Jenny Stojkovic

Jenny Stojkovic

These are the best posts from Jenny Stojkovic.

35 viral posts with 26,938 likes, 6,090 comments, and 806 shares.
30 image posts, 0 carousel posts, 2 video posts, 1 text posts.

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We're losing an entire generation of female leaders.

And nobody's talking about it.

I've been researching the "She-cession" for months.
What I found should terrify every CEO, investor, and founder.

The headlines tell one story:
Women leaving the workforce at historic rates.

But here's what the headlines miss:

**The women leaving aren't who you think.**

They're not entry-level employees or retail workers.
They're the VPs, directors, and senior managers.

I've watched it happen in real-time:
- The CMO who left because school pickup was "inflexible"
- The founder who shut down because investors questioned her "focus" after having a baby
- The manager who went freelance because pumping at work was "disruptive"

Every one of them earning six figures.
Every one of them at the peak of their careers.
Every one of them told they were "choosing family over work."

As if men don't have families.
As if care isn't work.
As if we can afford to lose this talent.

These aren't women who "can't handle it."
These are women who did the math.

When childcare costs more than college tuition...
When taking time off means career suicide...
When every meeting conflicts with school pickup...

The economics don't work.

But here's the part that made me angry:

**We built a system that requires two incomes but supports zero caregivers.**

Then we act surprised when women opt out.

The real kicker? Companies are spending millions on diversity initiatives.

While their best female talent walks out the back door.

This isn't a women's issue.
It's an economic crisis.

When we lose these women, we lose:
- Their innovations
- Their leadership
- Their mentorship
- Their economic power

And we're creating a generation of girls who will see that even if you make it to the top, the system will push you out.

So what do we do?

Stop treating flexibility like a favor.
Stop penalizing careers for caregiving.
Stop pretending this is sustainable.

Because if we don't fix this now, the She-cession becomes permanent.

And we all lose.

I covered this deep dive in last week's The Wednesday Play newsletter.
The numbers will shock you.

Read it now: https://lnkd.in/g2NrduN2

Why not build a world where success doesn't require choosing between your family and your future?

๐Ÿ”” Follow Jenny Stojkovic for more uncomfortable truths about women in business.
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This is not my baby.

But I am paying for her college fund.

I've never told this story before, but here goes...

My husband Pav came to America as a refugee of Yugoslavia. Growing up as an only child, being an immigrant kid was tough.

But everything changed for him in middle school when he met his best friend Eddy.

Coming from Ecuador, Eddy was also a child of immigrants, striving for the American dream. They instantly bonded like brothers, sharing a mutual dream to "make it" and set their struggling families on a new path to success.

When I met Pav, Eddy was introduced to me jokingly as his "other soul mate".

We soon got married, where Eddy stood as our Best Man. Pav and Eddy couldn't wait to start families and be godfathers to each other's kids.

Unspeakably, only a year later, we lost Eddy in a tragic murder. This loss gutted us in ways we couldn't imagine.

Eddy's family struggled to move on, but soon brought a new child into the family to begin their healing.

The moment Eddy's niece was born, we knew she needed her uncle.

But he wasn't here.

So, we decided to step in.

We quietly opened a college fund in her name, depositing cash on birthdays and holidays, while investing aggressively.

She doesn't know it yet, but by the time she turns 18, the fund will be there for her to achieve her hopes and dreams.

It takes a village to raise our future generation.

We are not special. You can be a guardian angel, too.

Pay it forward.


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I run a $23M VC fund and just had a baby 3 weeks ago.

Yesterday, I almost quit everything.

The truth?

Having a baby is way harder than raising a $23M VC fund.
Or writing a best-selling book.
Or managing five different businesses.

Add breastfeeding into the mix?
Your entire life becomes 2-3 hour intervals.

The last few weeks, I've said to myself more than once:
"Two working parents is a total scam."

And I have resources most women don't.

Imagine doing this on a teacher's salary.
Or as a single mom.
Or without family nearby.

The cost of staying vs. leaving your job is a reality for many women.

Turns out, I'm not alone.

Women are dropping out of the workforce at the highest rates in history.

The numbers are staggering:
- Moms are 2x more likely to leave the workforce
- Childcare now costs more than in-state college tuition
- We're losing decades of progress in 2-3 hour feeding intervals

The top demographic leaving? College-educated women with kids under 5.

Executives.
Bankers.
Doctors.

They're calling it "the She-cession."

Decades of progress for women in high-earning professions are at risk.

So, what does this mean?
And how do we reverse it?

This isn't just my story. It's an economic crisis hiding in plain sight.

Tomorrow in my newsletter The Wednesday Play, I'm exposing the real numbers behind the "She-cession" - and what we can actually do about it.

Comment "PLAY" to get the link - every leader needs to see this data.



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This 42 year old CEO was rejected to every job she applied to, then made history as one of the youngest women to take a startup public.

Meet Anjali Sud, CEO of Tubi.

Born in Detroit and raised in Flint, Michigan, Anjali grew up in a family of Indian immigrants.

Her parents prioritized education despite limited resources, and Anjali excelled academically.

By 14, she was admitted into the prestigious Phillips Andover Academy.

At first, Anjali began to fail her classes.

But those setbacks fueled her further.

Anjali went on to earn a degree in finance and management from the University of Pennsylvania and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Starting her career in investment banking, she hit another roadblock:

She was rejected from every major firm she applied to.

Pivoting to roles in media and e-commerce, Anjali eventually joined Vimeo in 2014 as Head of Global Marketing.

At the time, Vimeo was trying to compete with Netflix... and failing.

But Anjali saw an opportunity when others didnโ€™t.

Instead of competing with streaming giants, she repositioned Vimeo as a SaaS platform to empower creators and small businesses with video tools.

By 2017, at just 34, Anjali was appointed CEO.

Under her leadership, Vimeo transformed, going public in 2021 with a valuation of $6 billion.

That year, Anjali became one of the youngest women to lead a tech IPO.

Then, in 2023, Anjali was appointed CEO of Tubi.

But the journey wasnโ€™t easy.

Anjali faced immense skepticism as a young, female CEO navigating a tech world dominated by men.

Her ability to pivot and lead during the pandemic, when demand for video tools skyrocketed, cemented Vimeoโ€™s success.

Reflecting on her challenge of becoming a CEO at a young age, Anjali shared:

"๐—™๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐—บ๐—ฒ, ๐—น๐—ฒ๐—ฎ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐˜€๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ฝ ๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ฎ๐—ฏ๐—ผ๐˜‚๐˜ ๐—ฑ๐—ผ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ฟ๐—ฑ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฟ๐—ถ๐—ด๐—ต๐˜ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด, ๐—ฒ๐˜ƒ๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐˜„๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ป ๐—ถ๐˜'๐˜€ ๐—ป๐—ผ๐˜ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ฒ ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—ฝ๐˜‚๐—น๐—ฎ๐—ฟ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด."

