Check Out Nancy Aichholz’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nancy Aichholz

Hi Nancy, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I have loved building businesses since I was a little girl playing with Barbie’s and Lincoln Logs! My Barbie’s always had big careers and my Lincoln Log villages always included small businesses. My greatest joy in my career has been guiding, mentoring and supporting other entrepreneurs, especially women starting their first businesses. I was blessed with wonderful job experiences and terrific mentors, male and female along my career journey and I love paying that forward. I also love seeing the self esteem and confidence rise in entrepreneurs as they blow their goals out of the water, and being there to encourage when things don’t go as planned. Beginning in high school working at an investment firm, then doing a stint in media sales before getting my dream job in consumer marketing with one of the most famous brands in the world – Chiquita Bananas all have developed in me a broad and deep skill set that has aided me in my own business ventures as well as running an accelerator for women owned businesses for almost eight years. I carry my passion for life, serving others, cooking for others and enjoying them enjoying my food, and my faith into all that I do. I’ve made plenty of “mistakes” but those are all just great learning opportunities, no matter what stage of life. In the midst of all the career excitement, I married a wonderful man (31.5 years already!) and have raised three terrific kids (now 2 new daughters in the family who have married my sons), raised 2 great dogs, and help babysit the Grand Dog! I also try to exercise as much as I can fit in and try new sports – I said “try”. One of these days I will say I am really good at one of them. I love to read, cook, travel, spend time with my friends and of course our young adult children, participate in Bible studies and plan on having some type of career activity until I just can’t anymore…..I think that is a long way away! Who knows what’s next!?

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Oh of course not! I have encountered all the challenges….bad bosses here and there (not many, thank goodness!), working and traveling 60% of the time while we wanted to start a family, at a time in history when part time/flexible/job share weren’t part of the discussion yet, the ups and downs of running a non profit, the ups and downs of starting my own business, the major challenges of buying a business with a lot of cracks in its ice and trying to fix those cracks in a challenging economy, dealing with challenging employees and on and on. Name it – I have probably dealt with it!

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
This bio probably answers a lot of that: Nancy Aichholz is a strategic business and community leader with extensive experience founding, building, branding, and
directing organizations at global, national, and regional levels. In her distinguished career she has led marketing strategy for a
global multibillion-dollar organization, Chiquita Brands, started and built two successful brands of her own, That’s So Sweet! and
NanCakes, and branded, built and significantly impacted the growth of Aviatra Accelerators Inc. to help women-owned
businesses launch and thrive. In the Spring of 2022, she was recognized by HCDC (Hamilton County Development Co., Inc.,
now Alloy Development Company) with the Todd Portune Innovation Award for her contributions to women in business and
impact on the regional economy. She was also recognized by the Cincinnati Business Courier as a 2023 Woman Who Means
Business. Nancy holds a BS of Business from The Ohio State University and completed the Executive Program at the
Kellogg School of Business.
As a born marketer Nancy loves building brands, and through her experience with business ownership and entrepreneurship
she has become abundantly knowledgeable and skilled in all areas of business, including strategy, operations, logistics, deal-
making, and finance, across a multitude of industries. Nancy thrives on collaborating with other leaders to shape the vision to
capitalize on opportunities and take businesses to next-level growth. She is well known for what others have called her
empowering delegation style, collaborative leadership,
“
warm and winsome” approach, and passion for helping businesses and
people maximize their potential.
Nancy wholeheartedly believes in giving back to the community and served eight years as an elected official as a board
member of the nationally acclaimed Indian Hill Exempted Village School Board, including 4 years as President. In addition,
she is currently involved on the board of trustees of Stepping Stones, Ohio, the Sustainer Council of the Junior League of
Greater Cincinnati, and the Cincinnati Parks Foundation Women’s Committee. Other community boards & organizations
where Nancy has contributed her time, talent and treasure include Cincinnati Ballet, Ault Park Advisory Council, Fernside
Center for Grieving Children and the United Way of Greater Cincinnati Tocqueville Society, and her faith community.
Personally, Nancy feels proud and fortunate to have successfully run and led businesses while having raised a tremendous
family over the last 20+ years. With her children now on track with their own lives and careers, she is focusing on professional
passions and ambitions, which include meaningful and impactful work on Boards along with growing That’s So Sweet!,
continuing her podcast “That’s So Savvy”
, as well as engaging in ongoing speaking and writing projects. She also has some great opportunities for her family of brands under the NanBrands banner!

I am most proud of making the most of every opportunity and staying the course on a career journey that has been non traditional. I am most proud of my family who are each amazing and accomplished as individuals and who always support me and give constructive input along the way. Many say to me “you have reinvented yourself more than anyone I know”. My answer to that is “I haven’t reinvented myself at all. Every act along the way has built on the next. The difference is I don’t give up and I don’t seeing stopping something that isn’t working as planned as a failure. I have no idea how many acts my life play has in it, so it’s never a good time to stop!”

Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
Fortunately, that is very much in my rear view mirror, but I think we all learned to expect the unexpected, be flexible, be patient with others. Everyone has to deal with crises in their own way but we all still have to be considerate of people who deal differently with things. For some it was just a difficult time, for others, it was isolating due to their own health or situation, and I think everyone on the planet lost someone they know or love.
We certainly learned how resilient we can be. We saw how ugly some people can be, but I really think that was the minority. The pandemic slowed us all down a bit and we probably needed that. What was fascinating to me was how many women started amazingly strong businesses during that time, and how flexible and creative the current business owners were with pivoting on their themes and surviving. While I do think the “pre-Covid and post-Covid” perspectives are valid, it is time we move on. There is life to be lived, friends and family to enjoy, business opportunities all around us! Hopefully we all take the positives and incorporate those into our lives.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Thatssosweet.com
• Instagram: @thatssosavvypodcast @nancy_aichholz @ahhthatssosweet
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nancyaichholz/