Annie F. Downs & Kelli Haywood: Hope Isn't Free

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About the Episode

As collaborators and close friends, co-creatives Annie F. Downs and Kelli Haywood illustrate their philosophies of leaning on trust in others and faith in God to cultivate hope and change the world for the better.

Fostering Trust. Maintaining Faith. Creating Hope.

Annie F. Downs, best-selling author, speaker and podcaster, and Kelli Haywood, owner of KCH Entertainment and co-partner of the “That Sounds Fun” podcast network, joined Dr. Greg Jones to discuss the individual and shared creative journeys that inspired the creation of their business, as well as the faith to persevere through life’s trials.

“We did get to build a foundation of trust just through friendship, knowing that we have similar motivations in life, a similar foundation,” Kelli reflected. “So that was a gift in our relationship that we had already built, kind of that baseline of trust.”

“When you get to get on the field, the game changes. It's not just practice anymore. You are getting muddy and we've gotten muddy a lot,” Annie added. “If not daily, multiple times a week, I think, ‘I'm so lucky to have Kelli and I on the same team.’ I wouldn't do this with anybody else.”

This episode covers…

• The importance of building and relying on trust between coworkers to carry a business through hardships 
• How walking in faith provides solace when facing professional challenges and uncertainty in business
• How hope can be a healing factor through pain and tragedy and ways communities can rely on each other for support

The Foundation of Trust

Discussing how their podcast network “That Sounds Fun” earned its success, Annie and Kelli offered that the strongest foundation to build and maintain any partnership is mutual trust and the ability to rely on the strengths, opinions and contributions of one another – revealing how doing so led to their own business venture’s success

“I bought dinner for three people that I respected in three different areas of business,” Annie continued.  “One was Kelli, who was a really high-up exec in music, and I just needed accountability around me. Kelli was one of the first asks for that.”

“Annie and I actually started as friends when she moved to Nashville,” Kelli shared. “We had an instant connection. I think you're drawn to people who are passionate about something, and I was definitely drawn to her excitement for what she was doing and what she was pursuing.”

Despite many obstacles, including a global pandemic, it was mutual trust that strengthened their resolve through every unknown.

“Everything stopped,” Kelli explained. “So we pivoted as most everyone in business had to do in 2020. We were like, ‘Let's go ahead and take something that we had planned for in four years. Let's move it up. Let's go.’”

Three years later, they would build a podcast network with over 20 shows and six staff members. “We couldn't have dreamed this up, but that beginning felt like, it's right in front of us. We just get to choose to do it, or not,” Annie shared. 

Together Through Faith

As they reflect on the motivations behind their podcast network and the central message behind their content creation, Annie and Kelli shared how faith in God has aided them on a professional level and remained a rock in their personal lives.

“There are so many times where I would do life differently if I was in charge, and yet, God's faithfulness over my 43 years is really deeply apparent,” Annie said. “And so I can only imagine looking forward, what I know looking back, and what I know looking back is the stories.”

Kelli explained the motivation behind the content released on their network, which includes a diverse variety of topics to cater to several audiences. “We very pointedly have chosen all of these different, diverse bits of content that goes out into the world. And the foundation of all of our podcast hosts is that they believe in Jesus. Jesus is the central figure in their life, but that doesn't mean that all of the content that we put out is Christ-focused.”

Annie continued to reflect on tragedy, and how her relationship with God has shaped her perspectives on the tragedy human beings experience. “I think I'm tired of being shocked about tragedy,” Annie said. 

“One of the things that I really appreciate about hope is that it isn't free,” Annie noted. “I find myself noticing places where I feel like I'm suffering or where it feels like it's requiring a little more of me and the people that I love. But after that, you're full of hope. That's where I'm seeing hope: watching people persevere through suffering.”

Hope Heals

Continuing the conversation on tragedy, Annie and Kelli reflect on various tragedies that have occurred in the community in Nashville and how God is utilizing their gifts and skill sets to provide others with hope during their healing process.

Kelli reflected on the difficult events which have occured and provided her perspective on how hope can inspire others to utilize their individual gifts.

“God is asking us to use our gifts to help heal our community. Everyone doing what they could do in their gifts so that they could help try to begin a very, very, very long process of healing.”

Annie and Kelli continued the conversation on hope and highlighted inspiring attributes about each other, providing guidance for those who wish to become content creators with a hope-filled goal.

“One of the things that Kelli does so well,” Annie praised is, “she does not squash my ideas.” 

Kelli’s advice for future content creators was to embrace suffering, learn from it and access perseverance.

“God has given you something that is different, and He is calling you to be bold and to be brave and to suffer on your way there because nothing great comes easy,” she said. “There is no doubt that greatness comes from that suffering. And so you just have to persevere and know and believe what you're hearing on the inside, and then find people around you to help.”