Anjaliโ€™s story is a testament to resilience, bold ideas, and fearless execution.

Yet, this might actually be the first time youโ€™ve heard of Anjali.

Thatโ€™s why Iโ€™m sharing stories of pioneering women like Anjali for #WomenFounderWednesday.


_____

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I took the photo on the right after my water broke.

Then everything changed.

I hate to sound cliche...
But everything they say about babies is true.

In just two weeks, my entire world has flipped upside down.

From feeling kicks at 3am to hearing cries.
From wondering who you'd be to knowing your face.
From planning your arrival to realizing nothing prepares you.

They tell you about the sleepless nights.
They don't tell you about staring at this tiny human thinking:
"I made you. From nothing. You're here because I decided you should exist."

Just pure creation. Pure risk. Pure love.

People ask how I'll balance it all.
Running a VC fund. A media company. Writing books.

Here's what they don't understand:

The same hunger that built my career?
It's nothing compared to the hunger to give this little one everything.

To the women worried that motherhood will slow them down:

It won't. It'll make you unstoppable.

Because when you create life, every other creation seems possible.

Ask yourself: "Why not me?"

And to my son, Roman: Welcome to the world, little one.
Watch what your mama builds for you. ๐Ÿ˜‰


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She started working at 14 to put herself through college. Now she runs a $100 billion company with 770,000 employees.

Meet Julie Sweet, CEO of Accenture.

Julie grew up in a small town in California. Her dad was a car painter. Her mom was an esthetician.

At 14, she walked into her local theatre and asked for a job. They hired her as their youngest employee.

She saved every dollar for school.

By 1985, she enrolled at Claremont McKenna College and earned a degree in Chinese.

By 1990, she earned her JD from Columbia Law School.

She joined Cravath, Swaine & Moore and made partner. Spent 17 years advising on mergers and acquisitions.

Then one day, she picked up the phone.

A recruiter was hiring for General Counsel at Accenture.

With small kids at home and a stable career, Julie had her whole life mapped out.

But something was missing.

So she took the meeting. Left behind 17 years at the firm. Became General Counsel of Accenture.

By 2015, she was CEO of Accenture North America.

By 2019, she became CEO of the entire company, one of only a handful of women to ever lead a Fortune 500.

Under her leadership, Accenture has grown to over $100 billion in value with 770,000 employees across 49 countries.

But here's what makes Julie different in 2026:

She's betting everything on AI.

Accenture has invested $3 billion to double its AI talent and transform how the company works.

In Q1 2026, advanced AI bookings hit $2.2 billion. Up 76% year over year. AI revenue surged 120%.

She's trained over 550,000 employees in generative AI.

And in February 2026, she made headlines with a bold new policy: if you want a promotion at Accenture, you must use AI.

"Today, AI at Accenture is how we do work," she said. "If you want to get promoted, you've got to do the things that we do."

When asked what she looks for in new hires, Julie's answer is simple:

"A curious mind. And the courage to say what needs to be said."

What makes Julie remarkable is that she didn't come from tech. She came from a small town, a theatre job at 14, and a law career she walked away from.

She bet on herself. And now she's betting on AI.

Yet this post might be the first time you've ever heard of her.

That's why I share stories of trailblazing women like Julie every Wednesday for #WomenFounderWednesday.

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WOW, plant-based eggs are officially cheaper than traditional eggs. ๐Ÿฅš๐Ÿ˜ณ




Why?

Because weโ€™re in the worst global avian flu pandemic in history. More than 150M birds have been culled around the world, including more than 5% of chickens in the US.

Some US states are seeing egg prices rise as high as 150%!

And scientists all agree: there is no end in sight for this pandemic.

With more than a 90% fatality rate, this avian flu is one of the most deadly to date.

And, unsurprisingly, I watched a number of shoppers pick up eggs yesterday, read the price, then put them down.

Some walked away, others bought a smaller package, and some picked up plant-based eggs instead. Price parity (or being even cheaper) is a huge step for this industry.

The magazine covers may try to bash you, to diminish you, and to beat you while youโ€™re down, but guess what?

There are factors much bigger than any headline at play here. Planetary, biological, and indisputable challenges that WILL change the way we eat.

Time to rise, my friends. ๐ŸŒฑ๐Ÿš€

Have you tried plant-based eggs? ๐Ÿณ



#futureoffood #plantbased #eggs
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I hid my pregnancy for 6 months.

Not because I wasn't excited.
Because I was terrified.

Terrified of being passed over for deals.
Terrified of being seen as "less committed."
Terrified of becoming invisible in rooms where I fought to be seen.

The venture capital world doesn't exactly roll out the red carpet for pregnant women.

I've watched it happen:
- Partners suddenly "too busy" for calls
- Speaking opportunities quietly disappearing
- The subtle shift from "visionary" to "distracted"

So I hid behind blazers and Zoom calls from the chest up.

Six months of:
"Sorry, I can't make that dinner"
"Let's keep it virtual"
"I'll catch you at the next event"

The exhaustion of hiding was worse than morning sickness.

Then Roman arrived 3 weeks ago.

And something shifted.

I realized I wasn't just hiding a pregnancy.
I was hiding a superpower.

Being a mom AND a venture capitalist isn't a limitation.
It's my edge.

I see opportunities others miss:
- The 73% of household purchasing decisions made by moms
- The $2.4 trillion mom economy everyone ignores
- The founder who gets it because she's lived it

My platform isn't despite being a millennial mom.
It's because of it.

I'm building something different now:
A platform that showcases all of it.
The venture capitalist. The creator. The entrepreneur. The mom.

Not separate identities. One powerful force.

โ”โ”โ”โ”โ”

**To brands in tech, AI, or parenting & femtech**

I'm partnering with companies who understand the power of authentic voices reaching real audiences.

My audience isn't just followers. They're:
โ€ข Founders building the next unicorns
โ€ข C-suite executives making 7-figure tech decisions
โ€ข VCs and investors controlling billions in capital
โ€ข Professional women navigating career + family

180K+ professionals who trust my insights on business, tech, the future of work, and modern women's leadership.

If your product serves ambitious professionals balancing big careers and real life, let's talk.

Reach out: pav@vwsmedia.com

โ”โ”โ”โ”โ”

I'm done hiding.
I'm done choosing.
I'm done pretending motherhood makes me less.

Watch what happens when we stop apologizing for who we are.

