Episode #9 – Bringing authenticity to entrepreneurship, content & branding: A conversation with Grace Nikae

welcome to the society pod a podcast for entrepreneurs marketers and leaders here’s your host Jessica yarmy hey there everybody and welcome to today’s episode of the society pod my guest today is a writer a speaker entrepreneur marketer thought leader and a world renowned concert pianist I don’t know I probably am missing some things on that list she has such an amazing background can’t wait to get into this conversation today we’re going to talk about all things brand marketing content writing all of the things probably nfts and web and AI so you’re not going to want to miss this conversation she is the founder of the kazuna studio which is an online community of entrepreneurs and business owners and you all know I am big on supporting the entrepreneur community so I am super fascinated to dive into this conversation welcome to the show Grace nikay thank you so much for having me Jessica I’m so excited to be here and to have this opportunity to chat with you what did I miss in the intro I feel like I said seven things that you’re a part of but what did I miss there’s probably something I missed no I think you you nailed it right on the head I have had uh several career pivots in my life and have led a bit of an unusual life so uh that was all good what is the part of your career that you’re most proud of at this point since you’ve had seven different careers or maybe still have seven different careers what are you most proud of I think about the fact that I have pivoted and I have had the opportunity to enjoy these different chapters in my life uh just for context for everyone I did start my career very early so it’s not like I I crammed everything within a years or so I started my professional career at the age of eight as a concert pianist touring professionally and so uh I have had many iterations over my lifetime give me a cheat code for someone who’s out there who’s maybe thinking of a pivot when do you when do you know it’s time to Pivot have you done that intentionally I think there are a couple of things that are there um alignment is I think critically important meaning to be connected with who you are to understand whether what you’re doing Still Remains aligned to who you are because we change over time and for me certainly the Musical part of my career was the first two decades of my life and there reached a point where I felt that I was more than this I wanted the opportunity to be be able to explore who I was beyond this I didn’t enjoy it anymore it felt like I didn’t own my life and I didn’t want to end up resenting the art that I loved and so I think one of the difficulties when it comes to pivots is that so much of our society and culture demands that we sort of understand ourselves or categorize ourselves based upon what it is that we do so when we hit it it’s ultimately this sort of challenge to our identity right who are we really and I think that that has always been probably the biggest sort of fear that I’ve had to walk through each time I’ve pivoted but it was always at a point where I knew okay I think I’ve done what I’ve needed to do here it feels like it’s coming to a close it’s feels like it’s no longer aligning with where I want to go in my life and then the second part of it is where where does my curiosity want to lead me what do I want to explore what is exciting me inspiring me right now that I don’t know yet that’s an opportunity for me to grow so that’s kind of been the ways both front end and back end in terms of how I’ve approached each priv walk me through the decision to step away from being a concert pianist because was such a big part of your identity that must have been the biggest pivot of all pivots was to yes yes that was to this day that decision remains one of the greatest decisions I’ve ever made in my life because you know my professional career started at but I started piano lessons at the age of nine months so I really discovered my voice at the piano through music music was my first love my first voice and I think Not only was it such a huge part of my own life but I think the way everybody perceived me was as a Pianist within that context right because it had it defined my life what I discovered when I made that decision was that the fear of committing to the decision so the anticipation of the fear itself was greater than the actual process of moving through it so before I made that decision of course there was tremendous self-doubt about well I don’t know who I am what am I going to do after this I didn’t even know I had no clue I was like this is what I’ve known this is what I always done I’ve achieved this level uh within this career how can I walk away from it right it was all those uh usual questions coming in but once I said okay no I don’t know what’s going to come next but I want to honor myself enough to be able to take that chance to explore and once I made that decision and committed to it what was so fascinating was that everyone else around me had a much more difficult time accepting that choice and that decision than I did and it’s because of the way you know we sort of put people into boxes and categorize and when I challenge that I said hey you know what I’m more than this I don’t know what that is or who I am yet but I’m more than this it’s a very intimidating thing because it causes everyone else to have to look at themselves as well right and it also reflected to me another idea that I think has come up time and time again throughout my career which is how easy it is to fall back into a construct of yourself that is actually not your own but belongs to everyone else meaning limiting ourselves based upon the limitations of others right because if they cannot see it very often we will settle into a certain place or position in order to be able to keep that sort of status quo rather than push past it so those two were kind of the biggest lessons I took from that decision yeah the the constructs of of parents of bosses of of mentors especially when you start so early in your career you’re hitting Milestones faster than a lot of other people and so you don’t fit into the construct of you’re now you should be here your timelines were just very different we share a common a