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From Exit to Epic: Jaclyn Johnson’s Road Back to Empowering Founders

New funding programs for women, bold brands tackling the taboo and Insta’s hashtag overhaul

Author

Jasmine Crockett
November 26, 2024

Breaking Boundaries
Women redefining success and inspiring others to reach new heights.

Jaclyn Johnson Returns to Inspire the Next Generation

And she’s back! The entrepreneurial boomerang, Jaclyn Johnson, with her new business partner Marina Middleton, returns to Create & Cultivate with fresh-faced optimism armed with drool-worthy community, content and career confidence. Operationalizing the modern working woman is their new MO. But every good story has its villains.

Founding the company at 22, Johnson’s media company teemed with success. Celebrities and women founders flocked to her community’s embrace within high-profile events and conferences.

However, public enemy #1 (COVID-19) forced her to take the community digital, with virtual summits and meetups taking its place. Success still reigned with 50,000+ women joining (and broadening) the community’s ranks and reach, not to mention $22M in profitability.

Johnson’s skyrocketing success didn’t go unnoticed. Corridor Capital courted her exit and majority stake in 2022 which led to only plummeting profits and a multimillion-dollar valuation decline. And that wouldn’t do. 

With a new spark, Johnson re-emerges as Co-CEO with a reinvigorated focus on next-gen women founders through the full lifecycle of business building from launch to legacy. She has big plans going into 2025 not only for organizational growth but to inspire women through events like the Blueprint Mastermind, Future Summit and the multiday festival coined the “Coachella for career women.” Johnson is serious about rallying ambitious women to their highest potential and topping her success from her first go around. Because you can always begin again.

Need to Know

Industry Updates

Quote of the Week

❝

Trust the magic of new beginnings.

Meister Eckhart

Resource Spotlight

📚 Book

Don’t look for wealth in the wrong places. Find the path to win in the #1 investing new release, Main Street Millionaire: How to Make Extraordinary Wealth Buying Ordinary Businesses.

🎧 Podcast

Your future cofounder found in the most unlikely of places. Hear how a blind date turned into a second business venture in this episode of Inc.’s From The Ground Up.

📝 Article

Check it: The Generosity Power Move That Can Boost Your Career in the Wall Street Journal. And it isn’t about you. Hint, hint.

Founder’s Note

New potential to solve a bigger problem. That’s why I began again in the home industry with my new company, Smply. I heard my customers. And I’m leveraging their feedback to create a solution that fits their needs, wants and desires at scale. For me, it’s about making a meaningful (and beautiful) home accessible. 

Key Insight: :To fan a new flame within your business, leverage research and customer feedback to make a product or service better. Determine what is working and what’s not working to transform a worn-out idea into a winning one.

Next Step: Get down and dirty in research to back your fresh beginning. Research the market and your competitors. Specifically, mine customer testimonials of your competition to make your offering more enticing to get customers begging for more.

Tip for Fellow Founders: Forget the past. Look forward. Enjoy the magic of creating something new.

Stay inspired, stay unstoppable,