Why not me? Why not all of it?

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This 65 year old billionaire CEO immigrated to the US alone at 12 years old, then built the largest woman-owned business in America.

Meet Thai Lee, CEO of SHI International Corp.

Read the full story now: https://lnkd.in/gnXNuxvv

Born in Bangkok to Korean parents, Thai spent her early years in South Korea.

Her father was a successful entrepreneur and knew the importance of education, so when Thai was just 12, he sent her to the United States for school โ€” alone.

She lived with a host family in Amherst, Massachusetts, and enrolled in a local high school.

She didnโ€™t speak the language and had no friends.

What's worse: she was the only Asian student in her class.

But Thai quickly adapted, eventually graduating from Amherst College with a double major in biology and economics.

After a short stint in finance, she and her then-husband bought a small, struggling software reseller for under $1 million in 1989.

She had no experience running a company.

But she had a bold idea: that enterprise IT procurement could be transformed with better customer service and long-term relationships.

The timing was perfect, right before the Dot Com Boom.

While the tech world chased growth at all costs, Thai focused on profitability, culture, and execution.

Over the next three decades, she transformed the company into one of the largest IT solutions providers in the world.

By 2023, SHI International crossed $14 billion in revenue โ€” without ever taking outside investment.

Today, SHI is the largest woman-owned business in the US and serves 20,000+ clients including AT&T, Boeing, and Johnson & Johnson.

Yet Thai remains almost completely out of the spotlight.

Despite being a self-made billionaire, she rarely gives interviews, avoids headlines, and doesnโ€™t court celebrity.

But you'll be surprised to hear the secret to her success:

Thai headed SHI's human resources department for the first 10 years and personally hired the first 1,000 employees.

She credits those early hires with the company's success.

Her proudest moment?

Her very first hire is still at the company today.

And yet this post might be the first time youโ€™ve heard about Thai.

Thatโ€™s why I share stories of women like Thai for #WomenFounderWednesday.

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This 64 year old CEO was told to retire because she was too "old", then became the first woman to found a bank in the UK at 54 years old.

Meet Anne Boden, Founder and former CEO of Starling Bank.

Read the full story now: https://lnkd.in/gzDrBZfY

Born in Swansea, Wales, Anne grew up the daughter of a steelworker and a homemaker in a working-class family.

She studied computer science and chemistry at Swansea University and later earned an MBA.

Anne spent decades working in traditional banking, climbing the ranks at Lloyds Banking Group, UBS, and AIB.

But by her early 50s, she was frustrated.

Big banks were slow to innovate, resistant to change, and still dismissive of digital banking.

When Anne announced she wanted to build her own bank, many told her she was too old. She should think about retirement, not startups.

She refused to listen.

In 2014, Anne founded Starling Bank, a mobile-first digital bank built to challenge the status quo.

The early years were brutal.
Investors doubted her. Rivals dismissed her.

At one point, she even lost her entire founding team.

But Anne pushed forward.

She raised capital, rebuilt her company, and launched Starling as one of the first app-based challenger banks in the UK.

By 2023, Starling Bank was valued at over $3 billion with millions of customers across the country.

Anne Boden became the first woman in history to found a UK bank.

Her secret? Age brings confidence and wisdom.

โ€œPeople did think I was crazyโ€ฆ I was 54 and confident enough not to care if somebody said I was stupid.โ€

Anne proved that itโ€™s never too late to reinvent yourself โ€” and that disruption has no age limit.

Yet I bet this is the first time youโ€™ve heard of her.

Thatโ€™s why I share stories of trailblazing women like Anne every week for #WomenFounderWednesday.

๐Ÿ”” Follow Jenny Stojkovic for more stories like this.
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This 43 year old founder was hospitalized more than a dozen times as a child, then became one of the first women to IPO a $1 billion dollar company.

Meet Jessica Alba, Founder of The Honest Company.

Read the full story now: https://lnkd.in/gNQvJJ_j

Born in Pomona, California, Jessica grew up in a modest military family.

Her father served in the Air Force, and the family moved frequently from base to base.

But it was her health, not just the moves, that defined her childhood.

Jessica suffered from chronic asthma, severe allergies, and multiple bouts of pneumonia.

By the time she was 12, she had already been hospitalized more than a dozen times.

These early struggles left her painfully aware of the toxins and chemicals in everyday products โ€” and sparked a lifelong passion for safer, healthier alternatives.

Jessica found fame as an actress in film and television.

But behind the scenes, she was determined to use her platform to solve a problem she had lived with since childhood.

When she became a mother, the stakes felt even higher.

In 2011, she launched The Honest Company, a consumer brand dedicated to safe, transparent, and non-toxic products.

Skeptics dismissed it as a celebrity vanity project. Investors doubted she could build a real business.

But Jessica proved them wrong.

By 2015, The Honest Company was valued at $1.7 billion.

In 2021, it went public at a $1.4 billion valuation, making her one of the few women to create a billion-dollar consumer brand from scratch.

Today, The Honest Company generates more than $300 million in annual revenue, selling everything from baby products to beauty and personal care.

When asked what inspired her to build a company or a career in Hollywood, her answer was clear:

"I think because no one had any expectations that I would be successful, how could you fail?"

Jessica Alba transformed her childhood pain into one of the most recognizable clean consumer brands in the world.

Yet I bet this is the first time youโ€™ve heard her full story.

Thatโ€™s why I share stories of trailblazing women like Jessica every week for #WomenFounderWednesday.

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This 43 year old founder co-founded a bank while pregnant, then built it into a $41 billion company.

Meet Cristina Junqueira, Co-Founder of Nubank.

Born and raised in Sรฃo Paulo, Brazil, Cristina grew up the daughter of a civil engineer and a teacher.

Her parents emphasized education and persistence.

Cristina studied production engineering at the USP - Universidade de Sรฃo Paulo before earning her MBA at Northwestern University - Kellogg School of Management.

She began her career in banking, working at Instituto Unibanco and later Itaรบ Unibanco, one of Brazilโ€™s largest financial institutions.

But she quickly saw the problem.

Banks in Brazil were slow, expensive, and offered terrible service to millions of everyday people.

In 2013, Cristina teamed up with David Vรฉlez and Edward Wible to found Nubank.

The vision was simple: give Brazilians fairer, simpler, digital-first banking.

At the time, Cristina was pregnant with her first daughter.

Many told her it was impossible to launch a startup and raise a family at the same time.

She refused to listen.

The early days were brutal.

Investors doubted them. Competitors dismissed them.

But Cristina pushed forward.

By 2017, Nubank had 3 million customers.

By 2019, 15 million.

