In this full episode of the Woman Run Podcast, host Meredith sits down with serial entrepreneur April Seggebruch to look back on her journey from a central Illinois farm girl to a major business founder in Northwest Arkansas. April shares how growing up on a farm shaped her work ethic, jokingly noting that her upbringing is “probably where I got a lot of my persistent grit.” Driven to find a path to a bigger city, she earned a basketball scholarship to the University of Arkansas, becoming the first in her family to graduate from college. April reflects warmly on her athletic days, laughing that her time on the court was “back when I actually lifted weights—now I just lift laptops.”

The conversation digs deep into her academic and professional evolution at the Walton College of Business, where pivotal mentorship from professors like Dr. Jensen and Dr. Carol Reeves completely changed her trajectory. April details the reality of co-founding the retail workforce management software platform Movista in 2010 with Stan Stanowski, calling their leap of faith “Mayday” because “we left our corporate jobs and started Movista the following week.” She explains how they revolutionized a “pencil and paper era” into a company that grew to over 100 employees, and opens up about her transition away from the business to focus on her true passion as a builder, noting that in entrepreneurship, “there’s no role you can be afraid to do… thus, there’s no role you can shy away from learning.”

Meredith and April also discuss the critical economic and cultural importance of local independent businesses. April passionately defends the food and beverage industry as the heartbeat of the regional ecosystem, arguing that “without them, we wouldn’t be cool—we wouldn’t have the vibe that folks now flock to be within.” Finally, April previews her latest venture as a partner at Good Gravy Group, a hospitality management company stepping in to revitalize iconic local brands. She shares an exclusive look at their mission to bring back the nostalgia of the beloved AQ Chicken brand to Springdale, alongside expansions for other favorites like Trash Ice Cream, jokingly admitting that while she loves the operational side of hospitality, she has “robot envy” for automation that can help local kitchens scale.