April 1, 2021 • 36 mins
This week, we’re joined by Luvvie Ajayi Jones, New York Times bestselling author, speaker and podcast host. We chat with Luvvie about her career progression from blogger to world-renowned writer; how she met her husband; the daily routine that keeps her creative juices flowing, and more.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hi, I'm Sam Edis and I'm Amy Nelson. Welcome to
What's Her Story? With Sam and Amy. This is a
show about the world's most remarkable women, their professional and
personal journeys. Together, we'll hear from Gold medalists, best selling authors,
and leaders of the world's most iconic brands. We're so
excited that today's episode is sponsored by Project Entrepreneur, a
(00:24):
program by UBS that accelerates the growth of female founded
companies by increasing their investment readiness and connecting them to
the resources and networks they need to build and grow
their businesses. The Riveter has been a part of Project
Entrepreneur in many different ways and it is an incredible program.
In fact, since it's launched in Project Entrepreneur has supported
(00:44):
more than eighteen hundred female founders who have gone on
to raise nearly fifty five million dollars in funding. Please
stick around to the end of the podcast and meet
one of the founders of Project Entrepreneur, Jamie Sears, head
of UBS Community Affairs and Corporate Responsibility. Jamie's story is
incredible and you won't want to miss it. And now
(01:06):
we have speaker and author Lovey Jai Jones. She is
here to celebrate her newest book, Professional Troublemaker, The Fear
Fighter Manual Lovey. You grew up in Nigeria. What was
your childhood like. My childhood was normal, you know, grew
up in the household and loving household in Nigeria with siblings. Yeah,
(01:26):
I mean it was fine. I actually don't even know
how to answer that question. What did you worry about
as a kid? What were you insecure about? Dan ask
a good question. I don't remember being insecure about much.
What was the contrast like when you got to America
and started your life here with your family? Do you
remember that is being a seismic event. Yeah, I mean
(01:49):
moving from one continent to another, warm place to a
cold place, a place where everybody was black and then
here on a little bit were black. It was absolutely
a major culture shift and a momentous change. My accent
was different for the first time, my name was different
for the first time, and it was definitely the first
(02:12):
time that I was the new girl anywhere. So yeah,
that was absolutely a huge shift. How did you adapt
to being the new girl? I listened to the other
kids talk, and I lost most of my accent in
a few years. I I didn't go by my first name,
which is Ifiel Lua now was lovette Um. But I
still brought my dollar Frice to school. I still spoke
(02:36):
urba most of the time at home. But yeah, I
think kids are very adaptable, So I pretty much adapted
pretty easily, got friends and kind of blended in after
a bit. And what was your relationship with their siblings
like then compared to how it is today? M hmm.
(02:59):
I mean, my really ship my servants hasn't much changed
over the years. We've always been closed, so that's that
hasn't been a big shift or anything like that. What
do they do, I mean, you're so in the public eye.
Are they in the public eye? No, not at all.
My family is pretty private. They are definitely not public
in any way. And they're regular people. I'm a regular person,
(03:20):
but they're definitely not visible. What do they think about
you being in the public eye. My family is really supportive,
their vocal about you know, loving what I do. They're
really proud. Tell us about your evolution to becoming a blogger. Yeah,
So when I started college in two thousands two, my
(03:41):
major was actually psychology premed because I thought i'd be
a doctor. You know that was a dream, that was
the thing that I wanted to do, and I started
school with that intention and then I took chemistry one
on one and that did the dream because I end
up getting a D and it was the first be
(04:03):
of my active and career. Was kind of shocked my
system because I was definitely not used to failing, and
I considered a de failing. I was not used to
not getting the grade I expected. And I think though,
I think it was a moment of realization because I
(04:23):
was like, yo, you actually tried and you failed it,
so you probably don't want to be a doctor. And
actually really did realize in that moment that I did
not want to be a doctor. That it had been
a dream that was not necessarily mine. Was kind of
like passed to me and I dropped it. I instantly
dropped the premed Who was it passed to you from
(04:45):
family friends? I mean, I'm Nigerian, so being a Nigerian,
they you know, doctor, lawyer, m accountants are pretty much
things that you're encouraged to do. So I was like, oh,
I picked doctor. That semester, I actually started blogging, So yeah,
one dream was dying and no, that was being birthed
(05:05):
and then so I had my blog all through college.
After I graduated, I deleted my college blog and I
started awesome to Love You dot com to talk less
about myself and more about the world as I see it,
and I just never stopped. What blogs did you read
before you started your own? None? So how did you
(05:27):
know about blogging? My friends were like, we're gonna start blogging,
and I was like, okay, Like back then, Zanging Life
journal were big. Apparently I don't remember reading any blogs
that like stood out. But I mean you think about
the micro blog that was happening on like black Planet
and stuff like that. But like I wasn't like deep
into the blogg of sphere. I was just like, Okay,
my friends want to start this online journal, let's do it.
(05:48):
And that's what happened. So tell us how you went
from becoming a blogger in college? Right? Could A lot
of people say, oh my gosh, I want to be
a best selling author, but but do I just start
with a blog? Then it just happens? I mean, how
did it happen to you? So I started blogging in
two thousand three, got the new blog in two thousand
and six, I kept on blogging, and more and more
(06:10):
people just started seeing my blog and finding it and saying,
you know, it was beneficial to them in some way
or my words had some type of impact on them.
I got laid off my full time job in two
thousand and ten ap and that's the last full time
job I had where I was wasn't working for myself,
Like it was basically the chance for me to take
(06:31):
this blogging thing seriously. I was doing um social media
consulting for small businesses and other bloggers when I got
laid off my job, but I would still be blogging.
I wasn't creating ads. I wasn't like, oh, I'm going
to do this thing and this thing will come from it.
It just was like people will read my site and
share it with somebody that they know, and then that
(06:52):
person shares it, and it grew from there. And I
think the writing. I've always been a marketer, but the
writing kept on coming right next to it. And yeah,
and then I think in two thousand and twelve, I
got credential to do press coverage of the Academy Awards.
From there a lot of doors open. I started getting
(07:15):
columns and to write recaps my scandal recaps got big.
People will find me for one thing and stay for
something else, and it was it's just like this snowball
effect ultimately, like I was not necessarily trying to have
(07:36):
a particular thing happened because I was writing. I think
I was purely writing because I loved it. I was
writing because it felt natural, Like it felt like if
I didn't write, I wasn't doing what I was supposed
to do. I just kept getting rewarded for I got
my first book deal in two thousand and fifteen for
I'm Judging You Did Do Better Manual. I wrote that
(07:59):
book in five months that year. The book came out
September six, and more magic started happening because the book
hit the Times List at number five. Did you ever
worry about money and in supporting yourself, you know, after
you were laid off? Yeah, I definitely did. I think
(08:21):
I um, I was like, how am I going to
make money? You know doing what I'm doing? But I
was like, you know what I'm gonna I'm a hustler.
