toes. Don't do it.
But every other game I was there, and a lot
of times.
Speaker 1 (06:55):
I took the kids with me because I knew that
this was going to be a short experience for them,
this was going to be life changing.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
So we would literally travel.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
They may have like sports on that Saturday, we would
get on a flight, we would travel. We would be
home Sunday night or either early Monday morning. They've gotten
dressed in the lounge bathroom at the airport to go
to school because I didn't play that like you going
to class. If you can go to a football game,
you can go to school.
Speaker 2 (07:15):
Well, no wonder none of this other stuff now because
look at what you were doing before.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
You're traveling with the kids and they got to experience
that watching dad work doing all of this. So it's
like all of us retired, right. So now it's like
Daddy's home. He's here and everybody's jumping at him to
do stuff. Everybody's like, can you do this? Come you
come here?
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Can you do that.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
He's literally busied himself and made himself more busy than
he was when he was playing. Because I think it's
tough being thrown into our life with all of the
stuff that we have going on, with all the kids' activities,
with you know, the stuff that we're doing with businesses,
with me giving him a honey do list of things
to do, you know, at the house, and he's overwhelmed.
Speaker 3 (07:52):
He's probably like, you know, this is a lot.
Speaker 1 (07:54):
But I will say he does a great job now
that we've kind of like you know, the divide and
conquered tech.
Speaker 3 (08:00):
Do this, you help with the boys. I'll help with
the girls.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
You know, it is getting way better, but that first
year two out, I kind of prepare for it.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
I don't think he did.
Speaker 2 (08:08):
I've heard that from so I've heard that from so
many players, former players and their families that it is
the biggest transition, right. I want to ask you about
opening a restaurant together as we transition into this, into
this phase of your life. So ten fifty eight incredible
restaurant in Charlotte. I'm sure a lot of people listening
have heard of it or have eaten their great wings,
(08:31):
great food overall. And you know, I work with Thomas
on our TV show Panthers Huddle, and really got you know,
my dad worked in the food business. But then hearing
him come in every week and even when things go great,
there's so much to it, and I had a little
bit of a sense of what that is of just like, okay,
well the permits for this, for this are this, this
(08:51):
got pushed back. I've got to go meet with someone
really quickly, and just like hearing we as a staff
got to hear a little bit of what you guys
were going through even when it all went great, What
was it like doing that together and what was it
like opening a restaurant.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
We were about to get a divorce. That's how it was.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
It was insane because this kind of fell into our lap.
And Thomas knows I have a little restaurant background, like
I kind of grew up waitress and bartend and when
he met me, I used to be a bartender at Applebee's. Really,
he would come in and he would sit at the bar,
and he was so he died to like get my tips.
But you know whatever, He's like, uh and he you know,
(09:29):
he's this millionaire NFL player, Like, you know, like why
are you still working here? Like I got a good job,
and I'm like, because I'm so used to working and
I'm finishing college. Like it didn't bother me. So I
knew a.
Speaker 3 (09:39):
Little bit, you know about the restaurant business. I think
I think you knew a lot. Even if that helped,
it helped.
Speaker 1 (09:45):
So I was able to help pick our GM who
actually was somebody that I grew up with in childhood,
and she helped open up a lot of restaurants in
the Baltimore, DC area, And I was like, you want
to come down here, you know, and help us and
all this kind of stuff, and so she did. She
came and worked at another restaurant here in Charlotte and
then switched to work for us, and it's just been great.
And Thomas did such a good job. Not knowing what
he was doing. He's like, Kelly, can you help me?
(10:06):
You know, like do you want to do this?
Speaker 3 (10:07):
And I'm like, all right. I was like, but you're
gonna help, Like this is gonna be a lot of work.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
And literally he does something for that bar every single
day and it's crazy that we opened up this sports
bar and restaurant and lounge. And he doesn't drink. He's
never had a simple alcohol in his life. So I'm like,
how are you gonna even tell people that our drinks
are good? He said, I'm not. He's like, I'll tell
my wings are good, you know good. And he's like,
I just really think we need like a good spot
(10:32):
that's close to the stadium that's really giving you that
sports bar field and that's what it as soon as
you walk in the door, that's what you get exhaust.
