EP. 21 - OWN YOUR WINS LOUDLY AND PROUDLY
In this episode, hear from Lisa's former Bad Bitch Coaching client Jessica Berger, founder of Bundle x Joy, a female-led premium pet nutrition brand. Jessica shares her career trajectory going from a "dream job" at one of the largest CPG companies in the world, to shaking up the male-dominated pet food industry. She shares how she made big mindset moves to go from good girl to Bad Bitch founder landing her products in over 500 stores, all while uplifting other female founders along the way.
Lisa and Jessica discuss:
The realities of climbing the corporate ladder as a woman and how to stop normalizing misogyny in the workplace
Creating an impact by balancing a "warrior mindset" with finding peace and joy
How to unapologetically own your wins and share your successes
How Jessica rose above negativity to create her business and address a glaring need that others couldn't see
The pale, male, and stale pet food industry and how Bundle x Joy is changing the landscape
FULL TRANSCRIPT
Lisa Carmen Wang 0:05
What's up bad bitches. Today we are going to be talking about how to own your wins. Stop playing small and really start to learn how to share your story, share your successes loudly and proudly. And today we're going to be joined by Jessica Berger. Jessica was a coaching client of mine. And we worked through this specific challenge of how to be loud and proud about the success that you are achieving in your life. And today Jessica is doing such big things. She is the founder and CEO of bundle enjoy a premium pet nutrition company that's shaking up the pet food industry with personalized Pet Products superfood pet nutrition, a giveback program to find local female entrepreneurs. And this is especially powerful in such a male dominated industry as the pet food industry. And we'll talk about that more. But she was recently recognized as a part of JP Morgan's entrepreneurs sta 100. Celebrating trailblazing women, changing the world. And one of the quotes that really struck her and that I shared with the coaching cohort was this one by Marianne Williamson. So I want you to listen to this, and really let it sink in. So the quote goes, Your playing small does not serve the world, there is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine as children do. It is not just in some of us, it is in everyone. And as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give others permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others. So let that sink in as you listen to this episode. And now I'd like to welcome up Jessica Berger, Jessica, welcome to the bad bitch empire. Thank you for shining. And tell us a little bit about how you really have started to own your wins.
Jessica Berger 2:11
It's been such a journey. And it's been amazing to reflect back and know that you were a part of it. So just I'll just say thank you from the beginning of helping me to see some things that I think I knew we're inside, but I was just suppressing right or holding back. So, you know, when we first started working together, I was sort of embarrassed and I actually had this shame of success. There were a lot of things in my life that were starting to go really well I had left corporate America and we'll talk a little bit about that to pursue entrepreneurship. And people started to notice I started to get awards, and I was putting myself out there. But I was hiding all of it. I remember a time where we were talking and I shared that I had one Sara Blakely is red backpack fond of one of her grants, and I hadn't shared it. It took me six months to share it because I was embarrassed or I felt uncomfortable about sharing because I was worried people would think it was me bragging or would I don't even know like the thoughts I had looking back other than I was so uncomfortable sharing my wins.
Lisa Carmen Wang 3:24
And where do you think that shame came from?
Jessica Berger 3:30
I think for me, a couple things I've been working through. You know, I think I started my career at a pretty young age maybe younger than some people do. And so I've kind of recognized that I felt always less than in regards to age, I always felt younger than everyone else. A lot of times as I started to like progress in my career, I just thought thought people saw me as this little girl. And the reality is they didn't see me that way that I found myself that way. And so that was something that I think caused me to feel uncomfortable. I think as well. Being a female in more of a dominated male industry. I sort of felt like my role was to fit in line and just kind of play the role. I mean, I'll never forget a day where I got feedback that I needed to wear dresses and high heels to work and have a nice bag. And I was like what, like what does this have to do with my work at all? And it didn't have anything to do with my position. But there's such there was such an expectation of me to be the good girl, do a good job, you know, do the things they wanted say what they wanted to hear. And I completely suppressed how I actually felt. And when I did i i reached opposition. And that's ultimately you know, in my life where I finally decided to leave corporate America which was a big jump but I just knew, like the time that I had to spend trying to fit in a box wasn't bringing me joy.
