This is the episode where the origin story finally gets told.

Shannon McNeill is the Director of Member Services at Chamber Fayetteville and the person who brought the HerStory podcast to life. She'll tell you she stole the idea from her daughter. Her daughter, Whitney Sawney, will tell you she doesn't mind.

Years before HerStory existed, Whitney was traveling to tribal nation conferences across the country and started interviewing women in the Native world. She created a project called Beautifully Native. Shannon loved it. When she was thinking about how to extend the Women of All Generations event into something ongoing, something that could keep the conversation going, she remembered what her daughter had done and built on it. That's where this series came from.

In this episode, Angela sits down with both of them to hear the story behind the story. Shannon is a retail kid turned office manager turned community advocate who blossomed when she finally got pushed out of the space she was really good at into a bigger one. Whitney is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, a University of Arkansas graduate, a USDA Tribal Advisory Committee member, and the Director of Communications and Policy at the Native American Agriculture Fund, one of the largest philanthropic organizations focused solely on supporting Native farmers and ranchers. She got her start doing internet marketing for a chiropractic clinic. Her first boss was Shannon. In this episode, we get into:

• The real origin of HerStory and why Shannon describes it as the idea she stole from her daughter
• Whitney's path from Washington D.C. back home to Fayetteville and what the hustle phase of her career actually felt like
• Shannon's hardest career pivot: letting go of the one space she was really great at to step into something bigger
• What both of them would tell a young woman starting out in Fayetteville right now
• The mentor who showed up for Whitney at graduation and is now the chair of the board where she works

Shannon talks about making mistakes and owning them fast. Whitney talks about looking back at every hard day she has survived and using that as evidence that she can get through the next one. Both of them talk about how women supporting other women has changed, how it felt early in Shannon's career, and how different it is now.

And near the end, Angela says something that lands the whole episode: when Whitney describes the value of talking to women in leadership and learning from their challenges, Shannon quietly says, she just defined this whole project.

That's exactly right.

The Women of All Generations event is June 16, 2026, 3 to 6 PM at the Fayetteville Town Center. This is the event that started all of this. Grab your tickets at fayettevillear.com/woag.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Chamber Fayetteville: fayettevillear.com
• Native American Agriculture Fund: nativeamericanagriculturefund.org
• Beautifully Native (Whitney's original documentary project)
• Stacey Leeds, Dean of the Law School at University of Arkansas and Chair of NAAF Board
• Women of All Generations event: fayettevillear.com/woag

Connect with Shannon and Whitney:

• Chamber Fayetteville: fayettevillear.com
• Shannon on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/shannon-mcneill-7473a61a
• Native American Agriculture Fund: nativeamericanagriculturefund.org
• Whitney on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/whitneysawney

Mentioned in this episode:

Women of All Generations | June 16, 2026

The Women of All Generations event is almost here. Join us June 16, 2026 from 3 to 6 PM at the Fayetteville Town Center for an afternoon of real conversation, connection, and celebration. Tickets and sponsorships are available now. You belong in that room. Grab your spot at fayettevillear.com/woag.