Jaclyn Johnson Transcript
Kerry Diamond:
Hi, everyone. You are listening to Radio Cherry Bombe, and I'm your host, Kerry Diamond, coming to you from Newsstand Studios at Rockefeller Center in the heart of New York City. Each week, we feature interviews with the coolest culinary personalities around. Joining me in the studio today in person is Jaclyn Johnson. Jaclyn has been described as The ultimate multi-hyphenate. She's a podcast host, serial entrepreneur, angel investor, and champion of female entrepreneurs everywhere. Jaclyn founded Create & Cultivate, which has helped thousands of small business owners and freelancers on their professional journeys. I am definitely someone who has benefited from everything Create & Cultivate has put into the world. Earlier this year, Jaclyn launched New Money Ventures, her $20 million consumer fund that invests in game-changing brands and the visionaries behind them, and she recently launched her latest project, Maie Wines, a California-based single serving wine company. Jaclyn will be with us in just a minute.
Today's episode of Radio Cherry Bombe is supported by Naturopathica. Naturopathica is a beautiful wellness collection that was the first brand to introduce botanical and non-toxic skincare. I have loved Naturopathica since I was a beauty editor back in the early 2000s. The brand was founded by Barbara Close, an herbalist, massage therapist, and expert in the healing arts. I've long admired Barbara for her dedication to botanical ingredients and her commitment to holistic wellness.
The product I use literally every night to wash my face and take off my makeup is Naturopathica's Manuka Honey Cleansing Balm. So I was very excited when I found out Naturopathica was expanding its Manuka Honey collection and introducing a new product called Manuka Honey Whipped Oil. This beautiful blend of Manuka honey, apricot kernel oil, and jojoba oil is the perfect moisturizer for skin like mine. I happen to have dry skin and love putting oils on my face. In addition to all its face and body products, Naturopathica also has teas, tinctures, and honeys all developed by Barbara. You can find Naturopathica products at naturopathica.com or at their spa locations in New York City and East Hampton. We have a special Naturopathica giveaway on our Instagram today. We'll be giving away a $250 gift card to one lucky person. Check out our IG post for rules and deadline. Good luck.
The new issue of Cherry Bombe is out. New listeners might not know this, but Cherry Bombe started out as a print-only magazine, and we just published our 20th issue. Cherry Bombe will make you rethink what a magazine is all about. It's a gorgeous paper with beautiful photography, heartfelt articles, and recipes you will actually want to make. Our cover star for Issue 20 is Erin French of The Lost Kitchen in Freedom, Maine. She is such an inspiring human being. Order your copy through cherrybombe.com or pick one up at your favorite magazine stand, culinary shop, or bookstore like Kitchen Arts & Letters right here in New York City. Now, let's check in with today's guest. Jaclyn Johnson, welcome to Radio Cherry Bombe.
Jaclyn Johnson:
I am so excited to be here.
Kerry Diamond:
I am so excited. I can't believe I've never met you.
Jaclyn Johnson:
It's so odd. I've been a fan girl from afar for a very long time.
Kerry Diamond:
In my brain, I know you, so.
Jaclyn Johnson:
Same. I feel very kismet connection to you and what you've built, so it's exciting to chat.
Kerry Diamond:
You are a new name in the world of wine, but in the world of female empowerment, you are a known entity as you created the media and events platform Create & Cultivate in 2015. What is Create & Cultivate? Tell us.
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yeah. So, for those of you that don't know, Create & Cultivate is an online platform and offline event series focused on helping women create and cultivate the career of their dreams. So we really focus on supporting entrepreneurs, small business owners, solopreneurs, entreprecurious. There's so many different words now, and we want to give them the tools to...
Kerry Diamond:
Wait. I can't even say that word.
Jaclyn Johnson:
Entreprecurious.
Kerry Diamond:
That's a terrible word, Jaclyn.
Jaclyn Johnson:
It's a new one. It's a horrible word. It's a horrible word, but I couldn't figure out how to describe people who are like, "I kind of want to be an entrepreneur, but I'm not one yet," side-hustler. There's so many now. It's like just anyone who wants to have their own thing in some way, shape, or form, but we like to provide them the tools, tips, and tricks they need to succeed.
Kerry Diamond:
I loved listening to your stories about how it started. You were so scrappy. I mean, it was really remarkable. I listened to a few podcasts that you had done with our friend Hillary Kerr and, you just went for it. I don't even know if they were being called entrepreneurs at the time, but you just knew that there were all these women out there, friends of yours, yourself included, who had started their own businesses, who had side hustles, and you really wanted to take away some of the gatekeeping that were the secrets to freelancing.
Jaclyn Johnson:
I love that you said, "I didn't even know if they were called entrepreneurs then," because it's an interesting story. But essentially, I was running my first business. I was 23 when I started that company, had no real business experience. Previous to launching No Subject, I was more of a creative. I worked in house at corporate.
Kerry Diamond:
You were a magazine gal, which I didn't know.
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yes, magazine girl, and then basically got thrown into starting this company very randomly with a friend at the time and basically, was going to YouTube University on how to run a business, "What is an LLC? What is an S corp?" One of the things I realized is everyone was trying to figure it out on their own, but no one was really having these honest and raw conversations about starting a business, the problems, hiring, firing, whatever it was, which is all very difficult when you don't know what you're doing.
