Megan: Welcome to SheBoss. Today’s going to be a very exciting day. It’s always fun when you get to invite a fellow group. Creative and because there’s just some fun stuff that you can chat about and we’re going to do that today with Carrie. So, thank you so much for being here. Fun to, I’m so excited to be here.
Yes. And Carrie Woodall is the, uh, co-owner and chief strategist at the library of, I had to look at this ’cause I’m like, I know exactly what you do, but sometimes I, what is like title? I know, I know. But Carrie has been working with a company here in North Alabama called The Library of, um, and you and your team create some of the most unbelievable, beautiful videos, short, long form, all sorts of in between, uh, capturing stories of brands in such a beautiful way.
Um, that is just, it’s beautiful. Thank [00:01:00] you. Like it really is. And anybody who knows who you guys are, know that like this is the real deal and y’all are just doing amazing work. Thank you so much. So yes, of course. And we’re going to talk all about that. Yay. Um, and I’m so excited too because you, you, you’ve got a husband and wife Power Couple running the library up, which I love so much.
Yeah. Um, and it’s just been awesome to see you guys’ kind of be this duo working, uh, behind the scenes with things and you’re just amazing. Thank you. It’s been a lot of fun getting to know you, but let’s let everybody else get a chance to know you too, because your background is something that is really fascinating and, and very, I think, varied in the different perspectives that you’ve had a chance to learn.
And we’ve chatted about this a lot, so. Let’s just kind of start from the beginning. Yeah. Let’s talk about where you’re from and what kind of brought you to Huntsville and a little bit about your professional background. Yeah,
Keri: for sure. Well, I grew up mostly in, in Oklahoma, so that’s where I spent, you know, elementary, middle, high school and college.
I graduated from the University of Oklahoma. I have a marketing degree. Um, and when I graduated, well, when I was getting ready to graduate from [00:02:00] college. I love Oklahoma. Um, but I knew I wanted to kind of expand my horizons and maybe start my career somewhere else, and Nashville kind of just like, I don’t know.
There was something about Nashville that like appealed to me. I had never even visited there, but I was like, it seems like a cool, like creative. City and I have an aunt and uncle and cousins who live there. And so, I was like, well, maybe, maybe I should move to Nashville. Um, so my aunt was like, hey, when you graduate, come out, stay with us for the summer.
See how you like Nashville. She got me connected with a nonprofit that she was working at as an intern, and so I just took the leap without having ever visited. After like two weeks after I graduated college, moved out to Nashville. And it was just sort of an experiment. Am I going to like this city? I, you know, besides my family, I didn’t know anyone there.
You know, that’s bold. That’s a bold, I know. Sometimes I’m like, did I really do that? [00:03:00] It was, it, you know, I mustered up, poor me to do it. Um, but. You know, it was awesome, and I loved it so much that I ended up staying in Nashville for 12 years. Um, so I’d worked at the, the nonprofit kind of as a marketing intern, and then kind of moved into like another marketing role, um, at the nonprofit.
Did that for about three years and then moved on to an agency. Um, called Epsilon and we did email and direct mail marketing for Nissan North America. So, most of my time was spent in the Nissan headquarters, which was cool. And such a, I mean, great learning experience, like fast pace as you can imagine, you know, with, um, in auto, you know, uh, such a, a huge name as Nissan.
And, um, just learned a ton. Ended up being an account supervisor there. Um, and then from there I ended up getting a job at Ramsey Solutions, if you’re familiar with [00:04:00] Dave Ramsey, finance guru. Um, so actually ended up getting, um, a position in the business boutique, uh, department. So, it was a brand that they had just launched.
Christie Wright was the personality, and it was all about helping women start and grow businesses, which really appealed to her pod. She’s a podcast. Right? Exactly. So that was so fun to work on. From there, I moved into the Entree leadership team. Similar thing, just helping small business owners grow their businesses.
