We recently connected with Jordan Mckinney and have shared our conversation below.

Jordan, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Going back to the beginning – how did you come up with the idea in the first place?

I was walking through TJ Maxx of all places, where sometimes us moms get a brief moment of peace, and I bought a few coffee mugs for some of my girlfriends. I placed them in bright yellow bags and wrote “Sunshine Bag” on the cover and left them on their porch as a surprise. To me, there was nothing more fulfilling than bringing a bright piece of sunshine or a positive moment to someone’s day. It got me thinking what if sunshine could go beyond these tiny little bags on friend’s porches? During the loneliness and chaos of Covid, there was something I realized was missing in our Pensacola area, which was a genuine connection. The people that make your life a bit brighter. We are a city of transplants from the military to young professionals wanting to work alongside our beautiful beaches, and so with its transient nature, you find that people feel displaced once arriving. The more women I spoke with the more I found their hunger for true connection with like-minded women, and space to lovingly serve others. With so many ideas of meetups popping in my head I thought what if there was a space for women to have access to all of these things? Whether that be meetups for moms at the park, a Friendsigiving with an open invitation, or a place to converse about books. What if we created sunshine-like moments for these women to partake in and also an opportunity for them to be the sunshine for others? So the idea was born to put all of this under one brand, Positively Pensacola, and seven days later we had a website, merchandise, applications, and a handbook ready to go!

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

Positively Pensacola is a nonprofit organization here in the Pensacola and surrounding area. We offer a variety of meetups for women from all walks of life. We offer our book club Books & Bubbly, service meetups called Sunshine & Sisterhood, a moms meetup with their little ones called Moms & Mimosas, five larger special events a year, and monthly membership events that members can attend. Some our membership events have been movies in the yard, craft events, a private showing at the movie theatre, lunches, a private Pure Barre class, meeting up for the McGuires run, and more! The idea is we give women a plethora of options to attend and with these constant opportunities they are able to make those true friendships they crave. We have had women become part of each others lives in unique ways from being a part of their bridal party, to hosting their baby showers, and other life-defining events. To me, that is the most exciting piece. I get to watch strangers become like family to one another in a way they otherwise wouldn’t have.

Not only do we have fun events and friendship-forming meetups, but we also serve the community. We ask our members what they are passionate about, and try to come up with ways to help them serve that need. We have helped with home building with Habitat for Humanity, cooked for the Ronald McDonald House, donated to the Rally Foundation, collected coats for the homeless, and raised money during the aftermath of Hurricane Sally. We event formed a new initiative to host an empowerment workshop for teenage girls to help them have the confidence to be their own light in this world. We empower our members to find what their passion is and we help give them the resources to make a difference in Pensacola as they would like.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Only five months after launching this brand-new nonprofit my daughter was diagnosed with High-Risk Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. It was a crushing blow to our family, and it happened the day before New Year’s Eve. Instead of the sounds of counting down to the new year, my family had to hear the beeps of monitors in the pediatric ICU. Honestly, there were moments when I didn’t want to continue with Positively Pensacola with so much going on. However, the mission was truly strong and the girls were supportive. What should’ve been a time when we lost focus became the time of our biggest growth. At that same time, we received our 501c3 status and grew to over 150 members. I believe moments like these prove whether what you are doing has the right intentions and is worthy of your time.

Can you tell us about what’s worked well for you in terms of growing your clientele?

I tell everyone who will listen, “if you do things with good intentions and love it will show.” That is what we try to show to everyone who learns about our organization is that we truly want to be here for YOU. This isn’t a group where you join and then we don’t speak to you until the next meeting, we want to authentically get to know you, and offer you a space to do the same with others. We don’t rely on gimmicks or paying for marketing, we truly rely on trusting in ourselves and our brand and letting our members and ourselves be the one to share the story to others.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.positivelypensacola.org
• Instagram: @PositivelyPensacola
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Positively-Pensacola-647036609241509