Today we’d like to introduce you to Mollie Dreibrodt
Hi Mollie, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My passion for entrepreneurship unknowingly started at a young age. Throughout my childhood, I had the opportunity to watch my parents, Robert & Abban Lastovica, own and operate three businesses in Fredericksburg: Friendship Veterinary Center, Paws & Claws Pet Resort and Lastovica Angus Farm. As a kid, I was always looking for new hobbies and ways to make money, so you could often find me merchandising things like handmade necklaces and other jewelry through my parents’ businesses as a storefront. I was extremely active in organizations like 4-H and FFA throughout my youth, which taught me a ton about leadership, work ethic, responsibility and integrity.
After graduating from Fredericksburg High School, I attended Texas A&M University and studied agricultural communications and journalism and political science. I was expected to support myself financially through college, which I was able to do without incurring debt through scholarships and multiple part-time jobs, including some as a freelance communicator for various organizations. I launched my photography business in college, mostly shooting portrait photography for seniors and couples.
Despite the fact that I was continuously drawn to “side gigs” and freelance work, my plan going into school was to become a journalist. I was a writer at heart, but this was also at the time when print journalism was experiencing major disruption and newspapers around the country were closing up shop or consolidating. About midway through my undergraduate degree, I realized I likely needed to pivot and became interested in public relations as it combined my passion for journalistic-style writing, with what seemed to be a more viable career path. I interned for a mid-sized agency in Lincoln, Nebraska during the summer between my junior and senior year. That experience taught me that I wanted to start my career at an agency, but wanted to stay in Texas, which led me to FleishmanHillard in the firm’s Houston office.
I was employed by FH full time after only a couple months as an intern and jokingly had to take off work to return to College Station to graduate. My experience at the agency was invaluable. I served a diverse array of clients, primarily in the food and agriculture space; learned so many skills under the public relations, marketing and communications umbrella; and worked alongside some of the smartest people in the world. I also experienced tell-tale signs of burnout at an early age and realized that I would have to retrain my mind that had been so used to achieving the “next thing” in short periods of time (ex: four years in high school to build a resume to get into college; four years in college to build a resume to land a good job), to a more sustainable relationship with work.
In 2016, I came across an opportunity to serve as a remote marketing communications lead for Cargill Animal Nutrition’s beef business and was proud to have landed that job despite having half the years of experience it was seeking. My time at Cargill re-grounded me in serving agricultural producers; taught me important lessons about work-life balance; and gave me exposure to product marketing, which I hadn’t previously had. I traveled more than ever before and saw some of the most beautiful parts of our country and world, all while interacting with countless beef cattle producers. In 2018, my husband, Canaan, and I were expecting our first child. As I prepared for my maternity leave in Spring 2019, I had already started thinking about how my life – and work – were about to be disrupted (for the better!) and questioning whether I would be able to sustain the career momentum I was experiencing at Cargill after returning to work. When our daughter, Charlie, was born, I experienced such a major perspective shift in all aspects of my life. As many working, first-time moms, the thought of returning to work with an infant to care for was daunting. I knew I wouldn’t be able to (and didn’t want to) travel as much as I had previously for work and I felt torn between my roles as mom and in my career. As I pondered life decisions throughout my maternity leave, God had something else in store for me and my plans.
The summer of 2019, right as I returned to work, we began the long process of what would ultimately be a rare salivary gland cancer diagnosis for my then 29-year-old husband. Anyone who has walked beside a loved one battling cancer would attest to the fact that there is life before cancer and life after cancer. It is one of the most earth-shattering, soul-crushing diseases and experiences, and I wish it on no one. As I continued to navigate postpartum and returning to work with the added stressor of his diagnosis, I knew something had to give. At that point, I decided it was time for me to go out on my own and pursue what had been a constant nudge over the years to give freelancing full-time a shot. Dreibrodt Consulting was founded in 2019. Thankfully, I had maintained good relationships with my previous colleagues and mentors at FH, and they made me an incredible offer to return to the agency part-time. It was the perfect blend of stability in my career, with flexibility needed to lean into my role as a mom and wife more than I had needed to previously. This role – along with a few other freelance clients – carried me through 2019 and into 2020 as Canaan wrapped up treatment at MD Anderson in Houston.