Lisa Carmen Wang 5:06
And how many years did you spend in corporate?
Jessica Berger 5:10
So I was in corporate America for 15 years and learned a ton. And, you know, was successful on paper actually kind of got my dream job within the largest one of the largest CPG companies in the world. But I was miserable. And I got sick and tired of, you know, men calling me honey and baby and sweetie. And, you know, that's maybe not a big deal. Maybe honey are, you know, something, but it put me back into that place of that little girl, you know, me feeling like, uncomfortable about, again, like, sort of being that little girl that didn't feel like she fit in or maybe wasn't enough or was like, it just put me back into that place. And I wasn't, it wasn't working for me. I guess. I decided it was time. Yeah, well,
Lisa Carmen Wang 6:00
even even that I want to point that out, which was even when you said maybe that's not a big deal. And so I want to stop normalizing that men calling you cutesy names like honey, sweetie, like, that doesn't belong in the workplace, right. And the, the truth of the matter is, it did make you uncomfortable. And I know that it makes a lot of women uncomfortable when men in the wrong context, which is anything where it isn't a personal relationship, where you actually have that, you know, those pet names that are acceptable and endearing. In those situations where it makes you uncomfortable. That's actually a place where you set a boundary and you're like, actually, it is kind of a big deal, because you're making me feel uncomfortable. And you're actually diminishing me into the point. And actually, when you just said it made me feel like that little girl, it made me feel less than and whether it's conscious or not, on his end, it actually is serving that purpose to put you below him.
Jessica Berger 7:03
Yeah, it's like that father role or something like all of a sudden, you know, I started to continue to see men that I worked with treat me like their daughter or their sister or maybe sisters better but it just CELT came from a position of authority, even though a lot of times I was in a higher position than most people. And I was also told, you know, either you or your husband have to decide who's gonna have a career. And that's never been the reality in my marriage. And in my life, we have a you know, when you have a healthy marriage, if you know, I think you both can have a career, I have children, I, I could do all those things. And it wasn't relevant. But for some reason, in that place of like a fatherly role they stepped into, they felt like they had the authority to sort of tell me how I could or could not live my life or my career. And at some point that no longer serves me.
Lisa Carmen Wang 8:02
And when you think back to that time, in corporate when they made you feel that way, how did you react or not react and wish you would have reacted or responded differently?
Jessica Berger 8:17
We spend a lot of time talking about that. Because there I'm also a people pleaser. So you take this element of like this young girl that kind of wants to please, everybody in that situation. I didn't make a fuss. I didn't address it. I didn't say can you please not call me that? I just sort of shrugged it off, like, oh, you know, this person is just old school or, you know, they don't know that that's not okay. And it's not a big deal, like I said earlier. And I think that looking back, I wish I had been more direct. I think that you're hearing more stories of women specifically who are more vocal about this is okay, or this is not okay. And, you know, I think being comfortable with the opposition you might face because I was able to leave graciously in my position. But you know, had I had I made a bigger deal, what kind of repercussions I think we worried about the repercussions and I'm so much stronger now than I am was four years ago. But in that moment, I wasn't strong enough to really stand up for myself.
Lisa Carmen Wang 9:25
And if you were there today, what do you think you would say?
Jessica Berger 9:30
I would be a very different conversation. You know, it's it's been crazy. I think being on the founder journey specifically over the last four years and not even just the founder journey. I think it you hit a point in your life where you finally decide I would I want to be unapologetic, unapologetically myself. And who is that because I do think we lose sight of that. The person I am today is strong and will will not stay in situations friendships, business relationships that have any level of something that makes me feel uncomfortable and not valued respected. I will literally walk away from business opportunities now. If it doesn't align with what's important to me, so it would have been a very difficult conversation. I feel like a lot of people I worked with were probably a little scared intimidated of me, then I can only imagine what what it would be like today because I don't put up with any shit anymore.