commonality in having a creative brain plus a business brain I grew up as an artist and I have a blog post in my mind like the artists guide to entrepreneurship and I feel I feel like if you were challenged to write a blog post about a musician’s guide to entrepreneurship I think you would have an amazing story to tell there because you must see commonalities woven throughout both aspects of your career or your your trajectory are there a few off the top of your head that you you know you would write into that blog post definitely imagination and Innovation right and being able to question outside of what is simply accepted uh without question to be able to challenge that certainly I think just in terms of the practicalities of running a business discipline determination all of these I mean I had to practice every single day you don’t get to that level without practice and understanding within that that the most important part of it is the process itself this is so difficult for all of us to really grasp because we are a society and culture that hyper emphasizes results and outcomes but the real good stuff is in process itself the work that we do in the process so when we are able to truly Embrace that because that something that artists do all the time there’s almost this blind trust that you have to have for example when I would prepare pieces or works for performances and concerts you know you’re in the thick of it the piece is just a nightmare you’re practicing you’re going through all the stages of where it completely sucks at the beginning and you’re struggling and you’re trying to you’re trying to make it your own you know to to build your own interpretation of it and you have to trust that by the time the concert comes by the time you perform it it will be yours it will become yours so there’s almost this kind of blind trust you have to have in yourself and to trust the process that in doing that in doing the work on a daily basis you will get where it is that you want to go yeah and and I think in today’s era of fast entrepreneurship you know the click baity entrepreneurship the message that you hear so much is the fast the immediate the next week the next month and and I totally agree it’s such a long game in both a musician’s kind of career and process and then also in an entrepreneur’s career and process and just just brain space it takes yes it takes years to get to any level of success absolutely agree I always tell young entrepreneurs that you cannot shortcut time there’s no you can’t shortcut the experiences and the lessons that are necessary they are part of the journey and especially the human element you know building relationships building that Foundation Building that Network no one can do that there’s not a single human being on the planet who can shortcut that time that’s necessary to build those things difficult as it may be that patience uh and to trust the time necessary is important because you have this musicians background and now you’re also in a creative space with content and with marketing do you have any creativity hacks for us one of the things that I’ve realized over my years in entrepreneurship is that I want to adopt a way of sort of building and developing my business in the same same way I did in my artistic career as a musician and as an author meaning that when I was a musician and an author of course you have the time where you’re executing where you’re creating where you’re actually writing the words and putting in the word count and doing that on the daily basis you’re putting in the practice at the instrument and you’re doing the work that’s necessary but outside of that most of my time was spent thinking what you brought up earlier thinking nourishing myself reading listening going to museums you know filling myself up because that part that input is so necessary for the output to happen and I think what’s really easy and this is a mistake I have fallen into and it’s something that takes intentional Awareness on my part with entrepreneurship we’re so again focused on output right like to execute execute but when you don’t schedule in and intentionally make that time for input there’s going to reach a limit you’re going to Kit a wall at at some point because you’re not continuing to grow continuing to be inspired and certainly the work that I do in brand and content strategy this is creative work it requires me being able to read stories and fiction and get sort of new synthesis of ideas kind of going in my head it’s necessary in order for me to be able to Output quality right and to to produce something interesting so I highly encourage you know entrepreneurs who are listening to this that input never neglect that input it is such an important part of that equation I find it so easy to fall into trash inputs just scrolling endlessly other effect yes especially on Twitter or or because there’s just endless amounts of clickbaity trash trashy not vitamin efficient kind of content that you’re referencing and I know you spend a lot of time on on Twitter and X so talk to me about how you you live and thrive in such a uh environment that’s filled with a lot of distraction and below average content I love this question so much because you’re right it’s the quality of the input that matters right and I like to think of it as like the food that you put inside of your body you could easily convenience fast food right it becomes very easy to fall into that habit and start putting that into and what does it do it it ends up like you know really affecting your health it affects your mental health your emotional health your physical health and it’s the same thing with any kind of information content online the quality of your inputs will very much affect mental emotional physical health and you’re right my job is in content strategy so I am very much it is a requirement of my job to be on the different social platforms and to understand what’s happening so I am first of all I am very intentional with the time that I spend on there I am I usually have a scheduled set time of okay I’m going to be on there only for this amount of time then I need to address this or is so I have certain routines scheduled in terms of my interaction with social content the other thing that I am very very big on and I would highly encourage