Rising Stars: Meet Matthew Ford

Today we’d like to introduce you to Matthew Ford.

Hi Matthew, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Hey there, my name is Matthew Cannon Ford. I was born and raised in Knoxville, TN, and am a University of Tennessee graduate where I studied Economics & minored in Business Administration. I joined a fraternity there after ending my baseball career and also bartended throughout the entirety of my four years there. Both hobbies introduced me to the world of networking and the importance of always working hard and being kind in order to make the right connections.

Shortly after graduating, I moved to Nashville to start my career in Sales. I began as a Territory Sales Representative for a chemical and sanitation company. I covered Middle & West TN territories and then quickly worked my way up to Territory Sales Manager, where I took over the East TN market as well as managed a small team. After dissolving our distribution chain, I moved up again to Regional Sales Leader, where my territory extended to six states throughout the Southeast.

After my tenure there, I was then poached by an international hotel chain called OYO, where I was tasked with developing hotels in TN. Thankfully, this opportunity was a lot less travel demanding and gave me time to focus on picking back up bartending, modeling, and other hobbies that I enjoy (jogging with my Golden Retriever especially). Shortly after coming on board, I successfully opened the first hotel in the area just before the pandemic hit. At that unfortunate time for a lot of people, I was lucky enough to have known Yasar (the founder of Eat Well Nashville) for quite some time, so I came over to join the team as Director of Sales.

For these past two years, I have been blessed to be a part of an amazing company and team where we have seen exponential growth and success despite all of the trials and tribulations from the pandemic. We were recently placed in Inc. 5000’s fastest-growing companies in the country, and I could not be more excited about what the future holds for us.

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I was raised with the mindset to always keep your nose to the grindstone, especially when things get tough. So as obstacles and struggles have come along the way, I always try to keep my head down and push through. Using my connections and network that I was able to establish early on, I have been fortunate enough not to have to worry too much when the road got bumpy. The best advice I can give when things get tough is to always lean on your close family, friends, support group, and especially the Lord. Do not forget to count your blessings, even when the road along the way is at its roughest.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Most recently, I am most proud of the certificates I achieved this year from Vanderbilt University’s Digital Marketing Bootcamp. Growing up in TN, Vanderbilt always held such a prestigious name, and I am proud to have been a part of that team and continuing my education there. This propelled my career into Director of Sales & Marketing for Eat Well Nashville and has allowed me to use my creative side in my day-to-day responsibilities. It has also opened doors by possessing a brand new network of like-minded professionals, mindset, possibilities, and skill set that I will have for the rest of my life.

What does success mean to you?
I think happiness and success are directly correlated. If you are successful but not doing what makes you happy, then are you truly successful? In Economics, we often discussed “opportunity cost” – basically the cost of trading something for another or the loss of a potential gain when choosing an alternative. So if you are trading happiness for success, that is the worst opportunity cost to me. Focus on the opportunities that make you as an individual happy, and things will manifest themselves in due time for you.

Contact Info:

• Email: matthew.ford@eatwellnashville.com
• Website: https://eatwellnashville.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/matthew__ford/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/matthew.ford.796/
• Other: https://www.instagram.com/eatwellnash/

Image Credits
Eli Greiss & Madeleine Queen.