MESSED UP MONDAYS 2 YEAR ANNIVERSARY Featuring Ally Stone

Messed Up Mondays turns two, and we’re marking it the only way that makes sense for a series built on real stories. With one of the most candid voices in Edmonton business, telling the version of her story she rarely tells out loud.

This one is on us. Tickets are free. We want the room packed with the people who have built this community over the last two years, and the ones about to step into it.

Ally Stone has a shelf full of leadership books.

Adam Grant. John Spence. All the heavy hitters. She read them. She tried the frameworks. She ran the scripts. She performed the techniques the way the books said to.

None of it worked. Not really.

People could feel it wasn’t her. She could feel it wasn’t her. And one summer, in the middle of running one of the busiest restaurants in Edmonton, it all came apart.

What this anniversary night is about

This is the story Ally has told privately for years and rarely on a stage. The kitchen manager she trusted. The conversation she kept putting off. The Saturday morning text message that said “I think you’re a shitty boss and a shit leader, and I’m not coming back.” The 16 hour shift on the line that broke her open. And the realization, somewhere around hour 14, that leading like the books was never going to work for her.

She’ll also walk us through something she rarely talks about. The morning she made the call to shut 14 restaurants down on March 17, 2020. The 350 layoff conversations she and her leadership team had in person, in a single day. The Full Bellies program they ran from March to December that year, turning Sysco trucks into individually packed meals for laid off staff. And what it actually feels like to be the person making those decisions when you started this whole thing at 22 with no MBA, no playbook, and no idea what a P&L even was.

This isn’t a leadership talk. It’s the story underneath the leadership talk. The part most speakers won’t share publicly because it’s still tender, even years later.

What to Expect

• A candid fireside conversation with Ally Stone, restaurateur, coach, and one of the most honest leadership voices in Edmonton

• The real stories behind the polished version, told without script or stage performance

• A live Q&A where you can ask the questions you actually want answered

• Pre and post event networking with a room full of founders, operators, and people doing the work

• Bar and food available throughout the evening

• A reminder that bad seasons in business aren’t the end of the story. They’re part of it.

About Ally Stone

Ally Stone is a restaurateur, leadership coach, and partner in one of Edmonton’s most recognized hospitality groups. She started her first business at 22. By her early thirties she was leading teams of 300 across 14 restaurants. She got her coaching certification because the mental health weight of leading through the pandemic was breaking the senior leaders around her, and someone had to know how to hold that. She has read all the leadership books. The shelves in her office are full of them. She doesn’t open them anymore.

Who this is for

Founders. Operators. Team leads. People running real businesses with real teams and real payroll. Anyone who has read the leadership books, tried the frameworks, and felt the gap between what the book said and how it actually went. Anyone going through a hard season right now, fresh out of one, or about to walk into one without knowing it yet. You belong in this room.

Why Messed Up Mondays exists

Most business events celebrate the win. The funding round. The exit. The growth chart. The framework that worked. Messed Up Mondays is the other side of that story. The decisions that cost you a summer. The hires that didn’t work out. The conversations you avoided too long. The moments you genuinely considered quitting. Because the people who have been there are the only ones who can teach you what to do when you get there too.

Two years in, the same thing is still true. The polished version of business never quite tells the whole story. This room does.

Two years of real stories. Real seasons. Real leaders.

Event Venue

Brighton Block, 9666 Jasper Avenue, Edmonton, Canada

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