I That's where the small business consultant came in. I
was like, I will, you know, help other bloggers do
what I've already done for myself in terms of because
I built my own blog at that point, my marketing
(08:42):
and communications background gave me the very specific experience that
I could use to help other people. I definitely hustled.
Did you have sel to become a New York Times bestseller?
I mean, how much of that was right place, the
right time versus the blood, sweat and tears you put
into it. Most of it was blood, foot and tears.
I don't think any of it was by accident. You know.
(09:04):
I absolutely put Empowered book one and becoming a New
York Times bestseller. I called in all my friends. UM.
I made sure that they when they said like, how
can we help, let us know? I actually let them know.
UM empowered that. You know. I made sure that the
(09:25):
resources that I had available to me that I used them,
because I think a lot of times we won't use it.
We won't use it, We'll just say you know, I
got it, I'll make it work, And I'm like, no, no,
for this. I knew how important it was for this
book to succeed. So I was like, whatever qualms I
have about asking for help, I'm going to make sure
I ask for help. And that's what I do you
(09:46):
bring up a great point. I don't think a lot
of people understand what it means to ask for help
right because they're not exactly specific about how someone can
help them. So what were the specific instructions or a
requests that you made of the people in your network
to get the book to be so wildly popular. One
(10:08):
thing I was like, share it with the people you know.
That's that's an easy one. But I also, you know,
depend on who it was. If they were at a
corporate level, I'd say, hey, you know, I'd love to
come in and do a talk, or if they had
a particular connection that's impressed, Hey, I'd love to do
an interview. I think I got really specific with how
(10:29):
people can be helpful to me based on what they
were already in, like the realm that they were already in.
I wasn't asking people to kind of do something that
wasn't natural to them, so all they had to do
was say yes. They had very few reasons to say no,
and I think some people got to share. Some people
got to like make a phone call to give me
(10:50):
access to something. I basically use my network because they
already also trusted my work and they knew it was good,
so they knew they were watching for some than good.
And now for a quick break. So tell us about
the time between book one and now the evolution. I
think I've grown as a writer, as a person, as
(11:12):
a thinker. I've gotten to do a Ted talk in there.
I wanted to write when I felt like I had
something to say, and for a book too. I got
clear about it after I did my Ted talk. I
was asked do my Ted talk six or nine months
after the book one came out, and I was really
busy at that point, and I turned it down because
I was like, I'm not gonna have time to focus
(11:34):
on a Ted talk, and as I had like forty
forty five speaking engagements that year, so I said no
because I was also kinmon was I think I realized
that I was afraid of bombing. Three weeks before Ted,
I realized that I actually don't have to be the
three Percent conference until November two, and I was like, oh,
(11:56):
I can go to Ted for one day the first day.
So I hit him up and said I'd love to
get a pass to Ted, and Pat Mitchell was like, well,
if you can come, we want you to speak. And
I remember I was about to send them an email.
I was about to send Pat an email saying, oh
my gosh, thank you for the vote of confidence. But
(12:17):
that's gonna be a no, because that's crazy. That's three
weeks away. I have to come with the whole new talk.
I don't think that's even possible. And I was about
to send the email and press send, but I called
my friend Unique and I was like, Okay, check this out.
This is kind of crazy. Ted wants me to speak there.
I don't think I can do it. Like everybody else
has already gotten all this practice. They've already gotten, you know,
(12:39):
their talks figured out for months, They've already gotten coached
for months. And Unique said to me, everybody, ain't you.
She was like, you're coaching has been the fact that
you've been on the stage every two days, the fact
that you've been speaking for at that point seven years.
She was like, everybody's not you. So I need you
(13:00):
to get off my phone and go write this talk.
And I was like, well, okay, And I deleted the
email to Pat and I wrote my talk. Not that night.
I wrote that talk in an uber on the way
to another city that I was going to because Ted
would in my script. When I sent him the script,
they're applied back a couple of hours later, like we
(13:21):
love it, only a couple of edits, which was like what?
So I ended up doing this TED talk and with
this brand new talk that I created, and it was
like an out of body experience because I got on
that stage and I gave the talk like I've been
doing it a thousand times, like there's so many opportunities
(13:42):
for me to bow out, but I wasn't allowed to
bow out from my friend from Pat Mitchell, who was
a curt wator of TED women, and i'bo just like
what happens? Like how many times in our lives have
we been these people? Like how many times have we
actually let fear stop us from doing what was necessary?
(14:03):
So I felt convicted to write this book about it
because I'm like, my journey is more about the multiple
times when I have been afraid. But I did it anyways,
and it affirmed to me the thing that I've already known,
which is like when I do the things that scare me,
I win. I we I think we both have a
bunch of follow up questions to this because it's so interesting,
But I want to go back to the very beginning,
(14:25):
and you said yes to forty five speaking engagements that year,
but not the Ted Talk. And you know you've talked
a lot about fear, But is that why you said no? Like,
why was it different to give the Ted talk in
your mind then to give these other forty five speaking engagements?
Because Ted is Ted. Ted is a huge stage. It's
a career changer. It's massive, like people who do Ted
(14:47):
official talks that go well, like Ted is one of
the best things you can do for your career as
a speaker, you know, and if you bomb on the
Ted stage, what does that mean for your speaking career?
So love you. There's another person or another name besides
Ted that played a huge role in this, and that's Unique.
Who is she? Unique is one of my really good friends.
(15:10):
She is the cultural architect. She's also the creator of
a game called culture Tags. She's the closest thing I
have to a coworker. We call each other with ideas
every day, like we talk about life, work. And what
she did was she loaned me courage, you know, in
the moment when I didn't have any for myself or
(15:30):
I was doubting myself and she was like, No, I
love that phrase she loaned me courage. That's a great
way to describe it. And obviously it led to the
Fear Fighter Manual in your new book. Absolutely, absolutely it was.
It was an amazing moment of friendship, of people believing
in you even when you don't necessarily believe in yourself. Yeah,
(15:53):
who else is on your personal board of advisors? I
have a crew of people Bozma, Saint John, Justina Moka.