everyone listening to this to maybe adopt this policy I am very very liberal with my block and my mute button extremely liberal on on every single platform access to you is a privilege not a right no one has the right to you or your content as soon as I see anything that would be something that affects my mental health or it’s like as you say junk sort of a little qual immediate block or mute immediate because I don’t want it ever H the possibility of that coming into my feed at some point I don’t want my content to end up on that person’s feed or like maybe someone reposts it and then it ends up I don’t want that energy anywhere near me and those boundaries whether it’s with you’re scheduling time boundaries whether it’s in the quality of what you let in it’s just like real life so I always tell people you know everything about online social stuff it’s just like real life you wouldn’t just let anyone into your home you wouldn’t just let anyone into your life you want as many things around you whether that be the people the voices the content the foods that you put in your body you want as many things as possible to be in alignment with who you are and that’s why those options exist the block and mute button so that you can curate that carefully so I do encourage that very much with anyone who’s on social I always like to say garbage in garbage out but I realize as you’re talking you can really flip that script and and say quality in quality out and look at it in the positive like mind your inputs and and consume quality content use the block button make sure you know you’re you’re reading the things that are going to help your brain get into a positive heads space instead of send you down a a rabbit hole so I love that you’ve shared that tip and I don’t block as much as I should and I think there’s more and more accounts now that I think about it as I’m scrolling that need to be blocked it’s just it’s terrible content it’s negative but it catches your eye and then all of a sudden you’re in that conspiracy theory loophole and you just have to get yourself out so I’m fascinated by your content strategy so you do you post a lot on X what is your content mix between platforms are you are you heaviest on or do you extend into other platforms or prioritize other platforms well for me personally for me and my business I actually prior to Kiza prior to my current business I was a leadership consultant I had a leadership Consulting business and I built that entire business purely through Tik Tok like I had no website I had no other infrastructure I literally had nothing except that platform and I built a leadership and empowerment Consulting business through that so I am very familiar with building on Tik Tok I do encourage anyone and I know it’s uncomfortable to be in front of the camera but if you know I still believe that Tik Tok is one of the best places to grow uh for your business to grow organically to be able to reach people it is different each platform is different right now I’m focused for my for this current business I’m focused on X and Linkedin one of the things that transcends I think any platform that I’d like people to keep in mind in terms of a strategic approach I am a very huge advocate of building community and the necessity of community for brand development and Business Development as you mentioned at the start of this podcast you know besides kiz which is my brand and um content strategy fractional CMO business in addition to that I have the Kusa Studio which is this private community that I have built to be able to uh nurture up and cominging uh entrepreneurs one of the things that I do very consciously and intentionally on every single platform is uplifting and amplifying the voices of others this is an absolute critical part of nurturing and building and leading Community to show that you hear what people are saying that you see them that you celebrate them that you support them this is where Conn ctions are made and if you look at if any of you visit my ex profile you’ll see that literally % of my content is uplifting and the voices of others and amplifying their voices in addition to that one of my core values and something that I take with me in any any project or with any client that I work with is the critical importance of authenticity I cannot stress this enough it is so important and especially I think moving forward we’re going to see more and more even with the Legacy uh Brands and Legacy Media larger Brands the humanization of brand this is one of the key pillars that um in my in terms of my strategic approach I think brands are used to in previous iterations prior to social media this very oneway broadcasting type of communication you’d have a commercial blare at you from the television you’d see it in an ad in the paper social media does not work that way social media means you’re part of the collective conversation Collective discussion that’s why that Community aspect is so important to be able to be an authentic human being someone that people can align with because that’s what you really want you want that alignment you know one of the things if if you’re venturing into Tik Tok if you’re not authentic they will you’ll be over in you’ll be over in like a week it is so important and whatever it is that you know the social media landscape as it continues to evolve I think particularly this year in I think it’s a ripe year for disruption if a new platform wanted to come out but wherever it’s headed it’s going to emphasize authenticity and Community even more whatever the next platform is going to be so I think learning to become comfortable with that and to not sort of hide behind corporate speak and hide behind you know things but really to think of it in terms of how can I build genuine connection how can I put my voice out there and share things and talk about things in a way that people can really see who I am and the right people can become aligned to that how can I embody those qualities in my voice on content so that would be my suggestion yeah I can I can vouch for your ability to show up authentically and and to amplify voices because you and I are connected on Twitter or we’re connect Ed on X and I don’t remember how we initially got connected it was probably through Dixie or someone like that but you engage in