For more than two decades, Gulfshore Business has been recognizing the rising stars of Southwest Florida through its annual 40 Under 40 honors, which showcase leadership, ambition and community care. Those attributes should be beneficial to their careers and lives, propelling them forward professionally and personally … so we decided to check in with some previous winners for an update.

We caught up with a set of 40 Under 40 honorees from years past, individuals who have carved their paths to success through determination and hard work, and have won a bit of wisdom thereby that they’re happy to share.

Managing Mental Health

David Plazas

Opinion and engagement director

USA Today Network Tennessee

David Plazas, a 2008 40 Under 40 honoree, was in his early 30s when he was recognized for his outstanding contributions. At the time, he was juggling his role as community conversation editor of The News-Press, pursuing a Master of Business Administration at Florida Gulf Coast University and navigating the early years of marriage.

Now, he’s an award-winning national expert on civil discourse and community engagement, overseeing the opinion section of the entire USA Today Network Tennessee statewide publications.

“The new move transformed my life,” he says of relocating to Nashville in 2014.

Plazas ascended in an ever-challenging—and ever-dwindling—industry. More than 16,000 newsroom jobs were lost in the U.S. alone in 2020, according to Pew Research Center, representing a 26% decline in newsroom employment since 2008.

Plazas attributes his success to constant learning and perseverance through uncertainty. “I have had many ups professionally, but some downs—and I have learned to get up.”

He also started therapy in 2023 to deal with anxiety—a less common self-development tool in 2008, when 8.3% of adults reportedly received mental health treatment or counseling, according to the National Institute of Mental Health, compared with 14% in 2019.

“It was an important move in my personal development, which has contributed to a better life-work balance for me,” Plazas says, adding that it’s the one thing he would have done sooner when he looks back at his life from his 2008 commendation to now.

“I think I would have started therapy a long time ago to help me better deal with adversity,” Plazas says. Today, he helps ascending professionals manage their own complex inner worlds.

“What I can teach young people is how to hone their anger, drive and energy to be more disciplined about achieving results in the face of challenges and difficult realities,” he says. “Young people tend to be incredibly impatient, and that desire to act is good.”

Adapting & Expanding

Heather Donlan

Owner and artist

Heather Donlan Art

Heather Donlan said it’s difficult not to wonder where she would be now if she had started her gift and home decor business sooner.

However, had it been in 2012—when Donlan won a 40 Under 40 award—it would have been another addition to her balancing act.

“I was pregnant with my third baby when I won 40 Under 40. Juggling two small children, a newborn and my own company was not an easy task,” she says. “Looking back, I wish I had given myself more grace with acknowledging just how much I was doing all at once.”

Donlan developed her business’ retail arm after recovering from losses due to the pandemic and Hurricane Ian.

“Everything came to an abrupt halt. I realized very quickly that my business model had to expand to offer a tangible product if I wanted to keep my business afloat,” she recalls.

She encourages budding business owners to trust their inner compass for decision-making, too. “Follow your intuition—it will never lead you astray.”

Donlan hopes to inspire the young minds of growing girls with a new book slated to debut next year. “It’s a personal project called Tutu Beautiful, which showcases my artwork with the underlying theme of empowering young girls through fine art photography.”

Perhaps it will encourage efforts in others similar to those that led to Donlan’s sense of success. “Twenty-nine years ago, I could have never known the sense of pride I would feel having owned and operated my own business like I have,” she says. “My business, after all, is really my first baby. And it has grown and blossomed in ways I could have never imagined.”

Witnessing The Next Wave

Angela Brant

Department chair

Fort Myers High School

Between 2010, when Brant won a 40 Under 40 award, and now, she said the pandemic was the most heartbreaking event to endure as an educator.

“Teaching socially distanced students at the same time as those online was a skillset I hope to never use again,” she says. “School spirit dropped to an all-time low as many of the events that make a high school experience were canceled or presented virtually.”

She said today’s attendance rate is still low, but some aspects within the school system are looking up.

“The good news is school spirit is slowly returning. Smiles are back, and teenage egocentrism is slowly returning,” Brant says.