Lisa Carmen Wang 10:35
So you're bad, Mitch, now.
Jessica Berger 10:38
I am Yes. My husband some days like, Man, I'd hate to be the person on the other end. But you know, it's not really that it's, it's owning and stepping into your power you, you talk about it a lot. I think I spent so much of my life in a weak state and position. And the thing that I've learned too, is that it created relationships, where people in my life were very controlling or manipulative, always in a more powerful state, that they were sort of controlling their relationship or controlling me, or I was somehow modifying myself to fit their agenda. And I don't, I don't do that anymore from it. And the minute you start doing that you do lose friendships, you have some cuts and some loss in your circle. But boy, like do I look in the mirror and think, wow, like, this is the war. My word for this year is warrior, because like, this is the year where I step in, to my power and like what I'm supposed to be doing and not feel any bit of fame or uncomfortability anymore, like, just go out there, like with this warrior kind of stance. And so there's so many amazing women warriors, that I'm learning more about history, and we can be pretty amazing when we put our minds to it. Yes.
Lisa Carmen Wang 12:14
What's one of your favorite female warriors?
Jessica Berger 12:18
Yeah, so there's one right now in Asian culture, and you're catching me on a Friday, so I'm gonna get the name wrong, I should probably pull it up on my phone. But I the whole idea is that she actually went into battle first, like she was the one going in with the horse with this like, amazing weapon. And she just had such a strength, and such a tenacity. And I have recently met an artist that's done a lot of work with her. And I actually had a chance to meet her recently in Utah. And I saw the painting and I started crying, which is so not like me, I'm not an emotional person. But I think just seeing the painting really ignited the fact that like, I'm finally realizing what it really means to step into this sort of warrior mindset versus where I think I've been, I'm getting emotional even thinking about it, where I've been where I've just been so weak, I, you know, I was just hiding behind so much. And so I'm still like, digging into the warrior concept, because she made me say, I am a warrior. And I was uncomfortable saying that. And I thought, how sad is that? You know, but that sometimes we have to verbalize how we're feeling or what we want to step into. And it takes time for our heart and our mind to sort of catch up.
Lisa Carmen Wang 13:48
Yeah, I love that. I've, I've always thought of myself as a warrior queen. And like when I think about if I was born in a different era, I feel like I would be the general of an army. I just, I swear I've seen that in my past life, like visualization. Oh,
Jessica Berger 14:06
yeah, I can see you for sure. You'd have you would have I'd be I'd be following you wherever you went for sure.
Lisa Carmen Wang 14:13
And my word for this year is peace. It's actually like I have really cultivated that warrior spirit for quite some time. And I've gotten to this place where it's like, also the other side of that like, powerful, outspoken, you know, fighter is also someone who is truly at peace and alignment and, you know, especially fighting for gender equality and women's empowerment. There's just it's one frustration after another after another because it still feels like things are barely moving right. The investment dollars are still still at 2% going to female founders still zero 2.2 Verse sent for women of color. And like, across the board, things are moving at a snail's pace. And so I have gotten to the point where I'm like, I need to celebrate every like little tiny win. And I find I do that really well for especially my coaching clients. But even for myself, I'm like, okay, it's okay to be tired. And not always out there, you know, fighting and, and battling and just like pushing the movement.
Jessica Berger 15:31
Yeah, I love that. I often say that, for me, as a founder, I find that it's a delicate balance between having a lot of grit and a lot of grace. So kind of similar. You know, we also need to have grace for ourselves. I'm working on that grace for myself, grace for my team grace for my family, my kids, you know, just for those of us that are achievers, and so go, go go. You know, it can be very difficult to find that rest in that piece. So I think that's a lifelong struggle. For me. This is my year of warrior. But I think that's also something to keep in mind, because you can't be constantly going all the time, right, without some kind of impact. Yeah,
Lisa Carmen Wang 16:19
well, one of my favorite books that I started rereading again, this year or January, is how to think like a Roman Emperor. And so it's about Marcus Aurelius. But it's like your knees go into war, but he's also cultivating that peace with himself. And so I do I have, like, depending on my mood, I wake up, I'm like, let's go to war. And then it's like, actually, let's just go home. Nap.