So, it was cool that I got too firsthand, um, get to, you know, get to meet and interact with our clients who were these small business owners? So inspiring. You know, I secretly wanted to be one of them. You know, I kind of always had like a desire for entrepreneurship. And, you know, learning all these foundational business principles, um, at Ramsey being an employee, but also getting to work on these teams that helped coach.
Small business owners. Yeah. Yeah. It was such a [00:05:00] cool experience that amazingly led me to, you know, I, I, there was no way I could have known that I would marry a business owner. Um, but that’s what I ended up doing. And, um, so when I met Phil, you know, learned that he owned a video production company and as soon as we knew we were going to get married, it was obvious that I was going to join him in the business as well.
And so just to get, to bring my marketing background. Um, and just like my experience having worked on like the entree leadership team and having that, um, kind of business and leadership, um, you know, knowledge base from working at Ramsey was just a huge asset. And, you know, there was no way I could have known how all those pieces would fit together.
Mm-hmm. Um, but it’s just like so cool, like looking back and seeing how it just all was orchestrated so beautifully.
Megan: So, hindsight’s 2020, right? Yeah. Like what are some of the things that you were able to take from that entree leadership program that you guys can implement now? Yeah. [00:06:00] Because what a great playbook for you to be able to go through and like troubleshoot with small business owners to have them hear about some of their challenges and then you guys are facing them as your own, in your own small business, I would imagine.
Keri: Yeah. I think like a lot of the, the main things I’ve taken is like how to lead our team. So, you know, things about like how to provide clarity in, in our team’s roles. And so like, this is something I learned, you know, working at Ramsey is we had these things called Kras, key results area. And so that was essentially like, um, a more built out job description.
So, you have kind of an overview of what your role is, but then you have like these kinds of key areas of success. So, it’s like, you know. Based on that document, what winning looks like in your role, and you meet with your leader regularly to go over that. So, so we brought that over to the library of, and you know, we meet with our team once a [00:07:00] month individually.
Each team member, we go over their KRA, you know. Does this fill in line with, with your role, is there anything that you know. That fills off, like, do you need any more clarity on what you’re meant to do or how you can succeed and win in your role? Mm-hmm. So that was one of the, the main things and, and having like one-on-one meetings with our, our team members on a regular basis.
So that’s their time. If they have any concerns or any questions or you know, their kind of working through anything that they get to meet, either with Phil or me, we kind of alternate. Yeah. Um, can I ask you a question on
Megan: that? Yeah. So, I’m curious, so what was the profile makeup of some of the companies that you guys supported at, at Dave Ramsey and TRE Leadership.
Okay.
Keri: So, they were all over the place. Industries. They were mostly likes like small businesses. So, like it could have. You know, five team members all the way up to like 200 team members, but you know, kind of more in that small, um, small to medium [00:08:00] range. Yeah. I
Megan: was going to see if some of the commonalities of challenges that you saw in those companies are, are the same commonalities that Yeah.
You guys have experienced
Keri: on your own a little. Yeah, for sure. I mean, you know, aside from just like the, the people dynamics, which is a huge, which is huge. Part of, of leading a business, but also just time management. You know, you would hear when I was on the entree leadership team, I would hear all the time from these small business owners of like, how.
Just overwhelmed they were with their time because there were so many demands. Right. And there, you know, there’s that whole mentality of like they wanted to be working on the business versus just in the business. And that is like a constant demand that Phil and I experienced because there are. You know, all the kind of like nitty gritty things that like we know how to do, we can do, but kind of do we want to do because we enjoy it.
But at some [00:09:00] point you have to say, I need to delegate this task so that I can work on things that only I can do. Mm-hmm. As the, that, as the leader. But that’s hard. I mean, you’re a business owner, like I’m sure that’s hard for you too. It, it’s just, that’s such a common thing, I think for business owners and leaders to like.
