Becoming a She-E-O

Summary

Podcast Summary: Becoming a She-E-O

Podcast: Your Next Move
Host: Inc. Magazine
Episode: Becoming a She-E-O
Date: September 16, 2025
Guest: Mary Seats, Founder of The Bakery Cowork, Atlanta

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Episode Overview

This episode explores the entrepreneurial journey of Mary Seats, founder of The Bakery Cowork—a women-focused coworking and event space in Atlanta that ranked #628 on the 2024 Inc. 5000 list. Mary shares honest insights on building community, scaling businesses, overcoming setbacks, and her vision to empower female founders. Through personal anecdotes and practical advice, Mary breaks down her approach to growth, leadership, and reshaping the coworking landscape for women.

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Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Mary Seats’ Entrepreneurial Journey & Motivation

[01:06]

• Mary has a marketing background and previously scaled a marketing agency to $16M in revenue and a clothing company to $4M.
• Experienced a major setback: “I grew a clothing company... partnered with investors and was fired from my company. And so it left me on an airbed above my retail store.” (Mary Seats, 01:48)
• Shifted focus to digital courses, agency work, and eventually created The Bakery to foster an authentic community for women entrepreneurs:

  “I created the bakery as a place where women can go and get the secret ingredient to their recipe by meeting that next person.” (Mary Seats, 01:06)

2. Building Community Through Vulnerability and Shared Needs

[01:33] – [04:53]

• Mary emphasizes that building real community starts with identifying your current needs and being transparent:

  “If you were to sit down and write down three things that you need, go and build a community of those people that need those same things.” (Mary Seats, 01:38)

• Her own vulnerability—a successful founder who never learned to cook—drew in a new tribe:

  “Being that transparent and being that vulnerable, I'm gonna attract other people to me... we can start practicing spaghetti, then move on to fried chicken.” (Mary Seats, 03:42)

• Growth in the community comes from shared progress:

  “That mom that joined the community is now able to say, wow, I was able to do this and it now empowers the other people... to keep going.” (Mary Seats, 04:53)

3. Personal Brand vs. Business Brand

[05:19] – [07:01]

• Mary runs both personal and business accounts, each serving different purposes:

  “If you own any business... you should have your personal brand." (Mary Seats, 05:32)

• Personal brand is about inspiration and authenticity; the business page focuses on the mission and impact.

  “People should be able to learn and be inspired by you and your companies through your personal page. But on the business page, they should just be inspired and impacted by the business of where they want to spend their money.” (Mary Seats, 05:58)

4. Team-Building Philosophy and Company Culture

[07:04] – [09:23]

• Strong emphasis on having passion-driven team members.

  “The model that we've built in our business is believe or leave... Getting on my plane, you have to believe that I'm gonna fly you to the destination you want to be at.” (Mary Seats, 07:10)

• Hires individuals who “love, love, love their role.”
• The Bakery boasts zero debt, 28 dedicated staff, and first-year profitability:

  “I’ve built my team around people that actually love... their role, and now they love their role and... where I’m gonna take this company.” (Mary Seats, 08:54)

5. Overcoming Growth Challenges & Unique Business Model

[09:23] – [12:16]

• Bootstrapped The Bakery with no debt and is now raising capital—emphasizing a proven track record to investors.
• Developed a diversified revenue model with six distinct income streams (coworking, events, photography, memberships, cafe, done-for-you services).

  “If one revenue model is not performing, there are five other revenue models that are performing.” (Mary Seats, 09:33)

• Example: For high-profile clients lacking planners, Bakery offers full-service event execution.