I'm surrounded by people who are constantly giving me permission
to be bigger. Without giving way too much of the
book because everyone needs to read it. You mentioned been
talking about overcoming that fear and getting on the ted stage,
(16:15):
that you've done that in so many other instances too,
Like what is another time where you could have let
fear stop you but you got past it? When I
spoke up about the next Web which is a conference
in Europe, and how they wanted to pay me in exposure, um,
it was definitely a moment where I realized that I
(16:38):
was being asked to be who I said I was
in in public also in private, and speaking up about
it was important because I think systems do definitely count
on our silence for for to cheat us. And in
that time, I was like, well, if I don't speak up,
then who am I expecting to speak up? Like it's
(17:00):
that the person who just started last week? Is that
the person who has never been paid their fee? And
I felt convicted to speak up because whatever loss that
I might face, I'd still be okay. So yeah, I
think that that was definitely another time where I was like, Okay,
I know I could face some real financial loss, but
(17:26):
I think the when we're asked to put our power
and privilege on the line, yeah, those are usually the
moment when we're afraid of losing something, you know. Those
are usually the moment when we wonder whether we are
courageous enough. But I always encourages a decision, So I
made that decision. I think that year was my most
(17:48):
profitable up until that point. I had more speaking engagements
than I could count, and I had more inquiries than
I could count. So it also affirmed to me that
like we're often create eating worst case scenarios in our
heads and opting out of what could possibly be the
best case scenario. How did you meet your husband? We
(18:09):
met at a day party. I pulled his beard. What
I liked about that moment. I mean, it was it
was the year of It was one of my years
of fear fighting. It was when I turned thirty, and
that year I said I was going to do some
things that was unorthodox to me, Like I was gonna
do some things that I would I would typically not do.
(18:32):
And I went to this party, saw this cute guy
walking across from me, and I pulled his beard, which
surprised even me, and then that's how we met. He
was like, do you just pulled my face? And I
was like I did. He was like, Okay, I like it.
You are very strong. How would you have reacted if
(18:52):
he had pulled your hair as a way of saying
hello at the party? For sure? I would have been pissed.
So is that how your relationship goes? The same rules
don't apply to each of you, not necessarily, not necessarily,
But in that moment, again like had he been pissed?
Out of understood? So it takes I mean, we talk
(19:14):
a lot about this on our show about women and
money and confidence and relationships. It takes a very confident
partner to be in a in a great relationship with
someone like you. Talk to us about that dynamic. Well,
I mean, my relationship is when I actually don't even
talk about on on online and just in general because
(19:35):
for me, it's my sacred space and it is something
that I hold there is a lived this really public
world and public everything. So I actually typically don't even
talk about my relationship with my husband and my partner
because I'm like, it's the part that I actually don't
want people to have access to. So we talked about
you know, we started the interview by asking what you
(19:57):
were insecure about as a child, and you spend a
lot of time talking about fear fighting. Now, are there
any things that you're still that you're insecure about today?
Mm hmm, not that much. I think I've I don't
spend a lot of time questioning myself. Actually don't. I
(20:17):
try not to spend a lot of time doubting myself.
Um so no, No, I think I'm pretty much. I
kind of like, yeah, I think I spend more time
just kind of being like, Okay, here's what I love
to do. How can I get better at that thing?
But I don't I wouldn't necessarily call it insecurity because
(20:43):
I'm not constantly like I gotta get better. I'm not
enough at this thing. So yeah, no, how do you
organize your day as you have so much going on?
But I would imagine no day is the same. So
do you create a routine for yourself? The only routine
I had have is that I take lunch from twelve
thirty to one thirty every day. That is the only
(21:05):
routine that I stick to. I go to bed at
different times. Some days will be early, dependent if I'm tired,
some days it's late if I'm watching something. Um. I
don't have any real routines, but I do work for
a lot of my days. Um, I try to be
done and off the computer by like six, but otherwise
(21:27):
my days always look different. Do you work in your home? Yeah? Yeah,
I worked for myself, and I mean after COVID, we
all definitely have to shut down. Where do you say
that you have reached all of your goals or do
you keep making new goals. I don't think I create
big goals necessarily. Like I'll usually write a list of
(21:50):
things that I want to get done that year, but
it's actually a list that I forget once I write it,
and then I revisit it at the beginning of the
next year, and I'm always like, oh, snap, forgot I
wrote this thing, And I think for me, it's also
kind of a way to take the pressure off. I
also think I've spent a lot of time kind of
trust in the universe to take me where it needs
(22:12):
to take me. What I need to keep doing is
doing what I feel like I love to do, writing, um, marketing, storytelling, leaning,
people power. And now for a quick break, Amy, do
you want to go to the lightning round? Yeah, let's
do it. Love you. What are you reading right now? Nothing?
(22:34):
I'm in the middle of the launch. I'm actually reading
nothing right now. What's your favorite book that's not your own?
Tony Morrison Sula? Who leaves you start struck? This is
a good question because when I think of star struck,
I think about, like, who would I meet? Who? Who
I start stumbling over my words and can't say anything.
And my answer is nobody, because I've met those people
(22:55):
and I didn't stumble over my words. So like maybe
five years ago would have said Oprah all Obama, but
I met them. I mean, they're amazing women, but I
approached them like regular people. What's your morning routine? Brush
my teeth, get in the shower, get dressed and then
I sit down on my computer. Are you watching any
TV shows right now? No? The last show that I
(23:18):
did watch though, was Your Honor. Where is the first
place you'll go when you can travel again? Somewhere nice
and beachy, like I need sand, water and sunlight, a
lot of it. If you had a billion dollars, what
would be the cause you would want to give some
of your money to? M M Probably a racial justice
(23:40):
organization that is working on policy and grassroots stuff. So
I would probably want to spread that money amongst like
twenty to thirty organizations that are all doing work that
are interlocked. All right, Well, lou is coming for the
the final question. He's been listening to this interview. Hi
(24:03):
love you. I'm a little star struck. I gotta admit.
You know, one of the talks you did it was
it was the grind before the glow, you know, And
I was and I was thinking about me, like because
I'm a recovering drug addict, and I was like, my
my grind was bad, you know, but my glow is
like so much better, Like my life is so much better,
(24:24):
you know, based off of the decisions that I mean.
So I'm like I did actually apply some of these
things unconsciously, you know. So my my question to you is,
in your grind, what did that really look like? I mean,
it looked like hours behind a computer screen. It looked
like writing and taking on opportunities and creating my own opportunities,
(24:46):
writing for hours every day. Um, there was a point
where I was writing scandal recaps, and those recaps used
to be words, So like every Scandal episode, every Thursday,
I would spend three hours writing this epic recap, where
like if you missed the show, but you read my recap,
(25:09):
you missed nothing. So the grind looked like the unglamorous
moments of staying up until three am to finish this
recap and spending my own money to go to conferences
and just putting in the work that nobody saw. The
pitching myself. Did I've even pitch myself. I just kept writing.
(25:29):
I just wrote a lot and just created content a lot.
So that for me was the grind. And I didn't
even have a team at that point. I didn't even
have an assistant at that point, So I'm answering emails.
I am my own CEO, CEO assistant accountant on my
own social media manager content specialists. So I'm running a
(25:50):
whole company, but I didn't realize that. I just thought
it was just me behind a computer screen. Knew what
I had to do, So that's what the grind looked like,
negotiating stuff myself. It was a lot, but I think
it was necess sary because it prepared me for this moment.
