LadyGang - Jaclyn Johnson

Episode Date: August 13, 2019

Create & Cultivate founder Jaclyn Johnson is in studio to help aspiring girl bosses with tips and advice for how to have patience in pursuing your dream and how to handle tricky workplace scenarios. Special thanks to this episode's sponsors! American Heart Association – Make moves at heart.org.  Hello Fresh – For $80 off your first month go to hellofresh.com/ladygang80 and enter “ladygang80”.  Living Proof – Get a free travel size of their award winning dry shampoo with your $29 or more purchase by visiting sephora.com/living-proof and use promo code “proofpodcast”.  Rothy’s – Check out the shoes you’ve been waiting for a rothys.com/ladygang.  Scentbird – Go to scentbird.com/ladygang for 50% off your first month.  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Hey guys, the following podcast is a Lady Gang Network and Podcast One production, which means it's going to be awesome. Well, what is this? Welcome to the Lady Gang. That's amazing. Say that again. The Lady Gang. Things are about to change around here.

Each week we catch up with Hollywood's hottest girl posse, Kelty Knight, Becca Tobin, and Jack Vanek. Hello, hello, hello, and welcome to the Lady Gang. I am Becca Tobin here with Jack Vanek and Kelty Knight. Oh, what's up, girls? i'm very excited about today's episode me too because i love to read i mean it's yeah i mean our guest wrote a book but like she also she's also like other things yeah boss bitch entrepreneur yeah i was more excited about like hearing about how she like you know built her giant company but

cool he's like i love to read to read um well i mean let's get to it it's time for good week yes it is bad week oh no i'm going first oh i never go back is ready i'm ready okay so my bad week is this i have been very busy we've been very busy collectively and i'm about to say something that is going to rock your world i'm not caught up on real nor do i care that much right now about the Real Housewives I knew it you guys times have

wait which one's on right now LA or Beverly Hills first of all New York started and it was a banger season to kick it off

but I forgot to start recording the season and once you forget and then direct TV just they suck

and a lot of the time my on demand's not working and like once you fall behind yeah it's hard to get back on New York was the best

episode to start at best season ever and i heard it only got better and so it's like it's not a testament to like the quality of the content and the beverly hills i fell off and now i hear there's no do you have like direct tv now like i don't have cable so i can't really record shit so i don't know how to watch it after it's already aired it's really it's hard live on demand which should work but it never does yeah same and i want to cry i don't even know who i am anymore you've changed where's identity that's like if i wasn't keeping up with the bachelor right now i know and i know who i was it's like i hate that i don't care that much to go back right like you don't even you didn't know

you were gonna not miss it but you don't miss it yeah oh that's sad have you matured i hope not horrible but they've changed i mean i'm not a huge housewives i'm not a housewives person at all they've changed the cast so much that it would be almost no new york is oh geez oh it's all the and OGs that never changes. Oh, these are your people. These are my... That's the... This is the shitty part.

New York is my favorite franchise. So you didn't even... You're not like... It's like you're not showing up for Teresa's wedding. I know. This is how I know... You're being a bad friend.

Yeah, this is... Teresa's not on The Housewives of New York. Oh, it's New Jersey. Sorry. Anyway, this is how I know that TV doesn't matter and ratings don't matter.

Right. Because it's a fabulous show that I'm not watching. You know, you're a big fan and you're still not watching. I'm the biggest fan. Imagine what a Fairweather fan doesn't watch right all i want in my life is to have a birthday party and have sonia morgan show

up that is my ultimate surprise party oh that's such a good idea i love sonia morgan i love that for you okay okay great um okay but my good week is that we've been touring as everybody knows and we've been hitting all these cities and since we're going to cities that are not our hometowns we don't have glam people yeah but you know what what i've become my own glam person oh I have become women doing it for the sales. I have not. I have mastered my hair and makeup. It's official.

You know what? This has been my new thing because I'm trying to learn how to do my own hair and makeup. I bought all the brushes that Becca has. Yeah. I'm going to have the same thing as you. We're going to be great. I bought the clips that you have to pin my bangs down. You did?

Check. That makes me, like, want to cry. I bought that pink brush of yours and a round one. The tangle teaser? Yeah. Really? See, I'm trying the same thing. I'm just not doing it successfully.

I'll teach you how to do the lashes. That's the hardest thing. Okay, yeah. I need a lash. The secret is you've got to curl the lashes before you put them on. Okay, I didn't know that. I don't curl my lashes ever. Oh, you just have naturally beautiful curly lashes.

Well, she's a natural supermodel, so us regular bitches have to curl our lashes. Sorry, guys. God gave me something. I wasn't born with a golden vagina and curled eyelashes. How did you know my vagina was gold? I'm proud of you. Yeah, that's my good week. Honestly, it's a great week.