In 2021, Nubank went public at a $41 billion valuation, making it the largest digital bank in the world and one of the most valuable fintech companies ever founded.

Today, Nubank serves more than 100 million customers across Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia.

Reflecting on her journey, Cristina's inspiration is clear:

โ€œI want my daughters to grow up in a world where they never feel there are limits to what they can achieve.โ€

Cristina built one of the most successful banks in history โ€” while breaking barriers for women in tech and finance.

Yet I bet this is the first time youโ€™ve heard of her.

Thatโ€™s why I share stories of trailblazing women like Cristina every week for #WomenFounderWednesday.

_____

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Serena Williams won 23 Grand Slam singles titles.

Now she's chasing a different kind of title: funding the next trillion-dollar company.

Here's why that matters.

She just rebranded her venture firm, Serena Ventures, to Starfire Ventures. Same team, still "SV" internally, but with a bigger mission.

"I wanted it to be bigger than me," she said. She wanted the firm built to outlast her name.

The numbers back it up. Williams and her team have invested in over 100 companies, 16 of which have reached unicorn status. Nearly 70% of the portfolio is led by women or people of color.

But here's most interesting:

Serena calls this a competitive advantage, not a charitable initiative.

Most VCs keep sourcing deals from the same networks, over and over. She's betting the next trillion-dollar company won't come from there.

The firm writes checks of $5M to $10M into tech and AI-enabled companies.

It's the same rigor as any fund. And she has said plainly: they only back companies they believe will return the fund.

This is the same instinct that won 23 Grand Slams: compete on the fundamentals, then go find who else deserves the shot.

Despite these accomplishments, most people don't realize Serena has retired from tennis and is now a venture capitalist.

That's why I write about women founders like her every Wednesday for #WomenFounderWednesday.

If I were placing a bet on an overlooked founder right now, I'd look outside the usual circles.

But I'm curious about you.

Let's do a thought experiment:

If you were building a cap table today, which kind of founder would you go looking for first?

_____

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I've worn this outfit on stage 6 times.

And I'll keep wearing it.

Here's why:

1 in 3 women feel they can't wear the same outfit publicly more than once or twice.

The result? 55% of a woman's closet goes completely unworn.

Do the math: At $2,500 a year on clothing, that's $1,375 sitting in your closet collecting dust.

But here's what really gets me.

This isn't an accident. It's by design.

The fashion industry spends billions convincing women that outfit repeating is shameful. That you need something "new" for every event. That being seen twice in the same dress is somehow embarrassing.

Meanwhile, men wear the same blue suit to every conference and nobody blinks.

And where does all that "worn once" clothing end up?

Landfills. Mountains of it.

I'm done playing that game.

Here's me in 2022 and 2025 rocking the same yellow Anne Klein Official jumpsuit on stage.

Same outfit. Same confidence. Zero guilt.

The most powerful women I know have signature looks. They repeat outfits unapologetically. They invest in quality over quantity.

So I'm asking you:

What's your most re-worn piece? Drop it below. ๐Ÿ‘‡

Let's normalize outfit repeating.

Read my full take: https://lnkd.in/gd-AuQkj


_____

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She was the CTO who built ChatGPT. Then she walked away from OpenAI.

18 months later, she just signed a $50 billion deal with Nvidia.

Meet Mira Murati, Founder and CEO of Thinking Machines Lab.

Mira was born in Albania in 1988. Her family fled to Canada when she was a child to escape political instability.

She studied mechanical engineering at Dartmouth. Interned at Goldman Sachs. Then pivoted to tech.

She joined Tesla as a senior product manager. Worked on the Model X.

Then she moved to Leap Motion, a startup building hand-tracking technology for VR.

In 2018, she joined OpenAI.

By 2022, she was Chief Technology Officer, overseeing the development of ChatGPT, GPT-4, and DALL-E.

When Sam Altman was briefly fired in November 2023, Mira became interim CEO. She helped negotiate his return.

Then in September 2024, she walked away.

No announcement. No drama. Just a quiet exit.

In February 2025, she launched Thinking Machines Lab with a team of former OpenAI colleagues.

The pitch? Build AI that people can actually shape and customize.

By July 2025, she raised $2 billion in a seed round led by Andreessen Horowitz. Valuation: $12 billion.

Then in March 2026, she signed a historic deal with Nvidia.

One gigawatt of next-generation Vera Rubin chips. A multi-year partnership. A significant Nvidia investment.

Industry estimates put the compute deal alone at $50 billion in infrastructure value.

When asked about her vision, Mira said:

"This partnership accelerates our capacity to build AI that people can shape and make their own, as it shapes human potential in turn."

It hasn't been smooth. In January 2026, co-founders Barret Zoph and Luke Metz left to return to OpenAI. Leadership shifted. The pressure mounted.

But Mira kept building.

What makes Mira remarkable is that she didn't stay comfortable. She was CTO of the most important AI company in the world. She could have stayed forever.

Instead, she bet on herself.

Yet this post might be the first time you've ever heard of her.

That's why I share stories of trailblazing women like Mira every Wednesday for #WomenFounderWednesday.

๐Ÿ”” Follow Jenny Stojkovic for more.
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It took 15 years for me to go out in public without makeup...

Because of comments like this.

And I'm not alone.

Women professionals are expected to create a certain appearance daily basis.

So much so, that the average woman loses 20 minutes per day on her makeup.

Hair? Let's not get started.

Blowdrying hair can take anywhere from 15 minutes to over 60 minutes, depending on the length of hair.

And, no, short hair isn't much easier!

As a result, a recent study showed that male professionals, on average, have more than 5 hours of leisure time a week more than female professionals.

Case in point:

I read a recent profile on new Whole Foods Market CEO, Jason Buechel.

Jason sounds like a really great guy โ€” wakes up at 6 every morning and runs 5 miles, then is in the office by 8am doing meetings.

Imagine getting that all done in only 2 hours!

Do you think a female CEO would be able to pull that off?

Is it time to get rid of the 'appearance tax' for women?


Follow Jenny Stojkovic for more content like this. ๐Ÿ™Œ๐Ÿผ
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My dad has never seen my face.

He's been blind since before I was born.

Growing up, people felt bad for me.

But my dad taught me something special.

While other kids' parents drove them to practice, we walked.
While others saw limitations, he taught me navigation.
While they saw disability, he showed me determination.

A blind man had more vision than anyone I knew.

Today, I'm a venture capitalist investing in the future.

I back founders everyone else overlooks.

Because my dad taught me: the best opportunities are the ones others can't see.

Sometimes the biggest gift is learning to succeed without advantages.

"Why not me?" wasn't just a question in our house.