And he did a great job with helping us. Like
I always tell people, I joke around. He helped pick
out flowers for the wedding. He helped do all this
stuff that hen normally don't know. He was hands on.
He was hands on for the wedding years ago. We
got married in two thousand and eight, and he kind
(10:54):
of did the same thing with the bar. He was
helping with the decor, wanting to, you know, tell us
where to put this picture, that picture, little mind details
that he was just he was I.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
Remember him talking about he showed us some pictures one
day of the booth, like the big booths in the back,
and like this is what this is gonna be, and
here's the lock up and you could tell or like
here's where the women's rooms and the men's rooms are
gonna be.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
And that said he was he.
Speaker 1 (11:13):
Was so into it and that was like really refreshing
to step back and see him in another role doing that.
Speaker 3 (11:19):
And he can do anything you puts his mind to.
That is like free.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
He like kind of just jumped in and very hands
on with the staff and with our GM Like she
can call him even if she can't talk to me,
she probably calls him more now asking questions saying what
do you like about this? And he's just he's in it,
like he's in it. It's it's amazing to see.
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Did you guys do the divide and conquer like you
were talking about where you were like, Okay, these things
are my things and this is what I know, and
then these things can be your things.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Absolutely.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
So when it came to getting the permits and those
kind of things, dealing with the city and dealing with
getting a liquor license and all of that, he kind
of jumped in and did all that kind.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Of stuff and it worked.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
It was it was just better for him to do that,
and I just kind of took the backseat of working
with you know, us foods and getting THEO and picking
that out and picking the staff and hiring and doing
all that kind of stuff. So it worked out great
because if we had to try and did everything together again,
we would not be together.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
Oh that's what I think about too.
Speaker 2 (12:09):
My husband and I always joked like, oh, if we
ever run a business together, oh, it wouldn't work out.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
But that is the thing, right where you move a house.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
Certainly, we've never opened a business, but whatever it is,
it's like, okay, you handle your stuff and I'll handle
my stuff and will come together at the end.
Speaker 3 (12:22):
Different, right, Yeah, And we're not gonna think the same
work differently. We're gonna agree.
Speaker 1 (12:26):
Yeah, we're not gonna like we were, I think arguing
about the sign in front of the building and I
was like, you know what, we're not about to do this.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
Just pick it whatever it is.
Speaker 1 (12:34):
But he did such a great job and it ended
up coming out perfect. Like my business partner that works
with me on Sky Salons, which is amazing. She kind
of did the whole concept for Sky Salons and everything.
She helped us also with the decor and everything for
ten fifty.
Speaker 3 (12:48):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Yeah, so we didn't even have to hire an intil
your decorator. Between her and Thomas, like it was, it
was great.
Speaker 3 (12:52):
That's awesome. That was my next question. I was going
to ask you about Sky Salon.
Speaker 2 (12:56):
So tell me, so that is a venture that that
you have on your own without time.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
He kind of helps still, yes, it's like yeah, it's
like me, Thomas and Chastity.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
So it was Shastity's baby.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
She graduated from LSU and always wanted to open a
salon suitees and it kind of got popping in the
Charlotte area with these salon suits. So we talked about
it for years, like doing it together, and we finally
decided to go ahead and do it, and Thomas wanted
to help, so we were like, all right, you know,
let's do it. And it turned out to be amazing.
It's like a boutique style salon suites and we rent
out ten suites that it's just an amazing place. You've
(13:26):
never seen anything like it, Like if you look at
our website or even take a look at our Instagram,
you'll never see a front lobby that looks like ours,
Like I've seen it, Yes, I've seen it in Tech Savvy.
And then just the processing units that we have for
the stylists that are in there. We have estheticians, nail
text like it's just a great place to work.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
People love it and.
Speaker 1 (13:43):
They're like, please let us renew our leaves, please let
us stay here, like it's easypsy, easy peasy business.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Well, and that's what I wanted to ask you about.