And then… the world stopped with the COVID pandemic. Given all the uncertainty around us, COVID was the start of a period of healing after the trauma that 2019 had brought to our little family. Like many in the height of the pandemic, I sought new hobbies and ways to pass time and that was when Mollie Dreibrodt – Art was born. I started making collage art designs out of magazine scraps and turning those into greeting cards and other paper goods. 10% of my art profits are donated back to organizations that support cancer warriors, survivors and caregivers – a cause that I wholeheartedly believe in given our experience. The motto of my art business is “handcrafting beauty from brokenness” and it is intertwined with my Christian faith, which reminds me that God alone can create beauty from the ashes and restore broken things, just as He did with my own life through the trials of 2019-2020.
As the years went by, I continued to learn and grow at FH, ultimately being promoted to Senior Vice President in Fall 2023. We welcomed our son, Bennett, in 2021, and unfortunately navigated a cancer recurrence and treatment for my husband in 2022. All the while, my perspective on work and life and what matters most continued to evolve. Formerly career-focused, workaholic Mollie realized that there was more to life than work alone. I continued to fight the urge that I wanted to return to my roots of small business ownership, but it was too obvious to resist. Sometime in 2023, I set a goal to go full-time with Dreibrodt Consulting by 2025. As new opportunities continued to come my way, I made a decision to expedite that timeline and left the stability of my job with FH in February 2024 to take a bet on myself. Charlie was about to start kindergarten and the timing felt right to give full-time entrepreneurship a go. Today, nearly 12 months into my career as the CEO of Dreibrodt Consulting, I have been blown away by the clients, friends, and extended network who have supported my career path and business to-date.
While it has taken me a while to act on the desire to own and operate my own business as a full-time career, I know that God was continuing to refine my character, perspective and ready me for the “why” behind my decision to take a leap of faith and confidently bet on myself in building a marketing, communications and PR consulting firm that serves clients of all sizes in all industries. While I’m so glad to be where I am today with a healthy, happy and growing! (baby #3 is due April 2025) family and fulfilling career, I don’t discount or discredit every step in the journey that has led me here.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Not at all.
Having the confidence to take a major risk and bet on myself was a huge hurdle to overcome. I value stability and security a lot and those aren’t a given when you’re self-employed. I’ve had to learn how to plan for the short-term (quarter-by-quarter), while still keeping long term vision and dreams in place. I tend to be more of a longer-term, strategic thinker and as an entrepreneur you have to take and digest each day as it comes.
Regardless of role, company or the amount of flexibility you have, being a working mom is difficult, especially when your kids are young and subject to unexpected illness, school schedules and more. I’m continuously adjusting to how to manage the household and my work plate – and that’s still a struggle despite having a huge support system around us.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Connection is powerful. Dreibrodt Consulting exists to help you and your business connect with those who matter most.
Regardless of who you’re trying to reach and how you’re trying to reach them, authentic connection is key. Through strategic marketing, communications and PR, we build and execute plans that build and nurture authentic relationships with the audiences most important to your business. A full-service marketing and communications firm, we help business owners, marketers and communicators learn, plan, change and do – everything from strategic planning and market research to tactical execution, like graphic design, content development and more.
Dreibrodt Consulting values integrity, curiosity, hard work and business impact, and you’ll see those values brought to life in every project we partner on. Our model is built with the core competencies of founder, Mollie Dreibrodt, at the center and supported by a network of talented freelancers whose talents are called on to appropriately fit the task or project at hand.
Call on Dreibrodt Consulting if you’re looking for:
-A thought partner for strategic marketing, communications or PR planning
-Counsel on how to reach your greatest asset – your employees
-Part-time coverage to support marketing and communications team members who are on maternity or other extended leaves
-Tactical marketing or communications support to help you manage that never-ending to-do list
Can you share something surprising about yourself?
I wrote and illustrated a faith-based children’s book, which published in 2023. “Held” is available on Amazon and my creative services website (www.molliedreibrodt.com) and teaches an important lesson about the never-ending love of God, even when life gets tough.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.dreibrodtconsulting.com
- Other: www.molliedreibrodt.com (Art & Photography)