I feel as confident when I do my own hair and makeup now as I did with Clay and Christina, even though they're like a million times better. but you know exactly what you want like and if you can do it yourself yeah i feel pretty good i mean i'm limited to like one one look one hairstyle right right yeah like clay can make me like five people in a day sure but you can do your basic like becca pretty and i can clip yeah and i can clip in my extensions and everything oh that's my new thing too i need to try to do yeah it's amazing can't be that hard you just put it in yeah yeah okay there we go i'm going jack my good week um as everybody knows i only follow dogs on instagram and i have a new favorite

dog he's not a smushy face dog which is a shock his name is mr bubs i think that he might be possessed by the devil it's a good name because his dad like he rubs him and is like so cute to him and then the dog does these faces that i've never seen in my life wait wait for it oh he's like biting him he's evil but he like it's when he's being loved and he's having a blast and i think that there's some like things going too overwhelming for him and he looks like he's gonna attack and then after he like does his crazy attack then he has this look in his eyes like he's never been so confused everybody go follow him he's amazing i have an observation about jack what she's weird well yeah but like like you would rather watch videos of dogs than

be with dogs no 100 yes she i just am very limited on the type of dog i like but that's not being a dog lover yeah i'm not i'm not a total dog lover i'm a smooshy dog lover oh i'm gonna need to see you with a smooshy dog and yeah i don't believe it because oh my god have you never seen me with one i like shriek not i've seen you on instagram but not irl i don't have one well we know there's It's not that many that are just around. You don't say. No, but I'm very biased. That's so weird because smushy dogs, no offense to all the smushy dog owners out there,

but most of the time the smushy dog is the smelliest. Yep, for sure. They fart. They fart. And their noses get like. They slobbery. They get wet. Yeah.

And they shed a lot. So, like, it's weird to me that you, like. That's the one I love. I can't help what I love. When, like, Callie licks your hand, but then you'll, like, make out with Beth. Well, Callie does lick too much. and i understand that no callie gets in your personal space when you don't want her yeah callie is like a barnacle um i also she's like yeah it's like you're just like you're like oh

cool i just want to drink this drink and then she's like in your lab like with her paws like it was so funny last night i was going to sleep and i was like i played with her played with her played with her and i was like oh my gosh okay you're tired out whatever and then i'm like okay let's go to bed and she comes to bed and she walks on me and she just like puts her face on my face to sleep and i was like this is not a viable sleeping position like just your face on my face if you hadn't rescued her she'd be dead in mexico she'd be dead oh she needs human contact no i really think she needs a brother or sister but chris knight if you're listening she does please she would thrive with a baby brother she would also probably chill out because she'd have like

another friend to play with yeah she's a friend um okay my bad week is a simple one i was drinking a beer this weekend i go to take a sip and as i'm swallowing didn't realize there was a live big ass fly in there and i swallowed a fly did you feel it felt it oh squirming around and you know it's like when the drink is too far down your throat you can't spit it back up yeah i would have put my finger down do flies go into beer cans a lot it was it was just like a like a cup you didn't see it nope wasn't looking because you're looking at the smushy doll all right well i have a bad week um it actually just happened to me i um was loading things in from my car and taking out the trash etc and then went in my house and slept all night and then i

got up this morning to come to work and i had not closed my garage door it was open all night it's connected to my house uh my garage door was not closed my keys were sitting on the dashboard of my car so someone could have just like taken the car because i put the keys on the dashboard of my car so i always know where my keys are that's so stupid why don't you why don't you like in my apartment i have like a little rack and i put my keys always on the same rack but your car is not attached to your house my car is right there i walk out of the kitchen my car why don't you put your keys on the way where you walk yeah i could or i could just put them on the dashboard or the car i just put it in well have you ever locked your keys in your car i think most cars now can't

be locked if the keys it anyway but i mostly just think of your car getting stolen yeah car stolen with the if i forget to do the door and also the door the interior door like from the garage to my house was open all night someone could come in my house there's probably someone in my house right now in the attic like i don't know oh anyway i'm an idiot yeah don't tell gary and you're staying home by yourself right now i mean i wasn't gonna say that part so people come murder me somewhere about me on instagram they're like you know you should really talk about it less when chris is out of town so i'm gonna come murder you actually should um i will tell you that people do watch your instagram stories to see when you're out of town yeah and then they go rob you because this

happened to a friend of mine yeah for sure yep he and his husband were both away and they instagrammed about it and they were broken into that night celebrities yep amazing and um you should never ever talk about when your husband's out of town yeah thank you good week um this is a little bit old, but I haven't had a chance to talk about it. So my, the dance company that I grew up dancing in had the big 50th year anniversary. What up Shelly's dance company? And I used it as an excuse to go hold my friend's babies. Basically. I was like, well, it's the anniversary. I'll take a few days off. I'll go up. I'll squeeze all the babies. I'll see my parents. Like, it'd be great. You guys, I have never felt more special in my life. Did you feel like a superstar going back

home? Well, yes, because I was the worst dancer. Like I think everyone was shooketh that like I then made it in new york so it was so fun to come back and be like i was successful and no one but who cares but the best part was that like i got really drunk and did this speech but i planned the speech and i it was a roast i like took i roasted my dance teacher which was so funny and then the next day she posted this thing that was like i there was so many special moments i can't even sum it up seeing all of you was so great and kelty i got my own shout out by the lady who used to yell at me and be like you'll never be anything wait but it's like very dance girls are gonna be mad that you got a special shout out probably do you think she did that guess was i mad when