Relinquish control of certain things so they can delegate it to their team so they can work on the things that only they can do and manage their time well. I mean, we’re still learning that, to be honest, which is
Megan: hard. Yeah. And you guys are six years? Yes. In business Uhud. Okay. Yeah. And constantly growing.
Yeah. Just, yeah. So, let’s, let’s switch gears a little bit. It’s going to play into some of the things that you’re talking about now. I winna talk a little bit about the library of mm-hmm. And really. How you guys started and what was the vision that Phil had? Yeah. And um, what makes. The approach and technique that you guys bring to storytelling special.
Um, I think, you know, we were just talking about this before we were getting started, but you all [00:10:00] again, take such a beautiful approach at telling a narratives to a story that brings something to light, whether it be a problem or a solution or a cause doing things like you mentioned earlier with the, um, Alabama Mountain Lakes Association mm-hmm.
Like telling the story of Alabama and how, um, it it’s accessible to those with disabilities. Yes. And telling the story through that lens. Right. Yeah. So, what, what is sort of the vision that guides you guys on a day to day? And talk a little bit about just the types of clients that you support, what that process looks like.
You know, just a little bit more about the library of,
Keri: well, a good place to start is probably like with the name, like we get asked all the time, like, yes, the library of what, and sometimes they get phone calls, people looking for the library, like wanting to check out a book. It’s like, we’re not that kind of library.
Um, but when Phil, you know, was just siding on a name for the business. He, he’s passionate about, about story. Like you talked about, like how, you know, telling stories, um, in a, in a compelling way. And so, it’s like, okay, where’s a place that stories are [00:11:00] honored and treasured? It’s a library, right? So, it’s like the library of, and then fill the blank.
Yeah. Whatever client we’re working with at the time. So, I mean, that really is the heartbeat of what we do is. We want to honor the people that we get to work with and tell their story with authenticity. And I think that really does drive everything that we do. And we, we always talk about, like, we start with, with strategy.
Um, Phil always says like. You’re not funding my hobby. cause there are things that maybe we would want to, to do or pursue from a creative standpoint, but we always want to make sure it’s serving the client. So, we start with strategy, like what are the goals? Who’s it for? That’s a huge, we always start with that question, who’s it for?
Like, who’s the audience and how do we appeal to them? And that those questions are going to inform every creative decision that we make from lighting to camera [00:12:00] movement, to what music we select. Mm-hmm. All those things are derived from what is the strategy. And, you know, what, what are we aiming to accomplish with this story?
Megan: Can I ask you a question? This may seem a little bit cheesy, um, but I’m curious about some of the questions you guys ask when you’re trying to get a hold of the, um, the creative vision. Mm-hmm. The client’s going for, yeah. And as an example, someone, um. Um, I don’t know if you know Christie, miss Gary used to be in town.
She was a graphic designer, and she now works for LEGO over in Germany, like so Cool. Um, but we were going through a branding process like years and years ago and she was supporting me in the project, and she goes, if your brand was a celebrity, who would it be? I was like, oh, love that. I love that. Right.
Um, I asked that question of, uh, Lauren Goins, you were talking about that, and she’s like, Joan Jet, which I was like, if that’s not. Spot on. I don’t know what is. So, I love that question because it immediately emulates something that the [00:13:00] client may be thinking about that might be challenging to get to from a communications perspective.
Right? Yeah. So how do you guys’ kind of ask those questions? Yeah. And are there particular questions that you ask in that regard that really yields what you’re hoping for? Does it just depend?
Keri: Yeah, some of it depends. Like a lot of times what we like to do is, is have like a strategy session with the client.
Um, and we’re big Donald Miller fans. I don’t know if you’re familiar with Donald, Donald Miller and StoryBrand. So, he has a whole framework of, um, it’s all about, um, story and, and like how to basically attach your brand to a, a story that it, it’s telling. So, you as the brand. Are the guide and your customer is the hero.
