Office Hours: Business Edition

In this episode, Monica sits down with Donde Plowman, Chancellor of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, for an unfiltered conversation about leading one of the country’s most beloved universities through one of the most turbulent moments in higher education. Plowman shares her vision for UT as a modern land grant built on undergraduate excellence, high-impact research and championship athletics. She explains why flagship schools are uniquely positioned to restore public trust in college degrees and reflects on the viral letter that earned six billion social media engagements when she took a public stand against the NCAA over NIL enforcement. Donde shares how she thinks about integrity in an era of transfer portal chaos and sports betting and what she has learned about the gap between studying leadership and actually doing it.

In this episode, Monica sits down with Dave Ramsey at Ramsey Solutions headquarters for an unfiltered conversation about transforming financial failure into a media empire reaching 18 million people weekly. The fellow UT Haslam alum reveals how losing everything at 28 became the foundation for his revolutionary approach to personal finance. Ramsey shares surprising findings from the largest millionaire study ever conducted, defends Gen Z against their critics, and explains why AI will create more millionaires than the internet. He also discusses his 17-year succession plan with son Daniel (another Haslam grad) now running 80% of operations, and why the American Dream is far from dead.

In this episode, Monica sits down with Scott Roe, CFO and COO of Tapestry, for an unfiltered conversation about leading the remarkable turnaround of Coach from a heavily discounted mall brand to a Gen Z phenomenon with viral IT bags like the kiss lock and Brooklyn. Roe, a Haslam College of Business accounting graduate who once thought he'd never work for a big company, shares how his failed recycling startup taught him the power of scale, how living in Switzerland changed his leadership perspective, and why Tapestry tripled its marketing spend to break through to younger consumers. From the company's stunning Q3 earnings that doubled growth rates to the surprising strategy of selling Coach on Amazon, Roe reveals how data-driven insights and "magic plus logic" are reshaping American luxury fashion. He discusses why he believes gross margin is the best arbiter of brand health, how Kate Spade is following the Coach playbook for revival, and how a junior accounting class at Haslam set him on the path to running a now-focused multi-billion luxury empire centered on Coach and Kate Spade.

Monica sits down with Jim Farley, CEO of Ford, for an unfiltered conversation about leading one of America’s most iconic companies. They discuss what it takes to run a $200 billion company with 180,000 people, why racing cars is still his “yoga” despite running a Fortune 20 company, and how his focus has transformed from loving cars to developing people. Jim opens up about his famous cousin, Chris Farley, and the addiction recovery center he built in his memory, the forever inspiration of his grandfather who worked in a Ford factory, and why Ford’s growing Dearborn campus remains ground zero for America’s car company after 120 years.

Monica sits down with Caryn Seidman Becker, CEO of CLEAR, for an unfiltered conversation about building a trusted platform for identity verification with cutting edge technology in travel, workforce, and healthcare. They discuss the moments that matter—taking calculated risks, recovering from setbacks, and why the best leaders never stop learning.