Sam might have to say that my absolute favorite part
of our conversation with Lovey was her story about her
friend that really encouraged her to say yes to the
(26:11):
Ted talk, which when Lovey was so busy had so
much else going on. Uh. It's easy to say no
sometimes when we're busy, when something's on the other side
of the country, but we often need to realize that
these things can be transformative moments in our career. I
think everyone needs a friend like that. We have played
that role in each other's lives many times, even just recently,
(26:32):
and I think that we all need that tribe of
really positive people around us, being like, you go for that,
you got to do this, and I love that story.
Now it's time to turn our attention to project entrepreneurs.
Jamie sears, Jamie, we are so excited to talk to
you today. So we understand that you read Love's book
(26:54):
and it's really been resonating with you. Can you tell
us what your favorite parts are? Yes, I'm so excited
to be or thank you, UM. And I love the
book and I will own that I am a professional troublemaker. UM.
I think there are two things that really resonated with me.
One was doing things that are scary, acknowledging how scary
things aren't doing them anyways, like you know, being a
(27:15):
part of a podcast for me, UM, I think the
idea of also really knowing who you are and how
that can ground and sustain you was something I've been
thinking a lot about that. UM, just about identity and
you know the impact of all of that. UM. I
will say that like for me, I am South Korean.
(27:37):
I you know, I grew up in an orphanage and
was adopted as an older child, you know, into a
family in western Pennsylvania. And you know, fast forward, I've
spent most of my adult life in the New York
City area working in social impact on advancing equity for
women and for communities of color. And I've been doing
(27:59):
that for a while. Can you share with us what
that period was like do you remember being adopted? I
spent most of my years until it was six years
old and in orphanages and UM, in like foster families
in South Korea and Soul. And you know, it was
fortunate because I was six years old when I was adopted. UM.
(28:21):
But the environment that I was adopted into it was
you know, it's a blue color rural town. UM. I
was very different in my hometown and UM, but these
are like these life experiences have shaped a lot of
who I am. And I think it wasn't until I
(28:42):
was an adult and honestly had so much time to
think across about how all these experiences have made me
who I am. And UM really has just given me
a lot of strength to draw on. UM. I think
a lot of the reason why it's even on my
my end is because in reading the book, is I think,
(29:04):
spending a lot of your life sort of feeling like
an outsider, it can feel like UM, like it's not
a strength. But I think what I've realized is that
it really is. UM. It has helped me a lot
in terms of understanding others. You know, I wouldn't change anything,
but it is you know, it's a very particular UM
(29:25):
set of experiences. I feel like that have formed my
identity and now i'm you know, I'm grown up by
have a son, bi racial child, and there's all kinds
of things going on in the world that, you know,
I think has me thinking lots about you know, identity
and how you draw strength from from really knowing who
you are. How How did the Pennsylvania family even find you?
(29:52):
In South Korea? You know, in the eighties, there was
actually a lot of adoptions from South Korea. It was
actually one of the largest UM exporters of children back then.
Um as as weird as that sounds, so yeah, it
was a lot of people came through one of two places,
either Holt International, which is based in Minnesota, which is
(30:16):
why you meet so many Korean adoptees from the Midwest,
and then UM Catholic Social Services, which is actually how
my family, how I connected to my family and my parents,
you know, after I was adopted, two years later, we
actually adopted three more girls from on the same orphanage
where I grew up and UM and so I'm lucky
(30:38):
because they're like my best friends. And talking about your
childhood and the career that you've built you do really
hard things, You take on really big challenges, and as
a founder, I have watched you and ubs support other
founders in this really remarkable way. What have you what
have you learned from working with founders like me and
(31:00):
like Sam about fighting fear. Female founders that have gotten
to know have been literally my greatest source of inspiration,
you know, on the entrepreneur front. I do think that
women who start and grow companies are truly badasses, because
you know, women are not only you know, starting out
(31:21):
companies less capitalized UM black and Latin X women, especially
so because of the racial wealth gap UM, but there's
you know, continues to be gaps in access to networks
and resources and capital to be able to really build
and scale a company the way that it has the
potential to. So, you know, I know it's not UM,
(31:41):
It's not for the faint of heart. I've seen it
a close UM and have just been inspired by how
women continue to be UM, you know, doing all of this,
being you know, the fastest growing group of founders, among
the most productive of our time, outperforming all male founded
teams as research has shown. So I just really feel
(32:04):
like if anyone can can do this, it's women. What
opportunities are you seeing for female founders as we transition
out of the pandemic. There's a lot of reasons to
be optimistic, but I will say we've all seen that
the pandemic has not been kind to women on a
lot of levels. And when I look at venture capital
(32:28):
and the venture capital has has continued to grow, but
start up investment into female founded companies, you know, was
down at an ecosystem level. I think there's just a
breadth of resources and community out there for founders. It's
also been amazing to see all of these new funds
that are being raised in the past few years, UM,
(32:49):
including that focused specifically on investing in underrepresented founders, women
and founders of color. And I think this is a
real recognition of the talent that exists, but is you know,
under valued and underinvested in and therefore for investors there's
alpha there. So UM we will at Project Entrepreneur definitely
(33:11):
continue to offer programming to get founders investment ready and
build intentional networks and community to help them really grow
and thrive. Seeing hybrid accelerator and sort of start up
studio programs that blend in person and virtual is is
actually more flexible and better for women. What industries do
(33:32):
you think we should be looking out for. It does
seem like the industries connected to you know, some of
the ways that we work are going to be things
to watch out for. UM. What I mean by that
is obviously there will likely be you know, maybe more
remote working and more virtual events and less travel and
(33:54):
ways that people want to continue to connect, but might
not be the way that you know, we did um
into the nineteen so things I think related to what
we learned through the pandemic I think are the sort
of immediate areas of opportunity that I think investors are
actually looking to. What has this pandemic taught you about
(34:16):
yourself and how is it going to change the way
you work moving forward. I feel like this really proved
to me that, you know, I'm probably more resilient, UM
and adaptable than I thought I was. UM. I think
we all just get really used to things being a
certain way, things that we thought we needed to do
in terms of For example, one of the things for
(34:37):
me was traveling a lot for work, and a lot
of people have been talking about that because you know,
it took us away from being at home and if
we have family and stuff like that. So I think
that that has changed me forever because I have, um,
you know, I've just so enjoyed being at home more
and spending the kind of time that we likely will
(34:58):
never have. I know. Is that amazing. Amy and I
talked about it all the time that we used to
be on the road so often, and now I don't
think we'll ever go back to that lifestyle the way
it was, because you've realized how much can get done
without being in person. Thank you so much for being
part of it. Thank you so much. Thanks for listening
(35:19):
to What's Her Story with Sam and Amy. We would
so appreciate if you would leave a view wherever you
get your podcasts, and of course connect with us on
social media and What's Her Story of podcast. What's Her
Story with Sam and Amy is powered by my company,
The Riveter at The Riveter dot c o in Sam's company,
park Place Payments at park place payments dot com. Thanks
(35:40):
to our producer and editor Laurel Mowglan, our podcast associate
Phoebe crane Bus, and our male perspective Lue Burns. Five
Hi, I'm Sam Edis and I'm Amy Nelson. Welcome to
What's Her Story? With Sam and Amy. This is a
show about the world's most remarkable women, their professional and
personal journeys. Together, we'll hear from Gold medalists, best selling authors,
and leaders of the world's most iconic brands. We're so
excited that today's episode is sponsored by Project Entrepreneur, a
(00:24):
program by UBS that accelerates the growth of female founded
companies by increasing their investment readiness and connecting them to
the resources and networks they need to build and grow
their businesses. The Riveter has been a part of Project
Entrepreneur in many different ways and it is an incredible program.
