We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jacki Corta a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jacki, thanks for joining us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

I am the middle daughter of my parent’s three daughters. Growing up in a household that had all we needed, but was not high-end or extra. We were full of love and were shown what hard work looked like. My parents instilled a work ethic that I am beyond grateful for.

I remember a time I wanted “designer” jeans and my mom told me if that was what I wanted then I could use the money I earned with my summer job. They had a budget for our school clothes and designer jeans were not part of it. It was then that I felt the importance of my hard work and how important was a name on a pair of jeans. Now this may sound so trivial to most, but it was a great lesson for a teenage girl to understand the value of money she had worked so hard to earn.

Some of the most significant things I now see as a fifty-year-old woman that my parents did right, was not giving everything to us. Providing us with a safe home full of unconditional love. Dad always told us girls, “You can do whatever a boy can do.” And he truly believed that and pushed my sisters and I to believe it as well. We all three played sports through High School, we hunted, we fished and we got our hands dirty.

The belief in us they displayed only planted seeds I would not fully grasp until I became an entrepreneur myself. Falling back on the work ethic my parents demonstrated, believing in myself more than anyone else, and knowing hard work would pay off in due time.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

At the age of fifteen, I fell in love with the most amazing guy and knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him. I know sounds crazy, but I believe it was divine help. Six months after turning nineteen and graduating with a cosmetologist license I married my best friend, that amazing guy.

He ran our family restaurant and I opened a salon to run, throw in three daughters of our own and we were living out our dream life. Both with successful businesses we could see our future in retirement spoiling our grandbabies.

February 2014, our life would take a dramatic turn. My husband was diagnosed with Glioblastoma Brain Cancer. At the time of diagnosis, our oldest daughter was a freshman in college, our middle daughter was a junior in High School and our youngest daughter was in 8th grade. Life would never be the same.

For 21 months we gained more knowledge on cancer than I would have ever wanted. We faced more adversity than any young family should. We witnessed grace, held onto hope, overcame, and found a strength that would only come from the Lord after facing a loss. November 2015 is when my husband was welcomed home by Jesus. I was trying to keep two businesses going, grieve the loss of my husband, and make sure our three daughters were ok.

It was about two and half years into my grief journey when I discovered I had a voice and a story that was touching lives. This is when I began my journey as a life coach and began writing my first book. It was how I faced the biggest trial of my life that I wanted to share with others. Seeing how the Lord played a huge part in it all.

Life is about choices and it isn’t just choosing what’s for dinner or which little black dress to buy. It is about how are you going to handle a cancer diagnosis, a loss of a job, a breakup, or an empty nest. Struggle comes to us all, some will face harder struggle than others, but we all will face it one day. My question is are you prepared and ready?

Through our fight we knew we would never be a victim, we wanted to always be the victor of our story. Even when times were complicated, we had a choice.

Today, I am a best-selling author, professional speaker, and grief mentor. I started my brand Strength > Struggle in hopes of empowering others to know their strength is greater than any struggle they face. My message to our young is one day you will face a struggle in your life, how are you going to face it? I want them to be prepared for when it hits. To know life is about choices and being the victor of your story can be very hard, but in the end it is the best choice.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

This may cause some questioning. But the lesson for me that I had to unlearn was a successful business has huge profits. A successful business does not always show a huge profit, as business owners we need to define success in our own verbiage. What does success mean for you personally?

I feel more successful when a client or audience member tells me how impactful my story was to them. It is a review where a reader writes, your book changed my life. Don’t get me wrong profit is a good thing, but we need to really understand what drives us to continue what we are doing.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

My authenticity is absolutely what has helped with my reputation.

I have always said I will be raw, real and speak the truth. You can love or hate me and it does not matter to me which.

What that means is in the writing world and speaking world you will have people not jive with what you are saying or disagree with what you speak of and that is ok. That is what makes the world what it is. You will also have many love you and what you speak of and write. The catch is you as a business owner need to not take on what others feel. Do what God has called you to do, be, or create.

Contact Info:

• Website: jackicorta.com
• Instagram: @jackicorta
• Other: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/when-your-miracle-doesnt-come-jacki-corta/1143748893