You know, I think it's interesting to talk about when
what makes you feel confident because you're putting your name
on something. Obviously people know you and and your name
and reputation aren't important to you. How do you pick
what to invest in what to put your name on?
And what to invest your time in.
Speaker 1 (14:08):
So Thomas and I get a lot of things that
come our way, and sometimes I get things and I
present them to him. He gets things, he talks to
me about it. And one rule that we've always had
is we don't make a decision unless we talk to
each other about whatever it is. We present it to
our attorney or our financial advisor CPA, everybody and get everybody,
a whole team on board, to say what do you
think about this? You know, we have this just whole
group that we talked to and we've confided in them
(14:30):
the past probably six to seven years, because early on
we didn't know, we didn't have people telling us that,
you know, what to invest in, what to do when
you're coming in twenty twenty one years old, you're getting
millions of dollars. What you're gonna do. You're gonna go
buy a car, you canna go buy jewelry, a house,
all of this stuff that you never had. You're gonna
help your family, and you're gonna go broke. That's what's
gonna happen. And so we had to stop midway in
between his career and say, you know what, this is
(14:51):
how much money we're spending, let's budget better. What do
we want to do business wise? So one thing we
did which I would tell a ton of you know,
athletes and athletes anybody's listening. That's just in the business
world period. Start young, like start planning ahead for retirement young.
Don't wait until you're older and think like yolo, I
can live like this.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Start young.
Speaker 1 (15:10):
You don't know what life's going to bring. Like, nobody
knew the pandemic was going to come and we were
all going to be on lockdown and businesses were going
to lose money. So we started just making those decisions
early on, like what we wanted to do, and then
when people brought stuff to us, we would say, hey
this is for us, or hey this.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Is not for us.
Speaker 1 (15:25):
And we've had some deals that have come our away
that we're like, dang, we should have done it. And
then there's a lot of stuff that's come our way
that you know, we banked on and that was it.
And we've had took a couple of l's too. You know,
that's how you learn. But I think Thomas does a
really good job of coming to me and talking to
me about stuff instead of just you know, making a
decision because he gets way more self presented to him.
You know, people wanted him to get involved and stuff,
(15:46):
and that's just what we do. We talk about it,
we pray about it, and we make a decision and.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
At the end of the day, you know, there's been
so many things that you guys have been successful in.
But like you're saying, if everything is in perfect or
you go, oh gosh, I wish I did not. If
you have that system in place, Okay, we're both going
to agree on this, then we're going to take it
to the people that we trust that can vet these things.
Speaker 3 (16:04):
Then at least you can like go to sleep at night.
Speaker 2 (16:06):
Right, you know, whether it works, whether that idea is
the next uber or whatever, and you don't make it
in or whatever it is. Right, if you have this
system that hasn't failed you, then you go, okay, like
I feel good about passing on this, or I feel
good about putting our hard earned money and reputation into something.
Speaker 1 (16:21):
And that's the thing too, Like you know, sometimes we
will say do we want to attach our name or
do we want to just kind of be behind the scenes,
And there's a lot of stuff we do that we're
behind the scenes zone, like we own sixty nine Sonic Restaurants.
People don't even know that out of Louisiana, Like we
have no ties to Louisiana. But you know that's something
that we're behind the scenes on, you know. Yeah, And
some things that we do attach our name to and
we have to know that if we attach our name
(16:43):
to it, we want it to be presented a certain way. Yeah,
you know, And so that's just how we look at it,
and we make the decision in that aspect and we
keep it moving.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
That is incredible advice for anyone at any level, you know,
when it comes to making it. Thank you when it
comes to making these big decisions and knowing you know,
what feels right and how people that have been doing
it for a long time very successfully approach those things.
I think that's helpful for anyone listening to know how
those decisions are made. So I want to ask you
also about the Defending Dreams Foundation is because something that
(17:13):
I think everyone in Charlotte knows about your family is
that it's giving back first.
Speaker 3 (17:18):
You know.