my posts all the time and I don’t post consistently at all and so I’m off of that platform as like a third tier social platform I just periodically post and then when I do I’m like oh Grace and so it’s just it’s you exactly everything you just said you actually do um and that’s really how we are even here because you’ve you’ve connected with me and engaged with my content and and vice versa and and I think like finds like right and um one thing that Dixie always says in her content is find your people and the best way to find your people is by putting yourself out there more so where you show up authentically you’re going to naturally and energetically attract the like so like-minded people are going to find you I think people get obsessed with follower count but it’s really follower quality and connecting or finding those people that you you share values with you share like-mindedness with and you could really build businesses together you can you could build relationships you could work together there’s so many different ways that you could could build but the way that you uncover those people is not Google searches it’s truly you have to put yourself out there first and and like like will attract like yes exactly what you said you have to create the vibe first right the vibe of what you want you need to embody it first so a great way maybe an exercise that that could help people listening is if you have this vision of the kinds of people you want to be aligned with for example thoughtful people intelligent people people who have a certain kind of energy whatever people who are humorous whatever qualities you’re searching for are you embodying it first that’s the question are you embodying those qualities can people tell from your content and what you put out there are you thoughtful are you courageous are you showing what matters to you if growth matters to you if moving through fear matters to you are you showing that um and you know there were certain people that I wanted to bring in my community I wanted to be aligned with I had to be conscious and intentional of embodying that first and creating that Vibe first then the right people will naturally come in yeah so layering on to authenticity and you being a writer where are you Landing with Chachi PT and all of the AI content that’s emerging online these days you know AI is I think useful in terms of if we think of it and employ it as a tool will it change a lot of jobs and the and the and the way the landscape is yes it will the key thing I think moving forward there are a couple points on to make number one being human what I just talked about that humanness is going to be more important than ever as we get more and more to that point where we cannot tell the difference between AI written content AI videos AI imag the emphasis on authenticity on humanness is going to be more important than ever one of the predictions I made is that longer form writing online is going to become important because that’s how you can tell you know not just a short paragraph but over long form is it really a human being that’s behind it the other thing it’s going to really challenge the ways in which we’ve approached work the ways in which we’ve approached a lot of different positions uh jobs uh within the industry I think the critical question is going to become can we shift our mindset to understand that okay if AI automates a lot of these tasks that we have been doing ourselves up until now the key quality and criteria moving forward is are you the kind of person that can ask the right questions synthesize information in a way that only a human being can critically think strategize imagine right these things that are uniquely human are going to become more important than ever anything that is mechanical anything that can be automated will be automated so we got to kind of just start thinking differently and I think the people who are really going to be key players in the space the leaders in the space are going to be the ones who are able to embody those qualities so my advice always to young people nowadays who are maybe heading off to college trying to figure out how they want to move their career forward with so much technology advancing I’ve always emphasized go into the liberal arts study things that require interpretation that require strategy critical thinking that humanistic education is going to be what’s valuable moving forward yeah and the ability to to execute on ideas as they are generated and I think there’s a lot of brainstorm or writing or content that can come out of AI tools their ability to execute those things is always going to to lag behind though I know they’re working on it which is scary but to go back to like finding your people and and building your network the ability to Pi up the phone and be able to say I know who can execute this component of what was just decided I think those human aspects are are going to be critical and in marketing I think it’s it’s one of the I think marketing is the discipline that that AI is is impacting fastest and I know you work with a lot of different different companies how are you seeing companies use AI well and how are you seeing them maybe underutilize AI or incorrectly utilize AI I think that’s a good question I think when they do it well they don’t put all their eggs into that one basket right that’s when it’s not used well is when they start to do it use it for all of their content without you know human oversight or when they start to uh rely because you know AI is yeah so it it again goes against the authenticity and the and the human as a brand so when it’s done well I think it helps to streamline and Quicken certain processes right and that’s really I think one of the most effective ways to use it within business however that does have an impact and I think that is we’re seeing it in the job landscape it is impacting how and where businesses are investing their budget and how they want to utilize it which means then again everyone in the workforce is going to have to rethink skill sets rethink what they bring to the T how they can bring their value to the table so the worst way I I was tell anybody listening please do not rely on AI for everything without any human Insight because that will backfire on you so fast um please please I think