Shannon Ralston: Entrepreneurial Award

Shannon Ralston

Entrepreneurial Award

Shannon Ralston’s business is growing and growing, but can't keep up with the size of her heart. Even though Angel Staffing, the nurse staffing company Ralston founded in 2002, made Inc. magazine’s list of fastest growing companies in 2009 and again this year.

Company: Angel Staffing, Inc.

Position: President

Age: 38

Education: B.S.,Nursing,EastCentral(Oklahoma)University

First job: Bone marrow transplant (oncology) nurse Mentors:

My parents. My father is an executive vice president of my company now.

Most significant accomplishment: To enable people to earn the living they deserve and to give without expectation.

Business philosophy: Disaster response is my passion, so my business philosophy is very much like my personal philosophy and that is to give with no expectation of return.

Career advice for other women: Find your passion. Discover the drive inside of you and don’t ever let go.

BY RANDY LANKFORD

That’s when Ralston decided to start her own nurse staf fing agency. In September 2002 Ralston pulled together $257 ($25 of which she spent on a “How to start your own nurse staf fing agency” do-it-yourself book she found on the Internet.) and launched Angel Staf fing.

“I took a couple of classes at the Small Business Development Center at UTSA and they helped guide me a little with my business plan and from there I star ted try- ing to obtain contracts,” she says.

From those humble beginnings, Angel Staffing has grown to a 1,500-person com- pany that billed $33.5 million in 2009. It would be impressive if Ralston had done that in the eight years since she founded the business. But even more admirable, she’s done it in five.

“I had to start over again from zero in 2005 because I had a business partner dis- pute. Five years ago I was $100,000 in debt and had two employees, counting myself.” While her business savvy and determi- nation are behind her company’s growth, it’s Ralston’s compassion that’s causing her family to expand so rapidly.

“I have a passion for disaster response. Angel Staffing is one of the prime contractors with the Texas Department of State Health Services for all the disasters that happen in the state of Texas.” That need to head toward trouble when everyone else is run- ning in the opposite direction led Ralston to Haiti in February.

“I ended up at an orphanage with 130 children and kind of got stuck there with no way out. I've been down there three times now. I’ve probably spent about three of the last six months in Haiti,” she says. "I found so many bright and talented children that just deserve a chance to have an education, they inspired me to do more", claims Ralston.

Ralston’s work at the orphanage has been funded by the 501(c)3 non-profit organiza- tion she founded several years ago. “My company does a lot of humanitarian work,” she says. “I think in order to receive you must give with no expectation of return. When I star ted the non-profit organization I wasn’t really sure what I was going to do with it. Now I do.”

Ralston says she got her work ethic and philanthropic desire from her parents. “I grew up in government-subsidized housing in Lexington, Kentucky. My parents worked very hard to make sure we never knew we didn’t have much. My dad went to night school for several years because they had me when they were so young, my parents always drove home that education was the only ladder out to options in life ” she says.

And Ralston is pleased with the way her business has turned out as well. “I want people to be able to earn the living they deser ve without having to sacrifice their family life, without having to work two or three jobs. We have health insurance and a 401(k) and tuition reimbursement programs. I’m very proud of that.”

RANDY LANKFORD is a San Antonio freelance writer.