Molly Bradley Hudgens is a 1998 and 2000 graduate of Western Kentucky University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Allied Language Arts and a Master of Arts in Education degree in Counseling. She is currently completing her twenty-sixth year as an educator in the Cheatham County School System, where she serves as a school counselor at Sycamore Middle School in Pleasant View, Tennessee. In addition to her counseling role, Mrs. Hudgens serves on the school's Crisis Management and Leadership Teams and sponsors the Jr. Beta Society.

During her tenure in education, Hudgens has served as president of the Alpha Chi chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma Society International and is an active member of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi. She was also the writer of an NFL Play 60 Super School Grant for Sycamore Middle School.

Following a personal experience in college, her interest in violence prevention and school safety inspired her to educate others who work with potentially violent teenagers. Her nationally recognized training, Recognizing Red Flags, has been used to educate professionals in education, law enforcement, juvenile probation, and juvenile court. The program focuses on understanding the three types of school shooters and using threat assessment tools to intervene before violence occurs in schools and communities.

Mrs. Hudgens put that training into practice on September 28, 2016, when she successfully talked a student with a loaded handgun out of committing a mass shooting at Sycamore Middle School. For her actions, she received the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation's Citizens Honor for a Single Act of Heroism in 2017. She is also the recipient of the Tennessee School Counseling Association's Phoebe White Award for Excellence in School Counseling and the Mental Health of the Mid-South I.C. Hope Award for advancing mental health awareness in schools.

Hudgens has received multiple state recognitions for her heroic actions, including honors from the Tennessee House of Representatives and Tennessee State Senate. She has also been nominated for the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission and the American Hero Channel's Red Bandanna Hero Award and was inducted into the Cheatham County Arts and Entertainment Hall of Fame in 2023.

She is a member of the Professional Educators of Tennessee, the Tennessee School Counseling Association, and the American School Counseling Association. She also serves as treasurer and choir member at Friendship Church. As Tennessee's first Congressional Medal of Honor Citizens Honor recipient, her story is featured at the Charles H. Coolidge National Medal of Honor Heritage Center in Chattanooga, where she also serves on the Advisory Board.

Mrs. Hudgens is the owner of Molly B. Hudgens Communications and is an internationally recognized motivational speaker and violence prevention specialist. Her book, Saving Sycamore: The School Shooting That Never Happened, published in 2020 by Dave Burgess Consulting, chronicles the events of September 28, 2016. She is also a speaker for Safe and Sound Schools through Kirkland Productions.

Molly resides in Ashland City, Tennessee, with her husband, Jason, and their sons, Bradley and Henry, on the family's farm.