Jessica Berger 16:50
Yes, that's great. Now, I'm not good at the rest part. You know, piece is probably something you know, as I go through cycles and waves, right? Like, I think that's why the word of the year has been good for me, because it feels like a single focus, because I'm so all over the place already. But it's kind of funny, you look back of my words, because then you'll see like, kind of this up and down roller coaster, you know, like, one year my word was focused, and then balance and then joy. And then you know, and now of warriors, that's like, kind of extreme, you know. But last year was like my year of joy. You know, what are the things that bring me joy? What are the relationships? What is it that's really important to me? And I think, through the pursuit of joy, that actually led me to this kind of more warrior approach, I think, I think I had to take the time to really identify what were the things that brought me joy first, being very intentional about that, so that I could go into fight for the things that do bring me joy.
Lisa Carmen Wang 18:02
That's so important. And something that's just a good reminder, which is that especially if you are achievement oriented, and like goal oriented, that one of the questions, I've also stepped back and it's again, like a constant reevaluation. Like, are you doing it for the outcome doing it for the success or the purpose? Or? Or are you doing it because you love it, and it can be together. But sometimes you lose sight and you forget that this is actually something you loved, but maybe it doesn't bring you joy anymore? Or you like maybe it never brought you joy and you just doing it for the validation or doing it for you know, it was a great title or a great job or you thought it was your dream job. And even for me stepping back and as especially as an entrepreneur, it's like, what is the business model that's going to bring me joy? And how do I create space and lightness in my schedule? Knowing that I love serving women and I love like my lifelong mission is all around gender equality and lifting women up but how do I make sure that I don't burn out and I also am celebrating myself and I also love what I'm doing so that I can come from a place of abundance
Jessica Berger 19:21
Yeah, I think as achievers that's one thing that I'm trying to figure out is how to celebrate you know the moments because again, founder life startup life crazy but then also take more my achiever kind of realities that I am I know I am i It's hard for me to stop and celebrate the things that I have accomplished because I'm already like, okay, great. Now I'm one step closer to this other goal or Okay, I did this now I needed to do this so you know, I think this year for me I'm I have to figure out how to celebrate cuz people ask like, oh my gosh, you're in 500 stores? And do you just like, feel so great about that? Or do you feel so good about yourself? Or I don't know, they say it in a weird way. And I'm like, Well, no, I, I don't know how to read, you know, because Because yeah, that's great. Like, we have accomplished something, and we're more moving towards our goals. But it's not like, I'm sitting around having a party. But I, but I need to I need, you know, I think like spending some time reflecting. I just recently spent some time reflecting of kind of all that we have accomplished in the last 12 months. And when you get it down on paper, it's more impressive for some reason, or maybe you forget. And then when I did that, I was like, Okay, wow, like, I need to sit in this for a minute.
Lisa Carmen Wang 20:52
Yeah, well, so then let's get into this idea of owning wins. This is something that in the bad witch empire, we have a bad but victory log. And it's always, you know, making sure you have a running log of all the things that you're proud of whether it's something big and splashy, or it's just hey, I was tired last night, and I'm proud of myself for making it to yoga in the morning. And that's something I'm going to celebrate just as much as getting on the front cover of a magazine. Because it felt like that in the moment. So when it comes to owning wins, celebrating yourself, what are we, in the beginning of the episode, we kind of talked a little bit about it, and like hiding behind that shame. So where do you feel like you are now with sharing those wins and owning them? And what what is it that you still need to work on?