for operational tasks improving the sort of streamlining processes I think that’s the best use for I know you also you consult in marketing you consult in branding and as you are getting involved in Brands um do you have a a specific process that you follow for evaluating brands do you have a specific process that you follow for improving brands or guiding them in a certain direction to evolve their brand my first approach always with any brand that I work with whether it’s a startup whether it’s a more evolved brand is to listen first this is my number one approach regardless of of where they’re at listening means not only listening to for example the seite exec the leadership team on what they think their brand is what do you actually think your brand does what is your brand you would be amazed at the differing responses asking stakeholders Partners asking investors asking important customers or clients what is your perception of this brand what do you what do you think of it what do you think it actually does like if you were to describe what it does and the responses are always incredibly eye openening and the gaps you start to find the gaps the sort of where they’re not aligned listening is the number one thing I probably devote the most amount of time to that stage of the process because until we understand that and have this kind of macro view of of where we’re at it’s going to be very difficult to move forward and after that then it becomes a team process but it’s also very much a creative process to really ideate together what is the actual Vision what is it that we’re trying to do this is what everybody’s saying can we come to a consensus on what we actually do it’s that type of process tie into content and what we’ve been talking about like Brands needing to have a a voice identified to be able to then jump to content and it almost seems like we’re going backwards through the process like let’s post a lot of content and then decide who we are as a brand and yes and I that’s a common Mistake by the way I do see that they don’t take the the brand foundational they started too late people started too late it it has to be at the beginning because we need to understand I always talk about it in terms of human identity and Human Relationships if we don’t understand who we are if we don’t if we’re not connected to who we are it becomes that much more difficult to build and maintain genuine connection and relationships with others right the more lost we are the more everything gets all over the place and our relationships all over the place it’s the exact same thing so when we talk about brand identity again relating it back to human identity you know so much of our sense of self our understanding of identity comes from not only understanding who we are right our values what matters to us all of that stuff it’s also the people that we’re surrounded by right we often understand our sense of self by our community our family the people in our town and then the other component of it is context right so as an example I am an Asian woman in the United States here in this country I am a minority if however I was in Japan I would be part of the majority the context changes which means the perception and our understanding of ourselves also changes with that positioning so that is exact the same with brand brand positioning brand your community and brand who you are right these three components and where these three intersect is where brand identity comes to life are there brands that you’re crushing on at the moment that you think are knocking it out of the park when it comes to everything you just talked about you know I think in general the sports industry is doing really really well has consistently done well a good friend of mine is uh John P who used to be the former Global Marketing lead for Nike and he and I just had a conversation the other day and I think Nike consistently continues to knock it out of the park they have always integrated a deep understanding of Storytelling of humanity and everything that they put out and also I think one of the most important things and John was telling me because he was involved with the London Olympics campaign for Nike back in or whenever it was that happened he was talking about how when they creatively approach campaigns their first thought is not about how do we make people see us this way but rather how do we make people feel this way so it was always about not about how do we make people see Nike as an empowered brand but rather how do we make the people watching this feel empowered right and that’s such a critical Nuance that the hero always is the customer the person that you’re speaking with right how do you make them feel that and then as a byproduct of course they start to associate that concept and that feeling with your brand um and and so I think Nike does a very very good job of this consistently in their campaigns yeah I I work with so many Fitness Breads and that’s the first thing that I have them undo about their marketing and their content is just so much of the focus is on us as the workout us as the studio us as the gym the four walls and it’s not about that it’s about you as the prospect how are we going to make you feel as a member and just flipping the the focus is so difficult when you’re especially when you’re in an entrepreneurial mindset your business is your baby and you’re so proud of your baby and you’re like look at my baby look at everything that I have built but the focus does need to be on who else is going to engage with this brand and what can I bring to them that will then link them to to my brand to my business I love that and you’re right with entrepreneurship it becomes very difficult you talked a little bit about kazuna studio and and all the different initiatives you have in that side of your world but dig in a little bit more there like what are your what are your goals with those two initiatives what are you trying to achieve and is there any help that you need from somebody who might be listening to this K is my main a business that’s where I do all of my marketing and branding and Consulting work education impact meaning is very important to me it has always been very important to me in every every career shift everything I’ve ever done it has been a critical part