Speaker 2 (17:19):
I'm Thomas was Walter Payton Man of the Year, which
is me talking to NFL players. Aside from winning the
super Bowl. There is no higher honor than that. And again,
I know that's a family thing. I know that is
a family ethos that you guys have is giving back
from very young ages.
Speaker 3 (17:35):
So tell me about the foundation.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
So the foundation, I consider some things like business and
something's kind of like our passion project. And so the
Foundation is definitely a passion project for us. The way
that Thomas and I both grew up, we knew that
we had to give back to the youth in our
community and then surrounding areas. So we do work in Charlotte,
we do work in Greenville, South Carolina, and then also
in Georgia, because he's from Georgia. And I'm talking about
(17:58):
anything you can think of pertaining to care kids, from
giving away college scholarships to help them with youth sports teams,
to help in churches with you, to doing Christmas events,
Thanksgiving events, football.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
What's the event where you take a big eighteen wheeler down?
Speaker 3 (18:12):
Is that around oh Georgia.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
Yeah, we give away Christmas gifts and we to we
do toys and stuff too, but we also try to
give away laptops and TVs and stuff that some of
these kids may not be able to get for Christmas
because sometimes their parents are struggling.
Speaker 3 (18:23):
You know, we do where we pay utility bills.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Sometimes where we get a list from the school of
about twenty to thirty of the kids from different schools
and their families and we say, hey, what bill do
you guys need to pay, you know, for this holiday.
So we do all of this stuff just to show
that even though we're in this position, we can help,
you know, and not only just helping our family and
our friends and things that we do, but helping people
that we don't know, because that's what we're supposed to do,
(18:46):
you know. We're supposed to love everyone and help everyone
whenever we can. And of course we get a ton
of ask you know, with the foundation, and we can't
help everybody, but we try to pick and choose everything
based around youth, kids and family. So we do a
ton of things, and Charlotte is definitely the basis in
the home. We knew that when Thomas retired, we were
gonna be here. We're gonna stay in Charlotte, and we
were gonna stay involved in the community for sure.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
What are some of the moments that have that give
you goosebumps or that you're the most proud of. I
know there are many, but what are the ones that
you go, oh my gosh, like I will never forget that.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
So there was one time there was this family. There
was this mom who passed away and it was unexpected,
and she had four kids and they lived in some
apartments I don't remember the name, somewhere in Charlotte, and
the grandma was left to take care of them and
she wasn't working. The kids didn't have beds in their rooms.
They were like sleeping on mattresses, like sheets up on
the windows, that kind of thing. We went in and
(19:38):
like redid their entire apartment all of their rooms, got
them school clothes, got them book bags, got them everything
they needed for the school year, school supplies, made sure
that grandma had enough money to get groceries for like
six months, like.
Speaker 3 (19:51):
Stuff like that. I have goosebumps right now. There was
another kid we helped.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
He got hurt and he was a really big time
football player, like definitely was gonna go play in college
and just beat this great football player.
Speaker 3 (20:02):
And he got hurt to where he was put in
a wheelchair.
Speaker 1 (20:06):
So we made sure that his family was able to
get a handicap accessible van and a wheelchair for him
to be able to ride around Charlotte, and to also
provide him with clothes, his family with food, help them
get into a new place to live because where they
were living. So those kind of things that are like
people don't see on the media, I mean, you know,
out on TV or whatever, and we do those things
behind closed doors, like from the goodness of our hearts.
(20:27):
And Thomas has always been this big person. Like we
would tell him, all right, we're doing an event. They're
gonna be cameras there, like we invited the media, and
he would get ticked because he's like, I don't do
it for the media, and we like, we understand. But
there's also a side that we have to show people
what we're doing because we still take donations. A lot
of the funding for the foundation has come from Thomson
I and our pockets. So we're like, we need to
(20:49):
let other people know what we're doing because we're not
a big organization. You know, we're not Red Cross or
you know, American Cancer Society. Nobody's gonna be writing us
million dollar checks. So we need to let people know.
And we had to explain to him in detail, they
need to know a little bit what we're doing so
we can get a few donations to help out, because
we want to be able to keep these things going,
and we wanted the Defending Dreams Foundation to be alive
(21:10):
beyond him playing for the Panthers.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
Yeah, and it did.
