October 1, 2025 • 23 mins
Cut The Tie Podcast with Anika Jackson
What happens when you realize you don’t fit into a box—and you’re not supposed to? In this episode of Cut The Tie, Thomas Helfrich sits down with Anika Jackson, founder of Your Brand Amplified®, professor at USC Annenberg, single mom, podcaster, and executive director at the ICL Foundation. From PR to AI, curriculum development to podcast consulting, Anika has cut ties with traditional definitions of success and leaned fully into her multi-passionate path. The result? A thriving business, a top 1.5% global podcast, and a mission to merge technology with humanity.
About Anika Jackson
Anika Jackson is the founder of Your Brand Amplified®, a branding, marketing, PR, AI for business, and podcast consulting agency that helps entrepreneurs and organizations find their authentic voice. Her podcast of the same name ranks in the top 1.5% globally. In addition, Anika teaches graduate courses at USC Annenberg in digital media management and social media, where she has pioneered AI-first curriculum. She also serves as Executive Director of the ICL Foundation and ICL Academy, developing innovative curriculum and weaving AI into education and business practices. As a single mom and MBA candidate at Villanova specializing in AI/ML, Anika lives at the intersection of technology, education, and philanthropy—unapologetically multi-passionate.
In this episode, Thomas and Anika discuss:
- Cutting ties with “traditional” career paths
Why Anika walked away from agencies and roles that didn’t align with her values or purpose. - Living unapologetically multi-passionate
How embracing her wide range of passions led to synergy across teaching, PR, AI, podcasting, and philanthropy. - Building a business through faith and persistence
The moment she “gave it up to the universe” and landed a PR contract that grew into a 20-person firm during the pandemic. - Using AI without losing humanity
Why she’s passionate about creating AI tools that enhance authenticity, efficiency, and connection rather than replace it.
Key Takeaways:
- Success is passion + purpose
Don’t chase other people’s definitions—design your own. - It’s okay to be multi-passionate
Your unique intersections may be your biggest advantage. - Volunteering builds real leadership
Free training in EQ, delegation, and public speaking pays lifelong dividends. - AI is a tool, not a replacement
Use technology to amplify your humanity—not erase it.
Connect with Anika Jackson:
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anikajackson/
🌐 Website: https://yourbrandamplified.com/
Connect with Thomas Helfrich:
📣 Twitter: https://twitter.com/thelfrich
📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/cutthetie/
💼 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thomashelfrich/
🌐 Website: http://www.cutthetie.com
📧 Email: t@instantlyrelevant.com
🚀 http://instantlyrelevant.com
Serious about LinkedIn Lead Generation? Stop Guessing what to do on LinkedIn and ignite revenue from relevance with Instantly Relevant Lead System
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Welcome to the Cut the Tide podcast.
Hi, I'm your host, ThomasHelfrick, and I'm on a mission
to help you cut the tide orwhatever it is hold you back
from success.
And that success is defined byyou and no one else.
So if you haven't done that,start with that.
But today's guest is AnicaJackson.
Annika, how are you?
SPEAKER_01 (00:15):
I am good.
As always, doing a million andone things and always something
new.
Every time we speak, I'm you andI both have something new going
on.
SPEAKER_00 (00:24):
And that's why we're here.
We're going to hear about whatthat means.
Take a moment, introduceyourself and what it is.
Oh, what are the things that youdo?
SPEAKER_01 (00:32):
Well, thank you.
I am the founder of your brandAmplified, which uh started out
as my business podcast for my PRfirm and now is a full branding
marketing PR, AI for businessand podcast consulting agency
and consultancy.
I love helping entrepreneurs andorganizations really figure out
(00:52):
who they are, how best topresent their message and feel
really authentic in sharing itso that they can reach the right
people at the right time.
And my podcast ranks in the top1.5% globally.
I also teach grad school at USCAnnenberg across digital media
management and digital socialmedia.
I've also taught in the PR andbranding side.
And I am executive director atthe ICL Foundation, which has
(01:15):
now morphed into working on thefoundation and the online
private school for middle schooland high school kids.
We have ICL Academy, and I'mhelping develop curriculum.
Weave AI into a lot of thebusiness practices on both
sides, handling the PR.
And also the founder juststarted podcasts.
So I'm helping produce thispodcast.
(01:37):
So that's that's a small sample.
SPEAKER_00 (01:40):
And you have kids and uh single mom.
SPEAKER_01 (01:44):
I'm getting finishing my MBA.
Yeah, I'm finishing my MBA atVillanova right now with a
specialty in AIML.
And I'm really leaning into thatconvergence of who I am.
unknown (01:58):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (01:58):
And if you Google her name, it'll it'll actually
just say overachiever right nextto your name.
And it'll give the it'll give acouple examples of why.
Um Liz, I usually ask thequestion of kind of why people
pick you, but uh I want to takea slightly different just path
on it and just kind of dive intohow you're gonna because because
you have a lot of things you'redoing really well um around the
(02:18):
media space.
Uh, but specifically, just startwith how you're defining success
today, given all the thingsyou're doing.
SPEAKER_01 (02:24):
Oh yeah.
So uh how I define success isliving in my passion and
purpose.
And I think that takes time forpeople to realize we we follow
little paths, and then we haveto figure out what part of them
serve us and when we need tomove on.
And so one thing I've had toreally look at myself and say is
I'm multi-passionate, and I haveto say I'm unapologetically
(02:48):
multi-passionate.
I'm not the person who you'regonna fit into one box and one
role.
As you can see from starting outas the executive director of a
foundation and now moving intocurriculum development, helping
leave AI into the tools,creating different work streams
and workflows with AI for thebusiness practices, PR podcast
producing, all of that stuff,right?
(03:10):
So it I love places where andspaces where I can really carve
a role for myself.
Even at USC, start out teachingon the PR side, moved into the
digital media communicationside, turned a speaker series
into a podcast there.
Now I've created AI curriculumthat I'm using for my classes,
and now I'm helping restructurethe entire digital media
management program to be AIfirst.
(03:32):
And then now I've createdcourses for other programs so
that I can take everything I'velearned and help students do the
very best that they can and betheir full authentic selves.