Jessica Berger 21:41
Well, such a big part of my passion and purpose behind funnel enjoys to, to really help change some of the landscape of of entrepreneurship in the pet industry, it's $100 billion industry and very male dominated. And, you know, I realized that my purpose drives my daily sort of why and why I'm building what I'm building. But then I quickly realized that if I'm not sharing that journey, and I'm not sharing that with others, I can't really inspire them to chase their dreams. And or to help us change the industry, right? Like, you can say, Oh, my goal is this. My purpose is this. But I think until you take action, there are some things that we're doing. But I quickly realized that I need to share those things. I use LinkedIn a lot. Because it allows me to stay connected with a lot of people I've worked with or currently work with. And it just allows me to say, hey, here's something that's happened, here's what I learned, or here's how this is inspiring me, or here's how other people have poured into me. And I realized that more when I do that, then I have other women who message me who say, Oh, my gosh, I love reading your post, I'm, I'm loving watching your success, I've actually been thinking about starting my own thing. You know, you're just inspiring me or I learned something. So I've realized that more of my role within the company is to truly help shared my story, to inspire others to go do the same because I didn't, I personally didn't see a lot of female founders in my career. In brands that I worked with, or products, I didn't have a ton of female mentorship throughout my career. So I feel like you were saying earlier, like, I feel like this is something I can control and something I can do to help fight the fight in a tactical way, but also in a personal connection way. That, you know, may not change the world, but it might have an impact on one person that then becomes this sort of, you know, domino effect, similar to how you and I worked together years ago. And you think about maybe it's not a big deal. Maybe it doesn't seem like a big deal. But the work that we did is still in my life today. And I think that's really important.
Lisa Carmen Wang 24:09
Yeah, well, thank you. And I mean, it was I love hearing you say that because I do remember and that's something that we worked on was really understanding that when you share your gifts with the world that actually gives permission for other people to share their gifts too. And it's not selfish to promote your wins and share your lessons and successes. It's actually the least selfish thing you can do, especially if you know that the work that you're doing could serve others and that other people could be inspired and motivated by the things that you are putting your sweat and tears into and achieving.
Jessica Berger 24:49
So important and now that I have you know women come up to me who I've not met in real life who I've met in some digital channel, come up to me hey, I have to is business like, I've loved watching your journey, I also have a business and I do this sister that, you know, that's, that's really cool. I've had a couple of women I've met at shows where I've given them, you know, 30 minutes of my time, and I help provide some mentor and guidance. And at the end of the day, like, I know that that's my purpose is to help develop others. And, you know, someday I hope to, you know, retire and teach back into university and teach college students because I'm super passionate about it. But for now, I know I can sort of just provide that inspiration, and mentorship and guidance as best I can when I can, in the craziness of my life.
Lisa Carmen Wang 25:45
Awesome. So now let's go into your entrepreneurial journey. And the pet food industry, like many other industries is pale male and stale. And you are one of few Latina founders in the space. Tell us about the process of launching your company.
Jessica Berger 26:09
Unlike a lot of you know, founders in the space, I didn't come from money, I didn't come from a big, you know, private equity firm or have connections to raise ridiculous amounts of money to build a company that, you know, wasn't even validated. I've had to do it differently. I had to say like, here's what I'm going to do, here's how I'm going to do it and just jump full, full speed in without really even having like, the support on my back. I early days. I told a lot of industry founders and people, and they all told me was a horrible idea. You know, they were all closed minded. And many of them were pretty much all men and they were just like, nobody wants that. Like, why would you do that? So I kind of their actually their, I guess their hater situation, then being haters and being very negative. And it fueled me actually to be like, well, then watch me do this. And I just jumped in. And, you know, now we're in 500 stores, we are just headed into this explosive year of growth. We just won the pet care innovation summit prize for all of pet and us in Europe, I sat in a room with a bunch of dudes in the industry, who ironically, were on stage talking about the industry is changing. And it's a younger consumer that expects more and is on tick tock and you know, but they have no idea what's actually happening. But, you know, that was an industry validation. For me that was like, Okay, I had to go out and actually kind of prove it or so whereas I think a lot of men don't have to, we know that from investing. You know, a lot of men can come in and have just an idea, whereas women have to be that much more proofed out. So very much like that experience, I've had to do the same. I've had to get into doors, I've had to hustle. I've had to launch it to get to a point now where they're coming to me and like, hey, we'd love to chat. So I've had to do things differently. But you have to do things in a way that gets you to your end goal, regardless if it's hard or if it's difficult.
