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"Earlier this month, 600 women invaded Brooklyn wearing millennial pink shirts and Catbird stacked rings. But they weren't coming for avocado toast and unicorn lattes—they were there for Create  Cultivate, a conference that fosters female leadership in business, tech, and the creative arts.\nWith speakers like Gloria Steinem and our own Nikki Ogunnaike, the event is part of a C  C tour that's hit Atlanta, Los Angeles, Chicago, Austin, and soon, Maui. (Nice, right?) The organization has even hit spinoff status, launching their first list—called Create  Cultivate 100—of female role models, and recording their advice for internet consumption.\nWho made this happen? Jaclyn Johnson, a 30-something woman who turned her First Big Fail—a digital job gone wrong—into a Next Big Thing. We spoke with the California resident about what she's learned, who she's watching, and (yep) exactly how much money she makes.\n\nThousands of women attend Create + Cultivate conferences. What's the most common career question they ask?\nIt's different in every city, but the universal theme that keeps popping up is \"When do I quit my fulltime job? When do I 'out' myself as an entrepreneur?\"\nAnd?\nWell, I've found that women won't say \"I'm an entrepreneur\" or \"I'm a business owner\" until they're successful, whereas most guys don't have that problem. Women, they want to build the company, finance the company, run the company, and then maybe they'll give themselves the credit. We need to work on that.\nYou started C  C before Trump became president. Has your mission changed since the last election?\nComing off the Women's March and the election, there's a lot of politically focused conversations about being a woman in the workplace. We want to tackle that and want to talk about that at the conferences, because it seems like the most pressing thing for us. But also, for women, there's a lot of interest on maternity leave and healthcare. \nThere must be a lot of healthcare talk right now.\nSome of our attendees have small businesses or work for small businesses. How do they tackle healthcare, parental leave, and things like that at a small company? Nobody's talking about it. Everyone assumes, \"Okay, you have a job, then you have healthcare.\" What about people with a million side hustles? Employees, freelancers, bosses, right now, everybody has reached a tipping point where we need help. And that can't happen until we talk about it.\n[instagram ]\n Thank you @createcultivate for having me moderate a wonderful, informative, and interesting panel today!! @kattanita @lainyhedaya @carly @thehappilyeva @taza you guys are incredibly whip smart and I learned so much!!A post shared by Nikki Ogunnaike (@nikkiogun) on May 6, 2017 at 1:43pm PDT\n[/instagram]\nWho's been the most useful speaker you've heard?\nThe founder of Shabby Chic in Dallas spoke about going bankrupt. That's powerful. Women feel like they can relate to that. Raising $150 million is impressive, absolutely. But struggling, going bankrupt, and starting over, that's another level of inspiring. And it plays into my story a lot.\nYou failed?\nOh sure. I worked at CitySearch in New York. I was transferred to LA. I got laid off within 3 months. It was the worst. I had left my home, where I was the career girl. I was blowing up and making money, and then boom… I was devastated. It took a chunk of my personal identity. But the more I shared what happened to me, the more inspired other people seemed to be, because I bounced back! And for so long, I was so embarrassed! I was ashamed!\nSo you encourage your panelists to talk about bad choices.\nAnd bad business-partner breakups. Credit card debt. Nobody wants to talk about that. But when you start talking about it, the more it helps women everywhere, and therefore helps you. \nYour panels have had Nicole Richie, Chelsea Handler, and Lauren Conrad on them. Were you one of those Insta-Girls with lots of famous friends before you started your company?\nNot at all. You have to believe me. This is something I always tell people. When I first started out, I would cold-email people and ask if they'd speak. The first person I got was Garance Doré. I was like, \"I'm a big fan, please come speak at our conference.\" And she wrote back. 99% of my job is following up. And then those people have a good experience, and tell their friends. We got Rachel Zoe to speak, and then Rachel Zoe told Jessica Alba that she had to speak. I am not friends with Chelsea Handler, but everyone wants to put their voice out there, and we can give them a great platform.\nMany female-owned businesses that are blowing up right now, like Honest Company and Ouai, have great products but also a huge celebrity tie-in. Is fame necessary for success?\nI think obviously, it helps. Something that's skyrocketed our growth is that every 4-6 months, we do a conference with 55 super-awesome women, many of them have crazy online followings, and all of them are promoting us. Obviously that's impactful. But there's a million ways to grow a company. You can be a groundswell brand. Look at Outdoor Voices. Look at Reformation.