6. Leadership and Prioritization: The Two Cs

[13:24] – [14:47]

• Mary focuses her leadership on “cash flow and customer experience”:

  “Do not bother me if it does not affect the two Cs... cash flow and customer experience.” (Mary Seats, 13:24)

• Grows the business through exceptional customer experiences over paid advertising:

  “We've grown the Bakery with no paid marketing... by our customers telling everyone on Facebook and on social media how amazing our space is...” (Mary Seats, 14:00)

7. Scaling and Franchise Strategy

[15:06] – [17:03]

• Meticulously systematized every process via SOPs and KPIs to ensure replicability for expansion.
• Plans to open multiple corporate locations, followed by franchising; a digital app for virtual coworking and services is in development:

  “There’s literally a SOP and a training guide for everything in The Bakery... so it is a copy and paste.” (Mary Seats, 15:43) “I think that... what women get when they actually go into a coworking space... can also happen on an app... That's what I'm excited to build.” (Mary Seats, 16:12)

8. Mary’s Advice to Fellow Entrepreneurs

[17:14] – [19:10]

• “A slow rise to the top is better than a fast fall to the bottom.”
• Highlights importance of learning lessons before scaling fast:

  “When we think about companies like Disney... Apple... Amazon—slow grind, slow rise to the top. That's what's creating legacy companies.” (Mary Seats, 17:14)

• Encourages proactive investment in personal growth:

  “While some people are praying for it, other people are paying for it... paying for mentorship... for masterminds... their way to the next level.” (Mary Seats, 18:27)

9. Vision for the Future

[19:21] – [21:59]

• Five-year plan: significant expansion, partnership or exit, scaling real estate footprint nationally.
• Dreams of an educational programming model featuring celebrity-led workshops and "done-for-you" founder services:

  “I want people to be able to take a class from Taraji P. Henson... Or Beyoncé's stage presence... programming would attract women from all over the world.” (Mary Seats, 20:10 – 20:28) “Here at The Bakery, we have it all for you... you just show up to the photo shoot. You have the models, you have the photographer, everything there.” (Mary Seats, 21:27–21:43)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “I was like, this is a space where women need to go and need to thrive and they need this information.” (Mary Seats, 09:33)
• “I want to make sure that there is a love for their role prior to coming to my company.” (Mary Seats, 08:07)
• “Do not bother me if it does not affect the two Cs—cash flow and customer experience.” (Mary Seats, 13:24)
• “Some people are praying for it and other people are paying for it.” (Mary Seats, 18:27)
• “A slow rise to the top is better than a fast fall to the bottom.” (Mary Seats, 17:14)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• 01:06 – Mary describes her background and motivation for building The Bakery
• 03:42 – On building community through personal stories and vulnerability
• 05:19 – Personal brand vs. business brand and how each contributes to growth
• 07:10 – Team-building philosophy: “believe or leave”
• 09:33 – Overcoming major growth challenges, financial model and investor approach
• 13:24 – Mary’s leadership focus: the "two Cs"
• 15:06 – Franchise strategy and the vital role of SOPs and KPIs
• 17:14 – Mary’s advice: sustainability over speed, investment over waiting
• 19:21 – Five-year company vision: education, expansion, and full-service support

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Tone and Final Thoughts

Mary’s conversation is honest, energetic, and empowering—rooted equally in business savvy and personal authenticity. She emphasizes resilience, leadership by example, and the power of women supporting each other. Her blend of strategic rigor and genuine vulnerability models a new kind of “She-E-O” energy, making this episode both instructional and deeply inspiring for entrepreneurs at any stage.

Transcript

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[Sarah Lynch]

I'm Sarah lynch and you are listening to your Next Move audio edition produced by Inc. And Capital One Business. For this season, we gathered a group of conversations with entrepreneurs who made last year's Inc. 5000 list. They joined us in our your Next.

[Interviewer]

Move Booth at the Inc. 5000 to.

[Sarah Lynch]

Share lessons learned and anecdotes from building their businesses. In this episode, I interviewed Mary Seats. She is the founder of the bakery Cowork in Atlanta, a female focused co working space. They're ranked number 628 on the 2024 Inc. 5000 list. Mary started the conversation by telling me how her experience in marketing helped her hone in on the power of community.

