Melody Breeden Women in Business Award 2026

Melody Breeden

Turner Padget

Attorney/Shareholder

Myrtle Beach

Melody Breeden is a shareholder at Turner Padget Graham & Laney, PA. She has been practicing estate planning and probate law primarily in the Myrtle Beach area since 2002. Breeden was the 2018-2019 chair of the Probate, Estate Planning and Trust Council of the South Carolina Bar. She is a member of the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel, and is also the current chair of the Horry County Probate Court Advisory Committee.

What is your greatest fear, and how do you manage fear?

One of my greatest fears is failure or letting someone down. It could be letting down a family member, a client, or someone at work. I have always felt the need to work harder at whatever it is that I am doing. This goes all the way back to wanting to excel in school. Then, it became wanting to excel in my profession, and excelling as a mother. There is always the fear of not being there enough for my children or not being present enough at work. This fear has helped me work or study a little harder and always want to be the best at everything I do. To manage this fear, I tried to pick an area of the law in which I could control my schedule at work so that I could also be available to my family. I have maintained an office relatively close to my children's schools while they were growing up. I have also had to learn to say no when there are too many things on my plate, and accept that it is OK to say no. I may overprepare for a meeting or court appearance, but that allows me to be confident in what I am doing. I have learned to never stop believing in myself. If there is a task that I was not able to accomplish on the first try, I figured out what I needed to do differently and tried again.

What’s the best advice you have received in business that you wish to pass on to our readers?

I think the best advice to other professional women is not to give up. You may have to work a little harder to achieve your goals, but do not give up. Do not let the fear of failure or not being good enough stop you from trying. If you are not successful the first time you try something, figure out what you can do differently, and try again. Do not be afraid to make mistakes and learn from them. Recognize that we are all human, and that we all make mistakes. What is important is to learn from those mistakes and move forward. Do not be so afraid of failure that you let it hold you back.