Lisa Carmen Wang 28:28
And so you've you felt like the people who told you no, it was like every additional No, did you feel more motivated?
Jessica Berger 28:39
At first, I felt really defeated. Because I really respected these people. I had put them on a pedestal that they didn't deserve. But I thought wow, this person has is a founder, they have their own brand. They have a successful business. I went to them and gave them too much power and authority. And I probably I probably gave them too much credit for a little while for a couple of weeks. And then I would say at some point, I just had to make a decision that I was going to do this. Regardless of what someone said, you know, Sara Blakely shares a lot about how she did not share her idea with friends, family, early days, because those that love you, as well can be very negative. So I kind of just stopped listening to everybody I heard their feedback, but I was just like, well, that's great, thank you. But you know, this is how I'm gonna go do it. And I had I had to be really set in my vision in order to do that. Well, they
Lisa Carmen Wang 29:47
also say like, don't be careful who you take advice from and who you listen to, especially if they haven't been in the arena. Right if they are giving you advice from the like the back rows, you know, the cheap seats. It's like, why do I need to listen to you? And you know, obviously, if it's the people who are our family or friends, it's just taking that with a grain of salt. And, you know, when we think about, as we talked about briefly, just sometimes you gotta let people go, sometimes you gotta cut out the negative energy. It's when you raise your standards, and people get mad. It's just because they got cut.
Jessica Berger 30:29
Yeah, I think too, like, I also was looking for validation from founders who didn't identify with my life at all right? So I was I was looking to people for validation of my idea. From men, who, you know, in many cases came from different situations on I'll just slip into me, right? Female, first generation Latina like there are no left the Latina founders in the pet industry, like at all. There are no founders of color. There are very few, I think, no. But you know, there has not been this openness. I've actually spoken to founders, more diverse founders who have come to industry events, and we've never come back, because they said they were met with such, like, just not friendly. People were, like, open to them. And some was asking for dirt. I was asking for validation from people who were completely misaligned with my experience and where I was coming from. And so there's no way they ever would have even been able to understand what I was saying. Like even my, even my initial idea. I was pitching initially to a lot of men, investors, bankers, angel investors, and when I told them about my brand that is very female forward for the female consumer that's been entirely overlooked in the industry, which is crazy, by the way, because they're the ones that buy the pet food. They just didn't get it. And then I'd be then so I started saying, Who buys the pet food in your home? Oh, my wife. And I was like, okay, yeah. Like, you're never gonna get it. And that's okay. And I had to become okay with that.
Lisa Carmen Wang 32:17
Yeah, yeah. Well, I mean, I think that's going to be the big shift as women control 85% of consumer purchases, and are controlling 70% of household financial decisions. And just realizing that if we're the ones controlling the wallets, at the end of the day, we are the ones purchasing that just even just catering to women is such a massive market. Because the majority of products have just catered towards the man's perspective. And the products that have been created for women have been created by men in the past, where you just pink it and shrink it, you know, make it pink and smaller, and then assume that that would be good enough for female consumers. And now we're like, No, it's not.