It was a way of life.
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She didn't found SpaceX.

But she's just about to make $1.7 billion from it.

Meet Gwynne Shotwell, President and COO of SpaceX.

Gwynne grew up in Illinois.

She studied mechanical engineering and applied mathematics at Northwestern, at a time when women made up a tiny fraction of the field.

She didn't grow up dreaming of rockets.

The turning point came when she attended a panel and saw a woman engineer speak about her career.

For the first time, she could picture herself in the room.

She spent her early career at Aerospace Corporation and then Microcosm, working in space systems and business development.

Then in 2002, she took a bet almost no one understood.

She joined a four-month-old startup called SpaceX.

The company had no successful launches.

Its first three rockets failed.

The fourth launch was do-or-die. If it failed, SpaceX was finished.

It worked. That's when everything changed.

Gwynne became President in 2008 and has served as COO ever since.

While Elon was the face, Gwynne built the engine room.

She negotiated the contracts. She won over NASA. She turned a scrappy startup into the company that now handles more than half of all global orbital launches.

The operational force that kept the company running for over two decades.

Here's what most people don't know:

SpaceX just filed its S-1 for what is projected to be the biggest IPO in history.
Target valuation: up to $1.75 trillion.

And according to the filing, Gwynne holds 5,460,400 Class A shares and 7,113,550 Class B shares.

At the reported IPO price, CNBC values her combined stake at $1.7 billion.

She is set to become one of the single largest individual winners of the entire offering.

Not a founder. Not the face. The operator who bet on a company nobody believed in.

On the early Falcon 1 failures, she once said:

"That failure was pretty dramatic for us. We grew up overnight."

The lesson? The operator is just as important as the founder.

She made the rocket work.

And now she's about to make history with it.

Yet I bet this is the first time you've really heard her story.

That's why I share stories of trailblazing women every Wednesday for #WomenFounderWednesday.

๐Ÿ”” Follow Jenny Stojkovic for more stories like this.
โ™ป๏ธ Share this story.
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This 43 year old CEO built a company with her husband, then took his job as CEO and became one of the first women to IPO $1 billion dollar company.

Meet Julia Hartz, Co-founder and CEO of Eventbrite.

Read the full story: https://lnkd.in/gRb-gBmz

Born and raised in Santa Cruz, California, Julia showed leadership and creativity from a young age.

You know that little girl who loves planning events for the family and community?

That was Julia.

By her teenage years, Julia enrolled in Pepperdine University.

She spent her early career in television development at MTV and FX.

But Julia was always drawn to something bigger โ€” building communities.

In 2006, she co-founded Eventbrite alongside her husband Kevin and co-founder Renaud Visage.

At first, the idea was simple: create a platform where anyone could organize and attend events.

But under Juliaโ€™s leadership, it grew into a global phenomenon.

It wasn't easy.

Julia and Kevin wanted to create a family, not just a startup.

As founders, the couple worked 24 hours a day to bring two young daughters into the world, while building the company.

They also took another unique step during this time.

In a rare turn of events that nearly never happens in the business world, Kevin stepped down from his role as CEO and Julia took over.

And she ran with it.

By 2018, Eventbrite went public with a valuation exceeding $1 billion, hosting millions of events annually.

Julia made history as one of the first women in the world to IPO a billion dollar company.

Juliaโ€™s path to success wasnโ€™t without challenges.

When the COVID-19 pandemic brought all live events to a halt, Eventbrite had to pivot quickly to adapt.

Today, as CEO of Eventbrite, Julia remains a champion for creators, empowering entrepreneurs and small businesses to thrive.

The company employs over 700 employees across 12 countries.

And yes, Julia and Kevin remain partners... in life and business.

While raising the kids, he continues to serve as Chairman of Eventbrite.

Julia's journey from an event-loving child to the CEO of a billion-dollar company is a testament to vision and perseverance.

As she explained:

โ€œThat resilience and resourcefulness has served us in every chapter from IPO to pandemic to recovery.โ€

Yet I bet this is the first time youโ€™ve heard of her.

Thatโ€™s why I share stories of trailblazing women like Julia every week for #WomenFounderWednesday.

๐Ÿ”” Follow Jenny Stojkovic for more stories like this.
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This 54 year old rapper was told that โ€œwomen couldnโ€™t rap,โ€ then launched her own record label and production studio to prove the critics wrong.

Meet Queen Latifah.

Born Dana Elaine Owens in Newark, New Jersey, she adopted the name โ€œQueen Latifahโ€ to project strength and pride.

In 1989, at just 19, she burst onto the hip-hop scene with her debut album All Hail the Queen.

At a time when rap was dominated by men, she made her mark with hits like โ€œLadies Firstโ€ and โ€œU.N.I.T.Y.โ€ โ€” songs that spoke out against sexism and violence against women.

Still, the industry wasnโ€™t convinced.

She faced smaller marketing budgets, less support, and constant doubt.

Many told her that women simply couldnโ€™t rap.

Then, tragedy struck. In 1992, her brother Lance died in a motorcycle accident.

Years later, she survived a carjacking that left her friend critically injured.

Latifah struggled with depression and substance abuse, but she refused to give up.

She diversified her talents.

In 1993, she starred in Living Single, a sitcom that became a cultural touchstone.

By 2002, she was on the Oscar stage, earning an Academy Award nomination for Chicago.

But her biggest pivot was behind the scenes.

In 1995, she co-founded Flavor Unit Entertainment, a production company that gave her creative control and produced films and shows on her own terms.

By 2014, Flavor Unit signed an exclusive deal with Netflix, producing dozens of award-winning titles.

Latifah also hosted her own syndicated program, The Queen Latifah Show, and expanded into business ventures beyond entertainment.

In 2019, through her real estate firm BlueSugar Corporation, she invested $14 million into an affordable housing project in Newark, giving back to her hometown.

In 2022, she partnered with Lenovoโ€™s Evolve Small initiative, providing capital, technology, and mentorship to entrepreneurs across North America.

Today, Queen Latifah is more than an entertainer.

Sheโ€™s a mogul, a producer, an investor, and a legend.

She didnโ€™t just make history. She made a platform for others.

Did you know Queen Latifahโ€™s full story?
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When I was 17, I wrote a letter to a billionaire.

I asked him to pay for my college tuition.

Growing up in a town of 2,000 people, college wasn't in the cards for me.

My dad was blind and my mum was a cashier.

Neither of them graduated high school and we had no money for college.

But I had good grades and I was determined to get out of that town.

I figured: "Why not me?"

So, I wrote a letter to a billionaire for a scholarship.

And guess what?

He gave it to me.