[Mary Seats]

I have a marketing background. I've scaled a marketing agency for the last nine years. And then what was missing in me scaling that marketing agency was truly community. Being around other like minded women, having a community of people and finding my real tribe that so I created the bakery as a place where women can go and get the secret ingredient to their recipe by meeting that next person.

[Interviewer]

How do you even start to build community?

[Sarah Lynch]

Some founders are just really focused on we want that community, we want that natural.

[Interviewer]

But how do you create that?

[Mary Seats]

Yeah, I think that if you were.

To sit down and write down three things that you need, go and build a community of those people that need those same things.

Right?

So what I was was a female founder that had scaled a marketing agency to $16 million in revenue. Right. And before scaling a marketing agency, I grew a clothing company to $4 million, partnered with investors and was fired from my company. And so it left me on an airbed above my retail store. And that is what led me to teaching online and doing digital courses and building a marketing agency and doing all these random amazing things that ultimately scaled to successful companies. But what it left me was feeling alone and not knowing who to go to and who could give me advice, could probably give me therapy, that could probably give me the support that I needed. And so again why I created the bakery was I'm like where is that tribe of women that are scaling companies and need to know how to raise capital and how to get proper resources, how to market their business, how to grow their business. And that's what I built my business on. So I built my community on finding information, resources and Capital for women.

[Interviewer]

How did you reach those women?

[Mary Seats]

I think it's also telling the story, right? Telling the story of where you are. So right now, if I could be vulnerable, I am an amazing female founder that scaled several businesses, but I've had a chef my entire marriage, right? And so my now daughter is 6 years old and she's watching YouTube and she's like, mom, I want to cook. Like, I want you to cook with me. And so we're like making these simple meals like chicken Alfredo. And so I'm like, oh, my God. I need a community of moms that are considered successful or maybe still growing in their career, but now they wanna learn how to cook a full meal. So I'm giving myself a year to be able to learn, like, little meals, little meals, and then ultimately be able to cook my Thanksgiving dinner.

Right?

So 23, 5, I'll be cooking. So if I'm in my state now, I'm going to be open and transparent online on my social platforms, whether it's Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, Instagram, and I'm going to be talking about my journey like, hey, as a female entrepreneur, I've been so focused on scaling my businesses that I just was like, oh, pay for peace, which is hire a chef, hire a nanny, hire whatever I need so that I can fully put all in on my business and really grow it. But now I'm at a point in my life where I can now say, okay, I wanna be able to cook meals for my family. And being that transparent and being that vulnerable, I'm gonna attract other people. To me, that's like, you know what, you're right. I wasn't in the kitchen early on with my mom either. I wanna be a part of your community. And we can start practicing spaghetti, and then we'll move on to fried chicken, and then we'll move on. So I think building a community is being vulnerable with where you are and allowing people to meet you where they are. And as you guys meet together, there's impact that happens and there's transitions that happen and there's key milestones that happen in everyone's success as they go along.

And that mom that joined the community.

Is now able to say, wow, I was able to do this and I was able to make this. And it now empowers the other people in the community to keep going. So that's what I've done my entire life, is where I am. I'm vulnerable about where I am, and I meet other people that are in my same position and we grow and use the resources and information to grow and continue to create milestones together.

[Interviewer]

So do you have personal accounts as well as your professional accounts, and which ones kind of drive the most interest to the bakery?

[Mary Seats]

I think it's both. So I have my personal business, and I would tell every founder that if.

You own any business, right, you should.

Have your personal brand.

And if people know you, they should.

Know about your businesses through your personal brand. However, when people go to the bakery's panel, it's not my personal brand.

So you rarely would see me on the bakery's page because it's my business, it's my community. I don't want people to think that every time I go to the bakery, I'm gonna see Mary. Right? I'm gonna be able to work with Mary.

I'll be able to co work with Mary.