In fact, since it's launched in Project Entrepreneur has supported
(00:44):
more than eighteen hundred female founders who have gone on
to raise nearly fifty five million dollars in funding. Please
stick around to the end of the podcast and meet
one of the founders of Project Entrepreneur, Jamie Sears, head
of UBS Community Affairs and Corporate Responsibility. Jamie's story is
incredible and you won't want to miss it. And now
(01:06):
we have speaker and author Lovey Jai Jones. She is
here to celebrate her newest book, Professional Troublemaker, The Fear
Fighter Manual Lovey. You grew up in Nigeria. What was
your childhood like. My childhood was normal, you know, grew
up in the household and loving household in Nigeria with siblings. Yeah,
(01:26):
I mean it was fine. I actually don't even know
how to answer that question. What did you worry about
as a kid? What were you insecure about? Dan ask
a good question. I don't remember being insecure about much.
What was the contrast like when you got to America
and started your life here with your family? Do you
remember that is being a seismic event. Yeah, I mean
(01:49):
moving from one continent to another, warm place to a
cold place, a place where everybody was black and then
here on a little bit were black. It was absolutely
a major culture shift and a momentous change. My accent
was different for the first time, my name was different
for the first time, and it was definitely the first
(02:12):
time that I was the new girl anywhere. So yeah,
that was absolutely a huge shift. How did you adapt
to being the new girl? I listened to the other
kids talk, and I lost most of my accent in
a few years. I I didn't go by my first name,
which is Ifiel Lua now was lovette Um. But I
still brought my dollar Frice to school. I still spoke
(02:36):
urba most of the time at home. But yeah, I
think kids are very adaptable, So I pretty much adapted
pretty easily, got friends and kind of blended in after
a bit. And what was your relationship with their siblings
like then compared to how it is today? M hmm.
(02:59):
I mean, my really ship my servants hasn't much changed
over the years. We've always been closed, so that's that
hasn't been a big shift or anything like that. What
do they do, I mean, you're so in the public eye.
Are they in the public eye? No, not at all.
My family is pretty private. They are definitely not public
in any way. And they're regular people. I'm a regular person,
(03:20):
but they're definitely not visible. What do they think about
you being in the public eye. My family is really supportive,
their vocal about you know, loving what I do. They're
really proud. Tell us about your evolution to becoming a blogger. Yeah,
So when I started college in two thousands two, my
(03:41):
major was actually psychology premed because I thought i'd be
a doctor. You know that was a dream, that was
the thing that I wanted to do, and I started
school with that intention and then I took chemistry one
on one and that did the dream because I end
up getting a D and it was the first be
(04:03):
of my active and career. Was kind of shocked my
system because I was definitely not used to failing, and
I considered a de failing. I was not used to
not getting the grade I expected. And I think though,
I think it was a moment of realization because I
(04:23):
was like, yo, you actually tried and you failed it,
so you probably don't want to be a doctor. And
actually really did realize in that moment that I did
not want to be a doctor. That it had been
a dream that was not necessarily mine. Was kind of
like passed to me and I dropped it. I instantly
dropped the premed Who was it passed to you from
(04:45):
family friends? I mean, I'm Nigerian, so being a Nigerian,
they you know, doctor, lawyer, m accountants are pretty much
things that you're encouraged to do. So I was like, oh,
I picked doctor. That semester, I actually started blogging, So yeah,
one dream was dying and no, that was being birthed
(05:05):
and then so I had my blog all through college.
After I graduated, I deleted my college blog and I
started awesome to Love You dot com to talk less
about myself and more about the world as I see it,
and I just never stopped. What blogs did you read
before you started your own? None? So how did you
(05:27):
know about blogging? My friends were like, we're gonna start blogging,
and I was like, okay, Like back then, Zanging Life
journal were big. Apparently I don't remember reading any blogs
that like stood out. But I mean you think about
the micro blog that was happening on like black Planet
and stuff like that. But like I wasn't like deep
into the blogg of sphere. I was just like, Okay,
my friends want to start this online journal, let's do it.
(05:48):
And that's what happened. So tell us how you went
from becoming a blogger in college? Right? Could A lot
of people say, oh my gosh, I want to be
a best selling author, but but do I just start
with a blog? Then it just happens? I mean, how
did it happen to you? So I started blogging in
two thousand three, got the new blog in two thousand
and six, I kept on blogging, and more and more
(06:10):
people just started seeing my blog and finding it and saying,
you know, it was beneficial to them in some way
or my words had some type of impact on them.
I got laid off my full time job in two
thousand and ten ap and that's the last full time
job I had where I was wasn't working for myself,
Like it was basically the chance for me to take
(06:31):
this blogging thing seriously. I was doing um social media
consulting for small businesses and other bloggers when I got
laid off my job, but I would still be blogging.
I wasn't creating ads. I wasn't like, oh, I'm going
to do this thing and this thing will come from it.
It just was like people will read my site and
share it with somebody that they know, and then that
(06:52):
person shares it, and it grew from there. And I
think the writing. I've always been a marketer, but the
writing kept on coming right next to it. And yeah,
and then I think in two thousand and twelve, I
got credential to do press coverage of the Academy Awards.
From there a lot of doors open. I started getting
(07:15):
columns and to write recaps my scandal recaps got big.
People will find me for one thing and stay for
something else, and it was it's just like this snowball
effect ultimately, like I was not necessarily trying to have
(07:36):
a particular thing happened because I was writing. I think
I was purely writing because I loved it. I was
writing because it felt natural, Like it felt like if
I didn't write, I wasn't doing what I was supposed
to do. I just kept getting rewarded for I got
my first book deal in two thousand and fifteen for
I'm Judging You Did Do Better Manual. I wrote that
(07:59):
book in five months that year. The book came out
September six, and more magic started happening because the book
hit the Times List at number five. Did you ever
worry about money and in supporting yourself, you know, after
you were laid off? Yeah, I definitely did. I think
(08:21):
I um, I was like, how am I going to
make money? You know doing what I'm doing? But I
was like, you know what I'm gonna I'm a hustler.