And that's the completely and totally unlikely story of how:

A broke kid raised by a blind dad with no Ivy League degree ended up becoming one of less than 5% of female venture capitalists in the world.

And it's all because I said one thing to myself:

"Why not me?"

๐Ÿ”” Subscribe now to learn how I did it: play.jennystojkovic.com
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This 33 year old former Disney child star went from singing on Good Luck Charlie to becoming CEO of a space startup.

Meet Bridgit Mendler, Co-Founder and CEO of Northwood.

Born in Washington, D.C., Bridgit grew up passionate about both creativity and learning.

As a teenager, she starred in Disney Channel hits like Good Luck Charlie and Lemonade Mouth, while also launching a music career with Hollywood Records.

But she wanted more than Hollywood.

Saving up her hard-earned money in Hollywood, Bridgit prepared to embark on an expensive but lucrative education journey.

Soon, Bridgit pursued higher education.

She began by studying at the University of Southern California, then Harvard Law School, and later the MIT Media Lab, where she immersed herself in technology and innovation.

In 2020, she co-founded Northwood Space, a startup focused on satellite ground stations โ€” the โ€œdata highwaysโ€ needed to power the future space economy.

In 2024, the company raised $6.3 million in seed funding, backed by Founders Fund and other leading investors.

By 2025, Northwood Space scaled into a $1 billion company, establishing itself at the center of the rapidly growing space-tech industry.

Reflecting on her journey, Bridgit has said:

โ€œThe thread that Iโ€™ve found across everything Iโ€™ve done is this desire to build community โ€” whether through storytelling or through technology.โ€

Bridgit Mendler proved that reinvention and grit can transform a Disney star into a space-tech CEO.

Yet I bet this is the first time youโ€™ve heard of her.

Thatโ€™s why I share stories of trailblazing women like Bridgit every week for #WomenFounderWednesday.

_____

โ™ป๏ธ Share this post with someone who is changing the world.
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112,000 jobs gone in 90 days. But that's not the worst part.

The worst part is what nobody tells you when it happens to you.

Amazon: 14,000 cut.
UPS: 48,000 gone.
Nestlรฉ, Intel Corporation, Accenture: Another 50,000.

These aren't statistics. They're people with mortgages, kids, dreams.

I know because I watch my husband do this for a living.

As Chief People Officer at The Athletic, Pav had to conduct mass layoffs during the pandemic. Over Zoom. While the world was falling apart.

I'll never forget that night.

He came home and just sat there. Silent.

"I had to let go of people I recruited personally," he finally said. "People who trusted me."

That experience changed everything.

So this week, I cornered Pav for The Wednesday Play.
Made him spill every secret HR doesn't want you to know.

**The brutal truth about getting fired:**

Most people lose thousands in severance because they don't know the rules.

Like forwarding work emails to your personal account?
That "harmless" move can cost you everything.

Venting on LinkedIn about your ex-employer?
Kiss your severance package goodbye.

We've made mass firings as casual as ordering coffee.

"Just business," they say.
"Market conditions," they explain.
"Strategic realignment," they justify.

As if people's lives are just line items on a spreadsheet.

But the reality is:

Layoffs are normalized.
And they're not going anywhere.

Because when 112,000 people can vanish from payrolls in three months, we're all just one Zoom call away from disaster.

Read the full layoff survival playbook in this week's newsletter, The Wednesday Play.

Comment PLAY to get a link to the newsletter.

Have you survived a layoff? Drop your best advice below.

Someone reading this needs it today.


๐Ÿ”” Follow Jenny Stojkovic for more content like this.
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I posted that my son is worth $5.7 million. The internet went wild.

Then MarketWatch called.

The story is simple: my son works for me.

Roman has been earning income since the day he was born. He models for my brand content. Every dollar goes into a Custodial Roth IRA.

$7,000/year ร— 18 years ร— 8% avg return = $5.7M by age 59ยฝ. Tax-free.

MarketWatch just verified the whole strategy with CPAs and published the breakdown.

The verdict: legal. Legitimate. And something the wealthy have quietly done for generations.

And the 2026 rate is now $7,500 a year.

DJ Khaled listed his infant son as an executive producer.

Drake used his kid's artwork as an album cover.

The Kardashian kids have been on brand payrolls for years.

You don't need their fame.

You need a business. A kid. And the right structure.

Thanks Venessa Wong for this great piece. Hope to help millions more hire their kids!

Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/gG889GxS

๐Ÿ”” Follow Jenny Stojkovic for more.
She spent her nights guessing how judges would rule, one motion at a time.

Now she runs an AI platform that has raised over $35 million to make the largest court system in the world searchable.

Meet Nicole Clark, Co-Founder and CEO of Trellis.

Nicole started college at 16. She later became a business litigation attorney, licensed in three states, working at firms from boutiques to AM100.

Then one night, she was writing a motion for summary judgment. She didn't know her judge.

A colleague mentioned he'd appeared before that same judge before.

They checked his files. Buried inside was a ruling, by her judge, on her exact issue.

She finished the motion in half the time. It was granted.

She realized no one was collecting this kind of data, anywhere in the state trial court system.

With a stable legal career mapped out, she could have stayed forever.

Instead, Nicole bet on herself.

She started gathering her own data on judges, working nights with software developers to build a database of tentative rulings.

In 2017, she co-founded Trellis with technologist Alon Shwartz.

By 2021, Trellis had raised $14.1 million, backed by former Facebook general counsel Colin Stretch. By then, the platform covered 362 trial courts, serving over 1,500 law firms.

Two years later, Trellis closed a $15 million Series B.

Now she's building Trellis AI, generative tools that turn decades of buried court filings into intelligence litigators can search like Google.

When asked about the state court system, Nicole said:

"The opacity of the state court system is unacceptable."

What makes Nicole remarkable is that she didn't come from tech. She came from the courtroom. She billed hours for years before she ever wrote a line of code.

Yet this post might be the first time you've ever heard of her.

That's why I'm sharing stories of founders like Nicole every week for #WomenFounderWednesday

๐Ÿ”” Follow Jenny Stojkovic for more women founders in AI and tech.
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I wasn't qualified.

I showed up anyway.

When I applied to speak at the world's biggest tech conference, I had zero credentials.

No public speaking experience. No TED Talk. No portfolio.

What I had: A story worth telling.

So I hit submit. Took the stage.

My hands shook. I fumbled words. My voice cracked.

But people listened. They nodded. They clapped.

Afterward, someone pulled me aside:
"That was the best talk of the entire conference."

That's when it clicked.

Confidence doesn't come from credentials.
It comes from courage.

Most of us are making it up as we go.

The only difference? Some of us show up anyway.