everyone else got a special shout out for all those years and jazz solos she's a star fucker and it's because you have a verified account for sure no no no i do think i do think she's i do think she's proud she's like i'm so proud of you but it's so weird because this is like very abby lee if you watch like i'm still terrified of this woman like i got up and did the speech and i was like hi i am a public speaker now on my job and i'm about to poop my pants because i am still 100 scared of you and she was like right there that's so weird it was really fun is that like a fun full circle moment for you it was a really fun first local moment and i saw all these people but i have the best story i have the best story so this i grew up dancing with this girl named

cynthia poxon and i'm naming names and um we were and she's a bitch no no she's great she's great i was so bad growing up that i never had to be competitive because i was never even going to get close to winning so it's just like when you're 85 on the list you're like oh whatever so i saw her mom at this party and she was like oh my god i'll never forget you and cynthia were in first grade and you were at the cameras dance festival and you were competing in your ballet solos and cynthia won first place and like you didn't get anything and we walked into the room where all the girls were changing or whatever or no not changing sorry we were walking into like the holding room and we were right behind your grandpa who's like since died and i don't remember

a ton about him because he was pretty young and he went uh don't worry don't worry about that little i don't know it wasn't bitch but it was like twat don't worry about that little twat like about cynthia to a six-year-old that is and the mom was right behind him oh my god it was so funny that's like the stuff i say to my niece and nephew and my sister's like you can't say things like that to kids. And I'm like, well, I don't know if I'm going to be able to not do that with my own kids. Oh, absolutely. A hundred percent. No, I'm going to be, I'm going to like, how am I not going to cuss in front of my kids and stuff? But also like, be like, don't worry about that, that little wanker. Yeah. Like when, when little girls, piece of shit, when little girls are rude to my niece

on the playground, like I will, I will kill you. I want to kill them first of all. And then I say to her, I'm like, they're losers anyway. And my sister's like, oh my God, you can't say that. You just have to let them work it out. And I'm like, look at her dress. She's a loser. She's like, you are such a mean girl. Can you imagine that she'd wear that dress? But I'm like, I'm not a mean girl.

She was mean first. My sister's like, you're an adult woman. Get it together. You're breeding bullies. But I do have. But this is the thing. It's the Robin Hood mentality. I am not mean to people for no reason.

I am mean to people who are being mean to other people. Yep. Steal from the rich, baby. And it wasn't Cynthia's fault that she was wildly talented at age six. But she was probably a bitch to you. No, no one was a bitch to me. They were like, oh, there's a no one. She'll never do it again in her life.

She really wants to dance. She should definitely do soccer. All right. When we come back, we're getting inspired. You're listening to The Lady Gang. Our guest today is the badass founder and CEO of the multi-million dollar company Create and Cultivate, a platform that helps women build the career of their dreams. Yes!

She's a huge advocate for female empowerment and has helped thousands of women achieve their career goals. Named to Forbes 30 Under 30, she's an author of the book Work Party, that just happens to be one of the Stacks Lady Gang Book Club picks for next month. it helps you create and cultivate the career of your dreams she's an entrepreneur extraordinaire please welcome to the podcast jacqueline johnson that's how i want all my intros to be i she can follow you around to be your hype woman i mean the crazy thing is is that i'm so a type that when i first saw your book i was like i don't need to read this i guarantee i know everything that's in this book no at all i'm like one i'm a three on the enneagram so i think i know everything

thing and do it can do everything better than everybody else and then i read it and i i'm a three and i don't feel that way so please don't speak for all okay not all threes are like this but what's cool about the book is that um i want i'm starting with the book and then we're moving on but what's cool about the book is that it's not so like chill up and work hard you know it's like here's how you fire people and that can be hard sometimes and like there was just like a lot of comfort because i don't think a lot of people really talk about that thank you well did you learn things yeah i learned things okay that's good i learned to have a work party yes and i i wanted the book to be like that real talk advice because that's how i felt i felt like every single

book was like you know be authentic be yourself and i was like no bitch how do i pay people yeah what are taxes like what are we talking about how do i negotiate stuff what does this claws mean like the stuff that no one talks about so my first question in your work party today is we all hate our jobs how do we make it better oh I mean amen I think it's really really challenging I think even for me where I almost feel sometimes women are posting on Instagram like oh my god you have a dream job so I'm sure you guys get that too and I'm like I am dying um so I think it's really really hard but I think the best part about that is like one being really honest about it and kind of saying like, this is what, um, my work really is behind the scenes. It's not just

interviewing cool people or doing cool things. It's like being in a cute outfit. Exactly. Like it's Excel spreadsheets and like nightmares. So it's like, it's all of those things. So I think that's part of it. But I think also it's understanding that work is called work for a reason. Like not all work is fun. And that's sort of the preface of like work party is like, it's hard work. It's not just like all day fun and, you know, kind of cocktails, but I think it's just about enjoying the things that you're doing and knowing that you're contributing to something bigger and i think that's the reality of the situation is not no one's job is fun doesn't matter like part of it is going to be challenging and difficult and just boring and