of my life and I wanted to create or build something that would allow me to realize those values especially for upand cominging leaders Founders entrepreneurs and so the idea of the kizuna studio sort of organically emerged from that and it’s in many ways a private Mastermind Community meaning it’s for certainly like-minded entrepreneurs uh and business owners uh it is a community rooted in authenticity Humanity education diversity these are very important pillars for our group we have people at very at different stages which is exactly what I wanted different stages different Industries they all bring this sort of wealth of diversity in their perspectives in their feedback in their experiences that make for a very rich I think environment as I said there are people at different stages so we have season leaders in there we have people the minimum requirement to enter is to have had uh your own business for at least a year but so there’s still people who are still at the very start of their journey and then of course we have a whole bunch in the middle it’s something if I’m being really honest I’m probably the most proud of that studio out of um everything that kiz has been involved with thus far they are truly to see people grow to see them sort of progress especially through internal change that’s also a critical part of our studio the understanding that internal growth is necessary for external growth you cannot grow as a business if you don’t address certain things regarding fear regarding you know there’s a lot that we need to move through right so that’s why we describe it as a community for professional and personal growth both are intwined but I am enormously proud to see over time how the growth the progress that they’ve made it’s really so humbling on my part to see it because I’m like wow this is this is incredible and I think really when we have a community when we build a community the ultimate Vision I think besides the collective Vision within the group The Ultimate vision is for them to take what they’ve learned and to have an impact on the wider landscape as a whole right so now I’m seeing them as Leaders go out into their communities into their fields and everything that they’ve learned and grown within the the studio is starting to affect those outside of it one of the big group projects we’re doing this year actually is we are publishing our first book as a community it’s an anthology of personal essays and the theme of it is daring authentically and what does that mean for both our personal and professional lives and how has that quality been something that we’ve learned and realized over the years so we are a very tightened group I’m very proud of all of them that’s amazing that you’ve formed those connections with people and then you’re pushing each other forward and having conversations that are rich along that authenticity kind of line I went through a traditional schooling Journey here in the US and then went and got my MBA and then when I started a business it’s a whole new education that you have to learn as fast as you possibly can and as much as there’s online courses and you can you can Google everything there’s nothing quite like someone sitting across from you and saying I have been there here’s what I did to work through it and having the person-to-person element of it because I think entrepreneurship is so um it hinges so much on the founders mentality the founders self awareness the founders values and philosophies and so Google results are one thing like person-to-person answers and guidance are a whole different thing in the entrepreneurial space and kudos to you for kind of taking that on as a mission and bringing bringing it all to life and you you touched upon something that I I just realized is also such an important part of community and I think why it’s so necessary entrepreneurship is lonely it is a very lonely Journey it’s so easy to feel isolated to be become the lone wolf and think you have to do it all alone and I think Community can the power and transformative nature of community is because it challenges all of that says hey you don’t have to do it alone hey I know exactly what it is that you’re going through I’ve went through the same thing or I am going through the same thing and let’s do this together supporting one another cheering each other on consoling one another when something doesn’t go the way that we want it to go all of that and that’s also been I think we have co-working sessions and writing sessions we have a lot of different sort of pockets of activities within our community to be able to ease that loneliness and to better foster connection that’s so great I will share the links to both of those organizations and the show notes just in anybody’s interested in joining because I think you’re right it’s about resources and just having connection to individuals who have gone through the same thing because it’s not you start to feel crazy in some in some instances you start to feel like what absolutely absolutely absolutely so just having a having a Community to say I’m not the only one I’m not the crazy one I know the other thing that you’re passionate about is is women in leadership roles or maybe more specifically even female Founders and the statistics are extreme in terms of funding going toward female Founders versus male the number any anywhere between % and % and I know you’re connected to the Venture Capital Community and what do you see as the solve for that Gap it is such a a deeply rooted societal and cultural problem right and we all know this women know this we we’ve been through it we live it all of that we know that there is still and I still I see this myself when I do an event or let’s say a master class or even an xace or something with a male leader the turnout is always nearly double that if I did it with a woman leader doesn’t matter same sort of marketing same kind of promotion same kind of everything all things being everything else being equal it’s still there there’s still this fundamental inability to sort of accept a woman’s sort of Authority or leadership position I still face it in boardrooms in meetings in which people will talk over me they will question my authority they will do things that they would never do if I was a man right so it is a much bigger