So it's really technology,education, and philanthropy is
my intersection.
And I I love figuring out how toblend the human side of things
(03:53):
with technology to achieve thebest results we can.
So I can't, I'm not a specialistat any one thing, but I can kind
of see where things are neededfor different people.
SPEAKER_00 (04:04):
Well, so you find the success uh and you know, you
don't, you know, there's ajourney to get there.
So tell me a little bit aboutthat journey and specifically
what the metaphoric big tie wasyou had to cut to get to that
success.
SPEAKER_01 (04:17):
Oof.
Well, um, one of the big cutties I had to cut is I is really
uh the fact that I realizedtraditional approaches weren't
my jam and that I needed to leaninto that and my weirdness,
right?
Or my love of continuing tolearn and be multi-passionate.
And that was okay.
(04:37):
And that would be moremeaningful to me and also it
would help more people aroundme.
So I was choosing betweenprofit, between and purpose.
I was going to work for multipleagencies, making really good
money where I thought we had thesame intentionality.
And then I'd get into the agencyand realize that what I'd been
sold on was not exactly what Iwas getting.
(04:58):
And I'm not really good atstaying places.
I'm kind of like, I look, likeyou said, like an overachiever,
people pleaser, probably in someways.
I toe the line, but I'm actuallya lot of a rebel.
So if you tell me to dosomething, probably not gonna do
it.
Um, and that goes for anythingfrom trying to do an exercise
challenge to working in anenvironment where I'm realizing
(05:20):
that what they're telling me andwho they are or what they're
saying about who they are isn'tgelling with the actions that
they're taking, the clientsthey're bringing in, other parts
of the business, how they'retreating me and other people.
So I had it, I've had to do thismultiple times.
So I'm still, it's one of thoserecurring life lessons, right?
I've had to cut the tie and go,I need to walk away from this.
This is not for me.
(05:40):
And then get into my ownbusiness again and then have
another opportunity that lookedlike a golden goose.
Go back and go, oh, I'm doingthe same thing again.
Right.
So this is a repeating patternand something I'm still
learning.
But I I really feel now I'velearned that lesson and I've
been able, I'm cutting that tieand leaning fully into what
makes me unique and what I canbring to the table that is in
(06:02):
service to other people.
SPEAKER_00 (06:04):
It it's it's hard too, because underneath that,
right, the layers of that arepeople's expectations of you,
uh, you know, things you've paidmoney for, training, whatever.
You know, and like theseinvestments in time and then the
social circles that look at yougo, they don't well, they're not
you, and they're not in yourskin, and they just look at you
and not you, but one in a way ofyou're all over the place, and
(06:27):
and you're just searching, andand and no one there has a clue
what you're searching forbecause you're trying to figure
it out.
But they they but they know whatthey know in their lens, and it
just looks like you're and yeah,and you have to manage that
somehow, and you're like, atsome point you're like, I just
don't give a shit anymore.
I'm just you know, I'm justgonna do what I need to do right
now because of it.
And it are you struggling withthat at times as well?
So those become a lot of things.
SPEAKER_01 (06:47):
But you know, I have struggled with it, but I'm not
struggling with it anymore.
One thing I've realized, evenfor uh exactly what you said,
people have their ownconstructs.
So if you're around people whoare not entrepreneurs, they're
not gonna understand thatjourney and how we iterate and
ideate and try different thingsbefore we get to like, ah, this
(07:08):
is my sweet spot.
I do a lot of volunteer work aswell.
And there are people who don'tunderstand that.
I mean, just in the past two,three weeks alone for Junior
League of Los Angeles, I haveled an emotional intelligence
training.
I've done a conflict resolutionbetween two members.
I have done a leadershipassessment training.
I am about to lead a listeningsession on Monday about all the
(07:34):
things that are going on withimmigration and curfews and
what's happening to our city andall of that stuff so that people
can come together.
Uh, I'm also creating AIworkflows or like AI policies.
So I'm doing a lot of thingsthat are is a lot of me giving
my time for free.
And some people don't understandthat, right?
(07:55):
They say you should only bedoing things that are putting
money in your pocket.
But all of the leadershipskills, I didn't get them from
the work.
I didn't get them because when Iwas in the world of work early
on, I was doing a lot of thingswhere I was just getting thrown
in situations and people justassumed I knew how to do them.
And I did them.
Some of them later I'm likecringing at the work I did,
right?
Or I didn't have to do a lot ofpublic speaking.
(08:16):
So junior league, I was thinkingabout this this morning.
I had to learn how to publicspeak, how to lead a group of
volunteers, how to be a goodmentor, a good team member, and
a good leader, how to delegateand not try to do everything
myself.
I had to learn about emotionalintelligence, budgeting.
I had to learn all of thesedifferent things.
And so really I learned thatstuff from the world of
(08:37):
volunteering, not from the worldof work.
But those are all skills I useevery single day in any, whether
I'm teaching, podcasting,working for the foundation,
whatever it is I'm doing.
And so to me, that's morevaluable.
It was like free training,right?
I had to give my time, but I gotall of these invaluable skills
that have lived with me allthese years.
(08:57):
I was president of Junior League15 years ago.
Uh, so you know, I've been amember of that organization for
gosh, 20 years, 21 years maybenow.
Um, and I've I just it keepspaying off in spades.
So things like that, where I doget people who judge me on those
things or like, oh, you'retrying a new thing.
Why are you doing that?
(09:18):
Why are you investing all yourtime?
Why do you pour all this moneywhen it, you know, into your
podcast before it started payingoff, right?
Uh and and I think we have totake those risks and take that
initiative because we have totrust ourselves and not just
focus on people's judgments.
I mean, you know this very wellwith everything that you do.
SPEAKER_00 (09:37):
Right.
It's uh I'm a man, so I justdon't just don't even recognize
half the time I'm being judged.
So I'm just gonna be that'sthat's very sexy, right?
Do you have do you have a momentdo you have a moment when you'd
like you just you're just likehell no more kind of idea, like
or an aha moment?
