We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Elizabeth Ellison a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Elizabeth, so happy you were able to devote some time to sharing your thoughts and wisdom with our community. So, we’ve always admired how you have seemingly never let nay-sayers or haters keep you down. Can you talk to us about how to persist despite the negative energy that so often is thrown at folks trying to do something special with their lives?
Executing and implementing a vision you care about deeply takes conviction and vulnerability, and sometimes my biggest nay-sayer is my own self-doubt. Internal self-doubt ignites outside criticism like oxygen fans a flame. When I started my first program “Cultivate918” for entrepreneurial stakeholders, I constantly had to define the phrase “entrepreneur” and explain to more experienced and successful executives why focusing on startup business would impact our economy. Today, entrepreneurship is a core driver of Tulsa’s economy.
Similarly, as I built Kitchen 66, a kickstart kitchen for food entrepreneurs, and later expanded it to Mother Road Market a nonprofit Food Hall on Route 66, no one; including the Insurance Broker for our space and our Health Department Inspector, understood the terms “kitchen incubator” and “food hall”. Today we have graduated over 200 entrepreneurs and teach our curriculum in two languages. In its first year, the food hall employed over 250 people and made over $7.5 million in sales.
On my worst days, it is easy to doubt my vision and the impact it makes on our community. On good days, I see negative feedback as a gift and I am excited for the opportunity to define new terms and shape new ideas in my community!
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
My life’s mission is to build more equitable ecosystems for local entrepreneurs, and I focus on this purpose by supporting Mother Road Market, Kitchen 66, Tulsa Market District and VEST. Mother Road Market was just named the Best Food Hall from USA Today 10Best Readers’ Choice Awards! Mother Road Market’s first place title is the BEST way to celebrate the entrepreneurs who launched successful food and retail businesses using our nonprofit food hall model in Tulsa. This award demonstrates that Mother Road Market is a place that brings people together through food and innovation. .No one deserves this recognition more than the entrepreneurs working at Mother Road Market! After barely one year in business, these startups had to pivot their menus and models to safely address the COVID-19 pandemic.
Today, Mother Road Market is back to being a place Tulsans and travelers alike can do good and eat well on historic Route 66 while supporting more than 20 local food and retail concepts. Mother Road Market is committed to giving entrepreneurs the opportunity to use the shop small model to pilot test their latest concept without the burdensome financial investment of opening a full-scale restaurant or retail space. We cannot wait to continue our mission of supporting local entrepreneurs.
A sister program that preceded Mother Road Market, Kitchen 66, is Tulsa’s first food incubator and kickstart kitchen. I founded the program in 2016 to grow Tulsa’s local food community, promote entrepreneurial thinking and spur economic opportunity. Kitchen 66 created the Launch Program, 12-week business training course where students gain skills and knowledge to take their food idea to market. Kitchen 66 is proud to report that from 2016 to 2023, there have been more than 200 graduates of the Launch program. In addition to the Launch Program, Kitchen 66 offers sales opportunities to members through Mother Road Market, the perfect testing ground for restaurant, food truck and consumer packaged goods concepts.
Tulsa Market District is a wildly diverse area known as the hot bed for things that are distinctly Tulsa: local food, entrepreneurs and makers. Tulsa Market District complements the equitable placemaking activations the Lobeck Taylor Family Foundation committed to implementing through grants along 11th street over the next five years. This kicked off in 2021 with the beginning of a Tax Increment Funded streetscape project between LTFF and City of Tulsa. This comprehensive project focused on enhancing the District, making it a true destination with brighter streets, beautiful trees, native plants, and wider sidewalks. We will celebrate the substantial completion of this project later this November and are preparing for a special celebration of Route 66’s Centennial in 2026!
I am also learning more about the venture investing space as a funder and founding member of VEST. We invest in women-led companies and connect women professionals across industries, regions, and career levels so that together we can expedite the pipeline of more women in positions of power and influence.
Upcoming Events:
Mother Road Market 5th Bday and Top Food Hall in Nation Celebration: Nov. 4!
Tulsa Market District street opening: Nov. 3
www.motherroadmarket.com
www.kitchen66tulsa.com
vesther.co
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Flexibility: No, I’m don’t mean yoga! Early in my career, I often felt protective of one idea. My attachment to one perspective made it so much more difficult to see its faults and to stay focused on the desired outcome. Today, I strive to be open to feedback of all kinds, and I always try to extract the action item from the feedback, write it down and then set aside time to think about the action item’s impact on the ultimate goal. Set Short Term Goals with Deliverables: Goal setting with regular progress review is the best productivity tool for individual and shared goals. Deliverables guarantee everyone agrees on what finished looks like. I like to ask staff for a quick report on their goals in which they will say either “on track”, “off track” or “need help”. Weekly reports provide the structure for diligent work and a pathway for help if needed. Personally, I write my goals in my journal at the beginning of each day as a conscious reminder of my purpose.
Hustle: Different than work ethic, hustle means a willingness to do what it takes to reach your goal. As a leader, I try to model hustle through my willingness to do any task when there is an urgent need. When Mother Road Market opened, we were overwhelmed by the number of visitors and quickly running out of silverware and glassware. I called my family, we rolled up our sleeves, and went back to the dish suite to clean. It was hot and dirty, but I earned the respect of every other employee by going into the trenches to do the work that needed to be done. Hustle is the number one characteristic I look for in Mother Road Market Merchants, Kitchen 66 entrepreneurs and my own team members!
What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?
I will be honest: my career advanced more quickly because I did not have much work/life balance, but I think my career will last longer and create more impact if I am careful to protect my personal and family time. Burnout is all too common in executive positions, especially for women. Writing in a gratitude journal, meeting friends for a run, charging my phone in the kitchen, turning on “do not disturb” during dinner and turning off email notifications during weekends have helped me find more balance in my life!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.motherroadmarket.com ; www.kitchen66tulsa.com ; www.vesther.co ; www.tulsamarketdistrict.com
- Instagram: @elizabethframeellison ; @motherroadmarket @vesther_inc @kitchen66tulsa; @tulsamarketdistrict
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabethframeellison/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtOdgJtf0SuF6B5SvQoCl0w
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/mother-road-market-tulsa?start=60
Image Credits
Valerie Wei-Haas photographer