That's not what it's about. But I want people to know when they come to my page, I want them to be inspired by what I've done. I want them to see the struggles of what I've done, the ups and downs of what I've done. So people should be able to learn and be inspired by you and your companies through your personal page. But on the business page, they should just be inspired and impacted by the business of where they want to spend.

Their money with the business.

They shouldn't. They don't need to go to business page and hear about my daughter or my husband or the cookies that I'm making, because it has nothing to do with the women that are being impacted by the co working space. So I think the businesses should have key pillars that are specific to the business that helps grow the revenue of the business. However, my personal brand is where you'll get to know me. You'll get to know my love for God and my daughter and my husband and all the other businesses that I have. And it pushes revenue to the business, but it's not based around the business solely.

[Interviewer]

Interesting. Thank you for that breakdown. That's really helpful.

[Mary Seats]

Yeah.

[Interviewer]

Tell me about the team that you've built around the bakery and how they've helped you grow as well.

[Mary Seats]

Absolutely. I have a dynamic team. The model that we've built in our business is believe or leave. Right. Me being the visionary or. I always call myself the CEO. Right. The CEO of the company. I'm the visionary. And you have to believe in the vision. I consider myself the pilot of the plane. So getting on my plane, you have to believe that I'm gonna fly you to the destination that you want to be at. I don't want anyone that's kind of questioning or holding onto a parachute, like, should I jump out now? Should I jump out now? So our mission is believe or leave, where everybody aligns with that mission. Another thing about the people that I've hired, I want to make sure that there is a love for their role prior to coming to my company. So our event manager. Our event manager loved events, had a skill for events, had a database of clients for events before she started working with us. So when she's called on that Saturday to do an event at 9pm at night or 1am in the morning, her love for it outweighs the money or outweighs the opportunity or outweighs the fact that it's just a job and I'm on salary. My photographer that works for me for nine years loves photography. So even when I'm not there, the way that he shows up and commits to the job is because he actually loves it. And his name is on the line and his work is on the line. Right. It's not just someone that's like, I'm just here to do a job and at five o', clock, I'm off. Don't bother me. So I really built my team around people that actually love, love, love their role, and now they love their role and they love the idea of where I'm gonna take this company. And it just aligns so well. So we really have a dream team within the bakery. And in three years, we've been able to skyrocket the company. I mean, we're on the Inc. 5000 list. We're on. We were profitable in our first year. We have no debt. We've grown a team of 28 people that really love it and have worked for us for over three years. And so I'm super proud to be able to say that I'm growing at a company where people really love to come to work and they really love the people that they work with as well.

[Interviewer]

With that growth, I know there can still be challenges, especially when that growth is fast. Tell me about what you might have faced there and how you were able to navigate out of that.

[Mary Seats]

Absolutely.

I think the first thing was perfecting our business model when I sit in front of investors because we are in our seed raise of capital. So I think the first one of our challenges was capital. I bootstrapped this business. I funded it myself with no debt, no credit cards, really no lines of credit, was just from the marketing agency. I was like, this is a space where women need to go and need to thrive and they need this information. So I funded the business myself. But, but as we know in scaling in real estate, we need capital to scale really quickly. No matter how fast the business is growing, even if it's profitable, we need capital to really grow and scale the business. So I'm like, okay, I have to start raising capital and I'm sitting in front of these investors and the first thing they talk about is what about the wing? What about we work? What about blah blah blah blah. And I had to perfect my business model so that they can stop asking me those questions. One, I've already grown a marketing agency to $16 million in revenue and in nine years over $100 million in revenue. So you may have invested in founders that did not know what to do with the money. I've already bootstrapped several companies, grown them to be very successful companies with no debt and no investors. So you are investing in a great founder. The second thing that I had to prove was our business model. In investors minds, traditional coworking doesn't work. And especially with the pandemic where people were forced to be home, we have created six streams of revenue from our coworking space. So where if one revenue model is not performing, there are five other revenue models that are performing. If there's two revenue models that are not performing, there's still four other revenue models that are strong. We have an event space, a photography studio, our conference room, our coworking space, memberships, we have our cafe, all of those models we have done for you services. So for example, TikTok came into our facility and wanted to just use our space for a luncheon, right? And they had a budget of $2,500. But because they came in and said we actually don't have an event planner, we actually don't have anyone that does decor. We actually also don't have anyone that does catering. We were then able to sell them on a full done for you service and now cap out their budget completely with us. So our revenue model is so different and so unique because we have the marketing agency piece with it and the digital community piece with it that we now allow a one stop shop for our clients and they don't have to go out and search and seek other vendors. They can get it all within our company.

