Today we’d like to introduce you to Nealy Glenn.
Hi Nealy, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
My journey has always been about storytelling, whether it’s on a stage or inside a beautiful, historic space. After earning my MFA from NYU’s Graduate Acting program, I spent 20 years living in New York and Los Angeles, working across film, television, and theater. In 2013, I made the move to Nashville, where my business partners, Chandra and Leigh Watson, and I decided to build something new. We bought an old building in downtown Nashville and completely rehabilitated it, utilizing a blighted property grant from the city to bring it back to life as The Cordelle.
Over the last 13 years, we’ve been incredibly grateful to expand, opening two additional venues: Saint Elle in Wedgewood-Houston, and Estelle, an incredible historic property near Five Points in East Nashville that dates all the way back to 1807. Having hosted thousands of events, I’m so proud and grateful to be an entrepreneur. Today, I continue to actively pursue my passion for acting and directing, and I love living here in Nashville with my fiancé, Duane Cuthbertson, and my 17-year-old son, JD Hauser.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The road has definitely had its share of dramatic plot twists! When we were under construction for The Cordelle, a tornado tore through Nashville right at Christmas and ripped the entire back half of our building off. We had a hard opening date with events already booked, so it was an absolute race against time, but we pulled together and made it happen.
Years later, we faced another massive hurdle when we scheduled the grand opening of our second venue, Saint Elle. We opened our doors a mere two weeks after the city completely shut down for COVID-19. It was an incredibly stressful time—we went from planning massive celebrations to being restricted to just eight people in the venue. But we refused to stop. We just kept pushing forward, and I have so much immense gratitude for our incredible team across all three venues and my brilliant business partners. Teamwork truly makes the dream work, and looking back, those challenges only proved how resilient we are.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
What separates me is that I approach business through the lens of a lifelong artist. With my background in acting, writing, and directing, I never actually expected to find myself in the business world. But along the journey of building my own companies, I realized that business is one of the most creative mediums there is. Every day, I leverage my training as an artist—using intuition, collaboration, and storytelling—to solve problems and build memorable experiences as an entrepreneur.
Because of this transition, I’ve developed a deep passion for eventually teaching other creatives how to handle the business side of their crafts. There is often a misconception that you can only be an artist or a businessperson, but my mission for the future is to bridge that gap and show creators that business can be a natural, empowering extension of their artistry.
If you had to, what characteristic of yours would you give the most credit to?
The quality most important to my success is the unique balance of being both a right-brain artist and a left-brain strategist. Because I approach challenges from an artistic point of view, I’m able to think outside the box, but I also come from a family of entrepreneurs who taught me the practical grit it takes to build a business.
My parents had a saying that shaped my entire mindset: ‘If you can’t go through the door, find a window.’ That relentless, problem-solving spirit is at the core of everything I do. Whenever a massive obstacle blocks our path—whether it’s a natural disaster or a global shutdown—I don’t see a dead end. I just start looking for the window. That combination of creative adaptability and inherited entrepreneurial resilience is what keeps me moving forward.”
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Www.thecordelle.com
- Instagram: Thecordelle
- Other: https://Www.estellenashville.com