A lot of times brands have that flipped. They make themselves out to be the hero, and that’s backwards. You [00:14:00] know, the customer’s the hero and you as the brand you’re guiding them to, to you know they have a problem. That’s why they’ve come to you. So, you’re guiding them from the problem to the solution that you have to offer.
So, Donald Miller, through his StoryBrand framework, you know, that’s really a, a, a good place for us to start when we can have like a strategy session with a client where we can kind of dig into those questions, that specific framework, internal, external, philosophical problem. What does the customer want?
All these things, what, you know, um, what is kind of the result? What does the transformation look like? Um, so that’s been a super helpful tool for us to use to, to guide those, um, conversations. And then one thing that we really like to do is, we call them pre-interviews. And it’s essentially like if there’s going to be, you know, talent that’s [00:15:00] maybe.
Just an average person. Um, let’s say it’s a, it’s a, um, it’s a defense contractor and they want to feature some of their employees in a video that’s meant for recruiting or whatever. We will schedule a handful of interviews, just like kind of Zoom calls with, you know, some of their employees. Whether or not they’re going to be featured on camera, it, it doesn’t matter.
It’s really to hear the heartbeat behind. You know, what are they all about? You know, and, and being able to dig in, you know, we’re, we’re, we don’t film those like the, it’s, it’s just for our, it’s our discovery process. Yeah. It’s like research. It’s research. Yeah. Like help, help let allow them to help set the tone.
Exactly. And so, then we’ll, you know, we’ll take notes and then we’ll look at like, what are some of those consistent theme’s mm-hmm. That we’ve been hearing through these pre-interviews. And then usually those themes will help inform our creative. So that’s
Megan: even if maybe you don’t [00:16:00] get something specific from someone who’s on camera.
Yeah.
Keri: You have kind of that little background kind of, and then if we’re looking for specific stories of like maybe who, you know, who should we feature on camera? Doing those pre-interviews will help us to, to know like, oh, this person had a compelling story, right?
Megan: Let’s
Keri: feature them. Right.
Megan: So, I feel like I have a good answer to this question, but funny enough, there’s a lot of people who don’t realize.
About the power of video and how influential and impactful that can be. And one of the things that the library. Of has done such a beautiful job at is like saying that brand story of organizations that you know, again and no dig either way, but if you had someone who is so close to it, try to tell that story internally, they would miss a lot.
Right? Because from an outside perspective, you guys see things that other people do not catch up on, right? And so, you’ve done a beautiful job at helping tell the story of an organization and right now in a very competitive market. As you mentioned, Goon specifically with services potentially [00:17:00] extremely competitive from a recruitment perspective.
Mm-hmm. So, it’s been a great tool that you can use to help kind of tell that narrative of that story in a lens and a perspective that maybe most people don’t get a chance to see. Yes. So, talk a little bit about the power of it in that capacity and how you’re seeing companies and brands use video, um, to really influence, whether it be recruitment or internal growth, or even just kind of shift some of the.
You know, the, the efforts that they’re trying to influence so heavily, how have you guys’ kind of seen video? Yeah.
Keri: Well, I think you, you’ve probably heard, you know, the, the saying like, a pictures worth a thousand words. You know, how much, how many more words is video worth? Right. To really tell a story and to.
You know, share a message that is compelling. You know, when I think about my own behavior on social media or, or whatever, it’s like, I want to stop and and watch a video because I’m going to glean so much more from that than, you know, just reading something quick and, and, and [00:18:00] just moving past it. And I think, you know, brands are starting to pay attention to.
People’s behavior on social media and how video is such a prominent platform for getting a message across. And there’s so much more you can share. You know, that’s unspoken, you know, of just the. You know, the visual, you know, if, if we’re showing someone’s office space, it’s like, wow, that’s a cool place to work.
It’s like you could tell them that, but showing them that is, is so much more compelling. And so, I think video more uniquely than any other platform really gives you a glimpse inside of an organization. And not only that, but I think it. More than other outlets, like allows you to connect on an emotional level.