So I always now know this about me, but I like to start businesses that solve problems. I think at the time, I went online, and nothing looked, felt, or spoke to me as a young female founder, and I was like, "Why doesn't this exist?" So I decided to build it very scrappily so, but what was interesting is we actually launched, and our tagline was, "Platform for digital entrepreneurs," or something like that. We would get all these emails that were like, "Hey, so I have an Etsy shop, but I'm not an entrepreneur. Is this still for me?" We'd be like, "No, you are an entrepreneur," but we realized women had such a hard time calling themselves entrepreneur. So we were able to take that information. We zhooshed our tagline, if you will, but started talking about that and how people and especially women would just associate the term "entrepreneur" with being successful in a business, not naturally just starting a business.
Kerry Diamond:
Create & Cultivate wasn't even your full-time business. It reminds me a little bit of Cherry Bombe in that it wasn't meant to be this full-fledged thing. You had a business called No Subject, and this was a spinoff to just help people.
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yeah. It was a weird extension. So, basically, No Subject was a B2B [business to business] marketing, events, influencer, social media agency, but I don't even think influencers were called influencers. They were bloggers back then, and social media was Guerrilla marketing. It was a long time ago. I had that business, and it was really fun. We had a lot of clients, and what I realized was starting to chat with other women in business and having these conversations, I was like, "We should get together and do something." So the first actual Create & Cultivate was in 2011. A long, long time ago. Basically, it was hosted at the Ace Hotel. It was super small.
Kerry Diamond:
It was in Palm Springs?
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
Mm-hmm.
Jaclyn Johnson:
25, 30 people. Maybe. All people I probably knew in some way, shape, or form.
Kerry Diamond:
Palm Springs is a good location.
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
I could see my friends being like, "Sure, I'll come to the thing in Palm Springs."
Jaclyn Johnson:
"Sure. Why not?" Yeah. We had panels, DIY sessions, dinners. It was super fun, and it was selfishly just an excuse for me to meet cool women, and it took off from there. I started getting emails, "When is the next one? I didn't get a ticket. I'd love to come." Brands being like, "How do we get involved?" and it was like, "What? What is this thing?" I would do it once a year just to be like, "Let's see if it's a thing." Every year, it was 50, 100 people, 150 people. It eventually became this question amongst my employees like, "Which company do we work for?" which was totally hilarious because I was like, "I don't know."
Kerry Diamond:
Right. People had to talk you into that Create & Cultivate was a business.
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yes, multiple people. Even clients of mine at No Subject were like, "Why aren't you just doing that? You own that. That's your own brand," and actually ended up being my partner in the business. Raina Penchansky, who is the CEO of DBA [Digital Brand Architects], which was one of the first influencer agencies, talent agencies, was like, "What is this? What are you doing?" We had known each other previous to that. Her talent was speaking, and she's like, "Put some money into this, and let's do it together." I was like, "No." I was like, "It's a side hustle. It doesn't make any money. It's a new business generator for this other business I have." She's like, "No. Let's just try it. Let's just try to both put money and see what happens." We did, and the rest is history.
Kerry Diamond:
So then, it officially starts as a company?
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
What happened to No Subject?
Jaclyn Johnson:
So No Subject was acquired by Small Girls PR, which is actually out of New York. It's a female-owned agency who had been friends with No Subject forever. Basically, it was really lucky timing in that they were looking to expand into Los Angeles. I was like, "I kind of had this thing I'm doing. I don't know." They were like, "That's fine. We really just want the team, the pipeline, and obviously, you to help us transition into coming to California." So it all worked out.
Kerry Diamond:
So exciting, and we'll talk a little bit about selling businesses because you have gotten to be good at that. The Create & Cultivate Small Business Summit took place recently in New York City. You were there. How was it this time?
Jaclyn Johnson:
It was amazing. It's so nice to be back in New York. It's interesting because even though Create & Cultivate is a Los-Angeles-based company, New York is our largest market. So we hosted it at Pier 17, which is this gorgeous venue. It was packed. We had really good speakers. I actually got to interview Ty Haney, formerly of Outdoor Voices, and then now TYB, her Web3 business.
Kerry Diamond:
Yeah. What is she up to now?
Jaclyn Johnson:
So, yeah. So she has this new company called Try Your Best, TYB, and it is a Web3 platform where consumers and brands can connect essentially through a crypto loyalty program. The way she described it, which everyone is like, "That's the best way I've ever heard crypto described," is that when she was running Outdoor Voices, anytime you came to an event or engaged with the brand offline, you got the blue Doing Things Hat which becomes anonymous with the brand. When you would see people out, you'd be like, "Oh, same kind of vibe. We have the same sort of interest." She's like, "Think of that hat as a token online that you get, and that opens an access to different communities, to different perks, things like that."
Kerry Diamond:
Interesting.
Jaclyn Johnson:
So it was really fun to chat with her. We talked a little bit about her experience at Outdoor Voices and how that ended. So I just love that she was super candid about everything.
Kerry Diamond:
It must have been so nice for you though to look out, see all those people, and just realize how much this has grown and how many women you've helped over the years.
Jaclyn Johnson:
No other job in the world you get cards in the mail telling you a story about how they met their business partner at Create & Cultivate, and now they're about to do a million dollars in revenue, or, "I went in and asked for that raise." It's just the most rewarding and humbling position to be in, which I'm sure you can relate to. It's just an exciting... Running a platform that puts other people up on pedestals, that gives other people opportunity to talk about things is one of the most rewarding experiences ever, and so it's really nice to get that feedback.
Kerry Diamond:
What were some of the themes that bubbled up this year?
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yeah. So we had a ton of mentor sessions, and so what we've realized and what the shift has really been for us is that pre-pandemic, everyone was looking for inspiration. They wanted be fired up about their business, hear success stories, all those things. During the pandemic, everyone was like, "Oh, I don't care about any of that. Just give me the tactical information to survive and to have my business get through this." So we pivoted really quickly into more workshops, more mentor sessions, more one-on-ones where women could get their questions answered.