the other part of it is exciting because you're able to touch people in a unique and interesting way and like bring an audience together at least for me that's what keeps me going sure but like it's kind of the worst yeah like work is not fun no i agree my mom has this great i've said it before she's a great line and she says honey that's why it's called show business and not show fun because every time when you're like i just can't believe they screwed me over like this and she's like are really she's like because that happens in corporate america all the time like yeah these aren't is it's like it's not rupaul's best friends race yeah you know that's what he always says on the show um okay i want to do a circle for everyone what they thought they were

going to be when they were grew up like what did you think when you were young like i'm going to be a doctor i'm gonna be this i thought i was gonna be an actress oh you do have the headshots when i was like in third grade my mom used to drive i'm from orange county my mom used to drive me up to la every thursday for acting class with chris kyer whoever the f that is now and his life just got made it's probably in jail honestly um yeah i like i legit was trying to be like a child actor thank god that didn't happen i'm so glad that didn't work i would be a nightmare it wouldn't be cool no i wouldn't i'd probably yeah okay drugs becca mine was like a jason it was like broadway you never were like i want to be a scientist never i hated school i woke up on the second

day of first grade and asked my mom like if i had to go and she's like you have to go i said i'd rather die than go to school what six-year-old says she'd rather die than go to first grade that's not somebody who wants to be assigned first grade is not that hard either yeah i hated it You're like, I don't want to draw a square. I hated it so much. Wow. Yeah. Mine was magazine editor.

Of course. Oh, my God. I see that so much for you, Miranda Priestly. Totally. Like, I watched all the movies. I thought, I was like, this is my moment. And I, like, almost got there. I, like, interned at Cotty Nass.

I studied magazine journalism at NYU. Oh, wow. I was, like, setting the pace. And then, literally, when I got the job offer, I got a job offer as an editorial assistant at Allure, which, like, dream. Yeah. And they were literally, and I'm aging myself, but they were like, the salary is $19,000 a year. I was like doing math.

I don't think I could do that. I could buy a cup of coffee every day and that's it. It was wild. And so I had to turn it down, which was like the bummer of my whole career existence. And then I like ended up going into marketing. Wow. Kelty? um unlike becca i think that if i wasn't uh a this person um when i was young and in school i

i did really like the sciences i thought i would probably be as like a zoo person zoologist or like whatever i loved biology and like animals and animal why would you ever go into entertainment if you actually enjoyed something like that i know because there's a whole like a soul well no also like you only do entertainment if you're good at nothing else that's not true i was a scholar no that's what i'm saying it's like you only choose it right if like you like you're too smart that's what she's saying the need for attention was greater than the narcissism the narcissism got me yeah the narcissism got it got me you know it was like i just like i love you organisms but i love it when people notice me walking around the spotlight

i love to save the world but i love myself more exactly that's pretty much it all right so i actually had our intern sasha come up with some of these questions because she's like your people like speaking to your people you know um we're also your people no she's like she's like you know you know but we we think that we still hungry. Yeah. We're not hungry. Yeah. We're tired. I'm trying to have a retirement party, not a work party. Yeah, exactly. So one of the things that she thought was really interesting and she said, how do I know how to bridge the line between being humble and letting everyone know that I'm great? Yeah. It's a huge, huge problem. And I think like the biggest thing,

it's actually on the flip side is people who are horrible self promoters. And like nowadays in business, like you are going to fail. Like you have to be in some way, shape or form a self promoter of some kind um I think for the humble versus whatever kind of thing I think you just have to figure out the pace and the cadence and what your audience likes some people's audience want that all the time like what are you up to what are you doing what's your next collaboration oh paid posts I don't care I'm liking it like they care about that other people's audience and I see it happen sometimes they will go in on you if you're talking about like paid opportunities and things like that it's kind of crazy so I think it's a little bit of like a balancing act but I

think you have to be an incredible self promoter to get your business, not only yourself, your business out there. That's how it works. And that's why like influencer marketing is the thing. That's why people pay for it. It's because they are putting themselves out there and, you know, by default, putting products out there and getting people to like them. And then like, what about the people that are like just in an office, not just, but like they're in like a corporate place where we see a lot, like in our Facebook of people being like, my boss just doesn't appreciate me and I'm like I kind of deal with that too where I'm like I'm like I I can do all these things but then I can't walk in a room and be like I can do all these things you know

and you feel like a tit yeah well I think if you're in a corporate environment getting noticed I think you have to one like speak up in meetings and come with big ideas and for if you have friends in the workplace have them echo those big ideas like I really liked Kelty's idea I think that's a really great start like being able to echo and having more people who have your back such a good word is is really really important I think and then also have meetings with your bosses like I love when my employees schedule meetings and then will come to me and say hey I just want to check in am I doing a good job here here's what I've accomplished so far here's what I'm doing because not everyone's boss is just like looking at your work all the time you have to be vocal and you

