We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Christal Jordan (Jennings) a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Christal, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
I worked as an entertainment publicist for almost twenty years. The opportunity to assist celebrities and entertainers increase their marketability was something I enjoyed and was passionate about. The ability to shape public perception has always intrigued me and I love the science behind public relations, especially when you throw in the caviat of celebrity influence.
I opened my agency Enchanted Branding & Public Relations after writing my first book and giving up my dreams of being an anchor woman and hosting my own talk show. I got married early, had two kids and decided to go with the more “probable” career of supporting others instead of investing in myself.
Fast forward twenty years later, I felt burnt out, unappreciated and extremely disenchanted with the industry. My commitment to work had taken over my life to the point where I had very little if any work/life balance. Because of my inability to prioritize, I also had given up on the possibility of having true love again in my life.
Slowly I started writing again and it was like fresh air filling my lungs. I have always written from a fantasy perspective so I focused on love stories that defied the odds and refused to write about anything in relation to love that was negative. Consequently I started to become unhappy with the idea of giving up on love myself and I went to therapy and ultimately was a guest on Iyanla: Fix my Life (attempting to fix my love life)
During this journey I learned that there were many other women totally absorbed with work and unable to find balance. That inability to priortize their lives resulted in them being unsatisfied in their personal lives, particularly when it came to enjoying a loving relationship.
My experience in therapy and with Iyanla Vanzant prompted me to want to help other women find their balance. I realized that our culture congratulates women for being go-getters and applauds their ambition, yet hypocritically slams them for “acting masculine”. Career women are misunderstood and often ostracized when it comes to anything outside the boardroom.
My mission is to invoke healthy conversation around relationships. I believe love is out there for all of us but we have to be willing to do the work, (as my mentor Iyanla Vanzant says) I want to be a conduit to help other women “do their work” and recieve the love they deserve and secretly desire.
Also, I have a new book coming out in October that I’ve been working very hard on. The book is titled, “Dear Alpha Female, it’s not him it’s YOU: an interactive devotional created to help you attract the love you desire.
Dear Alpha Female, it’s not him it’s you’ is a love letter wrapped in accountability to the accomplished proud alpha female of the 21st century, who despite her successful business track record, academic accolades, lavish lifestyle, and strong sister circle consistently finds herself failing in romantic relationships. Author Christal Jordan believes love cannot exist without accountability and this book is a cautionary epiphany from one alpha female to another: an introspective opportunity for self-reflection in its rawest state. “I wrote this book because I truly believe I am not my sister’s keeper; I am my sister. It’s time for us to allow those overachieving little girls inside to relax. We must let her know she’s carried us this far but it’s time for her to exhale. It’s time for her to let go of her fear. It’s time for her to be loved unconditionally. It’s time for her to grow.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers?
Most people know me for my Public Relations firm, Enchanted Branding & PR but I’ve pivoted a bit and I’m flexing my writing and hosting skills more. My Youtube channel is titled, From Christal with Love XO and it provides positive conversations on love, relationships and life challenges. I also serve as Relationships/Women’s Issues Editor for Rolling Out magazine and host an aftershow for the OWN network. I’m very excited about a new show I’m filming titled, “Let’s Get Christal Clear” that takes pop culture memes and viral moments and adds context to them with real substantial conversation.
Any stories or insights that might help us understand how you’ve built such a strong reputation?
I think consistency is the key to building your reputation. When I first started in business, I put clients before myself and I would inconvenience myself and family for clients in order to try to create some stability with my business. I quickly learned that wasn’t the way to go about being an entrepreneur. One of my mentors Joyce Littel provided me with some invaluable advice. She told me to put all of myself into whatever I did and that was all that was required of me. Instead of chasing fads or things others were doing I started applying “CHRISTAL” only to whatever I do. If I’m interviewing a huge star like Jenifer Lewis or someone on one season of a reality show, I treat everyone with the same respect and attention. This has served me well because you never know where someone will end up. Most importantly I know that regardless if someone doesn’t like me personally, they can never say I mistreated them or was rude. So many people treat only those whom they believe they can benefit with kindness and respect. People don’t forget how you make them feel and more than anything, I want to be a person that I respect when I look in the mirror. As long as I’m doing CHRISTAL, and not following others, I have no regrets and my reputation speaks to my truth.
Have you ever had to pivot?
Making the move from celebrity publicist back to host/writer has been challenging. I realized early on that I was very effective in PR/Marketing. I’ve always been a good listener and I think that has a lot to do with why I understand psychology – which relates back to marketing. Still I knew I wasn’t happy taking on more personal clients and I decided to do something different. The challenge became others not seeing me in a different space and I was told by 90% of the people around me to keep doing PR because I was good at it. Whenever I would tell someone I wasn’t doing PR anymore, they’d look at me like I was crazy and tell me I was leaving money on the table. Trust me I was! It started to discourage me because here I am trying to do something different but not making the $$ I wanted to make and no one truly believed I could do it. To attempt to focus on a TV hosting career in your mid-40’s after being behind the scenes for a lifetime didn’t seem smart to anyone. Still I knew conversation was “my thing”. I also knew from working in publicity for so long that I needed to do something to help put positivity back in the world. For years I was a part of pushing a standard of beauty and lifestyle that others strived to achieve but could never attain. I wanted to be a part of sewing positivity into the world in a much different way.
I learned to tune out those around me and double down on my dreams and vision. It wasn’t (and still isn’t easy) but I see progress. I currently have around 23k Youtube subscribers and I am consistently building. I’m currently shooting a show for Tubi that I’m executive producing myself along with my partners Datrick Davis and Jamal James. I found 2 people who believed in me and I ran with it. I block out the noise and focus on my vision and that’s been working for me.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.fromchristalxo.com
- Instagram: @enchantedpr
- Facebook: @ChristalDanielleJordan
- Linkedin: @https://www.linkedin.com/in/enchantedpr/
- Twitter: @enchantedpr
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/user/EnchantedPRonline
Image Credits
Photos by Suhn Photography and DaeRae Media