certainly a deeper issue I think one of the key things that because I would like to encourage any younger women perhaps where who are listening to this the onus I believe the burden of this is no longer on women women have done it all we’re better educated we have gone to school we’re doing all the things all of that we’ve done all of it the burden the onus of this to change it falls on men they need to educate one another hold one another accountable they need to shift their understanding challenge conditioned paradigms that they may not even recognize that they they hold I have had to do this with male friends and male colleagues who are like oh I’m such an ally I am like you know and then women’s uh what was it International women’s day happened last month and all of a sudden they’re all silent and I was like oh I called him out I was like very interesting you say that you support women that you’re all for women’s equality and yet on International women’s day you are deathly silent you cannot even highlight the women in your community who are always there supporting you who are always encouraging you but on this day you cannot even say anything so it requires that sort of accountability and holding them accountable and then those men also have to hold one another accountable in order for this to change women have already we are doing it we have been doing it for a long time we are all like pushing hard and doing all that it no longer falls on us they need to start getting their act together I’m a believer that representation matters and I think as women the responsibility I feel as a woman is to pass down as many breadcrumbs as I can so that the Next Generation has to do less you know or or can do less or starts at a better starting place than than I did and when I have days uh unprepared feeling incapable feeling even starting this podcast I’m like who’s going to listen to my podcast just having that reminder of there are people out there there are young versions of you out there who didn’t have that person to look to and I think we are now in a place where there’s a lot of examples of really successful female Founders who are now exited their businesses Sarah Blakeley being the easy obvious recent answer where she’s a billionaire now and did such a great job growing Spanx and and and is now sharing some of that Journey but the the pieces along the way where you’re in the mud where you’re you’re at those Crossroads where you’re you’re uncertain I think it’s important to share the fact that you’re uncertain I have so many conversations with women who don’t feel ready or have that impostor syndrome and it is truly a matter of reminding yourself that like you are an example for the Next Generation representation matters and we need to show up we need to be louder to support each other I love that so much Jessica I’m really glad you brought that up my guiding personal Vision in my life the lens with which I examine everything that I do in business in my personal life in every Arena I want to be the person I wished I’d had I wished I could be the person that I didn’t have when I was younger I want to be that person for others I think sometimes sometimes because women have had to work so hard to climb up that ladder especially in the corporate world and and to get to a certain position sometimes we see them pull up the ladder behind them and that comes from a scarcity mindset because you’re so worried that there’s so limited positions that you’re worried about your own sort of survival right and you’re and I this is something that deeply uh bothers me as as not only a woman but a woman of color our responsibility is to help those who are coming after us so they don’t have to face the same challenges or go through the same stuff that we know was so painful to go through and I’m really glad you brought that up I think that’s such a critical point I love that you’re talking about scarcity mindset because I think that is the exact mindset that needs to shift on the women’s side because it is a matter of the difference of thinking about is there one seat for a woman at the man’s table or are there endless amounts of online communities that I can connect with that are diverse communities because I don’t strictly want to talk to women like I want to talk to everyone I want to talk to all leaders and we can now do that more seamlessly than ever before so to think about it through a scarcity mindset is absolutely wrong everyone has the opportunity to be at a table everyone has an opportunity to create their own table simply by having a voice online everyone has an opportunity to find people that they want to invite to their table and so again I think the the to tie it even back to content the need to create content in this environment especially as women it has never been more important because we need to we need to set that example we need to show that here’s the work that’s being done find the others find the people you want to sit with you absolutely oh I love that your voice matters that’s the whole point of content and if there’s one macro concept to take away from it your voice matters every individual voice matters I would love to see more and more women exes very male dominant please please Contex and share share your voice share your thoughts and your ideas uh because uh we need it I would love to see it I that’s so true and I would encourage any anybody who’s listening do follow Grace on X because she’s a she’s a monster on that platform I don’t exactly know how you do it all there one thing that we like to talk about pretty consistently on this podcast is what I would refer to as a comeback season where you were on a low and you had to kind of dig deep and get yourself out of that low where were you if you can identify one or share one with us and and what were some of the things you did to to dig out of that that darker place I’ll share actually a recent story I I think we all go through multiple periods in which uh that happens and the challenges that we encounter along the way but I’ll share the most recent one kis I started in July of last year so it’s it’s been about like eight nine months uh at this point the day I can’t believe I’m sharing this okay the day the day that I launched my business which was July st my partner whom I was living with he