We were lucky to catch up with Chanel Jack recently and have shared our conversation below.

Chanel, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What was it like going from idea to execution? Can you share some of the backstory and some of the major steps or milestones?

Some people would argue that everything starts out as an idea, but I think that everything starts out as a SEED first. So, I had a few seeds that grew into this collaborative idea to be an advocate for women and girls at a higher level and this is how the process got started. The negative seed was that I got bullied in middle school by the popular girls because I had longer hair than them. The positive seed was my ability to love people despite their imperfections and inspire them to do and want better. Those seeds shaped my character and how I showed up in the world. I became popular because nobody was ever able to bully me again and I was aware of power, however I was intentional about being nice to everybody no matter how well-known I was. I wanted to show girls that they can be popular and confident without putting other girls down.

Fast forward, with media being the forefront of this generation I still see the “Mean Girl” behavior more than ever now and I wanted to be an advocate to help heal women/girls from this behavior and teach them to be their sister’s keeper. At the time I already started a community outreach platform and e-commerce shop for the girls in Ohio called “Ohio Girls Do It Better” but I know the problem is everywhere young and old. I began to think about the reasons why girls don’t get along and I remembered how my close friends in high school use to fight all the time, but I also realized their mothers died when they were young, or they didn’t really have any role models to teach them those “street smarts”.

You can’t birth an idea without a problem, so I simply made the lack of knowledge and leadership the problem to why most girls are making bad choices because the relationship you have with your mother shapes your relationship with other women. At the time I was sitting in the aftermath of a bad choice I personally made, and it went against what I was taught. So in the midst of this heavy moment the idea to remind myself of all the lessons I ever learned in a book form came to me. I prayed about it and felt God told me to do it and call it “Girl Code”. This book was to serve as a reminder for some, but to educate others on how to navigate life in a positive way. I also had the idea to make space in the back of the book about what rules you agree/disagree with, and a page where you can create your own life rules and pass it down to the next generation.

I began to work immediately! I searched on how to self-publish and hired a team on Fiverr because that was the only way for me to afford getting this project done. I love the youth so at the time I worked at a childcare center and would work on my book during their naptime. Then within two months I had my first book!

I knew this book had a greater purpose, so I did little to no promotion. Two years later after doing a few community forum events called “Girl Talk” and having a myomectomy surgery for massive fibroid tumors I had the feeling that I needed to expand on the Girl Code book with a program for teen girls. At this time the Ma’Khia Bryant story had heavily impacted me, and I wanted to prevent girl drama and fights because a lot of girls were losing their life as a result.

I participated in a local business accelerator called “Urban Launch School” that teaches business in a culturally competent way. I won a grant from that accelerator and won first place at the “Maroon Art’s Group “Pitch Black” competition that helped fund the expansion of Girl Code.

I was able to pay for the copyrights, a website, curriculum development, and so much more! My plan was to launch the Girl Code business and the sister nonprofit in 2023 but because I won a well-known competition it sped up the learning curve so every day I am learning and implementing. It has been HARD work and every day I am suffering from information over-load but it’s so worth it. I am ending the year with over $8,000 in funding, added two more leaders to the team, and the completion of my beta workshop and 7-week program.

Overall, the entrepreneurial journey is a JOURNEY. Be patient with yourself, don’t compare your journey with others, and continue to put one foot forward.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Of course! I was born in New York and raised in Columbus Ohio. I started my journey as an early childcare professional with over 14 years of experience, a dancer, social media influencer, and model, but today I am the CEO of Girl Code and the Women’s Leadership Academy nonprofit. My journey as you can see has been everywhere, but it led me to where I am today. I put my love for the youth and media/entertainment and used it to help women and girls which is my purpose.

Girl Code brings awareness to the problems in our girl culture with content, marketing campaigns, media, events and storytelling; and our non-profit Womens Leadership Academy focuses on solutions and community building with programs, workshops, events, and trainings. We want to get rid of the image & beliefs that put women against each other & themselves. We believe that giving our community the right resources and support in loving themselves will allow them to love others and put an end to the girl-on-girl violence, bullying, division, and killings. My favorite part about Girl Code is that we focus on adults too instead of just the teenagers. We are this next generations role models, and some are mothers, and we didn’t have all the resources that are out now, and hurt people hurt people, but we believe healed people heal people.

I am so proud of the impact I have made with this initiative in so little time, and it all started with the Girl Code book. I remember doubting the idea and now look at it! It’s truly amazing to see the fruit of my obedience, consistency, and hard work. I have been able to impact girls and women with my personal platform for years, and now I am using my voice to bring transformation. We live in a world of social media influencers but what are they influencing? Stuff that doesn’t matter? I want to change this narrative by being able to hire influencers and content creators to push out the message of sisterhood instead and give them space to share their own personal experiences and lessons with their following. That is how you create TRUE social impact. I also will help other brands, tv networks, and businesses with change their marketing so it can inspire others and be more meaningful.

How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

I started my first business at 23 years old and I just moved back to Ohio with only $100 to my name. I purchased one shirt for $14 and took pictures on my god sisters iPhone in front of my former high school and it took off! Women’s empowerment was not popular then as it was now, so my first business provided something new for the city and my shirt line provided me the opportunity to speak on different panels and host events.

I grew up working with school agers in a childcare setting that normally starts off at $8 an hour, so I worked my way up to making a little over $15 an hour but I knew the cap in this field even with the degree is around $17 an hour. The good thing about having a side hustle for me was the extra money I was bringing in so I can continue to work with the youth all of those years. My business made up for what I was getting paid, but I knew eventually I wanted to expand my business and do more in my community without any financial barriers and that’s where Girl Code and WLA got founded.

I wanted to offer services at a higher price that can actually move me from side hustler to full time business owner, but it takes money to offer good quality. Quitting my job and being a part of the UCBUS accelerator program and winning the Pitch Black competition I mentioned earlier helped me fund my start up. So, I started with what I had first, and this helps tremendously because it helps your pitch hold more weight when they can see you invested your own money in your business first and that you can validate your idea.

How did you build your audience on social media?

This was my superpower when I first started! The algorithm is a bit tricky now but have over 12.9k following in counting thankfully. It was easy to build to build my following because I was a model and at the time there were a lot of pages with big following sharing my post, and I lived in different states, so I was able to build my following that way too.

I help small business build their following and teach the youth the power of influencing and this is what I tell them:

1. You have to know what you stand for and who you are. How do you know what content to post or what kind of messaging you want to put out there if you don’t know what your passionate about?

2. Always try to Educate, Engage, Entertain, or Inspire. Creating shareable content helps grow your social media quickly.

3. Every time you meet somebody you should be sharing your social page with them. Do not leave an event, the salon, or the grocery store without asking people to connect with you on Instagram. We meet people almost every day even if it’s a brief moment, connect with them and build your online community.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.girlcodenavigation.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chanel_bee/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chaneljack/
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@GirlCodeMedia

Image Credits
Domonique McKnight _domalexander on Instagram