Ask yourself: "Why not me?"

_______


๐Ÿ’ฌ Want a keynote speaker who brings raw truth like this to your stage?

Hi, I'm Jenny, venture capitalist & keynote speaker.

I teach founders, companies, & employees how to accelerate their growth and thrive in the changing world and AI-powered future.

Let's talk: nicole@vwsmedia.com
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She went to prison at 63. Now she's co-founding an AI company at 84.

Meet Martha Stewart, co-founder of Hint and founder of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.

Martha grew up in Nutley, New Jersey, the second of six children in a Polish-American household. Her mother taught her to cook and sew. Her father taught her to garden.

After graduating from Barnard College, she worked briefly as a stockbroker on Wall Street before pivoting to catering out of her Connecticut farmhouse basement.

That pivot changed everything.

She built a catering business into a media empire. Martha Stewart Living the magazine. Martha Stewart Living the TV show. Books, home goods, a lifestyle brand that became synonymous with a certain kind of domestic perfection.

In 1999, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia went public. She became one of the few women to take a company to IPO in that era.

Then came the fall.

In 2004, she was convicted of obstruction of justice and served five months in federal prison. Most people thought it was over.

It wasn't.

She came back. Relaunched her brand. Rebuilt her reputation. Became a cultural icon a second time. At 81, she appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, becoming the oldest person to do so.

And now, at 84, she's co-founding an AI startup.

Hint is an always-on, AI-native home management platform that raised $10 million in seed funding and is set to launch this summer.

It all started at Easter brunch on her farm, where Stewart met her neighbor Kyle Rush, an AI engineer, and realized he was describing what she says she'd imagined for years: software that notices the leaky ceiling, expiring insurance policy, or too-high utility bills before the homeowner does.

Americans spend more than $500 billion annually on residential renovations and repairs. Most apps help homeowners find contractors after problems emerge. Hint wants to get there before your roof leaks.

Martha put it simply:

"I have always been passionate about showing people how to care for and beautify their homes. Hint brings that philosophy to more people, making the knowledge and expertise behind thoughtful homeownership accessible to everyone."

What makes Martha remarkable is that she never confused a setback with an ending.

Prison. Public humiliation. Corporate collapse. She treated all of it as a plot point, not a conclusion.

At an age when most people are winding down, she's starting up.

Yet this post might be the first time you've thought of Martha Stewart as a tech founder.

๐Ÿ”” Follow Jenny Stojkovic for more.
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OpenAI just raised $122 billion at an $852 billion valuation.

Ask anyone to name the women behind it. Most people go quiet after one.

Meet OpenAI's Female Mafia.

Jessica Livingston co-founded Y Combinator and was one of OpenAI's earliest backers. In December 2015, she pledged $1 billion alongside Altman, Musk, Thiel, and Hoffman. OpenAI wouldn't exist without her early bet.

Mira Murati became CTO in 2022 and led the teams that built ChatGPT, DALL-E, and Sora. During the board crisis, she served as CEO for three days. She left in 2024, founded Thinking Machines Lab, and raised $2 billion at a $12 billion valuation, the largest seed round in history.

Daniela Amodei joined OpenAI in 2018, left in 2020, and co-founded Anthropic. She and the other co-founders have pledged 80% of their combined wealth to charity, tens of billions eventually.

Fidji Simo joined as OpenAI's No. 2 in May 2025. She took Instacart public, spent a decade at Meta, and co-founded Metrodora, a neuroimmune clinic, while managing POTS since 2019. She stepped back in July 2026 and her role was split three ways to replace her.

Lilian Weng joined in 2018 and built OpenAI's safety systems from nothing. She left for Thinking Machines Lab with Murati, stepped down citing declining health, then days later returned to OpenAI to lead research on self-improving AI.

Sarah Friar became CFO in 2024 and is the financial architect behind OpenAI's transition from nonprofit to for-profit. Before OpenAI, she was CEO of Nextdoor, CFO of Square, and co-founder of Ladies Who Launch, backing women entrepreneurs.

Denise Holland Dresser became CRO in December 2025 after two years as CEO of Slack and fourteen years at Salesforce. She sits on the Ad Council's board and spent years as Salesforce's sponsor for ALSForce, funding ALS research.

Dr. Sue Desmond-Hellmann joined the board in March 2024 after six years running the Gates Foundation, the largest private foundation on earth. She was the first woman ever named Chancellor of UCSF.

Nicole Seligman joined the board the same month. She served as General Counsel of Sony, represented Bill Clinton during impeachment, and chairs The Doe Fundnd, housing the formerly homeless across New York.

Between them: one founding donor, two board seats, a CFO, a CRO, and three alumnae who built rivals.

Yet you hardly hear their names in the headlines about the lifechanging IPO windfall.

Where do you hope these women will invest or donate their money?

_____

โ™ป๏ธ Share this post with someone who is changing the world.
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This takes 626 days out of a career.

โ†’139 days out of a decade.
โ†’14 days out of a year.
โ†’1 day out of a month.
โ†’6.4 hrs out of a week.
โ†’55 minutes out of a day.

What is it?

The average length of time that a woman spends on hair and makeup each day.

"The appearance tax."

Think what you could do with almost 2 extra YEARS in your career.

You could get an MBA.
Start a new company.
Have one or even two pregnancies.

Wild.

These two photos were taken on the same day, by the way.

I was just as good at my job in both photos.

Lipstick is great, but it doesn't make me smarter.

Time to end the appearance tax! ๐Ÿ’…๐Ÿป

Do you agree?

๐Ÿ”” Follow Jenny Stojkovic for more content like this.
โ™ป๏ธ Share this post to someone who needs to see it.
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If your parents have a LinkedIn account, we are not from the same place.

My mom was a cashier.
Pavโ€™s dad drove long haul trucks.

We didnโ€™t go to fundraisers and galas growing up.
But when somebody needed it, our parents chipped in to pay their rent.

We couldnโ€™t afford private school or daycare.
But family all took turns helping raise us each day.

A sense of community was always a part of our lives.

Nobody ever looked down upon anyone else.
We all took care of each other.

We donโ€™t shy away from being blue collar kids โ€” we wear it with pride.

We know what it takes to build something from nothing.

Thatโ€™s the drive my husband used to become a startup executive and exit multiple companies.

Itโ€™s the same drive I used to become a venture capitalist and raise a $23 million dollar fund.

We simply asked ourselves: โ€œWhy not me?โ€

What lesson do you carry from your childhood today in your career?
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She was the first gen in her family to graduate high school. Now she's a venture capitalist and the #1 VC on LinkedIn.

Meet Jenny Stojkovic, GP of Joyful VC.