I That's where the small business consultant came in. I
was like, I will, you know, help other bloggers do
what I've already done for myself in terms of because
I built my own blog at that point, my marketing
(08:42):
and communications background gave me the very specific experience that
I could use to help other people. I definitely hustled.
Did you have sel to become a New York Times bestseller?
I mean, how much of that was right place, the
right time versus the blood, sweat and tears you put
into it. Most of it was blood, foot and tears.
I don't think any of it was by accident. You know.
(09:04):
I absolutely put Empowered book one and becoming a New
York Times bestseller. I called in all my friends. UM.
I made sure that they when they said like, how
can we help, let us know? I actually let them know.
UM empowered that. You know. I made sure that the
(09:25):
resources that I had available to me that I used them,
because I think a lot of times we won't use it.
We won't use it, We'll just say you know, I
got it, I'll make it work, And I'm like, no, no,
for this. I knew how important it was for this
book to succeed. So I was like, whatever qualms I
have about asking for help, I'm going to make sure
I ask for help. And that's what I do you
(09:46):
bring up a great point. I don't think a lot
of people understand what it means to ask for help
right because they're not exactly specific about how someone can
help them. So what were the specific instructions or a
requests that you made of the people in your network
to get the book to be so wildly popular. One
(10:08):
thing I was like, share it with the people you know.
That's that's an easy one. But I also, you know,
depend on who it was. If they were at a
corporate level, I'd say, hey, you know, I'd love to
come in and do a talk, or if they had
a particular connection that's impressed, Hey, I'd love to do
an interview. I think I got really specific with how
(10:29):
people can be helpful to me based on what they
were already in, like the realm that they were already in.
I wasn't asking people to kind of do something that
wasn't natural to them, so all they had to do
was say yes. They had very few reasons to say no,
and I think some people got to share. Some people
got to like make a phone call to give me
(10:50):
access to something. I basically use my network because they
already also trusted my work and they knew it was good,
so they knew they were watching for some than good.
And now for a quick break. So tell us about
the time between book one and now the evolution. I
think I've grown as a writer, as a person, as
(11:12):
a thinker. I've gotten to do a Ted talk in there.
I wanted to write when I felt like I had
something to say, and for a book too. I got
clear about it after I did my Ted talk. I
was asked do my Ted talk six or nine months
after the book one came out, and I was really
busy at that point, and I turned it down because
I was like, I'm not gonna have time to focus
(11:34):
on a Ted talk, and as I had like forty
forty five speaking engagements that year, so I said no
because I was also kinmon was I think I realized
that I was afraid of bombing. Three weeks before Ted,
I realized that I actually don't have to be the
three Percent conference until November two, and I was like, oh,
(11:56):
I can go to Ted for one day the first day.
So I hit him up and said I'd love to
get a pass to Ted, and Pat Mitchell was like, well,
if you can come, we want you to speak. And
I remember I was about to send them an email.
I was about to send Pat an email saying, oh
my gosh, thank you for the vote of confidence. But
(12:17):
that's gonna be a no, because that's crazy. That's three
weeks away. I have to come with the whole new talk.
I don't think that's even possible. And I was about
to send the email and press send, but I called
my friend Unique and I was like, Okay, check this out.
This is kind of crazy. Ted wants me to speak there.
I don't think I can do it. Like everybody else
has already gotten all this practice. They've already gotten, you know,
(12:39):
their talks figured out for months, They've already gotten coached
for months. And Unique said to me, everybody, ain't you.
She was like, you're coaching has been the fact that
you've been on the stage every two days, the fact
that you've been speaking for at that point seven years.
She was like, everybody's not you. So I need you
(13:00):
to get off my phone and go write this talk.
And I was like, well, okay, And I deleted the
email to Pat and I wrote my talk. Not that night.
I wrote that talk in an uber on the way
to another city that I was going to because Ted
would in my script. When I sent him the script,
they're applied back a couple of hours later, like we
(13:21):
love it, only a couple of edits, which was like what?
So I ended up doing this TED talk and with
this brand new talk that I created, and it was
like an out of body experience because I got on
that stage and I gave the talk like I've been
doing it a thousand times, like there's so many opportunities
(13:42):
for me to bow out, but I wasn't allowed to
bow out from my friend from Pat Mitchell, who was
a curt wator of TED women, and i'bo just like
what happens? Like how many times in our lives have
we been these people? Like how many times have we
actually let fear stop us from doing what was necessary?
(14:03):
So I felt convicted to write this book about it
because I'm like, my journey is more about the multiple
times when I have been afraid. But I did it anyways,
and it affirmed to me the thing that I've already known,
which is like when I do the things that scare me,
I win. I we I think we both have a
bunch of follow up questions to this because it's so interesting,
But I want to go back to the very beginning,
(14:25):
and you said yes to forty five speaking engagements that year,
but not the Ted Talk. And you know you've talked
a lot about fear, But is that why you said no? Like,
why was it different to give the Ted talk in
your mind then to give these other forty five speaking engagements?
Because Ted is Ted. Ted is a huge stage. It's
a career changer. It's massive, like people who do Ted
(14:47):
official talks that go well, like Ted is one of
the best things you can do for your career as
a speaker, you know, and if you bomb on the
Ted stage, what does that mean for your speaking career?
So love you. There's another person or another name besides
Ted that played a huge role in this, and that's Unique.
Who is she? Unique is one of my really good friends.
(15:10):
She is the cultural architect. She's also the creator of
a game called culture Tags. She's the closest thing I
have to a coworker. We call each other with ideas
every day, like we talk about life, work. And what
she did was she loaned me courage, you know, in
the moment when I didn't have any for myself or
(15:30):
I was doubting myself and she was like, No, I
love that phrase she loaned me courage. That's a great
way to describe it. And obviously it led to the
Fear Fighter Manual in your new book. Absolutely, absolutely it was.
It was an amazing moment of friendship, of people believing
in you even when you don't necessarily believe in yourself. Yeah,
(15:53):
who else is on your personal board of advisors? I
have a crew of people Bozma, Saint John, Justina Moka.
I'm surrounded by people who are constantly giving me permission
to be bigger. Without giving way too much of the
book because everyone needs to read it. You mentioned been
talking about overcoming that fear and getting on the ted stage,
(16:15):
that you've done that in so many other instances too,
Like what is another time where you could have let
fear stop you but you got past it? When I
spoke up about the next Web which is a conference
in Europe, and how they wanted to pay me in exposure, um,
it was definitely a moment where I realized that I
(16:38):
was being asked to be who I said I was
in in public also in private, and speaking up about
it was important because I think systems do definitely count
on our silence for for to cheat us. And in
that time, I was like, well, if I don't speak up,
then who am I expecting to speak up? Like it's
(17:00):
that the person who just started last week? Is that
the person who has never been paid their fee? And
I felt convicted to speak up because whatever loss that
I might face, I'd still be okay. So yeah, I
think that that was definitely another time where I was like, Okay,
I know I could face some real financial loss, but
(17:26):
I think the when we're asked to put our power
and privilege on the line, yeah, those are usually the
moment when we're afraid of losing something, you know. Those
are usually the moment when we wonder whether we are
courageous enough. But I always encourages a decision, So I
made that decision. I think that year was my most
(17:48):
profitable up until that point. I had more speaking engagements
than I could count, and I had more inquiries than
I could count. So it also affirmed to me that
like we're often create eating worst case scenarios in our
heads and opting out of what could possibly be the
best case scenario. How did you meet your husband? We
(18:09):
met at a day party. I pulled his beard. What
I liked about that moment. I mean, it was it
was the year of It was one of my years
of fear fighting. It was when I turned thirty, and
that year I said I was going to do some
things that was unorthodox to me, Like I was gonna
do some things that I would I would typically not do.