Jessica Berger 33:06
Well, that's like, a lot of times I'll talk to someone and I'll say, Well, have you gone down the pet aisle lately? I said, it's all blue, brown, basic and boring. And they're like, those are my four B's, you know, I like things like, I'm a marketer, right? So do the four, four P's. But I'm like, these are the four B's of industry. And I'll say yeah, you know, the industry is telling you like your dog is a wolf and your dog needs all this raw meat and like all these things, and like, I don't know about you, but like, my puppies are, like cuddle bugs and like part of the family and like they're sweet. And, you know, you see you that's not how we see our dogs. We don't most women do not see their dogs as well. Wolves, you know, and then they're like, oh, yeah, you're right. And then they see my packaging, and they're like, What is this? You know, it's, but it's, yeah, it has taken I think that was early days. And I learned like a lot of jewelry brands, companies were all you know, men, perfume, fragrance companies were all run by men for a long time. Like, you know, we're changing it because we are the ones making the decisions. Like, we have such a better insight into what motivates us. And I don't know why we've been overlooked for so long. But I think things are changing. And it's gonna be really fun to watch the brands that have figured that out.
Lisa Carmen Wang 34:31
Yeah. Well, when you think about why women have been overlooked, I think it you know, I, I think that at the root of issue. It's what we said at the beginning of this playing small, right one is lowering women and I just even the conversation about calling sweetie and honey, right? There's an element of pushing us down. And there's an element of making a small and making our opinions less than our perspective less than ends. So when I think about every single product, the way the workday is structured, the the heaviness of doors, you know, there's all these studies that show that doors building doors are created for the tensile strength of a man. And so, doors were created for men. That's why women have such a hard time opening doors. But everything in the world has been created by and for men not like historically. And it's only now that women are starting to realize that we are no longer willing to play small and then so it's companies like yours. And then movements like the Babbage empire, where it's very much in your face, like we are not going to be silent, and small, and subservient anymore.
Jessica Berger 35:45
And so much that comes with us putting our money where our mouth is to write, like, that's not the greatest analogy, but we have to start supporting brands and in founders and leaders that are, are coming out and decided not to play small anymore, and, and being more aware of the products who are purchasing, because I don't think many of us stopped to think about who we're supporting, when we purchase certain products. I think as we become more educated of that, we need to do a better job of purchasing with intention with those brands to support the founders. You know, because it like for me, I'm trying to break through such a big industry. But there is a comfort level of just buying what they always buy or going to, you know, a big box store. So, you know, we have to also start buying from those companies. And I think that we actually, on our site, sell products from other women founders and other brands on our site. And people are like, that's kind of weird. And I'm like, no, like, I want to make sure that whatever products they're looking for, they can find them. Because I think that I've always wanted to support those companies. But sometimes it's hard to find them. It's hard to know which ones to support. So I do hope that more marketplace type models come out. We can also or not even marketplace models, but retailers start to put more emphasis on helping us make better educated decisions when we're purchasing products.
Lisa Carmen Wang 37:20
Yeah, well, in the meantime, it's up to women like you and I and, and I think always remembering like that. It's still, I mean, unfortunately, it's still like relatively early days for this kind of forward thinking like, oh, I actually want to celebrate other other brands. On my website, I want to celebrate other women. I want to have a giveback program in my company that gives back to local female entrepreneurs alike. All of that is not naturally ingrained in anyone, men or women. And so I think, again, going back to why it's so important to share the things that we're doing to own it loud and proud, especially if it's something that is different and pushing the world forward.
Jessica Berger 38:10
100% Because if if I'm not given my chance to tell my story, I can't bring someone along the journey very quickly. We've realized in social media or digital or even at events, once I tell my story of how I made a decision to chase joy in a different way that I think I always was ingrained to do and to pursue this. And pets are such an amazing source of joy that helped me to bring that to life. They're like sold, I'm in you know, how can we support you? And so I think, as we go into this year, one of my big goals is to figure out how to even share it on a larger scale. And what does that look like? And how, how do we create opportunities where on a larger scale, I can share my journey to inspire more people. So this is a year to play big. And I have some big goals because it's such it's such needed like we're talking about everywhere, but definitely in I think this industry and in overall consumer goods and you know, everyone loves their dogs. So it's kind of fun to talk about too.
Lisa Carmen Wang 39:24
Yeah, I love that. And so as you think back to your across your journey, what is something that you would say to your younger self? Now?
