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Tamara Keefe is the CEO, Founder, and Flavor Temptress of Clementine’s Naughty and Nice Creamery, an ice cream shop with eight locations in the Greater St. Louis Area that serves unique small-batch ice cream flavors, including alcoholic and vegan options. Clementine’s is one of the few Micro Creamery’s in the world, a designation that requires strict ingredients and production methods that helps them produce the best ice cream in the world. Clementine’s is a two time winner of the North American Ice Cream Association’s Flavor of the Year (2019 and 2023), the most distinguished honor in the ice cream world.
Tamara talks to Cynthia about her love and passion for ice cream, dating back to her early childhood, and how it helped her carve out her current lifestyle and path to genuine happiness. Tamara started out in corporate America, rising steadily through the ranks to become a highly successful executive. She exceeded her wildest dreams of achievement, but it wasn’t what she thought it would be. She was miserable and had to get out. This episode describes what she did next and how she was able to trade suits for scoops.
She doles out the truth on the sacrifices she had to make personally and professionally to make her dream come true, including downsizing her home and adjusting her management style. This is a masterclass on entrepreneurship, leadership, and betting on yourself. When it’s over, if you need a little taste of happiness, then don’t forget that Clementine’s ships!
1 – Intro 00:24
2 – Winning the Oscars of Ice Cream 01:14
3 – Locations 02:17
4 – Ice Cream solves everything 03:12
5 – Some of our speciality flavors 03:44
6 – What’s a micro creamery 04:38
7 – Vegan offerings 08:45
8 – Starting my own business 09:45
9 – If you had a safety net, what might have changed 11:43
10 – Why you were miserable in corporate America 13:29
11 – Was there a moment of realization that you were unhappy 14:11
12 – Meeting with girlfriends, Clementines birthed 16:03
13 – Childhood origins of ice cream 17:47
14 – How she got into the food industry early in her career 23:11
15 – Following unconventional paths 24:20
16 – What kind of risks did you take? 25:28
17 – Coming from humble beginnings 26:56
18 – Downsizing when you start a business 28:34
19 – Defining Happiness 31:28
20 – Falling in love with St. Louis 33:02
21 – Would you go back and change anything about your journey 34:12
22 – What challenges and obstacles taught you the most 35:21
23 – Was there a moment that helped you discover that? 36:45
24 – How did you make the necessary leadership changes 38:41
25 – Culture of clementines 41:43
26 – How do you maintain culture over many locations 43:01
27 – The ice cream shop experience 44:09
28 – Storytelling nuances of Clementines 45:43
29 – Any challenges faced as a female? 50:52
30 – Power of No 55:05
31 – Prioritizing the employee experience 56:16
32 – How did you get to the point of being so fearless 58:10
33 – Importance of having a local ice cream shop nearby 1:00:11
34 – What’s next for Clementines 1:00:32
35 – Cool events they put on 1:01:29
36 – Advice for success 1:02:30
37 – How do we find you 1:05:30
Content Notice
This podcast and all She Lift Project content represents the opinions of Cynthia Kirkpatrick and her guests. The content here is for informational purposes only, and should not be taken as professional advice – financial, legal, medical, or otherwise.
Views and opinions expressed in the podcast and across all She Lift Project media channels are our own and do not represent that of our places of work. While we make every effort to ensure that the information we are sharing is accurate, we welcome any comments, suggestions, or correction of errors.
“Young Shannon became an overachiever because she was a people pleaser. She needed to please others. And so that really developed in my adulthood as well. “
“They say, I’m still working 60, 80 hours a week. I got into this so I could pick my kids up from school and so I could attend their soccer games that are after school and I haven’t been able to attend one. I got into this so that we could go on great family vacations. And I haven’t been on a vacation now in five years. More people are coming to us for those reasons…it’s the lifestyle sacrifices that are causing people more pain than taking home a paycheck that isn’t what they thought it would be.”
It’s not about me selling and, you know, me making money. It’s about you being satisfied and happy with what you want and what you need. And I’ve always had that kind of philosophy, and my dad had that, too. And people recognize you’re not in it for yourself, you’re in it for them. And you’re sincere, and it really goes a long way.
Leadership is not about the leader. And I equate this back to basketball. When you have coach or coaches, they can’t go out on the court and shoot the ball and dribble the ball and pass the ball. But coaches have to be really good at getting work done through others. And so from a leadership perspective, that’s how I see it. As a leader, I have to be really good at getting work done through others.
“Gallup just got done with their survey for 2022. They found 25% better profitability in companies that have great employee cultures. Because when you have happy employees, happy employees make your customers happy. Happy employees want to invite other people to come work at their company. Happy employees want to share their ideas to make the company better. All of a sudden, you’ve created this culture where people want to contribute, and that’s the reason we do what we do.”
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