We actually launched, I think, month two of COVID a COVID-19 hub with just resources and information, and it was the most highly traffic thing on the site because everyone was freaking out, including us, about what we were going to do. So, now, coming out of that, I think what we're seeing is that there's a lot of new entrepreneurs in the mix. Over 1,800 women open businesses a day, which is insane and exciting, and so I think what we're starting to see is the resurgence of that inspiration and aspiration coming back, coupled with more tactical advice.
Kerry Diamond:
You sold a majority stake in Create & Cultivate to Corridor Capital last year. Obviously, you're still involved a little bit. You were at the conference, but how has your role shifted? What's your day-to-day with Create & Cultivate?
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yeah. I mean, it shifted quite a bit. I mean, after running it for nearly 10 years, when we were approached for acquisition, Create & Cultivate was completely self-funded up until this acquisition, which is very challenging. People always ask me, "When you look back, what would you have done differently?" I always say, "I probably would've raised money." I think when I started Create & Cultivate, no one was raising money. That wasn't even a conversation around what venture capital was. So I just didn't even know that was a possibility until very later on in the business, and we were doing well, so we didn't need that money or need to go down that route.
So, selling the business. I always joke. I'm like, "Selling an events business during a global pandemic, I highly do not recommend," but I'm really happy with the transaction and what happened. I was very honest with the acquirers that after being the CEO for so long, I felt like we needed a fresh, new energy in Create & Cultivate. I think for me I'd done an amazing job. It was so great. But also, being the face and being the true CEO, in the P&Ls [profit and loss statements], making sure partners are happy on every single call, and everything, it just wasn't... I was a problem for the business too. As much as I was the face and the excitement, I was also the bottleneck in getting us to that next stage of growth, and so I'm so happy because we hired a CEO earlier this year in January. Her name is Kate Spies. She's incredible. She came to us from Well+Good, has a ton of media experience, and she's just been an incredible light to work with.
So my role has shifted away from an operating CEO to the founder. I'm also on the board, so I consult, help, strategize. I host the podcast. I'm at every event. So I just help where I can, but it's been really nice to see someone who has an aligned vision with you and obviously respects and appreciates your point of view as well. Yeah. Letting go of things, not that easy. We were joking a little bit before this, but walking into a conference when I haven't seen every flyer that's printed, every poster that's up, or whatever, it is scary, but you just have to trust, lift, trust, and move on.
Kerry Diamond:
Well, it's clear how entrepreneurial you have been with all these businesses we just mentioned. You've already started another business that we're going to talk about in just a minute, but looking back, were you entrepreneurial when you were younger?
Jaclyn Johnson:
So I come from a family of entrepreneurs. So my parents run their own business. So I grew up stuffing envelopes in the back of the office, doing that type of thing. My sister is also an entrepreneur and small business owner, but I did not think that was going to be my path. I was at NYU [New York University] studying magazine production, doing all the right internships, PR, the whole thing, and I landed a really great job out of college. I was working at Attention, which is a large agency and media company. I was employee number three. So it was like true startup days, and I learned so much. I was really one of the first people to work in social media marketing, got a lot of experience, worked my way up the corporate ladder, was at IAC, working under John Foley actually, who is the former CEO of Peloton, but was my boss at Pronto. He really helped me actually with Create & Cultivate. Peloton was one of the first sponsors of Create & Cultivate before it had even launched. He's like, "We'll put a bike there for whatever." So he's been very supportive.
Kerry Diamond:
Let's talk about Maie Wines now. Very exciting. Thank you for sending me some. I am so your customer for this, which we'll talk about in a minute, but give us the elevator pitch.
Jaclyn Johnson:|
Maie Wines is ushering in a new generation of single serve wine. It's essentially a glass of wine by the bottle, and this really came about in the same way Create & Cultivate did. It was solving a problem. During the pandemic, I, much like a lot of people, was drinking a lot, a lot of wine, joined a ton of wine clubs, and got all these shipments in. My husband doesn't drink, so I would get a bottle of wine. I'd open it up on a Monday, want one glass, have my glass, put it back in the fridge, have dinner the next night or whatever, forget about it, and then go to pour it, never taste as good, and/or I start cooking with it, and this is a nice bottle of wine, and then you just start to feel really guilty.
So I started having conversations with friends like, "Have you experienced this?" and they were like, "Oh my god, yes," or, "My friend comes over. She drinks red, I drink white. We open both bottles. They both go to waste." It's just this constant feeling of pouring wine down the sink. I think all of us have that visual of doing that. So, for me, I was like, "Okay. Well, there has to be a way to create an elevated experience in single serve wine that looks good, tastes good, but is also at an accessible price point," which was something that was really important to us. We ended up finding this manufacturer who makes these small mini wine bottles essentially. Long story short, it moved very fast, and we were like, "Let's just do this, make moderation easy, make hosting events easier. Let's solve this problem."
Kerry Diamond:
We've established you are the queen of the bootstrapping. Did you bootstrap Maie?
Jaclyn Johnson:
No. So bootstrapping a product company feels like impossible. It's like, "How could you ever?" because inventory. It's so expensive.
Kerry Diamond:
But you, if anyone, could you?