SPEAKER_01 (09:55):
Um I think it really was when you know I've been
doing all these things thatpeople look at, like you said,
as very disparate.
I've been I went back to gradschool.
I'm teaching.
I'm, you know, I'm teaching gradschool and going to grad school
at the same time.
I have a full-time job, but thenI have two podcasts, then I have
consultant work, and that'sgrowing again a lot.
(10:16):
And um I've realized that theyall connect really well.
There's this intersectionality.
Each one bleeds into the other,each one helps me do better in
the other work and gives me morerecognition to do more of that
work.
And so the aha moment, I mean,there's been many, but I would
say realizing that that there isthis synergistic opportunity
(10:36):
that I have in front of me andthat people respond to it
really, really well in ways thatI wouldn't have even because I
didn't do it for other people, Idid it for myself.
But I would say backing up,moving back to LA and, you know,
starting over being a single momwho came into a situation that
was vastly different than Ithought it was going to be when
(10:57):
I moved back to LA from Houston.
I had to go on food stamps.
I had to get rid of my ego andthe notions that I had of myself
because before in Houston, I'dbeen this person who was in the
papers, the magazines literallyall the time.
There were fashion spreads aboutme.
I emceed events, I chairedgalas, I chaired probably every
fundraiser in town almost.
(11:18):
Um, and was able to donate a lotof money, sometimes up to six
figures, to charities everyyear.
Going from that, gettingdivorced, starting my own
business, moving back to LAwhere I hadn't lived for a long
time, where I had to really, youknow, I still had friends here,
but I had to figure out workbecause people were trying to
fit me into boxes and I didn'tfit into any of them, so I
wouldn't get hired.
(11:39):
That was probably the biggestaha moment when I just realized
I need to be okay with askingfor help and accepting help.
And it's hard to do that whenyou're like us and you're just
go, go, go, and you are ready toachieve it all the all the time.
And I think humbling myself andstepping back and really taking
a moment to reflect and figureout what do I really want to do
(12:01):
in this moment?
What do I want to do now?
Was the biggest moment of changeI've had in um, you know, even
bigger than getting divorced ora lot of other things that
happened in my life.
SPEAKER_00 (12:13):
What's been the impact since?
SPEAKER_01 (12:16):
The impact since is about six months after I moved
to LA.
I was still just doing freelancework here and there.
I went out and looked at thefull moon, December 2019, right
after my birthday.
And I said, I've done everythingI can.
I've applied every job, I'vegone through as many interviews.
If um I'm going on holiday to myboyfriend's family's in
(12:37):
Pennsylvania, if I don't havesomething, I will go to Walmart,
Trader Joe's, wherever, and I'lljust get any job I can.
I'm willing to put my egocompletely aside because I need
to have income.
I need to have steady income.
And so it was God, the universe,whatever you choose to believe.
But I just looked up and I said,it's in your hands.
(12:58):
Right.
You have to just completely giveup, like or let go.
You do what you can.
You have to take the action toget there, but then you have to
have belief and faith thatsomebody or something or some
energy is gonna take you therest of the way.
And that moment was the momentthings changed even more.
(13:18):
So I was in the car on the wayto the airport to go visit my
boyfriend and his family.
And I got a call with somebodywho wanted to hire me to do PR
for all of their clients.
That was the tooling moment thatturned into having a full PR
firm during the pandemic with uh20 employees.
Um, we, you know, increased ourrevenue by 1,500% in the first
(13:42):
six months.
Um, that led to opportunityafter opportunity things.
I I would never have thoughttoday, at age 50, right?
I'm like about six months intobeing 50.
And I am just starting my life.
Six years, six years ago, Inever would have thought that
I'd be a professor at a reallygood institution, that I would
(14:04):
have a top podcast, that I wouldhave a wealth of amazing people
that I surround myself with whoI've met through with podcasting
community, a lot of them.
Um, that I'd be getting, youknow, really into AI and being
looked at as uh a thought leaderby institutions from Intuit to a
lot of the AI founders in the AIspace.
(14:24):
I never would have thought anyof that stuff would happen.
And now you're gonna make meemotional asking these questions
because if you get crying moreairtime, no, but it's uh it just
tells me, and this is what I tryto instill in people, is that
you can achieve and you can dowhat you want.
And it might not look like whatyou thought it was going to be,
but it's going to be even morebeautiful.
SPEAKER_00 (14:46):
I would argue if it does look like what you thought,
you're gonna be disappointed init.
Yeah.
And accept that it won't be whatyou think, but that just gives
you a general direction of whereto go or run from.
Like, you know, sometimes thebest things in life are what you
say no to.
You're like, oh, I never want todo that again.
And like that actually, it'sgreat.
You're like, cool, I just mademy map smaller.
I'm gonna have to go over thereanymore.
SPEAKER_01 (15:06):
And that's what you see, like when we have these
conversations all the time withpeople, right?
They're in corporate, they'redoing everything they thought
they wanted to achieve.
And then they have that momentwhere they're aha moment, where
like, this is not it.
I've gotten as far as I want toget at this company.
I've given all my time tosomebody else's dream.
I've yes, I'm earning a goodliving, but it's not fulfilling
me and it's causing me illnessor stress or time away from my
(15:28):
family.
And that's when people make ashift.
I didn't have to go through thatto make a shift.
I mean, although, you know, Ihad to learn the lessons of
like, yeah, don't go to work forsomebody else.
If it's a full-time thing whereI'm having to live under the way
that they think things should bedone versus me just getting
things done.
Um, yeah, but that's it's reallyyou can build those bridges
(15:50):
between all the things that youwant to do, even if they don't
look like they belong together.
SPEAKER_00 (15:55):
I've actually landed uh is one of the big ties I've
cut this year is around ADHD andtaking medicine and stuff.
And it's really made meincredibly effective in
business.
Like I've gotten more done bythe last six weeks than I have
and congratulations for year.
That was my tie to cut.
I had started at uh earlier inthe year, and and so thank you,
by the way.
Uh I will tell you, I actuallyrealized I could actually work
(16:15):
for somebody again if it was theright situation, which is a
weird feeling.
Doesn't mean I'm running back togo do it anytime soon.