Mm-hmm. And you know, we always say we love to either make people laugh or make them cry when they watch a video, because [00:19:00] that’s what’s going to compel people to action if they feel something. And I think there’s something so special about video that really connects with the heart. And allows people to feel, whether that’s joy and humor, or whether that’s some sentimentality, um, you know, where there, their, their heartstrings are tugged on, you know, I think.
Video just does that so beautifully.
Megan: Mm-hmm. Well, and I think today’s consumer is totally changing, right? Where, um, you know, and we’ve done a lot of research on this, but it’s just around wanting to be engaged with, it’s all about them. It’s that one-to-one relationship, right? They want to feel as though you’re speaking to them, you’re talking to them.
To your point, you know about some brands who sort of make. Themselves the hero as opposed to the customers because they don’t know their customer. That’s right. Right. So, they start with what they know that That’s right. And what they’re most comfortable. And you lose people right off the bat. Mm-hmm. You know?
Um, what would you, what would you say from a creative perspective, to [00:20:00] put you on the spot for a second? Mm-hmm. Um, what, when, when videos fail mm-hmm. To tell. The story of a brand, you know that brand story. Where do you think oftentimes, they fail?
Keri: I think a lot of times it is what you just described, where they’re not keeping in mind who it’s for.
That’s why we always start with that question. Who’s it for? Who’s the audience? You know, what are the things that, what are their pain points? What are their problems? What are their desires? cause if you’re not focusing on that. They’re not going to; they’re not going to resonate with that. They’re not going to think it’s for them, so they’re going to scroll on past.
But if you’re really, you know, clued into who your target audience is, and you can dial in that message, like that’s where you’re going to hit the nail on the head. And I think that’s where a lot of brands might miss is, is where they make it all about them. Or maybe they’re just trying to keep up with a certain trend and it’s like.
No, you got to kind of zoom out and think more strategically, like [00:21:00] who, who is it that you’re trying to reach and what do they care about?
Megan: Mm-hmm. Yeah. And making sure you meet them where they’re at as well, right? Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely.
Keri: Yeah, I love that.
Megan: So, what are some big projects you guys are working on this year that you’re excited about?
Keri: Yeah, so, um, this was a cool one that, that, that came to us recently. Um, it is with North Alabama tourism an MLA. Um, and they have initiative where they are trying to show how accessible. North Alabama is, you know, for people to travel here. And it’s been so cool for us to get to show that, um, in a compelling way where they’re bringing in some travel influencers who have some sort of disability.
Um, and they are, you know, kind of showing them around North Alabama, all these random different cool places, you know, space and rocket center or whatever. Lots of Di Botanical Garden, lots of different [00:22:00] places, and showing how accessible these places are and why North Alabama is a great spot, um, to, to come, you know?
And so, we get to show up with our video cameras and, um, you know. It’s kind of more a little different than what we normally do. This is very run and gun. We don’t have like time to like to set up the whole lighting scene or anything, but it’s been so fun, um, to connect with these individuals and families and tell their story in a compelling way and bigger picture.
Tell the story of how accessible. North Alabama is for people who have all sorts of disabilities, you know? Yeah. That is So that’s been,
Megan: that’s awesome.
Keri: That’s been fun.
Megan: Yeah. Wouldn’t a neat project to be a part of where you guys are opening doors for audiences that Sure. Potentially did, you know, felt limited.
Yes. Or didn’t have that knowledge before, or, I mean, you know, yeah. It’s a lot of fun. Absolutely. So, can I switch gears and ask, ask you some questions about working with your husband? Yes. So that’s, you know, a little bit newer Uhud for you guys. So, you came over and joined the library [00:23:00] of. Two, three years ago.
Three,
Keri: it’ll be three years this summer. So, um. 2022. So, we got married in, in May, and we thought we were going to wait a little bit longer for me to join the business. You know, let’s be newly woods first. And then in July I joined him in the library of like, actually, let’s just get this, let’s start, you know?