Jaclyn Johnson:
Oh my gosh, of course. I mean, I don't want to necessarily go down that road again. I'm working on my balance in my life. So we ended up actually funding Maie through our venture fund, New Money Ventures. So, after leaving Create & Cultivate, I started New Money Ventures, which is a $20 million consumer fund focused on funding the next generation of female-led, female-run companies. We actually have a strong foothold in food and bev, which is really funny. It happened accidentally, but it's a category I'm passionate about, but we, basically, as part of that fund, wanted to create an atelier which was essentially, "If we can't find companies to invest in in a certain category or we think there's a hole in the market, we will invest in and build our own brands." Maie is the first of those brands.
Kerry Diamond:
That's such a pretty name.
Jaclyn Johnson:
Thank you.
Kerry Diamond:
Tell us how you came up with the name.
Jaclyn Johnson:
Naming something is so stressful. When I started Create & Cultivate, I never in a million years thought it would be on stages with Gloria Steinem. It was just a random thing, and those were the best names, when you don't mean to do it. This time, it was very intentional. We knew what we were doing. So we more came up with taglines first, and we're like, "Okay. What is the essence? What is the vibe?" The one we kept going back to was, "Moderation made easy. Hosting made easy." We kept, "Made, made," and going back to that. We were just playing with words, and May came up. Obviously, May is a really important month in wine making. How can we use this and start-up-tify it or whatever? We came up with "Maie," which is M-A-I-E, and it's been really fun. Before we launched, we're like, "This may change everything."
Kerry Diamond:
Ah, cute.
Jaclyn Johnson:
So it's this fun play on words that came with it.
Kerry Diamond:
For folks who don't really understand what a venture fund is, who funded the fund?
Jaclyn Johnson:
Basically, we're really lucky in that we have a single LP, which is not necessarily the normal route of going about it, but there's this woman. Her name is Jenny Just. She's one of the only self-made female billionaires in the United States. She made her money through trading, FinTech, all sorts of amazing things. We met through Create & Cultivate, really enjoyed each other's company, and I knew when I was leaving C&C... I had always loved angel investing. I'd been angel investing since 2012, but I was like, "I really want to formalize that and figure out a way to do it in a more structured way and maybe bring on some LPs.
Kerry Diamond:
Tell us what an LP is.
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yes. So an LP is a limited partner. So, essentially, when you're raising a fund, it's not your money typically that you're doing this, but some people do it that way. Essentially, what you go out and do is you go and raise money for the fund. So if you want to do a $20 million fund, or $40 million fund, or $500,000 fund, there's micro funds that are also really successful, you go and find partners that will invest in your fund a certain amount of money. I was chatting with her, and I was like, "I think I want $20 million. Here's the mandate. Here's what I'm thinking," and she was like, "Yeah, I'm in." I was like, "Great. My first LP. How exciting," and she's like, "For all of it." I was like, "Oh, great," which was a really nice way of doing it. I mean, she's a legend in the space. She has so much great insight that's truly the opposite of what I'm really good at. So she's an amazing resource, insight, and all those ways. We have a single LP.
Kerry Diamond:
Tell us what angel investing is.
Jaclyn Johnson:
Angel investing is... It's so funny because everyone thinks angel investing means you're never going to get paid back, which you might not. Essentially, the difference between an angel and a VC [venture capital] is angels are typically individuals, high net worth, but not necessarily. Right now, I think a lot of people are just angel investing in the same way you would crypto.
Kerry Diamond:
I feel like a lot of people now have "Angel Investor" in their Instagram or Twitter bios.
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
It's a term that people like to apply to themselves right now.
Jaclyn Johnson:
Definitely, definitely. I know, and people always ask me, "How do you become an angel investor?" I was like, "Call yourself one? I don't know." Yeah. So, basically, you invest. Typically, angel investors invest anywhere between $10,000 to $100,000. It could be more. It could be less. Basically, you're investing in a company because you believe in the founder, you're excited about the mission. Maybe sometimes you can help in some way, shape, or form with that company, but you don't really get a say in that business and you...
Kerry Diamond:
Oh, really? Angel investors don't want to do that?
Jaclyn Johnson:
Typically, no.
Kerry Diamond:
Mm-hmm.
Jaclyn Johnson:
Also, you're not really involved in the financials, the backend, anything like that. You're just investing, you're supporting, and that's it. VCs are really coming in and taking a big piece of your business. They have say in your business. They're involved in your day-to-day. They're involved in the financials, and they're expecting a return. Angel investors are hoping for a return. So that's the different vibe between those two different entities. Now, there's a lot of change, and one of the things I wanted to do with New Money Ventures was as a reaction to what we had seen in venture was everyone raising a ton of venture capital, growth at all cost, churn and burn, whatever it takes.
Kerry Diamond:
Women not getting much of that money?
Jaclyn Johnson:
100%. 2% of VC funding goes to women. That stat has not gone up, sadly, and even less for women of color. Basically, it turned into this really nasty cycle of which we've seen the effects of. So, for us, we are all about money and mentorship, and we like to be there, we're founder-first, having been a founder and knowing what it's like, to provide support, strategy, mentorship, partnerships where we can, and also cash to help them do that.
Kerry Diamond:
Well, we're going to talk about some of your food and drink brands in a minute, but I want to go back to Maie because there's still so much more to talk about. How did you get up to speed in the world of wine?
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
It's one thing to be an enthusiast and to happily...
Jaclyn Johnson:
To drink a lot.
Kerry Diamond:
Drink, to pick the wine at a restaurant with your girlfriends, but there's a difference when you're an expert.
Jaclyn Johnson:
100%. So I actually, during the pandemic, when we're all sitting at home, my friend, Mamrie Hart, and I who... She's a New York Times bestselling author, a cocktail book. She's incredible. Was like, "Let's take our WSET [wine and spirit education test] and just learn more about wine. We're sitting here drinking it anyway. We might as well learn." So we did our first online course during the pandemic, which was awesome. We loved it. It was super informative. We did level two recently in person, which was obviously more fun, and just completed and passed that, and looking to go all the way to being a somm.