And if the stories of our select 40 Under 40 alumni tell us anything, it’s that the most life-changing circumstances yield the most profound truth: that every challenge provides a vital perspective.

Practicing More Mindfulness

Samantha Scott

President

Pushing the Envelope

The unexpected death of Samantha Scott’s newborn shuttered her old approach to success.

“As a business owner and driven person, I hustled my entire life. It was always about achieving the next thing, meeting the next challenge, growing, etc. Asher changed all of that,” Scott says.

Her son was born in May 2019 with a rare intracranial cervical teratoma and passed away two days before turning four months old.

“Learning we were expecting was life-changing, then learning of his health challenges altered our lives in more ways than one. But losing him changed us permanently,” she says five years later.

Now, her family—a husband and two daughters—comes first; “before any boards, networking or work commitments,” she says. “This has carried over into how I run my business and the life-work balance and work style we provide for our entire team.”

However, when Gulfshore Business honored Scott as a 40 Under 40 in 2010, she was still in hustle mode for her then 4-year-old marketing company, Pushing the Envelope.

“In the moment, I was proud and excited, but I didn’t fully appreciate it. I was working hard and working a lot,” she remembers. “Now, I am more mindful of those special moments and try to really soak them in—give myself the opportunity to pause to relish the reward.”

The award-winning marketing veteran encourages rising leaders to do the same while aligning with the bigger picture.

“Keep the first things first. Work hard but not at the sacrifice of yourself or those you love,” Scott says. “Also, don’t expect or look for handouts; rather, accept the hands up that may come along your way and be prepared to do the same for others. We’re all in this together.”

Heeding A Higher Understanding

Brittany Cohill

Executive account manager

Shockwave Medical

Brittany Cohill’s “professional and personal mountaintop” caved shortly after receiving her 40 Under 40 award in 2013.

“I realized that supporting friends and businesses while maintaining a busy territory at work was not sustainable,” she recalls. “It was very difficult for me to say no. My ego was being fed by friends, Facebook and accolades.”

Community involvement and work were the centers of Cohill’s life, as she chaired events and ran a top territory for the global health care company Abbott.

That changed when she moved to St. Petersburg following her divorce in 2016 and found her faith. Two years later, “the greatest joy I’ve ever had” came in the form of her son, Tucker.

“Having a child and switching jobs were two major changes and really helped me change my perspective on my day-to-day life and what I want for the back half of it.”

Cohill leaned into Christianity, quit Facebook for a year and called on her community for support as she led a life of new intentions and gained a new work position.

“I needed to learn to ask for help and leverage all of my resources. I needed my nanny and son’s grandparents and my mom to help take care of my son,” she says. “In addition, I realized I didn’t want to work forever, and to be present in my son’s life, I put a retirement plan in place to retire at 55.”

The efforts paid off palpably. “Today, I’m more at peace since I’ve been to the top. I’m not fueled by awards and likes on my Facebook page,” she says. “Those awards are still special to me and have helped to shape who I am, but they are not my day-to-day aspirations.”

Photo By Brian Tietz

Leading With Loyalty

Robert Zivkovic

Owner/broker

Zivkovic & Associates

Robert Zivkovic still has the staff he had 10 years ago when he became a 40 Under 40 honoree in 2014, even as the business expanded.

Through all the lessons he’s gained in business and world travels (including a recent 90-day family excursion from Tahiti to Cape Town, South Africa), tradition and connections are top areas he encouraged the next generation to remember.

“Do your best to learn the history of your business, profession and country. A lot of folks have put in hard work to get things where they are,” he says. “There is a lot of prosperity and opportunity out there—learn how we got here and build on that. Try not to reinvent the wheel or try shortcuts that many have tried before.”

An effective way of doing that, he suggested, is by staying involved in the community.

“A lot of times, that may just be voting. Paying attention to your vote and how it could affect our systems and social norms is important,” he says.

In a time of great division, “we have to remember it shouldn’t be an all-or-nothing mentality—we have to relearn how to work together for the greater good,” he says.

Delegating tasks and prioritizing life with his family have led to Zivkovic’s most significant accolades to date. “My rewards have been enjoying the memories we’re making as a family.”