I'm just saying, but it it's aweird feeling to understand then
on the reflection of life whereyou're like, oh, I screwed that
up.
I know I see why.
Um and and and that makes megrateful.
And it's kind of my question toyou.
Uh you know, I'm grateful forthe opportunities and the
(16:36):
lessons I've learned, eventhough some of them have been
hard.
What are you most grateful forat this moment?
SPEAKER_01 (16:41):
Oh, there's so much.
Um, I don't know how to answer.
Oh man.
Um what I'm most grateful for isthe ability to do all of the
work.
I didn't, I didn't realize untilafter I was divorced, I was
talking to speaking about ADHDand kind of going off track a
(17:02):
little bit.
Um, I was talking to a friend ofmine about my brother's ADHD.
And she's like, you know thatyou also have it.
And I was like, What?
I had no idea.
And I was like, Oh, that'smaking more sense.
I've always been an achiever.
I've always been really driven.
I've always done a million andone different things.
And but hey, they're all focusedtogether, right?
SPEAKER_00 (17:24):
So to you, to everyone else, it looks like
madness.
SPEAKER_01 (17:27):
I I yeah, I I I understand that.
I understand that.
To everybody else, it looks likemadness too.
SPEAKER_00 (17:32):
I mean, I get it because it I understand what's
going right, but it does looklike madness now that I'm on the
other side with a littlemedicine.
I'm like, oh, whoa, that personhas people in my life that that
I clearly and they werespecifically like, oh, I I don't
need that.
I'm like, like we'd be in a roomwhere everyone would stop
talking and just look over andgo, you're right.
(17:53):
Okay.
So you know, you'll see it.
Um grateful that you can manageall of it and you're being
success in it.
I think you felt safe whileyou're working through all this.
SPEAKER_01 (18:02):
But but I will say, like, the biggest source of my
inspiration and probably theperson I'm most grateful for is
my daughter.
She um keeps it real, right?
We are here to I realized veryearly on, like I had this is
gonna sound a little woo-woo,but I had dreams about her
before she was born.
(18:22):
She was exactly who she showedme in my dreams.
And uh she has continued to bethat person and celebrating who
she is and her divergent mind,our neurodivergent mind, and how
she moved through the world andis so highly intelligent and
doesn't really care what peoplethink.
She beats, she's always hadbeats her own drum and lived by
her own interests andengagements and group of
(18:46):
friends.
And she's found the perfectgroup of friends for that.
And she's known what she wantsto do since she was 12.
She knows where she wants to goto university.
Um, and she's, you know, juniorin high school.
And she's known this stuff sincereally early on.
So I think as parents, our path,we are here just to guide our
children a little bit.
(19:06):
Make sure I don't, I'm not gonnaswear on the show, but just when
they're little and you do you dohave you're married to somebody
or you're in a situation whereyou have a lot of assets and
they have a lot ofopportunities, then it can make
it really hard to um make themstay centered in reality and
grounded and what what's goingon around them.
So she, but she is that person.
(19:28):
And we we have the most amazingconversations.
SPEAKER_00 (19:30):
Now, if you had to start over today, what port and
your timeline do you go to andwhat do you do differently?
SPEAKER_01 (19:36):
Yeah.
I would from a very early agestop thinking people were
judging me when they weren't forthings, thinking back even to
the days of being a clubpromoter and uh in Chicago and
in Kansas City and St.
Louis and trying to fit into acertain box or working for cool
magazines and thinking thatcouldn't meant I couldn't hang
(19:57):
out with people who dressed acertain way or who were
different from me because theywere more straight or preppy or
whatever you want to say.
Um, and putting those barrierson myself and those, you know, I
was judging myself.
Other people weren't judging me.
So I wish I could get rid ofthat.
I also um wish that when I'dgone through my divorce, I'd
kept my real estate businessthat I had with my ex because
(20:19):
then I would have been able tomove to LA in a very different
situation.
Now I do think I need to learnthose lessons.
Would have been good to have alittle bit of a starter, you
know, a little bit of money, alittle bit of cash in the bank.
SPEAKER_00 (20:30):
I thought I get that.
Oh, there's a question I shouldhave asked you today, though, I
didn't.
Yeah.
What's that question and how youanswer it?
SPEAKER_01 (20:36):
Uh well, this is we don't have enough time on this
show, but um I am reallypassionate about working with
AI, but keeping the humanity.
Right.
And so I've been able to figureout a lot of ways to use tools
for small business as a smallbusiness owner, as a teacher, a
professor in my podcast thatdon't take away but enhance the
(20:58):
work that I'm doing.
I mean, I you saw I had aLinkedIn post about creating
agentic AI tools to better pickpodcast guests because you get
we we are both overwhelmed witha number of people who want to
be guests on our shows.
And they can look really good onpaper, but that doesn't mean
that they're gonna be a perfectguest for our show.
They, you know, we have toreally do a lot of evaluation.
(21:20):
So I've cut down the researchtime by using agentic AI.
And I that doesn't just have tobe used for that instance,
right?
There are many other ways.
So I'm right now reverseengineering some things,
engineering more.
By the end of uh the nextcouple, probably in eight weeks,
I'll probably build out at leasteight to ten more agentic AI
tools that anybody could use.
And so I I'm really stronglybelieve in using AI for
(21:44):
efficiency, but also rememberingthat we have the unique voice.
And as humans, we have to staycentered in that humanity.
unknown (21:52):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (21:54):
Once you get it up and going because it's up and
going.
SPEAKER_01 (21:56):
And actually, I actually have a better tool that
I'm using now.
SPEAKER_00 (21:59):
So when you're ready, let me try it.
You know, we do 12 on Thursdays,and our next guest is in there.
Yep.
Hey.
You're right, he's coming onnext, guys.
And people like, well, who'sthat guy?
See, I'm teasing the next show.
All right, who should get a holdof you?
How do they do it reallyquickly?
SPEAKER_01 (22:13):
Yeah, uh, the best way, LinkedIn, A-N-I-K-A, J A C
K S O N, follow me.