Kerry Diamond:
You're going to become a sommelier?
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
Wow, good for you.
Jaclyn Johnson:
So it's been really fun, and I've absolutely loved learning about it. I think one of the reasons and one of the ethos behind Maie is that we want it to be accessible not only from a price point, but from a knowledge learning and sharing perspective because wine is very much the art world. Right. It can feel very insular. It can feel very exclusive. If you don't know about it, it can feel embarrassing. It was so funny because the Instagram dude with a sign posted yesterday like, "The person who has to taste the wine, it's too much pressure," or something like, "Make it stop." I was like, "It's so true." Most people just take a Swig. They're like, "it doesn't suck."
So, yeah. Great, but learning about it, like the different things of... the notes, what you should be... we always joke, bleak, the balance, the intensity, the complexity, all of these different things. It's actually really fun, and wine starts to taste different, and you get excited about it, and you want to talk about it, and all these different things. So we are trying to also make it accessible from that perspective. We joke like, "No wine snobs allowed is one of our mottos," because we really want everyone to enjoy it, and pour it, and drink it, and all those things, but we want also people to be able to talk about it in a way where they feel like they have that information.
Kerry Diamond:
If I can't pronounce something, I sometimes won't order it.
Jaclyn Johnson:
Of course. Yeah, and that's not how it should be. I think there has to be this level of learning around it, and I loved it because, actually, in our class, it was a lot of people who were just enthusiasts and excited to learn more. There were a lot of people in the industry as well, and their companies were paying for them to be there, which I think is great. It's a great thing to add to your resume as well if you work in service industry or food and bev in general. It's exciting, and there's so much to it. It's so much more complex than I thought beyond just the product itself, but the labeling, the different rules around it.
Kerry Diamond:
And distribution?
Jaclyn Johnson:
Distribution. It's a fascinating industry that's also steeped in such old ancient history, so it's really fun.
Kerry Diamond:
So much regulation around the country and blue laws. We were just at The Lost Kitchen in Maine, and they can't even sell wine because of the laws there. So they had to open a wine shop in their basement. So, before you go have dinner, you go to the wine shop and buy your bottle of wine.
Jaclyn Johnson:
A lot of the rules that still exist are prohibition era, and they have not actually changed, which is so wild to think about, but they still are the law of the land in many places.
Kerry Diamond:
Yeah. You focused on three wines. What's in the Maie collection right now?
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yes. So we have our Sauvignon Blanc, Rosé, and Pinot Noir. We did that after actually doing a ton of research. We hired a research company to help us figure out what are the most popular wines amongst millennial women because we didn't necessarily want to, out the gate, launch with a skin-contact wine, an orange wine, or whatever. It was one of those things because we wanted it to be accessible. We wanted to come in with wines you know and love, have probably seen on a menu, you've heard of that will get you to be excited about the brand, feel not intimidated, and then we'll add some more complex wines along the way.
Kerry Diamond:
Speaking of that, you mentioned some of the terms, but there's so many terms out there now. Some of the trendier ones now: natural, organic, non-intervention, clean. I know some people use that, and the people in the wine world hate that word. Why did you decide to avoid that terminology?
Jaclyn Johnson:
To your point, there's a lot of gray area around all of those different terms. I think for us, what we really wanted to focus on was getting the highest quality grapes, making the best possible wine at the most successful price point. That's what we wanted to do, and we weren't necessarily... It doesn't mean we aren't interested in organic or we don't necessarily... We buy grapes from vineyards that are organic, but we don't want to get into the labeling of anything because it gets a little complicated further down the line. For us, it was really just about focusing on making the best wine possible.
Kerry Diamond:
You definitely don't focus on the nerdy aspects yet.
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yet.
Kerry Diamond:
I know you have a membership. We'll talk about that. But when you go to the website, you're not bombarded with information about the vineyards, the terroir, the winemaker. You're focused on serving size and no wine wasted. Is that information coming?
Jaclyn Johnson:
We're launching our journal, which is going to have a ton more content and information that's coming soon.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh, that's awesome.
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yeah. We're really excited. So it was just fun timing of launching a brand of like, "Just get it up." We have more information coming. We do work with a female winemaker. Her name is Neely Ashley, her and her team. She's amazing, so informative, talk about the nerdy stuff. That's where she thrives, and I've learned so much from her as well.
Kerry Diamond:
So you bought a house in Napa last year. Curious, how you're enjoying Napa life?
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yeah. So we're up in Calistoga, which is a bit more north, and I'm totally obsessed. It's funny because this all happened before the company too.
Kerry Diamond:
Yeah. I was going to say what... Chicken and egg, what came first?
Jaclyn Johnson:
Everyone was like, "Oh, you're going to want a wine brand now that you're in Napa." I was like, "That's very odd that this is all happening the way it was meant to," but yeah. I think post-COVID, my husband and I... I mean, post-COVID. I don't know if it even is the reality.
Kerry Diamond:
Yeah, still. Yeah.
Jaclyn Johnson:
We were craving more space. During the pandemic, I got super into cooking and gardening like total nerd gardener and wine, obviously, because I was just eating and drinking the whole time. I was like, "I just want more land." We want something that's...
Kerry Diamond:
I need to go back for a second. You're not just eating and drinking. You were killing yourself to keep your company alive.
Jaclyn Johnson:
That's true.