have to stand up and that goes for asking for a raise or promotion or whatever it is yeah what's you uh you run this company and you have lots of employees how do people nail an interview with you yeah so interviews are interesting we actually are we've doubled in size in the last month so it's been like interview after interview it's so you're in the middle of it so give us the judge so i think the biggest thing is well number one for me and i don't know if this is like great advice but pdf your resume because when it comes to you in an email i can just see it i don't have to like download it or open a word doc i think that's so important because when people are really busy it's like i don't want to have a plane yeah exactly like i just want to look at this quickly

and like see what's pdf in your resume make it like if it's a word document you can save it as a pdf so in the email it kind of shows up as a picture exactly instead of having to click on it and like upload i love when people do i will like not open a word doc like i know that sounds awful you're not well you're not your person yeah and also i'm like yeah you know my time is precious so like pdf that shit yeah so i think that's part of it and then i think showing up with um a lot of enthusiasm is really important but also knowing about the company so i think like sometimes people show up and then i'll kind of grill them be like for instance if someone's interviewing for social media i'm like what are we doing well like what do you think we're not doing well and

if they're like uh i'm like if you haven't even looked at our social media is it is it surprising to you how many people do come in completely unprepared though yes it's shocking or if i'm like do you have any questions for me they're like no what you should have a thousand million questions for me like that's like a really really bad thing but the one thing that i will say that i do love that now two people have done interviews with me is that when i say is do you have any other questions they say what about me is making you think i might not be good for this position so they're into constructive criticism exactly so if i'm like well i just feel like you don't have enough experience in x y and z field they can defend it versus genius it's so good so they're

like prepared that's like at my last audition when they're like we think you're too glamorous for this role i'm like give me a makeup wipe i'll change your mind right now i've been don't you I wish you had that opportunity. That's like a genius thing because it's true. A lot of people go into interviews and they're like, I don't have experience in this one thing and that's important. You're thinking it. They're insecure about it, but it's like incredible.

Let's talk about it. Also, maybe it's like they're not highlighting it on their resume for some other reason and then they do have it in their back pocket. Like it's a good way for them to explain themselves if it even is there too. Like not even a defensive side. I'm going to use that from now on. That is so good. It's really good.

it's worked twice and both those people were hired no way i love that it's awesome we had we interviewed someone and they came in and i i left i was like we we finished talking to them and they left and like it's so nice to meet you keep in touch and then they followed up with an email that was like it was so great to meet you you need me yeah i was like and we hired her yeah i was like you know what i love that like if you really have that belief that you can add to my life and greatest employee on the planet right we did need her and i think also people who come in with the gusto of like i'm going to change your life i'm gonna crush this i'm gonna crush this for you like that's amazing and also this is so lame but like gifts that makes people remember

people like this girl sent me a bottle of wine with like a printed out photo from my instagram like it was super cute and her of her that would have been amazing too but it was this photo and a resume on the wine bottle that is so especially for like a company like yours that's like a very aesthetic based kind of thing exactly then that exactly well that is a good idea too where it's like wherever that you're interviewing if you're gonna send a gift if it's appropriate if it's appropriate not like a science lab cupcakes or whatever like because it's just like oh yeah because you're interviewing so many people it like resurfaces them to your memory of like oh that and that was so thoughtful and sweet and like you know makes it all kind of come together at least for me

I feel like I've always kind of been partial to people who follow up in that way. Right. I love that. Yeah. You have to follow up. You have to follow up. Regardless. Just send an email.

Always follow up. Anything. Send, you know. People send cards, and I think that's so sweet, but I also am like, that took so long to get here. Like, I kind of forgot about it. We hired, like, five people at one time. Yes, exactly.

Yeah. And I think it, like, kind of is dated. Yeah, it's very Southern. Like a telegram. Yeah. It's so sweet. We always have to write them. Yeah.

Oh, shit. I send thank you cards. well but if it's like but you said the card is different yeah a job interview is different job interviews yeah they're gonna it's gonna get to her in two weeks yeah right right they've already hired yeah okay um are we allowed to make out in the bathroom with a co-worker oh my god where did this question i'm gonna say now falling in love with people at work do you i think it's an important work part of the question do you let um employees date or is that a no um we well we're all women so if that's someone's preference then they can absolutely do it i think it's the hr policy

thing of like going in and saying like we're in a real relationship and blah blah blah and whatever you have to be so buttoned up these days like i think any sort of lax environment can kind of cue in the end honestly if you're not as on top of it with anything hr related like it's really and we've grown so fast from so scrappy small to really large and even now sometimes i'm like my god do we have a policy for this like what's happening like even for our dog policy it was like three dog maximum like they need and we had to like sign consent forms like I would I was just like bring your dogs and our COO was like everyone needs to sign a form like yeah but it's like that mentality you kind of have to have when did you hire your COO uh January so super new and changed

my life really it's really nice to have like another adult in the room and not to say like we have a lot of adults at our company but just someone who's at that executive level like she came from Morgan Stanley like she's not around and you need somebody like that you can't just be like, Oh, my friend is going to be our CEO. I have no idea what the hell they're doing. Exactly. Like, and it really is coming from a place of, I know what it takes to like scale and grow a big business. And also the stuff I'm not good at, like someone once told me staff, your weaknesses. And I thought that was such good advice. Cause I was like, I'm not good at the HR stuff. I'm not good at like, you know, healthcare. I'm like, I don't know. I'm like, anyway,

the stage will look like this flower wall. Yes, exactly. It is so beautiful. I will be wearing yeah meanwhile there's like just sexual harassment like everywhere on fire like literally um i mean it's true and how many employees do you have now so we'll be at 25 at the end of the month that's huge yeah it's wild um and they like multiply like it's crazy you're just like oh my god all these people but you know we've been really focused on since the coo came on board restructuring the company in a way where not everyone just reports into me which is kind of how it was for a while because we're running this so much. And it worked for a really long time until it didn't work anymore.

