Mom Boss Monday Featuring: Jenna Taskin of Bold NYC!
Jenna Taskin is one VERY impressive MOM BOSS! She is the CEO & Creative Director of Bold NYC. Bold NYC is unlike any marketing company I have ever seen! They GET IT! They are doing what no one else is, & are getting it DONE! Jenna is also the co-host of the podcast called Startup Stories, which I had the privilege of recording this week on Wall Street. Her co-host is attorney John Benemerito. I could have spoke to them for days & we had a great time recording together!
Here is my interview with the AH-MAZING Jenna Taskin!
1) Name: Jenna Taskin
2) Where are you from: Originally born in NYC, raised in Jersey, now I spend my time in both!
3) What is your business? I am a founder and CEO of BOLD, a branding experience for the bold, by the bold. We help brands with passion and purpose do good things for good people.
4) How did you get involved with BOLD? I have been putting my words on paper for as long as I can remember, whether it was writing my dad 5-page birthday cards where I changed the lyrics to his favorite song to be about him or helping a family friend create articles for her website after finishing my homework in Middle School. At young age, I started professionally as a Copywriter, which I still believe is the foundation of any agency because, at the end of the day, we are really in the business of storytelling. I continued to write for multiple publications throughout High School and College and took every internship I could get.
Throughout school, I built on those skills by adding different mediums of storytelling to my skill set such as digital marketing, blogging, social media marketing, podcasting, videography, etc. As internships turned into paid jobs, I learned how to not only perfect those skills but to apply them to different industries and I also learned how to effectively lead and teach those skills to an eager team. Since I was already being paid for what I was going to school for, I decided to leave college early and I spent most of my 20’s serving as a Chief Creative Officer for another Marketing Agency before branching out to start my own business last year. I believe my whole life has been preparing me for this venture and I’m putting my entire heart into it.
5) What are the biggest challenges you face in your business? The biggest challenge my industry faces specifically is gaining trust from other businesses and brands because they have all been so burned in the past by Marketing Companies overpromising, overcharging and underdelivering. One of our clients came to us after losing $80,000 in Ad spend in just a few months with NOTHING to show for it!!! You should have seen these ads. There was no meaning behind them, no substance whatsoever.
The messaging was over saturated in and the audience was all wrong. Personally, I hate Marketing Companies for this reason, which is exactly what led me to branch out and start my own. I want to change the way people see Marketing Agencies. I want to put people back in business and storytelling, creativity and color back into Marketing. Helping brands with passion and purpose do good work is what I want, period. In a small way I’m just trying to change the world. Bold is my outlet.
6) How do you manage your time effectively? To be honest, I don’t have this completely figured out. I don’t get a ton of sleep, and I don’t have a special formula for getting work done. I just do what I feel inspired to do and most of the that’s work. Sometimes it’s writing for myself on the side, sometimes it’s playing bass guitar, and sometimes it’s going for a hike with my family. I know one thing is for sure, and that is if I wasn’t inspired to do what I do with Bold every day, I would definitely be unsuccessful at it. I believe if you love something you don’t have to force yourself to make time for it, it just takes over.
7) Tell us about a challenge you faced & overcame! As a young business owner surrounded by a young team, it’s unfortunately normal to face some reverse-ageism. But, we’re pretty great at combatting it quickly. If there’s one thing I have learned on this crazy journey, it’s that the work will always speak for itself, always.
8) Who inspires you & why? I think this answer has changed a ton over the years. I’ve had different idols at different stages of my life. My family consistently inspires me, my favorite writers and artists inspire me, the people I work alongside inspire me, and my clients who are all people trying to turn their dreams into a reality inspire me. Anyone extremely passionate about what they do fires me up, there’s nothing cooler than that.
9) What do you do for fun? It’s all fun. I love to work, create, hike, travel the world with my family, read, write, catch up with friends, watch my favorite stand-up comedians, and listen to my favorite albums.
10) What makes you a MOM BOSS? I’m a mom, and I’m a boss … and I’m SO passionate about kicking ass at both.
How can we find you? Right now the main way to find us is on Instagram, and we also have a Facebook page! Our website is currently being redone & cannot wait for the revamped site!
Instagram//Facebook
Check out last week’s Mom Boss Monday here!