Jessica Berger 39:40
I think that I would just tell her that she's strong and confident and has everything she already needs. Because I think I spent like I said too much time playing weak and small and feeling like I was inadequate. So that's that's what I would tell her are in. Gosh, I can only imagine the things that I would have accomplished. But I also know it's part of the journey. So,
Lisa Carmen Wang 40:08
yeah, yeah. I mean, the other thing that I thought about was, what would my younger self say to me now, which was a really powerful thing for me to do, because that message that you just gave to her was, you know, you got it, you're so strong, you're so confident. Now, what would happen the other way around. And, you know, when I did that exercise, I thought, wow, like, I'm, like, You're everything I wanted to be like, I can't believe I think back to myself that like, and I was writing this down, I was like, here I am sitting in this library with no friends thinking that the only friends I'll ever have are the ones in this, like in the books, you know, the characters in the books, and that girls don't want to be my friend, boys will never like me, you know, no one will ever listen to me or care what I have to say. And then I like, from my little self perspective, looked at where I am today. And I was like, You're exactly you're like, everything I dreamed of being. And then that wasn't, that was what helped me then remember, like, wow, I'm really proud of myself. Like, if only she knew, that little girl knew who I was today. And so like, I can also continue being and being proud of who I am and continue sharing. So that's another thing that just is, like a really powerful reframe as you go on this journey and have these bigger goals for yourself.
Jessica Berger 41:47
I think you bring up a good point, though. For me, personally, having daughters, I have been really intentional about saying those things to my daughters, when I can and when I'm thinking about it, because you and I now know how important it is to hear those things. Have we heard them earlier. So I think that even if you don't have children of your own, if you have nieces, if you can pour into a nonprofit, or find a way to somehow tell a girl in the face between the ages of 12 and 18, you're beautiful, you've got this, you're strong, you're you know, all these things. I think just having heard that maybe more, it might have made a difference. You just never know I think take our learnings and our strength now and find ways to pour it back in to younger girls, because they are the next generation like you and I are only going to be able to do so much. And then they're going to have to carry the torch.
Lisa Carmen Wang 42:55
Yeah, the legacy has to live on somehow the legacy of generosity and collaboration. And I think all the work and I think that's why it's also so important to like read about women in history. And remember how much work has gotten into where we are now. Even the opportunities that we've been afforded. So it's like, do that warrior point, there are so many women who were warriors before who spoke out and were punished and were abused and harassed and just like pushed down because they had the, like, the the willingness to be authentic to themselves. And and there were much greater consequences back then. But, you know, now it's, we have that greater opportunities to speak to share our gifts to like, not take bullshit anymore. And so it's that's the, that's the legacy that we're going to leave on leave going forward and really pass on.
Jessica Berger 43:58
Yeah, I say all the time that my daughter is like my hero, because she's just so strong and just herself. And I don't know, it's, it's been cool to watch because I feel like okay, like, this is the next, the next movie or the next part of me that's going to live on and I just love to see how strong she was because I was not that strong. But I think it's just from watching me even learn and step into who I am today and really hear those things. And she's seeing those things. And, again, that you know, you don't even have to have daughters of your own. There's so many little girls in different capacities that need mentorship and guidance. And I think it's I think it's, I think it's a core component we have to not forget about because we can make a difference. Now we can fight now, but we've got to help figure that out for them too.
Lisa Carmen Wang 44:49
Absolutely. Well, Jessica, thank you so much for sharing your story and again, a pleasure to catch Jump with you and just hear about everything that's going on. Last question for you is what does being a bad bitch mean to you?
Jessica Berger 45:10
To me being a bad bitch is being who you are innately created to be and what you were created to do. And that means even when it makes other people uncomfortable, even when it makes you uncomfortable that you just stripped step right into that because that is your purpose. That is what's going to set your soul on fire and is going to help everybody else do the same. So that's what it is for me being stepping into it.
Lisa Carmen Wang 45:43
Just like a bad bitch warrior. I love it.