The Social Impact Heroes of Social Media: Jacquelyn Son & Clara Coelho are empowering people to leave their dreaded 9–5 jobs to start their own business
Just Go For It. I’m sure I can say this for most entrepreneurs, but we always wished that we had started sooner. There were so many insecurities that were holding us back, but we quickly realized that fear is really just fear until you deal with it head on. If you have a project that you want to start, JUST GO FOR IT! You never know until you give it a try. It does not matter if you realize you hate it, or it was not successful. You’ll learn so much along the way for your next adventure!
As a part of my series about social media stars who are using their platform to make a significant social impact, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jacquelyn Son and Clara Coelho. Jacquelyn & Clara are co-hosts of the top-rated entrepreneur podcast: Glow Radio. Glow Radio is a podcast for the sassiest of b*tches who are looking to dump their 9–5 for that #entrepreneur life. You can expect weekly conversations with unapologetic creatives, business owners and influencers. They discuss tips on how to reach your goals, manage your time and keep your sanity while being a major boss babe. Jacquelyn & Clara are your favourite hype women who will cheer you on and push you to create the life that you want.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
We are both die-hard health and wellness advocates and bonded through fitness. It really set the foundation to our partnership. The gym became a place for us to discuss our ideas and discover our entrepreneurial spirits.
The podcast life definitely chose us! We knew that we were personable and absolutely loved the idea of meeting new people and sharing our ideas to the world. There were a few other business ideas that we had, but we ultimately chose to start the podcast, as it was the easiest to manage and didn’t require a lot of capital while we still worked at our day jobs. At the time, we did not know that this was going to be our career. However, a few months in after the birth of Glow Radio, we knew that this is what we were meant to do. We ended up quitting our 9–5s and pursuing this full-time.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began this career?
Both of us are pretty confident at public speaking so we have no problem speaking in front of a large crowd. However, in the beginning when we first started bringing guests onto the podcast, we were actually SO nervous. We were especially nervous when interviewing guests that were out of town and who were very influential people that we admired a lot. It’s funny because listening back to those interviews, we weren’t really ourselves and would stutter over our words. Now, we’ve become a lot more confident and comfortable — but there are definitely still times where we get a little anxious! We are human afterall.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
When we invited our first guest, we had prepared what we had thought were “a lot” of questions. The entire interview ended up being only about 15–20 minutes long and we had to scramble to figure out what to say or how to end it. We were super nervous and really stuck to the script rather than engaging in a free flowing conversation with our guest.
The biggest lesson we learned from that was to just relax and let the questions be a guide rather than a strict script. Yes, some episodes aren’t going to be that long, but that is the beauty of it!
Ok super. Let’s now jump to the core focus of our interview. Can you describe to our readers how you are using your platform to make a significant social impact?
Our mission is to empower all current & aspiring entrepreneurs to build successful businesses without sacrificing their health or happiness. There is no dream too big or too ‘unrealistic’ to reach. Helping our audience achieve HUGE goals is extremely important to us and we firmly believe that EVERYONE can create the life that they want.
On Glow Radio, we provide tools and resources for listeners to either leave their dreaded 9–5 jobs to start their own business or to further grow their existing brand. It was extremely painful for us to be stuck in our day jobs that we loathed, especially when we knew we were meant for something more.
Since discovering our own paths, we hope to inspire everyone around us to wake up with passion in the mornings to do meaningful work that they love. You deserve to live your best life!
Wow! Can you tell us a story about a particular individual who was impacted by this cause?
Since we started Glow Radio, we have taken on the role as everyone’s favourite hype women. We will go to great lengths to encourage anyone who needs a boost. There is absolutely no one we wouldn’t help! Fortunately that had paid off first in our circle of friends. We definitely saw a huge impact on a couple of our close friends who are now working on building their own businesses and turning their passion into their full time commitment. One of them has started a business on Amazon and another is pursuing their goal as a spiritual healer.
Was there a tipping point the made you decide to focus on this particular area? Can you share a story about that?
We started our podcast with just casual ‘girl talk’ without giving much thought to a theme. However, as we grew the podcast, we realized that our guests were individuals who were driven entrepreneurs with inspiring stories. That is when we discovered that we were meant to deliver these messages to all aspiring entrepreneurs to guide and help them to their goals.
