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Carla Truitt, founder of Eight Royale, joins Marnie and Alisa to share how sore feet, a music career, and a lot of hustle led her to design a line of stylish, packable flats and why year eight is the year she's finally found her voice.

EPISODE NAVIGATION:
00:00:07 — Marnie and Alisa introduce Carla Truitt
00:02:09 — Carla traces her path from communications student to marketing, marriage, motherhood, and the entrepreneurial vision that grew from it all.
00:05:10 — The origin of Eight Royale
00:07:30 — Alisa shares her own painful Super Bowl heel story
00:11:50 — Carla on what makes Eight Royale different
00:14:00 — Marnie coins the new slogan: "Healing without heeling"
00:15:11 — Carla reveals she's celebrating Eight Royale's eighth anniversary in 2026 — the lucky number that inspired the name
00:18:30 — The bold moments
00:23:45 — Carla on her son's football journey at the University of Iowa

ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Carla Truitt is a Washington, D.C.-based entrepreneur, founder of Eight Royale, and a woman who has never been afraid to build — whether that's in the music industry, construction, or footwear. Raised in a family of Guyanese immigrants with an entrepreneurial spirit woven through generations, Carla studied communications and marketing before charting her own course. She spent years working behind the scenes in music (including time affiliated with Bad Boy Records), running a construction cleaning service, and raising a son who went on to play Big Ten football at the University of Iowa. Eight Royale — her line of stylish, packable, cushioned flats — was born out of a real need: beautiful shoes that don't cost you your comfort or your dignity at the end of a long night. Now celebrating the brand's eighth year, Carla has stepped fully into the spotlight, traveling, telling her story, and building what she calls a lifestyle brand for women who walk in power and step into purpose.

CONNECT WITH CARLA & EIGHT ROYALE:
Website: https://eightroyale.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/eightroyale/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@eightroyale
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/eightroyale/

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Boutique fashion, bold reinvention, and the courage to start over — Renata Gasparyan joins Marnie and Alisa in the studio for a conversation as rich and layered as the pieces she designs. In this episode of Bench to Bold, the founder of Renata — a one-of-a-kind boutique on East Boulevard in Charlotte — shares how a career at one of São Paulo's most legendary fashion houses led her to a bonus room in the Carolinas, and eventually to one of the city's most talked-about brands. There are stories about moving from Brazil with two kids and no safety net, panic attacks that came out of nowhere, a stranger in leather pants who became a lifeline, and the husband who said “well, why don’t you just start your own thing?” Plus: the design philosophy she calls sketch to stitch, why her pieces don’t go out of style, and what it really means to dress a woman — not just her body. Consider this the episode where fashion becomes a love language.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:
00:56 — São Paulo Roots & Starting in Fashion at 21
04:37 — How the Boutique Was Born: From Compliments on the Street to a Bonus Room Business
07:55 — Word of Mouth Only — Building Renata Without Marketing
09:45 — Sketch to Stitch: The Design Process Behind Every Piece
14:57 — From the House Studio to a Real Storefront on East Boulevard
19:43 — Proportion, Tailoring & the One Inch That Changes Everything
22:06 — The Bench Moment: Moving to Charlotte and the Panic Attacks She Never Saw Coming
28:31 — Go For It: Renata's Message to Women With a Dream

ABOUT RENATA GASPARYAN:
Renata Gasparyan is the founder and designer behind Renata, a boutique fashion brand based in Charlotte, NC. Born in Brazil and raised between São Paulo and Westport, Connecticut, Renata spent years working at Zulu — one of South America's most iconic fashion houses — before relocating to Charlotte a decade ago. What started as compliments on the street and a bonus room full of her favorite pieces has grown into a full boutique at 1419 East Boulevard, beloved for its signature blend of Brazilian sensibility and Southern ease. Renata designs everything from sketch to stitch, working with a small team of four tailors to produce limited, one-of-a-kind collectibles that women wear — and reach for — for years.

CONNECT WITH RENATA:
Shop: 1419 East Boulevard, Charlotte, NC (beside Millennium Nails)
Instagram: @renata_gasparyan

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She graduated from UNC Chapel Hill with a French degree, moved to Philadelphia, and told her new boss she'd stay exactly one year. Thirty-plus years in the NFL later, Leslie Stephenson Matz is the woman who built the Carolina Panthers' TopCats cheerleading program from scratch, and is now being considered for the NFL's first-ever cheerleading Hall of Fame. In this deeply personal episode of Bench to Bold, Marnie sits down with her longtime family friend to trace the whole arc: working under Susan Fletcher, the first female GM in the NFL, during the Eagles' transformation from hobby operation to real business; surviving three ownership transitions including returning from maternity leave with a three-week-old; arriving in Charlotte in 1994 to build an expansion team with no players, no coaches, and no stadium yet built; and what it means to have spent a career doing something so subtle it's easy to miss — building friendships that last decades and showing the next generation of women what it looks like to be built up instead of torn down.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS:
00:07 — Introduction — Family, the Eagles, and a French Major Who Changed Everything
01:15 — Fresh Out of Chapel Hill — The Job She Didn't Want Leslie
03:46 — What It Was Like to Work for Susan Fletcher
06:26 — Women Supporting Women
09:29 — The NFL as a Startup
12:41 — Ownership Transitions
15:56 — Coming to Charlotte — Building the Panthers From Scratch
17:37 — How Sir Purr and the TopCats Got Their Names
18:52 — The NFCAA Nomination
23:37 — Legacy

ABOUT LESLIE STEPHENSON MATZ:
Leslie Stephenson Matz is a 30-year NFL veteran who served as Director of Special Events and Entertainment for the Carolina Panthers and, before that, spent 12 years with the Philadelphia Eagles under Susan Fletcher, the first female GM in NFL history. At the Panthers, Leslie founded the TopCats cheerleading program in 1996 and oversaw the mascot, cheerleading, pregame, halftime, and major organizational events for the franchise's first decade. A native North Carolinian and UNC Chapel Hill graduate, she is a member of the Carolina Professional Football Cheerleader Alumni Association and has been nominated for national recognition by the National Football Cheerleaders Alumni Organization (NFCAA), which is working toward establishing a dedicated Hall of Fame in Canton for cheerleader directors, coaches, and choreographers.

Watch on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BenchtoBold

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