[Sarah Lynch]

When we come back, I ask Mary about how she identifies her top priorities that drive growth. But first, a quick break.

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[Interviewer]

Thank you for breaking that down. That's super helpful and interesting. In your role as leader, how do you make sure that you're prioritizing the right things in your day to drive more growth, not get weighed down by. I'm sure the many, many tasks that you could be doing that might not be as important to the business.

[Mary Seats]

I as the CEO, I have now perfected my role to to do two things right. I always tell my team do not bother me if it does not affect the two Cs and the two Cs is cash flow and customer experience. I want to focus my work ethic, my time around things that are actually grow revenue for the business and I want to also focus my time on.

Things that are that are making our customers experience better. We've grown the bakery with no paid.

Marketing so we're not running ads, we don't have any digital billboards. We've literally grown it from our customers telling everyone on Facebook and on social.

Media how amazing our space is and by our programming. That's it. So the things that matter the most to me is cash flow of course. And then secondly our customer experience. When our customers are having amazing experiences.

They are more likely to bring in three customers to our business than me.

Doing a paid ad.

It is proven like we've done focus.

Groups, we've done so much beta testing around different co working spaces and how much they're spending around in paid advertising. Paid advertising is great, but hearing it from someone that they know, like and.

Trust is going to bring in three more customers over a paid ad.

[Interviewer]

You've obviously created something that really works. You know, in Atlanta when it comes to opening up that second location.

[Sarah Lynch]

How are you thinking about that?

[Interviewer]

And I imagine it's not just a copy and paste situation. Right. It's going to be a whole new ball game. What's your strategy there?

[Mary Seats]

Yeah, so I was really big on.

Building a model that existed without me.

Building a model that existed without my team because ultimately our long game is to franchise. So I wanna open three locations that.

We own, corporate locations that we own.

To show people that this works no matter where you are in the world.

This simple, easy model works and it is profitable.

I did it in Atlanta. I'm going to do the same exact thing in Houston, and then we're gonna do the same exact thing in another city and then we'll open up franchises. So it is copy and paste.

[Interviewer]

Okay.

[Mary Seats]

Yeah.

Like one thing that I spent the whole first year doing was soping and KPI on everything. We have a full database. Like if a franchisee was to come into our company. Now we have every single question, like, okay, what color is the paint? How does a member get off board? And how does a member get onboarded? If a member comes and they're overstanding time in the conference room and there's another booking, what do I say? There's literally a SOP and a training guide for every thing in the bakery that someone would have a question about. So it is a copy and paste. The only thing that will be different that I'm excited to explore is we're rolling out an app. So essentially virtual co working and virtual done for you services will be done on our app. So I'm super excited to explore building this app and building this tech portion because I think that what women get when they actually go into a co working space and they meet other like minded women and that energy and the power that they feel when they're like, wow, I've been looking my whole life for you. It can also happen on an app. It can also happen with technology and AI, but it hasn't been built yet. And so that's what I'm excited to build.

[Interviewer]

Awesome. What would your advice be, Mary, for another entrepreneur who is in the midst of their own growth journey? What did you learn that you would want to share with them right now?