There is a link to my calendarly30-minute free strategy session
on branding, PR, AI,communications, crisis,
whatever, you know, any topic,happy to help people.
I'll give you, I'm not justgonna try to get you into a
(22:34):
calendar to pay me.
I'm actually gonna give you alot of free resources and
introductions in that 30minutes.
So please schedule time with me,connect with me via um LinkedIn
newsletter.
I have a newsletter that I putout that talks and walks through
exactly how I'm using differenttools.
Um, also, you know, we'll talkabout a lot of other things,
volunteering, why that'simportant for leadership.
(22:54):
Other areas I've just startedwith AI stuff because that's
what I'm like really ingrainedand excited about right now.
Um, so anybody who wants toexplore, figure out how to get
your message out moreauthentically, uh, figure out
who you are and what thatmessage is, I'm here for you and
would love to support you.
SPEAKER_00 (23:09):
Awesome.
Thank you.
Um thank you for inviting me.
SPEAKER_01 (23:13):
It was really a pleasure and an honor.
SPEAKER_00 (23:15):
Well, I always like I said, once you're on, you come
back.
So we'll see you in six monthsagain.
And for everyone who who's madeit this part in the show, thank
you so much for watching,listening.
If this is your first time, hopeit's the first of many.
If you've been here before, comeback.
I really appreciate it.
Get out there, go cut a tie towhatever's holding you back from
success, but be sure to uh todefine that success to yourself
first.
Welcome to the Cut the Tide podcast.
Hi, I'm your host, ThomasHelfrick, and I'm on a mission
to help you cut the tide orwhatever it is hold you back
from success.
And that success is defined byyou and no one else.
So if you haven't done that,start with that.
But today's guest is AnicaJackson.
Annika, how are you?
SPEAKER_01 (00:15):
I am good.
As always, doing a million andone things and always something
new.
Every time we speak, I'm you andI both have something new going
on.
SPEAKER_00 (00:24):
And that's why we're here.
We're going to hear about whatthat means.
Take a moment, introduceyourself and what it is.
Oh, what are the things that youdo?
SPEAKER_01 (00:32):
Well, thank you.
I am the founder of your brandAmplified, which uh started out
as my business podcast for my PRfirm and now is a full branding
marketing PR, AI for businessand podcast consulting agency
and consultancy.
I love helping entrepreneurs andorganizations really figure out
(00:52):
who they are, how best topresent their message and feel
really authentic in sharing itso that they can reach the right
people at the right time.
And my podcast ranks in the top1.5% globally.
I also teach grad school at USCAnnenberg across digital media
management and digital socialmedia.
I've also taught in the PR andbranding side.
And I am executive director atthe ICL Foundation, which has
(01:15):
now morphed into working on thefoundation and the online
private school for middle schooland high school kids.
We have ICL Academy, and I'mhelping develop curriculum.
Weave AI into a lot of thebusiness practices on both
sides, handling the PR.
And also the founder juststarted podcasts.
So I'm helping produce thispodcast.
(01:37):
So that's that's a small sample.
SPEAKER_00 (01:40):
And you have kids and uh single mom.
SPEAKER_01 (01:44):
I'm getting finishing my MBA.
Yeah, I'm finishing my MBA atVillanova right now with a
specialty in AIML.
And I'm really leaning into thatconvergence of who I am.
unknown (01:58):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (01:58):
And if you Google her name, it'll it'll actually
just say overachiever right nextto your name.
And it'll give the it'll give acouple examples of why.
Um Liz, I usually ask thequestion of kind of why people
pick you, but uh I want to takea slightly different just path
on it and just kind of dive intohow you're gonna because because
you have a lot of things you'redoing really well um around the
(02:18):
media space.
Uh, but specifically, just startwith how you're defining success
today, given all the thingsyou're doing.
SPEAKER_01 (02:24):
Oh yeah.
So uh how I define success isliving in my passion and
purpose.
And I think that takes time forpeople to realize we we follow
little paths, and then we haveto figure out what part of them
serve us and when we need tomove on.
And so one thing I've had toreally look at myself and say is
I'm multi-passionate, and I haveto say I'm unapologetically
(02:48):
multi-passionate.
I'm not the person who you'regonna fit into one box and one
role.
As you can see from starting outas the executive director of a
foundation and now moving intocurriculum development, helping
leave AI into the tools,creating different work streams
and workflows with AI for thebusiness practices, PR podcast
producing, all of that stuff,right?
(03:10):
So it I love places where andspaces where I can really carve
a role for myself.
Even at USC, start out teachingon the PR side, moved into the
digital media communicationside, turned a speaker series
into a podcast there.
Now I've created AI curriculumthat I'm using for my classes,
and now I'm helping restructurethe entire digital media
management program to be AIfirst.
(03:32):
And then now I've createdcourses for other programs so
that I can take everything I'velearned and help students do the
very best that they can and betheir full authentic selves.
So it's really technology,education, and philanthropy is
my intersection.
And I I love figuring out how toblend the human side of things
(03:53):
with technology to achieve thebest results we can.
So I can't, I'm not a specialistat any one thing, but I can kind
of see where things are neededfor different people.
SPEAKER_00 (04:04):
Well, so you find the success uh and you know, you
don't, you know, there's ajourney to get there.
So tell me a little bit aboutthat journey and specifically
what the metaphoric big tie wasyou had to cut to get to that
success.
SPEAKER_01 (04:17):
Oof.
Well, um, one of the big cutties I had to cut is I is really
uh the fact that I realizedtraditional approaches weren't
my jam and that I needed to leaninto that and my weirdness,
right?
Or my love of continuing tolearn and be multi-passionate.
And that was okay.
(04:37):
And that would be moremeaningful to me and also it
would help more people aroundme.
So I was choosing betweenprofit, between and purpose.
I was going to work for multipleagencies, making really good
money where I thought we had thesame intentionality.
And then I'd get into the agencyand realize that what I'd been
sold on was not exactly what Iwas getting.
(04:58):
And I'm not really good atstaying places.
I'm kind of like, I look, likeyou said, like an overachiever,
people pleaser, probably in someways.
I toe the line, but I'm actuallya lot of a rebel.
