AUSTIN LORD/GATHER PORTRAIT STUDIO
Libby Callaway
Whether they’re working behind a desk, in the field, or on the road, trailblazing women are paving their own way in Music City. Now they’re taking a break from their busy schedules to share their success stories with us.
THE DAILY HUSTLE
I own and operate The Callaway, a boutique communications company that works with luxury brands in areas of fashion, beauty, design, retail, and hospitality. My sweet spot is homegrown brands with a great story to tell, which I help get the attention they deserve on a national level. Conversely, I also work with national brands who are expanding to Nashville and want to pinpoint their local audience. I like to say that The Callaway excels at making small brands big and big brands small.
EARLY ASPIRATIONS
I started working in newspapers in the early ’90s, right after graduation, and ended up moving to New York to study for my master’s in cultural criticism at NYU before I took a job at the New York Post. I was at the Post for seven years before moving to Nashville to work at The Tennessean in 2004. When imogene + willie opened in the late ’00s, the owners invited me to create my own job. I was getting them into national publications just because I knew writers and editors and I knew how to tell a good story. I went on to consult for Billy Reid, eventually being named their marketing director and moving back to NYC to open an office for them there. That wasn’t a fit, so I moved back to Nashville. I gave myself six months to figure out what I was going to do. All signs pointed to going into business for myself. I launched The Callaway in 2016 and haven’t looked back.
WORK PERKS
I love meeting talented, hard-working folks, discovering their strengths, mission, and goals, and finding ways to either use them in my own projects or connect them to someone who will appreciate what they’ve got. I’m a natural connector and it makes me happier than most things.
THE DEFINITION OF SUCCESS
Never waking up dreading the day. I love what I do and am very grateful that I can make a career doing it here.
ADVICE FOR OTHERS
Do whatever you can to get experience in the field you want to work in. If you can’t find a paid entry level job, volunteer to do it for free. Find other ways to show what you can do. Stage a gallery show, volunteer to organize a conference, start a website to showcase your writing. Build up your social media to show off your skills. Work your ass off. And when you do get thrown a bone, don’t blow it: Show up on time, work late, and, again, work hard. Be dependable and kind. Play fair. Write thank you notes; they will set you apart. And when all of this pays off and you finally get your dream job, work just as hard while you pay it forward. The good you put into the world always comes back to you tenfold.
Meet Libby Callaway and other women in the local community who are the best in their fields at our annual Women in Business event.
>>> PURCHASE TICKETS
The mix and mingle reception will be held on August 18 from 5-7:30 p.m., to network with our Women in Business honorees plus 300 other local business professionals. Throughout the evening, we will be doing live Q and A sessions with each woman!