[Mary Seats]

Oh my God, it's so much. I would say first, a slow rise to the top is better than a fast fall to the bottom. That's my first thing that I would say. It is so much better when you understand your process and you take that slow ride. Because I know that there's people that jump and grow their business so fast and then they crash and burn because they didn't learn the lessons along the way. Because they were just like running around like a chicken with their head cut off, trying to just catch up to the growth of their business. But ultimately, when we think about the companies like Disney, when we think about the companies like Apple, it's a slow Amazon slow grind, slow rise to the top. And that's what's creating those legacy companies that grew from garages and basements and bedrooms. It's because it was that slow. Okay, we're going to perfect it here. Like, for example, Amazon was like, yeah, our stuff isn't getting fast enough to our customers because we're dependent on you ups. We're dependent on usps. Let's cut that out. Get our own trucks, and then we'll get. Our Amazon trucks will deliver on a Sunday. Our Amazon trucks will deliver. We never had a company that would deliver to us on Saturday or Sunday or the day before Christmas.

Right.

And they figured it out as they went along, slowly and surely. The second thing that I will say is while some people are praying for it, other people are paying for it. Some founders are sitting around saying, like, God, help me grow. Other people are paying for mentorship. They're paying to get in the right rooms. They're paying for masterminds. They're paying for the ads. They're paying for the visibility. They are paying their way to that next level versus sitting around and just praying for it. And so those are the two pieces of advice that I would give any founder. A slow ride to the top is better than a fastball to the bottom. And some people are praying for it and other people are paying for it.

[Interviewer]

What are some of your biggest dreams when it comes to how the company can grow from here? Obviously, like you said, you can picture this expanding to any location. What do you see, you know, in five years, for now, from the company?

[Mary Seats]

So I would hope for myself to grow the company within the next year to very large numbers. Like, and then I want to be able to partner with or exit with a strategic. So like an industrious or like another.

Space that can grow the real estate.

Much further than I maybe can grow it.

Right.

Like, I want to see this like a wework in the standpoint of the.

Locations, because I feel like there are so many women that need what the bakery has to offer. We make it easy for women to.

Find information, resources, and capital. So I want to grow that model. And some of the models that I.

See expanding is our membership model and our programming.

I want people to be able to take a class from Taraji P. Henson.

On how to get into acting. I think that there are so many.

Iconic people that have not taught the bases. Imagine Taraji doing a workshop for 1,000.

Women on what to do and not to do in acting or launching your acting career or Beyonce stage presence. Right Like, I think that there are so many people that are doing amazing things. Sarah Blakely, How I failed, right? Like, 10 ways to fail faster. So you can get, you know, like, that type of programming would attract women.

From all over the world that are.

Starting these companies and messing up over and over again and starting their acting.

Career and messing up over and over.

Again when we have someone that has already done it before and you can.

Literally come into the bakery, cowork, learn.

From them, you know, so that's ultimately.

What I want to do.

First is like, enhance our programming, and then the second thing is enhance our done for you services. How often is it where you as.

A founder, have to find the photographer, the makeup artist, the wardrobe stylist, and the graphic designer?

All of the pieces to put to your puzzle to ultimately bake your dreams here at the bakery?

We have it all for you.

So you just walk in, you tell our team exactly what you need, and it's all provided for you.

You just show up to the photo shoot. You have the models, you have the photographer.

You have everything there. And now you can really be the creative that you desire to be. You can really go and grow the business. And you're not in the weeds of, like, at Target the day before trying to pick out clothes for the photo shoot, right? And so, yeah, that's what the bakery is there for.

[Interviewer]

Mary, thank you so much for sharing all of your insights with us. This was great.

[Sarah Lynch]

That's all for this episode of youf Next Move. Our producers are Blake Odom and Avery Miles. Editing and sound design by Nick Torres. Executive producer is Josh Christensen. If you haven't already, subscribe to your Next Move on Apple podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen, your Next Move is a production of Inc And Capital One Business.