And then now we're basically adding the layers in, bringing on C-suite team, VP levels, director, and then obviously entry level and things like that. And it's kind of nice because you don't have to do everything now. Yes. You were on every email. It still feels that way. But, yes, it should stop soon, I'm hoping.

Can you explain, because I've had a lot of friends who don't live in L.A. and aren't in the business. Yeah, yeah. What is Create and Cultivate? Oh, yeah, give them, like, a spark. Yeah, so we're an online platform, an offline event series for women looking to create and cultivate the career of their dreams. And what that actually means is that we essentially are a media company that has events. So experientials are bread and butter.

It always has been. We do large-scale conferences and summits where we gather the best in the business, whether it's CEOs, celebrities, content creators, et cetera. And then we have millennial women that are looking for that career advice. We also have our online platform and podcast, you know, which reaches over a million women monthly. So we're doing all that kind of stuff as well. But everything we do ties back to being a modern working woman. Career is really our focus. Yeah.

I love that. It's awesome. Oh, it's so good. Really? All right. So how do you fire someone? So, yes. That's the big question.

Well, no. I think it's great because. No, I do too. No, I'm not going to. I have let people go, but I think it's no one ever talks about it. It's literally the yeast infection of work environment. It's also probably the worst part about being a boss. A hundred percent.

You've had to fire people. It was, and I'm a non-confrontational person. Like I avoid it like the plague and it was like the hardest thing I've ever done. Like I was like, so like sweaty, I'm like, I don't know what to do. And then there was boundary issues where I'm like friends with my, that's the whole thing. So I think it's a couple of different things. Something that's interesting is like, if when you get to a point in a company, like you have to start firing people because there has to be an environment of like, my job is

valuable. Cause if you don't, you just kind of let people burn out, which I've done. I've just like, I'm just going to like be really tough on you until you eventually quit, which was like my way of firing people for years. That's the natural way. And then I was like, wait, that's a horrible idea because I read somewhere in this article and I'm going to botch this stat, but it was basically something like a employee that's not doing their job is costing you a certain amount of money every single day. So thinking about that, I was like, God, when you really put it against the numbers and saying this person's not doing their job they're not meshing with the team whatever it is that's costing you money and time and energy so it's like thinking about it that way

but i think when it comes to firing someone like first and foremost it's very difficult to fire people in the state of california i'm sure other states have different rules but um the state is very much on the side of the employee in most cases so that being the case what i think there's a couple different things i think you should do when you're hiring people one is do a three-month trial period and have that in their contract saying like, this is a 90 day period to see if you're a good fit for us. And if we're a good fit for you, it's kind of good for both sides. But saying that there is a clause at the end of that 90 day that you can let them go and there's no like penalty. It's like very clear. So that's always been, and honestly, I think it's good for

the employee and the employer. On the flip side, you also have to kind of be a little bit of a detective and really track the errors that they're making so having some sort of evidence of being like you know this was negligent they messed this up they messed that up because sometimes and a lot of the time these things happen in conversation versus like email evidence so get stuff in writing be organized about it and build a case like have review periods come in and be like this didn't get done this thing got documented you signed it here's your review boom so that way you're kind of showing that there's you know things not happening and sometimes people will kind of figure it out on their own and go. But I think that's really important to kind of have the

evidence to back it up because again, like things can go really wrong and there can be like lawsuits and things like that. So, I mean, what do you say? No, I love this. And what do you say? You sit down and you're like, yo, yeah, I'm breaking up. I think it has to be like, I just don't think it's a good fit. And here's why. Like, I think the work product isn't there. And here's one, two, three examples. I don't think the culture is a good fit. And here's one, two, three good examples. and I just don't think we see you here as like a fit in the company um and kind of making it feel like almost kind of giving them that information will make them think well like maybe it isn't a good fit yeah well I'm giving them examples where it's just not like it's not working out it's like

these are the reasons why and it's almost like a factual thing rather than like I just don't like you they can't argue it anytime anyone comes in to complain to me about something or like I don't like the tone of the way this is happening or or this happened this way or whatever I'm always like Give me a specific example. Yeah. Like, and if they can't come up with one, then I don't foresee a problem. So it's always like, I just think we're like working too much in this. And I'm like, cool.

What's in a specific example of that? And it's like, if they can't come up. Like Kelly fell asleep at the wheel of her car. Yeah. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like, oh, okay. Well, that makes sense.