So if you tell me to dosomething, probably not gonna do
it.
Um, and that goes for anythingfrom trying to do an exercise
challenge to working in anenvironment where I'm realizing
(05:20):
that what they're telling me andwho they are or what they're
saying about who they are isn'tgelling with the actions that
they're taking, the clientsthey're bringing in, other parts
of the business, how they'retreating me and other people.
So I had it, I've had to do thismultiple times.
So I'm still, it's one of thoserecurring life lessons, right?
I've had to cut the tie and go,I need to walk away from this.
This is not for me.
(05:40):
And then get into my ownbusiness again and then have
another opportunity that lookedlike a golden goose.
Go back and go, oh, I'm doingthe same thing again.
Right.
So this is a repeating patternand something I'm still
learning.
But I I really feel now I'velearned that lesson and I've
been able, I'm cutting that tieand leaning fully into what
makes me unique and what I canbring to the table that is in
(06:02):
service to other people.
SPEAKER_00 (06:04):
It it's it's hard too, because underneath that,
right, the layers of that arepeople's expectations of you,
uh, you know, things you've paidmoney for, training, whatever.
You know, and like theseinvestments in time and then the
social circles that look at yougo, they don't well, they're not
you, and they're not in yourskin, and they just look at you
and not you, but one in a way ofyou're all over the place, and
(06:27):
and you're just searching, andand and no one there has a clue
what you're searching forbecause you're trying to figure
it out.
But they they but they know whatthey know in their lens, and it
just looks like you're and yeah,and you have to manage that
somehow, and you're like, atsome point you're like, I just
don't give a shit anymore.
I'm just you know, I'm justgonna do what I need to do right
now because of it.
And it are you struggling withthat at times as well?
So those become a lot of things.
SPEAKER_01 (06:47):
But you know, I have struggled with it, but I'm not
struggling with it anymore.
One thing I've realized, evenfor uh exactly what you said,
people have their ownconstructs.
So if you're around people whoare not entrepreneurs, they're
not gonna understand thatjourney and how we iterate and
ideate and try different thingsbefore we get to like, ah, this
(07:08):
is my sweet spot.
I do a lot of volunteer work aswell.
And there are people who don'tunderstand that.
I mean, just in the past two,three weeks alone for Junior
League of Los Angeles, I haveled an emotional intelligence
training.
I've done a conflict resolutionbetween two members.
I have done a leadershipassessment training.
I am about to lead a listeningsession on Monday about all the
(07:34):
things that are going on withimmigration and curfews and
what's happening to our city andall of that stuff so that people
can come together.
Uh, I'm also creating AIworkflows or like AI policies.
So I'm doing a lot of thingsthat are is a lot of me giving
my time for free.
And some people don't understandthat, right?
(07:55):
They say you should only bedoing things that are putting
money in your pocket.
But all of the leadershipskills, I didn't get them from
the work.
I didn't get them because when Iwas in the world of work early
on, I was doing a lot of thingswhere I was just getting thrown
in situations and people justassumed I knew how to do them.
And I did them.
Some of them later I'm likecringing at the work I did,
right?
Or I didn't have to do a lot ofpublic speaking.
(08:16):
So junior league, I was thinkingabout this this morning.
I had to learn how to publicspeak, how to lead a group of
volunteers, how to be a goodmentor, a good team member, and
a good leader, how to delegateand not try to do everything
myself.
I had to learn about emotionalintelligence, budgeting.
I had to learn all of thesedifferent things.
And so really I learned thatstuff from the world of
(08:37):
volunteering, not from the worldof work.
But those are all skills I useevery single day in any, whether
I'm teaching, podcasting,working for the foundation,
whatever it is I'm doing.
And so to me, that's morevaluable.
It was like free training,right?
I had to give my time, but I gotall of these invaluable skills
that have lived with me allthese years.
(08:57):
I was president of Junior League15 years ago.
Uh, so you know, I've been amember of that organization for
gosh, 20 years, 21 years maybenow.
Um, and I've I just it keepspaying off in spades.
So things like that, where I doget people who judge me on those
things or like, oh, you'retrying a new thing.
Why are you doing that?
(09:18):
Why are you investing all yourtime?
Why do you pour all this moneywhen it, you know, into your
podcast before it started payingoff, right?
Uh and and I think we have totake those risks and take that
initiative because we have totrust ourselves and not just
focus on people's judgments.
I mean, you know this very wellwith everything that you do.
SPEAKER_00 (09:37):
Right.
It's uh I'm a man, so I justdon't just don't even recognize
half the time I'm being judged.
So I'm just gonna be that'sthat's very sexy, right?
Do you have do you have a momentdo you have a moment when you'd
like you just you're just likehell no more kind of idea, like
or an aha moment?
SPEAKER_01 (09:55):
Um I think it really was when you know I've been
doing all these things thatpeople look at, like you said,
as very disparate.
I've been I went back to gradschool.
I'm teaching.
I'm, you know, I'm teaching gradschool and going to grad school
at the same time.
I have a full-time job, but thenI have two podcasts, then I have
consultant work, and that'sgrowing again a lot.
(10:16):
And um I've realized that theyall connect really well.
There's this intersectionality.
Each one bleeds into the other,each one helps me do better in
the other work and gives me morerecognition to do more of that
work.
And so the aha moment, I mean,there's been many, but I would
say realizing that that there isthis synergistic opportunity
(10:36):
that I have in front of me andthat people respond to it
really, really well in ways thatI wouldn't have even because I
didn't do it for other people, Idid it for myself.
But I would say backing up,moving back to LA and, you know,
starting over being a single momwho came into a situation that
was vastly different than Ithought it was going to be when
(10:57):
I moved back to LA from Houston.
I had to go on food stamps.
I had to get rid of my ego andthe notions that I had of myself
because before in Houston, I'dbeen this person who was in the
papers, the magazines literallyall the time.
There were fashion spreads aboutme.
I emceed events, I chairedgalas, I chaired probably every
fundraiser in town almost.
(11:18):
Um, and was able to donate a lotof money, sometimes up to six
figures, to charities everyyear.