broke up with me he broke up with me on the day I launched the business it was a very messy very painful breakup I had to move out I was trying to build a business at the same time so you can imagine just all these stressors and intersecting I’m crying I’m on the floor of the bathroom and I’m like you know trying trying to get my life together while trying to build this business it was enormously obviously enormously challenging and I think what was most painful at that moment is because there was a part of me that felt that perhaps he did not believe in my ability to build this business I think there was that too because he didn’t believe in the future of our relationship does that mean that he didn’t believe also in what I could do individually what I was trying to do and I became when I tell you I’m the kind of person that if you tell me I can’t do something I will go out of my way to show you that I can’t so I became so hyperfocused I utilized that pain and that period in which so much grief was there but I channeled that into the Act of Creation into creating something that was truly aligned with who I am as soon as I sort of really focused on that alignment you know that it really reflects me like not me with him or not the US that I thought we were going to be but me as an individual soon as I started doing that that when we talked about the people start coming in right the Align people start coming in and I suddenly had people around me whom I never imagined I would ever meet people I met online and building these connections and relationships that inspired me supported me that were there for me that were cheering me on that allowed me to have my days when I would vent or cry or the frustration and all all the stuff that is just a normal part of the journey by the way everyone and you know going through all of that but they were there for me when we talk about comeb season I think when I look back on my life and the different times in which I I really was at a low and how I rose up from that it’s cultivating I think and strengthening the alignment and self trust aligning with yourself and trusting that combined with allowing yourself to recognize that it’s okay to lean on others for support that you don’t have to do it alone and that that that I said that that that sort of community that relational support is important it’s it’s an important part of that process and the healing process and all of that and understanding who you are um being able to move it through it so that’s exactly what happened the first couple months after I launched this business and thriving now but and I can laugh about it now and speak about it on a podcast but that was my most recent very tough moment in my life I love the reference to outside perspective and just having people remind you you are on this low but the lows are where you you define your values where you reconnect to your why and having connection to people who have been there on your highs when you were so clear with your why and you were so clear with your values leaning on those people asking for help I think I think that’s such invaluable advice and we appreciate you sharing it I actually wanted you just you have a wonderful way of uh stating these questions that kind of trigger another thought for me I wanted to add on to that because you’re absolutely right the outside perspective the outside people these people will remind you of who you are and that is so important I remember I was four months in so this is around October November you know after the breakup and i’ had been building the business and I was frustrated I remember I was really frustrated why isn’t it moving faster I want to do this and this and this but it’s not going the way and one of my closest friends reminded me do you remember where you were for months ago remember that look how much you did in four months sit with that for a little bit celebrate that a little bit see that progress and celebrate it and that’s so important that’s why that you know the people around you and being able to have that kind of support is is important it’s a solid reminder for any entrepreneur out there celebrate the progress it’s not about the destination it’s about the process that you’re following and the progress that you’re making along the way I love that is there anything we touched on a lot of things today is there anything that’s top of your mind that you want to share that we haven’t yet talked about you talked a little bit earlier about honesty with regards to especially helping the women who come after us and being honest about where we struggle or where we find challenges and I just want to kind of expand on that I think a little bit I think think often times we have this misconception of leadership as being perfect that we are perfect authority figures and that we should know all the answers and we should Som and that is not true I think being a strong leader is about that honesty and transparency to be able to say I don’t know let’s talk about it I don’t know I don’t have the answer for you beautiful things emerge from that when we’re able to sit with our own selves and and to share that honesty and that is such an example for those who come after us about what it means to stand in your own self and to share your own truths and uh that we can have such an impact and influence by just being ourselves and sharing uh what we learn along the ways so thank you for saying that Jessica that was very beautiful no thank you for sharing that I think that’s so critical to to entrepreneurs or just anybody in their career is is you’re going to have highs you’re going to have lows and it’s it’s how you navigate through all of it you know entrepreneurs out there you fail every other day and you just you learn that’s how you learn so it’s not the sugarcoated social media post it’s really like here’s how it’s going here’s where it is and and here’s the lessons that I’m learning all of that is so invaluable I so appreciate you spending all of this time with us today for anybody who’s listening definitely do connect with Grace online she’s amazing and I will link all of the websites and the different social media handles into the show notes but thank you so much grace for joining us today on the society pod we hope you enjoyed this episode of the society pod