260. Unraveling and Walking Away from Entrepreneurship, with Inez Ribustello

Weddings for Real

The Unraveling series, where amazing and inspiring entrepreneurs share the unraveling of old habits and mindset that holds us back, and the rebirth of new.

Today we feature Inez Ribustello, whose unraveling started back on September 11, 2001, when she lost nearly all of her colleagues in the terrorist attacks. At 25 years old, Inez had hustled her way up the ranks to be the beverage director at Windows on the World, a restaurant and entertainment venue located on the 106th and 107th floors of the North Tower. When the attacks happened, Inez and her husband Stephen - who was the sommelier for Windows on the World - happened to be at her sister’s wedding back home in North Carolina.

Instead of slowing down to grieve, Inez kept hustling - and it's only now that she's beginning to process everything that happened.

Inez Ribustello Website | Instagram | Life After Windows | On the Square: The Community That Made a Restaurant

For previous Unravelings:
156
157 with Adrianna McDermott
161 with Aleya Harris
177 with Sara Margulis
184 with Andrea Eppollito
188 with Ashlyn Carter
191 with Kristen Mullins aka "The Pie Lady"
193 with Rachel DeAlto
197 with Sandra Cassios
208 with Brian Green
218 with Nellie Butler
238 with Natalie Franke
245 with Michelle Norwood
253 with Amber Melanie Smith

(01:20) What's an Unraveling?
(02:15) "With shock came a lot of anger"
(06:00) Finding the right next job
(10:00) Going back to Tarboro North Carolina to start a restaurant
(14:10) "We had zero tools in our toolbox for what we were doing.
(18:00) Throwing in the towel - on the businesses, on the marriage
(24:30) The case for therapy
(27:30) Why one investor refused to keep working with Inez
(30:30) Inez's new chapter

This episode is brought to you by The Planner's Vault, my online membership site for wedding planners who are hungry to grow, ready to hustle, and actively seeking community and education. In the vault, there are guest experts on many topics relevant to growing and cultivating a successful event planning business with new content added consistently, plus all of my templates that I have built out over the years, like How to Get on Preferred Vendor Lists, The Client Experience, and more. The mission with the vault is to elevate the industry (along with some amazing experts and fellow entrepreneurs) and I want it to be affordable so it's possible to stay invested in the community and yourself for the long haul.

The doors are currently closed for The Vault, but join the wait list now so you can be the first to know when the doors re-open.

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Hosted by Megan Gillikin, Weddings for Real is presented by The Planner's Vault, and is produced by Earfluence.p