Like, let's look at it. Yeah. Yeah. Let's look at it. Like, we're all just working so hard. Yeah. So is everyone else in the world. Exactly.

Exactly. And I think it's like being able to have that evidence to back it up, even with like anything. that's like advice across the board like get it in writing get it in email anything that's like a life-changing or important fact or you know kind of agreement yeah i'm so inspired by you i really am like i didn't really know create and cultivate and then becca did a couple and then i went out to see you guys in the desert and like i just think it's really cool because it is sometimes hard to talk about work and money and contracts and things like that as women and i i love the like lane you're giving everyone so when you explain things in a very easy way for other

people to understand it's not like you're talking this weird work jargon that nobody's gonna get exactly all right when we come back jacqueline's gonna fix your life now back to the lady gang all right and we're back so you fixed our professional lives and now we're gonna fix our girls lives just in general there might be some relationship questions let's do it whatever okay first question comes from stella stella says i love the name stella by the way i like the name um i recently just broke up with my boyfriend after a year of dating he was a manipulative and toxic but a good talker and always knew how to suck me back in i know how you feel yeah same did we date the same guy uh he's successful has a lot going for him and never

seems to have any hardships so it's hard to move on when i know he'll be fine without me i'm trying to get over him and i have cut off all communication but i want to know your advice on how to get over a guy fast especially when they're doing better than you are right now oh i mean he's a full-blown sociopath it sounds like that's what i was gonna say sounds like a psychopath um yeah i i actually had a very similar situation i mean a long time ago now but um i freaked out and i moved to portland i literally just was like my guy or after the guy we broke up and then i also had a business partner breakup like all within the same year i was like i'm hating la i like can't do this i was like i'm just gonna like up and get do you have family in

portland or no i had because it seems moody like in the twilight it was moody in a twilight movie i had a best friend up there and i was like i'm just gonna be like i'm out here opening our portland office which i like kind of was for my old company but i also was like kind of just crying in like an airbnb basement oh my god but i also got a dog i breakup dogs are real i feel like they're the best thing in my life um but I also just have to say is like definitely like block do everything you can to not see that but also just know like you're gonna be okay like I think when it comes to any relationship like I look back and I was like god I was so in it like and I was just like never again and this and that like you're gonna be fine there's someone for everyone

that's not your person and like you know onward and upward and like focus on you and what you need to feel good and like that doesn't necessarily mean you have to be crushing at your career and like at your like peak body whatever like just whatever feel good if you need to like sit in bed and like watch netflix and just cry all day like that's chill like it's totally fine it's just about picking your pieces up and moving on from it and i think once you like have your pieces picked up like she says he was manipulative and toxic you know that he was not a good person to be with right and when you first get out of a relationship like that you still like have those feelings where it's like they're still trying to suck you back in but once you're out of it and

you're looking like down on it you it'll be like a light is switched yeah and you will no longer feel this way like whatsoever 100 it's like you just like the time has to go by where you can kind of get over it yeah 100 i feel you girl psychopaths are so fun to date okay second question comes from kristin is that what people are saying about me probably i love spending time with becca that's psychopath she's a sociopath being insane okay people have always told me that success comes from diligence and I believe that but I feel like my goals and dreams are not achievable anymore and I'm feeling discouraged despite having worked my butt off through college I know it's hard to get the dream job immediately but I literally haven't even been able to get an

internship even with a random start off startup sorry I feel like I'm very qualified personable and adaptable but no one wants me I'm feeling discouraged and inadequate am I making enough connections have I not been patient enough what is your advice given where you guys are now and where you have been in the past I mean I think you're definitely not being patient enough I think like even with create and cultivate everyone's like oh my god it like exploded overnight I'm like no I've been doing this for like six years like it takes so long and like people that I would email in my early 20s that would not even give me the time of day I'm finally getting emails from and I'm 34 now so like sure that's the um sort of trajectory there but I think it's also just like

you have to get used to rejection people are gonna say no I think like when it comes to jobs especially or internships or whatever like like it's sort of a numbers game like go out to as many as possible get in there hopefully take like the hiring tips but I think you know you can't be so hard on yourself I think like in the Instagram world where you're like oh my god everyone's in Tulum everyone has four houses like everyone you're just like constant even on my end I'm constantly like god am I doing well like I don't know always I feel the same way it's it's really really stressful so I can't even imagine what it's like in your 20s now feeling that way oh yeah so I think it's all just like a lot of it, the facade, everyone's just doing their best and

like time will tell in terms of like your success. I agree. And success does come from diligence. It is, it's patient. It is a long, I think a long marathon. And at the same time, I want to make sure like you take a hard look at yourself because you said like, you think you, you worked your butt off and you're, you're good and you're, you know, all these things, but is that the picture you're presenting out to the world like how's your resume how's your Instagram like how is all the things are they a good reflection of like your most self because sometimes people be like oh I want you know I want to be you and I want to do the thing and then I'll go and look and I'm like everything that's out in the world about you is not a good representation of this and this could

be what's holding you back right if you're going in for that job and you're like for social media you want to work for like Glossier or like a cool like millennial company and then your Instagram like you can't take a good photo to save your life like just be careful you know what i mean because there's something is people are not picking up what you're bagging right yeah it 10 takes 10 years to make an overnight success is that i don't know we're still not there yet literally on like the way to lunch this i was like going to get lunch today and i was like should i quit everything i think like once i feel like that all the time sometimes when i'm on like the airport and it's like boarding now for hawaii i'm like do i just like get on this plane and like

Should I run away and change my name? I should get out of here. We all feel that way, though. And it doesn't matter. Like, you feel that way, too. So it's like. I feel pretty good. I got to be honest.