Speaker 1 (21:13):
We were able to do some things in California when
he was with the Chargers, we were able to do
some things in Washington when he was with the Commanders.
So it worked out perfect. And we're still rolling, still
rolling now. Yes you are, Yes you are. That's just
absolutely incredible. Like I said, I have goosebumps hearing those stories.
Thank you for all that you're doing in all of
those communities.
Speaker 2 (21:30):
And you know, like I said, I do use this
podcast sometimes to get advice, so I need some mom
advice as well before give it to promise you you're
going to make your flight on time. But you know, I,
like you said about having kids at all different ages
and now they're in this teenage. I mean I'm already
worried about my kids a year and a half and
I'm already like, oh, one day he's going to be
a teenager. Gosh, how do you first of all, how
do you manage the schedules of eight different kids.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
So it's very different now that we're in this digital
world and technology is taken over. I tried to do
the whole chart thing, and you know with the Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday writing everything down, that didn't work. They wouldn't look
at it, they wouldn't read it, they wouldn't go look
at their chores.
Speaker 3 (22:04):
Thomas wouldn't go look at it and see who had
to be picked. You're like, am I the only one here?
I could see that, you know?
Speaker 1 (22:10):
So then I started just sending text messages. So what
we would do is just send text and we have
group chats like family group chats, and it's like, this
is what's going on for the week, this is what
time you know, this is what we have to do.
And that works for us, even even sharing a calendar,
like sometimes we forget to even go look at a calendar,
so who's gonna do that? We just send it out
in a text message in our family group chat. It's
something changes the kids now they're teenagers. They're able to
(22:30):
say this time change, that time change. I have to
do this, and it works perfect for us, and we
know that each kid is different, each kid has a
different schedule, so we know, for this week, this is
what this kid has to do. And with having so
many at home now and all of those boys, I
can't say that I'm thankful that all of the boys
pretty much do the same stuff. Yes, so that keeps
them intact. And then we have the baby girl who's
(22:51):
the youngest of the bunch, so she's doing a couple
of different things. But and then we just start with, hey,
this week, I'm gonna do Monday, Tuesday morning, you know.
Speaker 3 (22:59):
Carpool you're or do Wednesday, Thursday.
Speaker 1 (23:00):
Friday, or help whatever days you can in the morning,
and then this is what's gonna happen in the afternoon.
This is gonna be pick up, this is gonna be
and then we just work it out like that and
Thomas does great. So I will say that he loves
the pickups. He loves the morning drop offs and the pickups.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
But why is that, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (23:16):
I think it's because for so many years he wasn't
able to do that, and now like he doesn't have
a problem if I say, hey, can you do the kids,
and like I got a headache, can you take the kids?
Speaker 3 (23:26):
You know, this is my day but can't.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
He'll pop up and he'll just take them like, and
I love that.
Speaker 3 (23:30):
Yeah, I'm not a morning person.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
That's hey, none Of'm sorry, but how could you be.
You've got so many things going It's.
Speaker 3 (23:35):
Something a lot going on.
Speaker 1 (23:37):
And one thing that I can say that even though
he's busy, he's doing you know, commentating stuff.
Speaker 3 (23:41):
He's coming up here doing stuff with you guys. He's
definitely been very.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Involved in helping with the kids, and I think that
helps him again to see, wow, this is what she
used to do. One day, Yeah, one day he was
running and we had a flight to catch and then
we had to hop on a bus for something and
like go to this place or that place and then
get a show uber and then the driver was it
was all kind of stuff going on. It was just
one day. At the end of the day, he was like,
(24:06):
this is crazy. I am exhausted. My back is hurting
it my feet are hurting. And I looked at him
and I said, oh, really, like years, Welcome to my world, sir,
Welcome to my world. And of course he can always
throw up football, you know, he's in a car rick
every time he hit somebody.
Speaker 3 (24:23):
But what I love.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
Though, that even with all of that contact that he took,
he was tired. After a day, he was done.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
And I laughed because I used to like when he
was playing and he would say, I need to get
a massage.