(18:32):
And I went to this party, saw this cute guy
walking across from me, and I pulled his beard, which
surprised even me, and then that's how we met. He
was like, do you just pulled my face? And I
was like I did. He was like, Okay, I like it.
You are very strong. How would you have reacted if
(18:52):
he had pulled your hair as a way of saying
hello at the party? For sure? I would have been pissed.
So is that how your relationship goes? The same rules
don't apply to each of you, not necessarily, not necessarily,
But in that moment, again like had he been pissed?
Out of understood? So it takes I mean, we talk
(19:14):
a lot about this on our show about women and
money and confidence and relationships. It takes a very confident
partner to be in a in a great relationship with
someone like you. Talk to us about that dynamic. Well,
I mean, my relationship is when I actually don't even
talk about on on online and just in general because
(19:35):
for me, it's my sacred space and it is something
that I hold there is a lived this really public
world and public everything. So I actually typically don't even
talk about my relationship with my husband and my partner
because I'm like, it's the part that I actually don't
want people to have access to. So we talked about
you know, we started the interview by asking what you
(19:57):
were insecure about as a child, and you spend a
lot of time talking about fear fighting. Now, are there
any things that you're still that you're insecure about today?
Mm hmm, not that much. I think I've I don't
spend a lot of time questioning myself. Actually don't. I
(20:17):
try not to spend a lot of time doubting myself.
Um so no, No, I think I'm pretty much. I
kind of like, yeah, I think I spend more time
just kind of being like, Okay, here's what I love
to do. How can I get better at that thing?
But I don't I wouldn't necessarily call it insecurity because
(20:43):
I'm not constantly like I gotta get better. I'm not
enough at this thing. So yeah, no, how do you
organize your day as you have so much going on?
But I would imagine no day is the same. So
do you create a routine for yourself? The only routine
I had have is that I take lunch from twelve
thirty to one thirty every day. That is the only
(21:05):
routine that I stick to. I go to bed at
different times. Some days will be early, dependent if I'm tired,
some days it's late if I'm watching something. Um. I
don't have any real routines, but I do work for
a lot of my days. Um, I try to be
done and off the computer by like six, but otherwise
(21:27):
my days always look different. Do you work in your home? Yeah? Yeah,
I worked for myself, and I mean after COVID, we
all definitely have to shut down. Where do you say
that you have reached all of your goals or do
you keep making new goals. I don't think I create
big goals necessarily. Like I'll usually write a list of
(21:50):
things that I want to get done that year, but
it's actually a list that I forget once I write it,
and then I revisit it at the beginning of the
next year, and I'm always like, oh, snap, forgot I
wrote this thing, And I think for me, it's also
kind of a way to take the pressure off. I
also think I've spent a lot of time kind of
trust in the universe to take me where it needs
(22:12):
to take me. What I need to keep doing is
doing what I feel like I love to do, writing, um, marketing, storytelling, leaning,
people power. And now for a quick break, Amy, do
you want to go to the lightning round? Yeah, let's
do it. Love you. What are you reading right now? Nothing?
(22:34):
I'm in the middle of the launch. I'm actually reading
nothing right now. What's your favorite book that's not your own?
Tony Morrison Sula? Who leaves you start struck? This is
a good question because when I think of star struck,
I think about, like, who would I meet? Who? Who
I start stumbling over my words and can't say anything.
And my answer is nobody, because I've met those people
(22:55):
and I didn't stumble over my words. So like maybe
five years ago would have said Oprah all Obama, but
I met them. I mean, they're amazing women, but I
approached them like regular people. What's your morning routine? Brush
my teeth, get in the shower, get dressed and then
I sit down on my computer. Are you watching any
TV shows right now? No? The last show that I
(23:18):
did watch though, was Your Honor. Where is the first
place you'll go when you can travel again? Somewhere nice
and beachy, like I need sand, water and sunlight, a
lot of it. If you had a billion dollars, what
would be the cause you would want to give some
of your money to? M M Probably a racial justice
(23:40):
organization that is working on policy and grassroots stuff. So
I would probably want to spread that money amongst like
twenty to thirty organizations that are all doing work that
are interlocked. All right, Well, lou is coming for the
the final question. He's been listening to this interview. Hi
(24:03):
love you. I'm a little star struck. I gotta admit.
You know, one of the talks you did it was
it was the grind before the glow, you know, And
I was and I was thinking about me, like because
I'm a recovering drug addict, and I was like, my
my grind was bad, you know, but my glow is
like so much better, Like my life is so much better,
(24:24):
you know, based off of the decisions that I mean.
So I'm like I did actually apply some of these
things unconsciously, you know. So my my question to you is,
in your grind, what did that really look like? I mean,
it looked like hours behind a computer screen. It looked
like writing and taking on opportunities and creating my own opportunities,
(24:46):
writing for hours every day. Um, there was a point
where I was writing scandal recaps, and those recaps used
to be words, So like every Scandal episode, every Thursday,
I would spend three hours writing this epic recap, where
like if you missed the show, but you read my recap,
(25:09):
you missed nothing. So the grind looked like the unglamorous
moments of staying up until three am to finish this
recap and spending my own money to go to conferences
and just putting in the work that nobody saw. The
pitching myself. Did I've even pitch myself. I just kept writing.
(25:29):
I just wrote a lot and just created content a lot.
So that for me was the grind. And I didn't
even have a team at that point. I didn't even
have an assistant at that point, So I'm answering emails.
I am my own CEO, CEO assistant accountant on my
own social media manager content specialists. So I'm running a
(25:50):
whole company, but I didn't realize that. I just thought
it was just me behind a computer screen. Knew what
I had to do, So that's what the grind looked like,
negotiating stuff myself. It was a lot, but I think
it was necess sary because it prepared me for this moment.
Sam might have to say that my absolute favorite part
of our conversation with Lovey was her story about her
friend that really encouraged her to say yes to the
(26:11):
Ted talk, which when Lovey was so busy had so
much else going on. Uh. It's easy to say no
sometimes when we're busy, when something's on the other side
of the country, but we often need to realize that
these things can be transformative moments in our career. I
think everyone needs a friend like that. We have played
that role in each other's lives many times, even just recently,
(26:32):
and I think that we all need that tribe of
really positive people around us, being like, you go for that,
you got to do this, and I love that story.