Kerry Diamond:
You were an events company that had to pivot everything online.
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
So I think you're being modest.
Jaclyn Johnson:
Oh, thank you.
Kerry Diamond:
I know how your brain works, so I can understand why you think you spent all your time doing that.
Jaclyn Johnson:
I think as I was eating, drinking, and crying. It was those three things. My husband is from Northern California, and so we've gone to Napa almost every year since beginning of our relationship, and so I was like, "What about Napa?" We stumbled upon this magical, modern farmhouse, A-frame, and everything happened so fast, but it was so fun. Now, we have a massive garden, and we're growing a ton of food. It's been awesome to be in the wine community up there, which is really fun and everyone is so... One thing I will say about the wine industry, which is not the same as the female empowerment space, is everyone's extremely supportive and super nice. It's really interesting because essentially, we have competing products I guess at the end of the day, but that's not the mentality amongst winemakers I've experienced. When you're industry, you go, and they treat you like royalty at wineries, and you get a lot of support and like, "I can help you with this," or like, "Where are you sourcing from that?" So it's been a really nice entry into this new industry.
Kerry Diamond:
You feel there's less sharing in the female empowerment space today?
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yeah, I think so. It's hard because I wish... There is and there isn't, I would say. I think it became extremely competitive for a period of time, and that always bumps me out because I'm a big collaboration over competition. I'm an open book. I'll tell you anything you want about growing my business, selling my business, whatever. I think people saw Create & Cultivate doing well and making money, and wanted to do the same thing, which is great industry, but I think there also became a notion of competition over everything. "Who could steal the best person? Who could do the best thing?" versus, "How can we come together and do all this stuff? There's enough money for everyone."
Kerry Diamond:
So you've been welcomed into the wine world. That's really exciting to hear. Did you and Samantha Sheehan ever hook up?
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yeah. She's the best.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh, you did? Good.
Jaclyn Johnson:
The best.
Kerry Diamond:
From Mommenpop, and Ultra Violet, and Poe, and all these things that she does.
Jaclyn Johnson:
She's the coolest. Thank you for that.
Kerry Diamond:
Yeah. Isn't she fun?
Jaclyn Johnson:
Oh my god, the best. I'm so excited.
Kerry Diamond:
Yeah, and like you, a serial entrepreneur.
Jaclyn Johnson:
Her husband is an artist too. So my husband is an artist. So it's very exciting. So thank you.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh, good. Good. Calistoga. You're loving it. Any favorite restaurants or wineries you've discovered out there?
Jaclyn Johnson:
So many. I mean, obviously, the one that everyone says is probably Scribe. It's so good. It's so fun. It's such a good community up there, and they do have a great tasting experience. The other one I would say is Donum Estates. I don't know if you've ever done that one, but maybe it's because my husband is an artist, but it has one of the largest personal sculpture collections in the world there. So one of the options they have is that you can do an ATV tour with your wine, and you'd go around the property, and you could check out all these incredible sculptures. It's just such a unique, specific Napa experience. Restaurant-wise, I would say I really love Valley in Sonoma. It's delicious food, great vibe, good energy, and then I've really been loving Acacia House in St. Helena as well. Those are our go-to spots, and then I'll also say Buster's Barbecue in Calistoga is truly some of the best barbecue in the world. It's at the end of our street, so I might be a little biased, but it's delicious.
Kerry Diamond:
Do you want a winery one day? Do you want a brick and mortar?
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yeah. I mean, we're definitely interested. I think if anything, we'll want to do it our way and make it a little different. One of the ideas that we have and that we're toying with is doing city wineries. So going to more urban areas and creating the wine tasting experience. Here, we are direct-to-consumer, so we can be anywhere, and ship anywhere, and do things like that. So maybe we'll start with pop-ups and see how that goes, but I obviously love IRL, so I'll hopefully eventually get into that space as well.
Kerry Diamond:
I do think we can use some more feminine wine bars.
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
There really aren't... I don't know. There really aren't many.
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
I'm just thinking about New York City.
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yeah. There really aren't that many, and I think what we would want to do is really make it a food and wine experience where it becomes this entire tasting journey. Obviously, we will need to release more wines, which we will be doing, but something like that would be fun and something that constantly rotates, changes. I love pop-ups selfishly because I think there's something so fascinating about creating an experience that can change over time versus being married to your one thing that you do in that space.
Kerry Diamond:
Mm-hmm. Tell me how folks can interact with Maie, their different avenues in.
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yeah. So we're completely direct-to-consumer right now. You can come to our site. We have our discovery pack, which is basically your entry point into Maie, which gives you one of each varietal, allows you to figure out what you like, and then you can purchase a 9 or a 12-pack of whatever varietal you like whether it's a red, a white, or the Rosé. The 12-pack is really cool because we have a partnership with a 501(c)(3) called HalfTheStory, which I'm on the board of. It's basically this incredible 501(c)(3) that focuses on young people's relationship with social media. So our whole concept around that was Maie World is beautiful and fun, and has these gorgeous imagery everywhere. We know the real world isn't always like that, so we want to do our part to give back.
Then, you can also join our Maie Membership. So we call it Maie World. Basically, you get eight wines a month. So if you think about, that's like two bottles essentially, and you get a surprise and delight element from a cool CPG brand. So we've partnered with Deux who's also one of our investments in New Money Venture, Ceremonia, which is a Latinx-owned brand, hair care brand here, based here in New York. Other ones coming up are Otherland Candle, High Note. So really fun brands that you get this cool element. You get to learn about a new brand, and it always goes with wine, like light your candle, have a glass of wine, put your face mask on, have a glass of wine. So there is this fun tie in and discovery piece as well.