You do? Yeah. I found my balance. Like, I don't want to conquer the world. You know what I mean? Like, I just want to find my, like, happy in between whatever being a loser is and whatever conquering the world is. But, like, that's my personality type. I know there's people like Kelty out there who, and probably you, you don't feel, yeah.

Well, we've talked about this before. You could be Oprah and you still would not be satisfied. No, for sure. Like I, we just had this situation. Rebecca and I would. We'd be like, I'm retired. Right. We have our show.

We have the podcast. I have the other full-time job. And then like another job came and went and I was like, oh, I'm so bummed I didn't get that. And then I'm like, Kelty, where exactly, where the fuck are you going to put that in your life? Like I, cause I made a promise to myself at the beginning of the summer, I would have more quality time in my life.

Like that's my new goal is to like see people and have quality time. Well, that doesn't go with like adding another job. Like I just never had me. No, it's true. I mean, I was talking to, let's also do seven more shows. You're like, why? I can't, it's a huge problem too. Even our COO at some point was like, we can say no to things.

And I was like, like, I was like, I just like want to keep moving, keep doing and all that stuff. And it's kind of addicting. Yeah. Um, and it kind of becomes this thing where same with me, I was like, maybe we don't make as much money, but I have more time to do things. And it's like that concept. Cause you're as an entrepreneur, when all of it's on you, every single paycheck, every

single thing, it's like, you're just like constantly needing to build. It's hard to get to that place that you're at where you're like, actually, I'm good. Like we can coast and be this kind of company for a while when you're living in a world of like $1 billion evaluation and blah, blah, blah. It's very, it's challenging. Yeah. That gives me anxiety thinking about it. Okay.

Last question comes from Millie. Hey, Lady Gang, I don't know what to do. I moved from the West Coast about seven years ago for the guy that I've been dating. He has consistently been telling me that he doesn't feel ready for marriage, and he's not sure why. It's been seven years, so it's hard not to take it personally. I'm almost 31 years old, and I feel really sad and stuck and old. If this doesn't work out, I've contemplated moving back to California, but I am ready. I'm really scared to start over at 31

and I'm wondering if it would be better just to stay put since I have friends here I really want to meet someone and have kids someday so a big part of me feels like I have a better chance of that happening if I stay put where I already have roots with him then uproot my life and move back

this guy's not going to marry you you're 31 you're very young but you're also not that young girl so go get your life don't wait around for this loser for another five years again you're not that young but if you want to have kids times yeah tick away tick tock and if you've been together for seven years and he knows you want to get married and he's not willing to do that then i don't know if it's happening anytime soon it's not going to and

if it does it's going to take you leaving him yeah that's it that's it you're either done with him or you have to completely and look in her mind she's literally asking if she should settle she's like should i settle because like she's already here isn't even an option he's not even willing to marry her there's no settlement there's no settlement she's settling she's striving for the rest of her life yeah oh no get the out go freeze your eggs and have a fun year yeah go freeze your eggs and find some guy that's obsessed with you that like would kill to have kids with you yeah because they're out there but freeze your eggs and like go have fun yeah freeze your eggs definitely freeze your eggs bottom line freeze your eggs period boom period all right all right

cool on that note you guys can check out work party it is beautiful and it's available everywhere where you get books. And if you want to follow Jacqueline, you can follow her. She's Jacqueline R. Johnson on Instagram. Check out Create and Cultivate. It's coming probably, I'm sure, to a city near you.

And we've experienced it. It's an awesome, such an inspiring, but cool group of people. And also, I want to say this one more time. If you listen to our book podcast, The Stacks, Work Party is actually going to be one of the picks for this upcoming month.

And it might be Jack Vanek who's going to talk about it. It's not. Yeah. No, it's Callie. Oh, it's Callie. I was going to maybe do it. Oh, yeah.

I still want to read the books, though, so you should give it to me. Okay. I'm going to give that to you right now. Okay, Jacqueline, thank you for being here. Thanks, guys. And we will see you next Tuesday. Thanks for listening. The Lady Gang is produced by Alex Ingber, Will Sterling, Steve Delameter, and Jared Monaco.

Make sure you subscribe, rate, and review our podcast. And if you love it, share it with your friends on social media. Like, oh, my God, I just listened to Lady Gang. This episode's so great. It's why I love to listen. And if you really want to, which we know you do, please follow us on social, at Kelty, at Becca, at Jack Vanek, and at The Lady Gang. Sign up for our newsletter at theladygang.com and join our secret Facebook group.

It's super fun. See you next Tuesday.