Success Requires Letting Go of People’s Expectations of You (Jackie Aina)

About this episode

<p>Jackie Aina has been building in public for 17 years. She didn't just grow an audience, she helped define what it meant to be a Black woman with a voice in the beauty industry. But influence was never the end goal.</p> <p>After nearly two decades as one of YouTube's most recognized creators, Jackie took $250,000 of her own money and started a fragrance brand. Not a makeup line — a fragrance brand. Her childhood dream. The first thing she ever did that nobody asked for.</p> <p>In this conversation, Jackie sits down with Emma to talk about what it really takes to go from influencer to founder and why the two have almost nothing in common.</p> <p>Jackie shares:</p> <ul> <li> <p>Why six million followers doesn't mean six million in revenue — and what creators get wrong about turning an audience into a business</p> </li> <li> <p>How she self-funded Forvr Mood with $250K, sold out six months of inventory in four hours, and nearly had a breakdown closing the laptop</p> </li> <li> <p>The vendor relationship that looked like a smart start and took over a year to untangle</p> </li> <li> <p>What she had to unlearn about being "the strong one" — and why doing everything is actually a disservice to everyone around you</p> </li> <li> <p>Why she deliberately didn't build a makeup brand, and what it meant to finally do something just for herself</p> </li> </ul> <p>What's something you've outgrown — even if other people still expect that version of you? Drop it in the comments. And subscribe to Aspire with Emma Grede so you don't miss what's next.</p> <p>We'd love to hear what you think. Please take this survey to help us make the show better for you: <a href="http://emmagrede.com/survey">emmagrede.com/survey</a></p>