Jenny grew up in a small town in Ontario, Canada.

Her parents didn't go to college. They didn't even graduate high school.

But Jenny saw something different for herself.

At 17, she did something most kids would never dream of: she cold-pitched a billionaire for a scholarship.

He said yes.

That was that.

She got herself to university and into the rooms nobody told her she belonged in.

By her twenties, she was in Silicon Valley, lobbying on behalf of Google, Meta, Microsoft, Airbnb, and Y Combinator under Ron Conway.

Then one day, she walked away.

With a stable career in tech policy and every reason to stay, Jenny had her whole life mapped out.

But something was missing.

So she bet on herself.

She built a global media company and wrote a best-selling book.

Then, by her early thirties, she was the GP of Joyful VC, a $23M VC fund, making her one of the industry's youngest women GPs.

Then she did it again.

She grew her influence by launching the billion dollar energy newsletter. 50,000 subscribers and growing.

40 million annual impressions on LinkedIn. Rolling Stone contributor. LinkedIn Top Voice.

But here's what makes Jenny different in 2026:

She's betting everything on women leading the future.

As one of the fastest-growing women creators in tech and VC, she's building a media empire.

She launched the global Women's AI Challenge, a free 30-day program to teach women how to use AI. With 10,000+ women participating and $5,000 in prizes, it is co-hosted with Shira Lazar, Aria K., Sabrina Ramonov ๐Ÿ„, and Aditi Mishra.

The challenge attracted attention from major tech brands like Airtable, Manus AI, Anything, Stan, and more.

She's also building The Women Creators, a new media brand and monthly event series.

With a new show coming soon.

And she's doing it all while raising her son Roman, alongside her husband Pav, building generational wealth on her own terms.

When asked what drives her, Jenny's answer is simple: "Why not me?"

What makes Jenny remarkable is that she didn't come from money. She didn't come from tech. She came from a small town in Canada, a cold pitch at 17, and a career she walked away from.

She bet on herself.

And now she's betting on the next generation of women.

Yet this post might be the first time you've ever heard of her.

That's why I share stories of trailblazing women every week.

And today, on my birthday, I'm sharing my own.

Because if there's one thing I've learned: nobody's coming to tell your story for you.

Thank you for reading and for all the support over the years. โค๏ธ

๐Ÿ”” Follow Jenny Stojkovic for more.
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This 46 year old hip hop icon went from being an exotic dancer to retiring in the English countryside as a motivational speaker and author.

Meet Eve.

Born Eve Jihan Jeffers in Philadelphia, she started rapping as a teenager under the name โ€œEve of Destruction.โ€

In her early years, to make money, she briefly turned to stripping โ€” then doubled down on music.

By 1999, she burst onto the scene with her debut album Let There Be Eveโ€ฆ
Ruff Rydersโ€™ First Lady, which entered No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

This was almost unheard of for a female rapper at the time.

Soon, the hits followed: โ€œLove Is Blind,โ€ โ€œWhoโ€™s That Girl,โ€ and โ€œLet Me Blow Ya Mindโ€ with Gwen Stefani.

By 2002, Eve and Gwen won the first-ever Grammy for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration for โ€œLet Me Blow Ya Mind.โ€

In a male-dominated industry, she fought for respect, recognition, and creative control.

She pivoted to acting, appearing in Barbershop, leading her own sitcom Eve, and taking roles in films like The Cookout and Whip It.

She also built businesses.

In 2003, she launched the fashion line Fetish, among the early streetwear brands led by a female rapper.

She moved into television hosting as a co-host of The Talk (four seasons), where she championed womenโ€™s issues and social justice.

In 2021, she executive produced and starred in ABCโ€™s Queens, a series about women reclaiming power in hip-hop.

Beyond entertainment, Eve invests, collaborates on brand ventures, and supports philanthropy focused on women and the arts.

Today, sheโ€™s a published author and speaker, and lives in the UK countryside with her husband Maximillion Cooper (founder of Gumball 3000 Group) and their son.

While many were trying to play the game, Eve rewrote the rules โ€” across music, TV, fashion, and business.

Did you know Eveโ€™s full story?

๐Ÿ”” Follow Jenny Stojkovic for more content on womenโ€™s leadership.
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Can a man make more money negotiating?

That's what my friend decided to find out.

My friend invented an AI agent named Terrence, after getting lowball offers from brand deals over and over.

Her theory? She wasn't being taken seriously as a woman of color.

So, she invented a white man named Terrence.

And guess what happened?

Brand deals started coming in higher. Negotiations started going smoother.

Before she knew it, she'd made over $50,000. Using Terrence. Her totally fake AI agent.

Should all women make a Terrence? Does this surprise you?
My dad will never see my baby's face.

It's a hard concept for people to wrap their head around. Losing sight is the single greatest fear for most people.

But my dad has been blind my entire life.

He doesn't know what I look like.

The only way he can speak to me is through technology, and more recently, AI. He uses tools like Meta AI glasses and Wispr Flow voice dictation.

The impact it has had on our lives has been immeasurable. Yet most people have no idea.

Very few people have the lived experience of being blind or loving someone with a severe disability.

They have no idea how unforgiving and cold the world can be.

Like any technology, AI has significant challenges.

But for me, those challenges are worth tackling head on -- because the only thing that has ever helped people like my dad is innovation like this.

Hopefully, sharing this story helped enlighten you a little bit.

If you've read to the end of this, thank you.

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My dad was blind. My mom was a cashier. Neither graduated high school.

I grew up in a town of 2,000 people in Canada.

No connections or college fund.

Honestly, no one in my family had ever been a professional anything.

I wrote a letter to a billionaire asking him to pay for my tuition.

He said yes.

That was the first time I realized: the only thing standing between me and the life I wanted was believing I deserved to be in the room.

Fast forward to today: I've raised a $23 million VC fund as one of the youngest women GPs in the industry. I've built a platform of over 250,000 followers. I've lobbied for companies like Meta, Google, and Microsoft.

None of it happened because I had the right credentials or knew the right people.

It happened because I kept asking myself one question:

Why not me?

That question changed my life.

And now I'm joining a roster of world-class keynote speakers at Inkwell Management with Stevie Johns to bring the keynote to stages across the globe.

Introducing WHY NOT ME?ยฎ

This is for teams and organizations that want to help their people stop waiting for permission and start building authority now.

In this keynote, I break down how to turn adversity into advantage, develop a professional voice that cuts through the noise, and position yourself as a leader before anyone gives you the title.

To bring WHY NOT ME?ยฎ to your organization, DM me or contact Inkwell directly: stevie@inkwell-mgmt.com

#newjob

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