\n[instagram ]\n You've got to want it, bad. Good reminder from our forever girl crush, @rebeccaminkoff. 💥💥 #createcultivatenycA post shared by CREATE  CULTIVATE (@createcultivate) on May 6, 2017 at 3:24pm PDT\n[/instagram]\nFemale empowerment is becoming a mall trend. You can get a \"feminist\" tee at every teen shopping site. Is this helping women in the workplace, or trivializing the message?\nOh, I call it femme-vertizing! We talk about this all the time… look, we're not gonna sell t-shirts that say \"Feminist\" at Create  Cultivate. That's not helpful. What's helpful is giving women advice and bringing them together. But if a high school girl wants to wear a \"feminist\" shirt to school, am I mad? Absolutely not. That's great. It's just not what we do. We're a different kind of business.\nI like that you admit you're a business. There's this belief that women doing anything with social change shouldn't make money… \nThat we can be rich or we can be impactful, but we can't be both? I know. I've never been anything but transparent that Create  Cultivate is a business. It's a good business and it does good work and helps people, but it functions because of money. And money isn't a four letter word. Making money is not a bad thing. Women like accolades, not numbers. That's bizarre. We should be asking for money without apologies… I read this article that said, we can't close the wage gap if we have no clue how much women are making, or how much we should be paying ourselves. So let's talk about it. \nOkay. I'm a freelancer and I made about $160k last year. How about you?\nLast year was a really good year for me, because I sold a company [to Small Girls PR]. So last year, I made $700k. But usually it's around $160k. I'm definitely the breadwinner in my situation and it's funny.\n[instagram ]\n In light of #TaxDay coming up on Tuesday (don't freak🙅...we'll get through it together), we're getting down and dirty on the realities of financial health. #OTB We're talking cash-money: from building that emergency savings fund you keep hearing about to actually planning for the retirement you want (spoiler alert: start TODAY), we're covering it all. It's time to get serious about your 💰💰, and start living your best (financial) life ⚡️. Link in bio. 📸 by @dixieandtwine ✏️ by Colleen Wilson of @collaboratechicagoA post shared by CREATE  CULTIVATE (@createcultivate) on Apr 16, 2017 at 9:39pm PDT\n[/instagram]\nThat idea makes me thrilled and a little nervous.\nPast relationships have been a struggle. There's been a lot of angst about it. With [my husband] it's very natural. We don't share finances. We might down the line, but we don't right now. We're very progressive. We share our mortgage, but other things, he's like, \"You earned that. I'm proud of you. That's awesome.\" But it's also like, \"You work late, I'll handle stuff at the house.\" And it's very transparent. When you have power struggle, that's when a relationship ends… And I would say to you, and other women, that it's ok to make your own rules when it comes to relationships. That's so important, because it was always a point of contention.\nHow'd you meet?\nTinder!\nYou have a sign that says \"Collaboration Over Competition.\" But when I'm up for a job and another person gets it, I have a moment of real resentment. And I wonder, \"What if there isn't enough work to go around?\" Can you address that?\nOf course. This is a really important conversation to have right now. I've experienced that feeling. Most women have experienced it. But the bottom line, which we both know, is that we have to keep pushing each other forward to succeed. The evidence is overwhelming that collaboration makes you more opportunities. And if you didn't get [an opportunity], it wasn't meant for you. The woman who got the job is not taking up your space or your purpose. We all need to claim our space. And then we all need to pay it forward to other women from our successes. Competition and collaboration can happen from the same impulse.\n[instagram ]\n Words of wisdom @createcultivateA post shared by Nikki Ogunnaike (@nikkiogun) on May 7, 2017 at 11:44am PDT\n[/instagram]\nIs female competition ever a good thing?\nYeah, economically! Competition breeds more purchasing, and it breeds more excitement. But that kind of competition—you know, like, I have a makeup company, you have a makeup company—is rooted in respect. Plotting other women's failures takes so much energy and won't ultimately help you. Plus, there's no room for that kind of energy in today's social climate. We don't have the luxury to tear each other down. When a door opens for one of us, we need to go through it and then we need to build doors for someone else. And if we can't find a door, we need to ask if someone can help us find one. That's my theory on it. That's where every woman needs her head at right now. We worked so hard to get here. We're scared to lose [our rights]. So now is the time to put our guns away and focus on helping each other. "
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