Today we’d like to introduce you to Jess Weiner.
Hi Jess, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
I am a Cultural Expert + Creative who has spent 26 years researching and educating on cultural trends in order to help people feel seen, heard & understood.
I’m also a bestselling author, podcast host and speaker who has connected with audiences from the White House to Wall Street and studios to schools around the world.
I’ve been called a brand’s secret weapon, and I pride myself on being a trusted advisor to companies such as Unilever, Mattel, Warner Brothers and Nike.
I’ve been a strategic partner in culture-changing moments such as Dove’s campaign for “Real Beauty” and the evolution of Barbie.
Through my consultancy, Talk to Jess, Jess, my team and I help Fortune 500 companies to become more inclusive and culturally fluent.
I’m also an adjunct professor at USC and was recently named by Fast Company as one of the most creative people in Business in the areas of Diversity and Education.
And I’ve just launched a new podcast with Shondaland and iHeartRadio called “Dominant Stories”, where I’m talking to your favorite celebrities, storytellers and experts about how to challenge and change the stories we tell ourselves about our beauty, body image, creativity, and identities.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Being an entrepreneur and small business owner is not for the faint of heart. But I can truly say I love everything about it and wouldn’t trade this journey for anything, really. As with anything worth doing, there are struggles — but I have found the biggest hurdles for me to overcome are internal. I’ve wrestled with what I call my “Dominant Stories” — these are the stories we tell ourselves about ourselves – whether it’s “I’m not good enough or smart enough, or I’m too old to start something new” – these negative inner voices can really block us from feeling good. So I had a Dominant Story about success — that my “work equaled my work,” and I found that this belief kept me in overdrive – I was working too much and chasing a version of success that wasn’t mine. When I began to change and challenge that story – and ultimately rewrite it – I was able to let go of hustle culture and hustling for my worth. I rewrote that story and my narrative around success. I’ve been so much happier since.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
My team and I educate our partners through cultural insights, workshops + training on how to create a more authentic connection with their consumers, audience + employees. What makes our work stand out is that we are highly specialized in working closely with brands to bring cutting-edge cultural insights inside an organization and we become a business’s “authenticity auditor” for all things advertising, marketing, product and content.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
I’ve learned how to use luck – be that privilege that I have or the relationships that I’m in – to parlay that into the hard work of building a dream. Luck is a very key ingredient to anyone’s success — don’t believe them otherwise — but luck doesn’t mean there wasn’t work, failure, resilience, and lessons learned.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: jessweiner.com
- Instagram: @imjessweiner