Yeah.
Megan: Yeah.
Keri: Um, so how’s that
Megan: dynamic been? That’s changing gears a little bit.
Keri: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it’s funny cause I think about all the changes that I have gone through. Like I moved to a new state, I got married, I, you know, now own a business, like all in the, the short span of time. Um, but honestly, it’s been so fun like.
You know, Phil and I were a little bit older when we, when we met and got married, and I just think it’s so sweet how we’re kind of making up for lost time in that we get to spend like all of our days together, um, you know, working [00:24:00] together and obviously living together and. Um, so we’re just sort of embracing it and we have very similar personalities, which, you know, some people might think like that wouldn’t, wouldn’t work, um, in a marriage or in a, a business relationship, but for us it really does because we, we see things in a very similar way.
Yeah. Um. But we’re different in the ways where it matters too. Yeah. Um, so we’re, we’re both per perfectionists, but in different ways. So, he’s very perfectionistic about like the way lighting looks or whatever. You know, that’s not my forte, so I’m, you know, I’m going to be a little bit more anal on in other areas.
So, we, we tend to balance each other out and, um, you know, we’ve just been clear on like. What is, what is my lane and, and what is his lane? And then what do we, you know, kind of come together to do, you know, as kind of co-owners.
Megan: Yeah,
Keri: clear
Megan: parameters are important. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. And it’s, it’s [00:25:00] hard, but you’re going to, you know, you got to maneuver through it, and you’ll figure it out.
So, it’s exciting. Well, kudos to you guys. I know. It’s been awesome. I bet you do. Your crew looks like they have a blast as well. There’s no doubt about that.
Keri: We’ve got the best team, like honestly, there’s five of us, including Phil and me. And just our dynamic is just so special. We’re, we’re just so blessed to have the team that we do and like, we eat lunch together every day, like all five of us.
And, you know, I, I know that’s not always so common in workplaces. Yeah. Like, you know, to feel kind of like a family. Mm-hmm. Um, and so I tr I treasure that, um. Because I, I know that that’s not the case everywhere. Mm-hmm. But I think because we’re so small, we can be tight knit. Yeah. And we know we’re all rowing in the same direction, and we all care about the same things, like really serving our clients well.
And, um, you know, knowing that it’s a [00:26:00] greater for a greater purpose than making the library of as successful as it can be. You know, that’s important, but you know, more so is. Doing excellent work, serving our clients well, and telling beautiful stories that that matter and make a difference, and that we can all feel like proud of.
Mm-hmm. So, I think just having kind of those shared values on our team helps us to be really like unified. And the dynamic is, um, it’s just so fun, you know, and we, this is one of our core values. Like, we don’t take ourselves too seriously. I mean, we, we, we are serious about our work, but. We have a lot of fun too.
Yeah. Yeah. cause I think that’s important. I mean, life’s too short to, you know, absolutely. Always be stressed out.
Megan: Well, and you can tell that your team is, is very vested Yeah. In, in the quality of work that you guys do. You can tell that in your work and just see that from the outside looking in. So, thank you.
Yeah. Yeah.
Keri: Everyone’s super dedicated to, to their craft. So that’s awesome.
Megan: Okay. Thank you so much for spending some time with us. I so appreciate it. And the library of, again, doing amazing, beautiful work in the world of video. Um, and just really telling the narrative and the stories of companies that frankly can be really challenging to tell.
You know and, and when you bring a team of creatives in, I mean, you never know. You know what, what you’re going to yield, but it’s going to be something extremely special. So, yeah. Or big cheerleaders of you guys.
Keri: Well, we’re, we’re big fans f you and what you’ve built with Flourish, and yeah, we, Phil and I, look up to you and thank you just for all your support and encouragement along the way.
Megan: You got it. You got it. We’ve got to help each other out. That’s right. Awesome. That’s all right. Thank you. Thanks. We’ll see you next time.