We both had started as two girls with full time office jobs who just wanted to break free and do something meaningful. This podcast has given us the opportunity to make a living by doing what we love, inviting others to join our journey and growing an empowering community.
Are there three things the community/society/politicians can do help you address the root of the problem you are trying to solve?
The root of the problem is that people do not fully understand what they are capable of and are afraid to dream big. People often do not reach their full potential in life because fear is holding them back. Here are some ways that the community/society/politicians can help address these issues.
- Empowering Initiatives — brands and companies in our society can help more people realize that they are capable of achieving their dreams by launching campaigns showing regular everyday people reaching big goals. This can give encouragement to any aspiring entrepreneurs who are afraid of taking that first step to start their business.
- Educate Leaders — offer self-development courses or workshops to leaders in our society to help them improve their mindset and skills. Leaders can include anyone from teachers, parents, managers, etc. This can help them continue to mentor others to become successful individuals in our community.
- Entrepreneurship Courses — it would be awesome if a variety of entrepreneurship courses were available to students in school starting at a young age. We find that many people around us do not even think about entrepreneurship because they were not taught this as an option.
What specific strategies have you been using to promote and advance this cause? Can you recommend any good tips for people who want to follow your lead and use their social platform for a social good?
Networking is a main strategy that has been working well for us. In the beginning, we asked our friends and existing relationships to introduce us to like-minded individuals to collaborate. One connection eventually led to another and to this day, we continue to meet many awesome entrepreneurs through networking. We also make an effort to attend events that relate to our niche and meet others in-person. Building these genuine and supportive relationships has increased our word of mouth and helped grow our podcast. We discuss our specific networking tips in episode 30 on Glow Radio!
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why? Please share a story or example for each.
- Just Go For It
I’m sure I can say this for most entrepreneurs, but we always wished that we had started sooner. There were so many insecurities that were holding us back, but we quickly realized that fear is really just fear until you deal with it head on. If you have a project that you want to start, JUST GO FOR IT! You never know until you give it a try. It does not matter if you realize you hate it, or it was not successful. You’ll learn so much along the way for your next adventure! - Working Backwards
Set your target, no matter how “unrealistic” it may seem to you right now. Then you want to work backwards until your starting point. You will realize that the path is not so crazy and you will have a solid growth plan that you can refer to and make adjustments along the way. - Self Love Is Important
Running your own business is no easy feat! Make sure you schedule in time for self-care. It is so easy to feel like you need to be working every second of every day, but that’s only going to cause you more harm than good. There are days where we will meet up and just not have any energy to even think about what we need to do. That’s when we know we have to take the next day off to recharge. - Niche It Out
Don’t be afraid to get specific with your business! Trying to appease everyone means you are targeting no one. Be honest with yourself and get really detailed to as what kind of audience you want impact. - Failing & Mistakes
Making mistakes or failing is inevitable. If neither of these things happen, then you are playing it too safe. We’ve taken jobs and agreed to events that we have never done before, and yes it was a huge risk, but we never regret a single thing!
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
We are currently developing an online course teaching others how to start a podcast. It would be amazing to inspire a movement of many people launching podcasts that offer empowering topics to millions, if not billions of listeners around the world.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, again.” ― Thomas H. Palmer
This quote speaks to us a lot because we are serial entrepreneurs who aren’t afraid of making mistakes. We’ve had multiple ‘failed’ businesses in the past, but we aren’t failures. They were all learning experiences and brought us to where we are now. Whenever we feel discouraged, this quote reminds us to keep trying another method until we succeed.
Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
We would love to have a breakfast/lunch with Oprah! She is, no doubt, one of the most influential figures who empower people around the world. It would be amazing to be in her presence and learn from her.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
Yes for sure! You can find us on Instagram @GlowRadioCo, Facebook.com/GlowRadioCo and subscribe to Glow Radio on iTunes, Spotify and Youtube.
This was very meaningful, thank you so much!
The Social Impact Heroes of Social Media: Jacquelyn Son & Clara Coelho are empowering people to… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.