Kerry Diamond:
I don't know if you can tell us what's coming next, but I'm a big sparkling wine fan. That's my thing. Any sparklers coming our way?
Jaclyn Johnson:
Girl, do I have a story for you. So we wanted to launch with sparkling because it's my favorite too. I'm so excited about it. So we found our sparkling wine we loved, and we're so excited about it. We just couldn't quite figure out how to get the bottle tops on because we have...
Kerry Diamond:
I knew you were going to say that.
Jaclyn Johnson:
We have a unique bottle shape, and sparkling requires a very specific bottling process. So Samantha and I from Mommenpop were chatting about this. I was like, "It's been a real nightmare." So we have sparkling on the back burner. We're very close to figuring it out with our manufacturer. So, hopefully, by end of year. If not, early next year. That'll definitely be our next varietal.
Kerry Diamond:
Because those little pop tops are hard.
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
I've gotten things with pop tops sent to me, and they open in transit. I mean, it's not...
Jaclyn Johnson:
Oh, it's really hard.
Kerry Diamond:
Yeah, it's not a perfect system.
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yeah, and they have to pass a shake test. If they leak even a little bit, it's not worth it to go down the road because it loses all the carbonation, and then you don't want someone having a flat sparkling. But it was cute because we have a few samples back at my house in Calistoga, and so we were able... We just did a Maie Retreat with some of our favorite influencers, and everyone got to try some, and they were like, "It's so good." So we're really excited about that as well.
Kerry Diamond:
Coming soon.
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
You're doing a lot of events or plan to do... I know you love an event.
Jaclyn Johnson:
I love an event.
Kerry Diamond:
Members will eventually get access to events?
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yes, yes. So, basically, we've been doing right now some more marketing-centric events. We're moving more into consumer events as well. One of the perks of being a member is that you will have access to our Maie Day Festival, which we'll be launching in May of next year, which will be wine, music, art for members and maybe some non-members as well, but I can't help myself. I'm like, "I got to throw an event."
Kerry Diamond:
Let's talk about New Money Ventures because you do have some other food and beverage brands. You mentioned Deux. Tell us a little bit.
Jaclyn Johnson:
Deux is the darling of our portfolio, I would say. It's good-for-you cookie dough. It's run by this women, Sabeena Ladha, who's an incredible entrepreneur. So if you haven't tried it yet, it's so good. I personally love the birthday cake, but essentially, it's cookie dough you can eat or bake. She's the queen of strategic partnerships. She just launched something with Skinny Confidential. She's done a million collaborations. She sells out every time, and they're available in Erewhon, Target, Whole Foods, a bunch of different places.
Kerry Diamond:
You have to explain to us what good-for-you cookie dough is. I mean, I personally think all cookie dough is good for me, but what makes this truly good-for-you cookie dough?
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yeah. It's essentially optimized cookie dough, so they have... I don't know. She's probably like, "Please don't ever say that again." No, it has good-for-you ingredients, so it has like maca, collagen, also the best possible organic ingredients. Oh, flour, et cetera. So, basically, as opposed to a really refined sugar or whatever, it's the best possible ingredients coupled with active ingredients as well.
Kerry Diamond:
Oh, I need to check it out. Yeah.
Jaclyn Johnson:
We'll send you some.
Kerry Diamond:
Well, I love cookie dough so much, but I'm starting to realize sugar is not necessarily my friend, but I want to check this out.
Jaclyn Johnson:
Oh my god, you'll love it. It's so good.
Kerry Diamond:
Optimized cookie dough. Three magic words to me, Jaclyn. Some other brands?
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yes. So Ghia is also one of our portfolio companies.
Kerry Diamond:
There are people obsessed with that brand.
Jaclyn Johnson:
I'm obsessed with it. So it's a non-alcoholic apéritif. As I mentioned, my husband doesn't drink, and so when he tried this, he's like, "Oh my god, this is so good." It has helped me curb if I need to when you're like, "I just want a glass of wine, but I'll have my Ghia instead." Melanie, the founder, is amazing, and they're just absolutely crushing it. Their product roadmap is what excited me the most about the business. So they're launching some really cool things in the next couple years. So that one's super exciting as well.
Kerry Diamond:
They did the Lyman Sea Salt.
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yes.
Kerry Diamond:
That's my favorite so far.
Jaclyn Johnson:
Interesting. Yeah. No. It's an interesting flavor profile, but I would say akin to a margarita. So it gives you that sweet saltiness with that bitterness. It's so good, but the original for me... or the ginger and the original are still my favorites.
Kerry Diamond:
Then, they recently launched into a hazelnut spread.
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yes. So they launched into pantry as well. It was supposed to be just a surprise and delight holiday thing, but it took off. So they kept that going as well, and we'll see probably more things like that from them in the future.
Kerry Diamond:
Did I see on their Instagram, they're doing a Shark Tank thing?
Jaclyn Johnson:
She was on Shark Tank on Friday.
Kerry Diamond:
She was already? Okay.
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
How did she do?
Jaclyn Johnson:
She did really great. She got a bunch of offers. She didn't take any of them.
Kerry Diamond:
She didn't?
Jaclyn Johnson:
No. Sorry, spoiler alert.
Kerry Diamond:
Okay.
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yeah, she didn't take any of them. I think there was some arguing amongst the sharks and things like that, but I think the person that she maybe wanted to deal with also wasn't doing the exact deal she wanted, but she's doing so well. I mean, I think Shark Tank is such a great exposure opportunity for any founder. Deux also started on Shark Tank as well, which is so funny. It's like we have a Shark Tank portfolio now.