Now it's time to turn our attention to project entrepreneurs.
Jamie sears, Jamie, we are so excited to talk to
you today. So we understand that you read Love's book
(26:54):
and it's really been resonating with you. Can you tell
us what your favorite parts are? Yes, I'm so excited
to be or thank you, UM. And I love the
book and I will own that I am a professional troublemaker. UM.
I think there are two things that really resonated with me.
One was doing things that are scary, acknowledging how scary
things aren't doing them anyways, like you know, being a
(27:15):
part of a podcast for me, UM, I think the
idea of also really knowing who you are and how
that can ground and sustain you was something I've been
thinking a lot about that. UM, just about identity and
you know the impact of all of that. UM. I
will say that like for me, I am South Korean.
(27:37):
I you know, I grew up in an orphanage and
was adopted as an older child, you know, into a
family in western Pennsylvania. And you know, fast forward, I've
spent most of my adult life in the New York
City area working in social impact on advancing equity for
women and for communities of color. And I've been doing
(27:59):
that for a while. Can you share with us what
that period was like do you remember being adopted? I
spent most of my years until it was six years
old and in orphanages and UM, in like foster families
in South Korea and Soul. And you know, it was
fortunate because I was six years old when I was adopted. UM.
(28:21):
But the environment that I was adopted into it was
you know, it's a blue color rural town. UM. I
was very different in my hometown and UM, but these
are like these life experiences have shaped a lot of
who I am. And I think it wasn't until I
(28:42):
was an adult and honestly had so much time to
think across about how all these experiences have made me
who I am. And UM really has just given me
a lot of strength to draw on. UM. I think
a lot of the reason why it's even on my
my end is because in reading the book, is I think,
(29:04):
spending a lot of your life sort of feeling like
an outsider, it can feel like UM, like it's not
a strength. But I think what I've realized is that
it really is. UM. It has helped me a lot
in terms of understanding others. You know, I wouldn't change anything,
but it is you know, it's a very particular UM
(29:25):
set of experiences. I feel like that have formed my
identity and now i'm you know, I'm grown up by
have a son, bi racial child, and there's all kinds
of things going on in the world that, you know,
I think has me thinking lots about you know, identity
and how you draw strength from from really knowing who
you are. How How did the Pennsylvania family even find you?
(29:52):
In South Korea? You know, in the eighties, there was
actually a lot of adoptions from South Korea. It was
actually one of the largest UM exporters of children back then.
Um as as weird as that sounds, so yeah, it
was a lot of people came through one of two places,
either Holt International, which is based in Minnesota, which is
(30:16):
why you meet so many Korean adoptees from the Midwest,
and then UM Catholic Social Services, which is actually how
my family, how I connected to my family and my parents,
you know, after I was adopted, two years later, we
actually adopted three more girls from on the same orphanage
where I grew up and UM and so I'm lucky
(30:38):
because they're like my best friends. And talking about your
childhood and the career that you've built you do really
hard things, You take on really big challenges, and as
a founder, I have watched you and ubs support other
founders in this really remarkable way. What have you what
have you learned from working with founders like me and
(31:00):
like Sam about fighting fear. Female founders that have gotten
to know have been literally my greatest source of inspiration,
you know, on the entrepreneur front. I do think that
women who start and grow companies are truly badasses, because
you know, women are not only you know, starting out
(31:21):
companies less capitalized UM black and Latin X women, especially
so because of the racial wealth gap UM, but there's
you know, continues to be gaps in access to networks
and resources and capital to be able to really build
and scale a company the way that it has the
potential to. So, you know, I know it's not UM,
(31:41):
It's not for the faint of heart. I've seen it
a close UM and have just been inspired by how
women continue to be UM, you know, doing all of this,
being you know, the fastest growing group of founders, among
the most productive of our time, outperforming all male founded
teams as research has shown. So I just really feel
(32:04):
like if anyone can can do this, it's women. What
opportunities are you seeing for female founders as we transition
out of the pandemic. There's a lot of reasons to
be optimistic, but I will say we've all seen that
the pandemic has not been kind to women on a
lot of levels. And when I look at venture capital
(32:28):
and the venture capital has has continued to grow, but
start up investment into female founded companies, you know, was
down at an ecosystem level. I think there's just a
breadth of resources and community out there for founders. It's
also been amazing to see all of these new funds
that are being raised in the past few years, UM,
(32:49):
including that focused specifically on investing in underrepresented founders, women
and founders of color. And I think this is a
real recognition of the talent that exists, but is you know,
under valued and underinvested in and therefore for investors there's
alpha there. So UM we will at Project Entrepreneur definitely
(33:11):
continue to offer programming to get founders investment ready and
build intentional networks and community to help them really grow
and thrive. Seeing hybrid accelerator and sort of start up
studio programs that blend in person and virtual is is
actually more flexible and better for women. What industries do
(33:32):
you think we should be looking out for. It does
seem like the industries connected to you know, some of
the ways that we work are going to be things
to watch out for. UM. What I mean by that
is obviously there will likely be you know, maybe more
remote working and more virtual events and less travel and
(33:54):
ways that people want to continue to connect, but might
not be the way that you know, we did um
into the nineteen so things I think related to what
we learned through the pandemic I think are the sort
of immediate areas of opportunity that I think investors are
actually looking to. What has this pandemic taught you about
(34:16):
yourself and how is it going to change the way
you work moving forward. I feel like this really proved
to me that, you know, I'm probably more resilient, UM
and adaptable than I thought I was. UM. I think
we all just get really used to things being a
certain way, things that we thought we needed to do
in terms of For example, one of the things for
(34:37):
me was traveling a lot for work, and a lot
of people have been talking about that because you know,
it took us away from being at home and if
we have family and stuff like that. So I think
that that has changed me forever because I have, um,
you know, I've just so enjoyed being at home more
and spending the kind of time that we likely will
(34:58):
never have. I know. Is that amazing. Amy and I
talked about it all the time that we used to
be on the road so often, and now I don't
think we'll ever go back to that lifestyle the way
it was, because you've realized how much can get done
without being in person. Thank you so much for being
part of it. Thank you so much. Thanks for listening
(35:19):
to What's Her Story with Sam and Amy. We would
so appreciate if you would leave a view wherever you
get your podcasts, and of course connect with us on
social media and What's Her Story of podcast. What's Her
Story with Sam and Amy is powered by my company,
The Riveter at The Riveter dot c o in Sam's company,
park Place Payments at park place payments dot com. Thanks
(35:40):
to our producer and editor Laurel Mowglan, our podcast associate
Phoebe crane Bus, and our male perspective Lue Burns. Five
Hosts And Creators
Samantha Ettus
Amy Nelson
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