Going from that, gettingdivorced, starting my own
business, moving back to LAwhere I hadn't lived for a long
time, where I had to really, youknow, I still had friends here,
but I had to figure out workbecause people were trying to
fit me into boxes and I didn'tfit into any of them, so I
wouldn't get hired.
(11:39):
That was probably the biggestaha moment when I just realized
I need to be okay with askingfor help and accepting help.
And it's hard to do that whenyou're like us and you're just
go, go, go, and you are ready toachieve it all the all the time.
And I think humbling myself andstepping back and really taking
a moment to reflect and figureout what do I really want to do
(12:01):
in this moment?
What do I want to do now?
Was the biggest moment of changeI've had in um, you know, even
bigger than getting divorced ora lot of other things that
happened in my life.
SPEAKER_00 (12:13):
What's been the impact since?
SPEAKER_01 (12:16):
The impact since is about six months after I moved
to LA.
I was still just doing freelancework here and there.
I went out and looked at thefull moon, December 2019, right
after my birthday.
And I said, I've done everythingI can.
I've applied every job, I'vegone through as many interviews.
If um I'm going on holiday to myboyfriend's family's in
(12:37):
Pennsylvania, if I don't havesomething, I will go to Walmart,
Trader Joe's, wherever, and I'lljust get any job I can.
I'm willing to put my egocompletely aside because I need
to have income.
I need to have steady income.
And so it was God, the universe,whatever you choose to believe.
But I just looked up and I said,it's in your hands.
(12:58):
Right.
You have to just completely giveup, like or let go.
You do what you can.
You have to take the action toget there, but then you have to
have belief and faith thatsomebody or something or some
energy is gonna take you therest of the way.
And that moment was the momentthings changed even more.
(13:18):
So I was in the car on the wayto the airport to go visit my
boyfriend and his family.
And I got a call with somebodywho wanted to hire me to do PR
for all of their clients.
That was the tooling moment thatturned into having a full PR
firm during the pandemic with uh20 employees.
Um, we, you know, increased ourrevenue by 1,500% in the first
(13:42):
six months.
Um, that led to opportunityafter opportunity things.
I I would never have thoughttoday, at age 50, right?
I'm like about six months intobeing 50.
And I am just starting my life.
Six years, six years ago, Inever would have thought that
I'd be a professor at a reallygood institution, that I would
(14:04):
have a top podcast, that I wouldhave a wealth of amazing people
that I surround myself with whoI've met through with podcasting
community, a lot of them.
Um, that I'd be getting, youknow, really into AI and being
looked at as uh a thought leaderby institutions from Intuit to a
lot of the AI founders in the AIspace.
(14:24):
I never would have thought anyof that stuff would happen.
And now you're gonna make meemotional asking these questions
because if you get crying moreairtime, no, but it's uh it just
tells me, and this is what I tryto instill in people, is that
you can achieve and you can dowhat you want.
And it might not look like whatyou thought it was going to be,
but it's going to be even morebeautiful.
SPEAKER_00 (14:46):
I would argue if it does look like what you thought,
you're gonna be disappointed init.
Yeah.
And accept that it won't be whatyou think, but that just gives
you a general direction of whereto go or run from.
Like, you know, sometimes thebest things in life are what you
say no to.
You're like, oh, I never want todo that again.
And like that actually, it'sgreat.
You're like, cool, I just mademy map smaller.
I'm gonna have to go over thereanymore.
SPEAKER_01 (15:06):
And that's what you see, like when we have these
conversations all the time withpeople, right?
They're in corporate, they'redoing everything they thought
they wanted to achieve.
And then they have that momentwhere they're aha moment, where
like, this is not it.
I've gotten as far as I want toget at this company.
I've given all my time tosomebody else's dream.
I've yes, I'm earning a goodliving, but it's not fulfilling
me and it's causing me illnessor stress or time away from my
(15:28):
family.
And that's when people make ashift.
I didn't have to go through thatto make a shift.
I mean, although, you know, Ihad to learn the lessons of
like, yeah, don't go to work forsomebody else.
If it's a full-time thing whereI'm having to live under the way
that they think things should bedone versus me just getting
things done.
Um, yeah, but that's it's reallyyou can build those bridges
(15:50):
between all the things that youwant to do, even if they don't
look like they belong together.
SPEAKER_00 (15:55):
I've actually landed uh is one of the big ties I've
cut this year is around ADHD andtaking medicine and stuff.
And it's really made meincredibly effective in
business.
Like I've gotten more done bythe last six weeks than I have
and congratulations for year.
That was my tie to cut.
I had started at uh earlier inthe year, and and so thank you,
by the way.
Uh I will tell you, I actuallyrealized I could actually work
(16:15):
for somebody again if it was theright situation, which is a
weird feeling.
Doesn't mean I'm running back togo do it anytime soon.
I'm just saying, but it it's aweird feeling to understand then
on the reflection of life whereyou're like, oh, I screwed that
up.
I know I see why.
Um and and and that makes megrateful.
And it's kind of my question toyou.
Uh you know, I'm grateful forthe opportunities and the
(16:36):
lessons I've learned, eventhough some of them have been
hard.
What are you most grateful forat this moment?
SPEAKER_01 (16:41):
Oh, there's so much.
Um, I don't know how to answer.
Oh man.
Um what I'm most grateful for isthe ability to do all of the
work.
I didn't, I didn't realize untilafter I was divorced, I was
talking to speaking about ADHDand kind of going off track a
(17:02):
little bit.
Um, I was talking to a friend ofmine about my brother's ADHD.
And she's like, you know thatyou also have it.
And I was like, What?
I had no idea.
And I was like, Oh, that'smaking more sense.
I've always been an achiever.
I've always been really driven.
I've always done a million andone different things.
And but hey, they're all focusedtogether, right?
SPEAKER_00 (17:24):
So to you, to everyone else, it looks like
madness.
SPEAKER_01 (17:27):
I I yeah, I I I understand that.
I understand that.
To everybody else, it looks likemadness too.
SPEAKER_00 (17:32):
I mean, I get it because it I understand what's
going right, but it does looklike madness now that I'm on the
other side with a littlemedicine.