Kerry Diamond:
All right. Who else do we need to know about?
Jaclyn Johnson:
JOYO Tea is another one that's in our portfolio. It's a sparkling tea that is started by Jay Shetty and Radhi Devlukia. It's absolutely amazing. There's not that many sparkling teas out there, and it's been selling out at Erewhon like crazy, which is super exciting.
Kerry Diamond:
Tell folks who don't live in L.A. what Erewhon is.
Jaclyn Johnson:
Okay. So Erewhon is... It's become a joke.
Kerry Diamond:
I'm calling Jaclyn out on her L.A-ness.
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yeah, because Erewhon is like... If you get into Erewhon, it's very exciting. So it is essentially this egregiously priced grocery store that has very healthy options, and it's become a joke on the internet of how bougie and ridiculous it is, but it is a great place to be. They have amazing product selection. So if you're a brand and you get into Erewhon, it's very exciting.
Kerry Diamond:
Any others?
Jaclyn Johnson:
Oh my gosh, yes. So we have JOYO Tea. We have some non-food-and-bev too. We have Crown Affair, which is a hair care brand by Dianna Cohen. Frame Reformer, which is a digitally connected Pilates reformer. Museum of Earth, which is going to be the first museum dedicated to climate change opening in Los Angeles, which is super exciting.
Kerry Diamond:
How do we find all these?
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
If someone is like, "Oh my god, I love Jaclyn and everything she's done for me over the years through Create & Cultivate, I want to support some of these New Money Venture brands," where do they find them?
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yeah. Newmoneyventures.co is probably the best place to find all of them in one spot, and a lot of them are just available online or in stores.
Kerry Diamond:
I've been so fascinated by what you've done over the years and now that I know a little bit more about you. Like I said, I listen to podcasts with you, listen to your own podcast, all those things, found out some things about you I did not know. I'm even more impressed, but just curious. What drives you?
Jaclyn Johnson:
I think I'm a masochist, and so I just love to start businesses. No. I have a lot of energy, and I have a lot of creativity and ideas. I think for me, I've really loved channeling what I've learned into helping other people, but I think, like my husband jokes, he's like, "You will never retire. I know. You just always have to have your hands in something." So, this time, I'm doing it with a partner. I do have a co-founder in Maie, Neha Kumar, which is great. So a little of the pressure is off of running something by yourself. If you have an idea, and you want to solve a problem, and you see a white space in the market, why not? Try it. If it fails, it fails. If it explodes and you become a billionaire, great. So I just think it's worth the try, worth the risk.
Kerry Diamond:
How are you taking care of yourself these days, if you are, mentally and physically?
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yeah. Well, I honestly think being out of L.A. has been really helpful.
Kerry Diamond:
Are you fully out of L.A.?
Jaclyn Johnson:
I'm back and forth, but just getting out of L.A. for long periods of time. I think for me, I've been really focused on creating routines that I stick to that are good for me. Whether it's working out in the morning, whether it's seeing friends, whether it's truly not checking your phone on the weekends, all these different things, those all add up into making you a better person, a more well-rounded person, a more wellness-focused person. So, for me, I've really just been doing those little things, but I would say I always tell people, because I would get that question a lot when I was running Create & Cultivate, and I was like, "I don't think I have that. I don't think I have any balance. I'm just hustling a hundred miles an hour," which wasn't great, but it was the truth of when I was going through that time.
Kerry Diamond:
Right, and sometimes there's no option.
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
That's why I always throw the "if you are" in there because...
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yeah, yeah.
Kerry Diamond:
I don't know. Sometimes the entrepreneurial journey is not the easy one.
Jaclyn Johnson:
Nope, not at all.
Kerry Diamond:
Yeah.
Jaclyn Johnson:
Yeah. I really enjoyed cooking, kicking back, and exploring a new city to live in. So, it's been fun.
Kerry Diamond:
All right. Between your own entrepreneurial journey and interacting with thousands, literally thousands of small business owners, what is your top advice for folks out there?
Jaclyn Johnson:
I think this is twofold. I would say start by starting. Just get it going. I think there are so many people who get caught up in wanting to launch something that's perfect or, "Oh, I have this idea," and they just talk about it. Just do it. The second one, I would say, is get it in writing. Get it in writing. Meaning, get the contract in place. Do all the things to get things buttoned up about your business because I think most of the mistakes I hear about from small business owners is like you get excited, you do a handshake deal, and then this doesn't end up being the partnership you thought it was or the client that you thought it was. So I've always been like, "Take your business seriously. Get it in writing. Get a lawyer. Spend that money even if you are nervous about doing it to make sure that you're set up for success."
Kerry Diamond:
Good advice. Well, Jaclyn, it is so nice to meet you in person. I love what you're doing at Maie Wines, and I love that you were able to take the time to join us today.
Jaclyn Johnson:
Of course. Thank you for having me.
Kerry Diamond:
That's it for today's show. Thank you so much to Jaclyn Johnson for joining me. To learn more about Jaclyn's projects, visit jaclynrjohnson.com. Don't forget that R. For more on Maie Wines, head to drinkmaie.com. Thank you to Naturopathica for supporting this episode. Don't forget, the new issue of Cherry Bombe Magazine is out. Snag a copy at cherrybombe.com. Radio Cherry Bombe is a production of Cherry Bombe Magazine. Our theme song is by the band Tra La La. Thanks to Joseph Hazan, studio engineer for Newsstand Studios at Rockefeller Center, and to our assistant producer, Jenna Sadhu. Thanks to you for listening. You're the Bombe.