Speaker 3 (24:36):
I would say me.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
Too, Okay, yes, because self care is very important. I
know that's the nutrient, but it's always been important to me.
So just because you need a massage because you played football.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
Bro at me in and now he knows. Now he
gets it. So it's great, it's fun. What is it
like sending your kids to college? Oh my gosh, I
cried again. I'm already nervous about this side. So Sky
are oldest. She's twenty one.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
She just turned twenty one last week and she graduated
from the University of Kentucky last week. She actually used
to work here. She interned here for a while when
she was fifteen. She's just so smart and so advanced
and she was ready to go. So we let her go.
At the time when we made the decision that she
could go ahead and go to school early because she
graduated when she was sixteen, Wow, we were like, uh,
do we want to do this? And she's like, we like,
(25:22):
do you want to take a gap year, and she
was like, no, I think I'm ready.
Speaker 3 (25:24):
So Thomas and I kind of went back and forth
about it a little while. We let her go.
Speaker 1 (25:28):
Right after we made that decision in January to say
you can go ahead and go to college, we found
out he was going to be going to California like
January February. Found out founding he was no longer going
to be with the Panthers like beginning in January. So
it was like, all right, where are we going to
be living? What's going to be going on while our
daughter is going to be in college somewhere. So she
chose to go to University of Kentucky, got accepted to
everywhere she applied to Kentucky.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
She wanted to go to Georgia.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Of course, but that she had passed the application deadline
because we didn't know she was gonna graduate.
Speaker 3 (25:55):
But you know, Thomas.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Fully yeah, And we ended up going to the Chargers
and I bawled my eyes out because I'm like, how
am I going to go from being in California and
go across the country to go see her, you know,
in Kentucky?
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Like how am I going to do this? But I
did it. I was taking flights.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
I saw her probably six times that whole time that
we were in California. For those months, I was taking
flights back and forth. I was making Thomas's games. I
had the kids out there in California, put them and
rolled them in school in California are amazing.
Speaker 3 (26:24):
Oh my god. And that was a good experience for them.
Speaker 1 (26:26):
They got to live for six months in a whole
nother place, very different culture.
Speaker 3 (26:29):
You know.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
They loved it. And then it was packed up in January.
It was time to come back home, and we figured
it out. And I think now in hindsight, I look
back on it like whoa.
Speaker 3 (26:38):
Like that was a lie. Yeah, I had a world one.
But we did it, you know, and they loved it.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
They're like, yeah, we had fun living in California, but
we were ready to come back to Charlotte, of course.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
But we did it. And she graduated, made the Dean's List,
Magna cum Lave. So it worked out.
Speaker 2 (26:50):
Look, and I think that's the biggest thing that I
can take away, and I think everyone listening will take away.
Speaker 3 (26:55):
It's like, you just do it. You just do it.
Have to, Yeah, you have to, you have to.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
One thing that I can say, if you're married, make
sure you prioritize your marriage, makes you prioritize that time.
Keep dating no matter how many kids you have from
one to eight, you know, make sure that you do
that because you can get so engulfed in work and
all the busy.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
Sure that you forget about each other.
Speaker 1 (27:15):
So that's something that me and Thomas have been working
on even more lately the past few years.
Speaker 3 (27:19):
I think we can all work on that as well
as couples.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Yeah, and then if you're single, make sure that you're
taking care of yourself. You know, put your own oxygen
mask on before you're trying to help family, help friends
do That's what they tell you to do on the airplane, right,
So make sure you're taking care of yourself and you're
preparing yourself for whatever it is is coming NEXTPERI.
Speaker 3 (27:35):
So there's always ways that you can help and that
you can work on yourself.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Kelly, I could talk to you for another four hours,
but you have a flight to catch.
Speaker 3 (27:42):
I cannot thank you enough for taking the time to
do this.
Speaker 1 (27:45):
The problem at all, absolutely amazing, no problem at all,
any time, yo.
Speaker 3 (27:49):
Well I'll take you up on that. Thank you, Thank you.
I appreciate it,
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