I'm like, oh, whoa, that personhas people in my life that that
I clearly and they werespecifically like, oh, I I don't
need that.
I'm like, like we'd be in a roomwhere everyone would stop
talking and just look over andgo, you're right.
(17:53):
Okay.
So you know, you'll see it.
Um grateful that you can manageall of it and you're being
success in it.
I think you felt safe whileyou're working through all this.
SPEAKER_01 (18:02):
But but I will say, like, the biggest source of my
inspiration and probably theperson I'm most grateful for is
my daughter.
She um keeps it real, right?
We are here to I realized veryearly on, like I had this is
gonna sound a little woo-woo,but I had dreams about her
before she was born.
(18:22):
She was exactly who she showedme in my dreams.
And uh she has continued to bethat person and celebrating who
she is and her divergent mind,our neurodivergent mind, and how
she moved through the world andis so highly intelligent and
doesn't really care what peoplethink.
She beats, she's always hadbeats her own drum and lived by
her own interests andengagements and group of
(18:46):
friends.
And she's found the perfectgroup of friends for that.
And she's known what she wantsto do since she was 12.
She knows where she wants to goto university.
Um, and she's, you know, juniorin high school.
And she's known this stuff sincereally early on.
So I think as parents, our path,we are here just to guide our
children a little bit.
(19:06):
Make sure I don't, I'm not gonnaswear on the show, but just when
they're little and you do you dohave you're married to somebody
or you're in a situation whereyou have a lot of assets and
they have a lot ofopportunities, then it can make
it really hard to um make themstay centered in reality and
grounded and what what's goingon around them.
So she, but she is that person.
(19:28):
And we we have the most amazingconversations.
SPEAKER_00 (19:30):
Now, if you had to start over today, what port and
your timeline do you go to andwhat do you do differently?
SPEAKER_01 (19:36):
Yeah.
I would from a very early agestop thinking people were
judging me when they weren't forthings, thinking back even to
the days of being a clubpromoter and uh in Chicago and
in Kansas City and St.
Louis and trying to fit into acertain box or working for cool
magazines and thinking thatcouldn't meant I couldn't hang
(19:57):
out with people who dressed acertain way or who were
different from me because theywere more straight or preppy or
whatever you want to say.
Um, and putting those barrierson myself and those, you know, I
was judging myself.
Other people weren't judging me.
So I wish I could get rid ofthat.
I also um wish that when I'dgone through my divorce, I'd
kept my real estate businessthat I had with my ex because
(20:19):
then I would have been able tomove to LA in a very different
situation.
Now I do think I need to learnthose lessons.
Would have been good to have alittle bit of a starter, you
know, a little bit of money, alittle bit of cash in the bank.
SPEAKER_00 (20:30):
I thought I get that.
Oh, there's a question I shouldhave asked you today, though, I
didn't.
Yeah.
What's that question and how youanswer it?
SPEAKER_01 (20:36):
Uh well, this is we don't have enough time on this
show, but um I am reallypassionate about working with
AI, but keeping the humanity.
Right.
And so I've been able to figureout a lot of ways to use tools
for small business as a smallbusiness owner, as a teacher, a
professor in my podcast thatdon't take away but enhance the
(20:58):
work that I'm doing.
I mean, I you saw I had aLinkedIn post about creating
agentic AI tools to better pickpodcast guests because you get
we we are both overwhelmed witha number of people who want to
be guests on our shows.
And they can look really good onpaper, but that doesn't mean
that they're gonna be a perfectguest for our show.
They, you know, we have toreally do a lot of evaluation.
(21:20):
So I've cut down the researchtime by using agentic AI.
And I that doesn't just have tobe used for that instance,
right?
There are many other ways.
So I'm right now reverseengineering some things,
engineering more.
By the end of uh the nextcouple, probably in eight weeks,
I'll probably build out at leasteight to ten more agentic AI
tools that anybody could use.
And so I I'm really stronglybelieve in using AI for
(21:44):
efficiency, but also rememberingthat we have the unique voice.
And as humans, we have to staycentered in that humanity.
unknown (21:52):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (21:54):
Once you get it up and going because it's up and
going.
SPEAKER_01 (21:56):
And actually, I actually have a better tool that
I'm using now.
SPEAKER_00 (21:59):
So when you're ready, let me try it.
You know, we do 12 on Thursdays,and our next guest is in there.
Yep.
Hey.
You're right, he's coming onnext, guys.
And people like, well, who'sthat guy?
See, I'm teasing the next show.
All right, who should get a holdof you?
How do they do it reallyquickly?
SPEAKER_01 (22:13):
Yeah, uh, the best way, LinkedIn, A-N-I-K-A, J A C
K S O N, follow me.
There is a link to my calendarly30-minute free strategy session
on branding, PR, AI,communications, crisis,
whatever, you know, any topic,happy to help people.
I'll give you, I'm not justgonna try to get you into a
(22:34):
calendar to pay me.
I'm actually gonna give you alot of free resources and
introductions in that 30minutes.
So please schedule time with me,connect with me via um LinkedIn
newsletter.
I have a newsletter that I putout that talks and walks through
exactly how I'm using differenttools.
Um, also, you know, we'll talkabout a lot of other things,
volunteering, why that'simportant for leadership.
(22:54):
Other areas I've just startedwith AI stuff because that's
what I'm like really ingrainedand excited about right now.
Um, so anybody who wants toexplore, figure out how to get
your message out moreauthentically, uh, figure out
who you are and what thatmessage is, I'm here for you and
would love to support you.
SPEAKER_00 (23:09):
Awesome.
Thank you.
Um thank you for inviting me.
SPEAKER_01 (23:13):
It was really a pleasure and an honor.
SPEAKER_00 (23:15):
Well, I always like I said, once you're on, you come
back.
So we'll see you in six monthsagain.
And for everyone who who's madeit this part in the show, thank
you so much for watching,listening.
If this is your first time, hopeit's the first of many.
If you've been here before, comeback.
I really appreciate it.
Get out there, go cut a tie towhatever's holding you back from
success, but be sure to uh todefine that success to yourself
first.
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