Tracy didn’t always have her life mapped out, but she says, “As a kid I used to break out the atlas and just start drawing.” Thumbing through National Geographic one day, Tracy saw a map and realized “someone” had to create it. Inspired, she earned a Masters in Geography and landed an internship with “Nati G.” Now a freelance cartographer she admits, “National Geographic has come full circle.

You could definitely say Joy is a conduit for success. Ten years after launching Service One, Inc. at age 28, her $15.5 million electrical contracting company is Knoxville’s third largest and the fifth largest woman-owned company based on employment. On Jan. 1, 2001, she started with five employees. Her husband, Barry, is Vice President and lead contractor. Service One, Inc. now has 115 employees, down from nearly 200 two years ago. “The stress of all the lives you’re responsible for is unbelievable,” she admits.

Mary Kay can recall many first visits with patients who “are in tears because they are so miserable.” Board certified in emergency medicine, Mary Kay has been making waves (and making people feel much better!) through her work in age management medicine and bio-identical hormone replacement therapy. She's one of our skirt! girls with an odd job this month. 

Jessica Lauren believes in ghost, and she’s willing to show you where to find them. For the past two years, she’s been a tour guide for the Haunted Memphis Walking Tour, a leisurely excursion with stops at historic, and presumably haunted, spots downtown. “It’s just fun. Get a beer, bring a camera, and let’s go, that’s what I say!” She started the job as a temporary gig, but as a trained actress and lover of local history, she found the odd job was a perfect fit.

As someone with competing interests in counseling and art education, Catherine Harris was pretty thrilled to learn the field of art therapy existed. Many people may think art therapy is an odd job, but only because they’ve never heard of it. “I spend a lot of time explaining to people what I do,” Catherine confesses with a smile. She now has her own practice in Memphis, using art work in service of others.

Sonya Yong James Sonya’s parents met during the Vietnam War and he moved his new bride back to his home state of Tennessee. Soon the couple had Sonya and moved to Atlanta when she was about 6 months old. (Which makes her practically a native now at age 38!)

The stallion manager at Midway’s Three Chimneys Farm, Sandy is in the business of breeding million-dollar babies. She oversees 12 stallions standing at stud at one of the world’s premier thoroughbred operations and holds the distinction of being the only woman in that role at a major Bluegrass farm. She chats regularly with tour groups. She’s even met the Queen. Sandy works with big-timers like Smarty Jones and Big Brown, handling the business of “live cover”—real horsey hanky-panky.

Odd Jobs After 13 years as an academic librarian, Jeri is an expert at finding the answer to just about any question. Need a comprehensive comparison of similar products on the market? She’s your girl. Spending a week in Florence for work, and want to maximize your small amount of time for sight-seeing? Jeri will create and produce a custom guide for you, down to the tiniest details.

“I never set out to have a nail file company,” says Colleen, the entrepreneur and visionary behind Top Notch Nail Files. “It was totally women’s intuition.” After spying glass nail files for sale, Colleen figured that crystal, being stronger than glass, would make the files even more durable. She promptly went home, came up with a design, located a crystal manufacturer, and spent her rent money on a stash of them.

Within the white-walled, stainless-steel environment of Lexington’s Coldstream Laboratories, Angela Harrison is busy growing bugs – the germy kind. Angela, a microbiologist, helps deliver small-batch injectible cancer drugs for clinical and commercial use by first proving they are sterile and free of organisms that could harm patients. That involves conducting pre-tests and handling and growing cultures of some bad-boy bacteria, including Pseudomonas, Staphylococcus aureus and certain strains of E. coli.

Walk into Terra Blue, Sarah’s downtown store, for a cup of coffee, and you may leave with a new outlook on life. Her official title may be owner, but for many of her customers, Sarah is also a sounding board, spending hours with someone who is, whether they knew it or not, looking for guidance.

Need your dog walked, your kitchen organized and your business promoted? Call Leigh Anne and Paula. The owners of You Time Solutions (youtimesolutions.com) coined the phrase lifestyle logistics to describe their array of services, which cover everything from adjusting a chair to helping launch a nonprofit. “We are the solution for people’s busy lifestyle,” says Paula, who founded the company in 2007.

 As a 16-year-old, Jennifer Poss Taylor began praying for Ashley. At the time, she just didn’t know how much her little girl would need someone like her.