A Wild Awakening: Jennie Armstrong's Road to Entrepreneurship
Alaskan entrepreneur Jennie Armstrong (pictured at Exit Glacier) runs two startups, which seek to empower women, share meaningful stories, and drive crucial conversations (Photo courtesy of Jennie Armstrong).
Being wild is not something most of us aspire to be. Why should we? Our upbringing in a “domesticated”, stable society has trained us to fear this designation. “Wild” brings with it uncertainty, a return to the less knowledgeable times of yesteryear, and an exposure to the elements that humanity has long attempted to conquer through technology and social progress. But if you were to ask entrepreneur Jennie Armstrong, being wild is a good thing. Being wild gives us strength. Being wild drives creativity. Being wild allows people to unleash their inner entrepreneur.
It is important to note that Jennie does not ascribe to the traditional definition of wild, rather embracing the term as put forth by environmentalist Paul Hawken. “We see Wild and say, oh, it’s crazy, or something like that” wrote Hawken. “But, Wild isn’t crazy. We think of it as uncontrolled. Wild is not uncontrolled. Wild means original, it means authentic, it means instinctive, it means deep rooted, it means innate, it means sanguine, it means fearless. Wild is not crazy. Wild is an awakening.”
By this definition, Jennie’s authenticity, dynamic personality, and fearless approach, make her as wild as they come. Fittingly, her startups, Wild Awake Creative and Wild Awake Publishing, contain this word in their titles, sharing it with the world like a badge of honor.
After speaking with her for about 30 seconds, you realize that Armstrong is someone who thinks deeply about the world and how she can drive meaningful change in it.
“I was always someone who was a questioner,” Jennie shared with a confident candor that shaped our conversation. “At four years old I would sit at the table and ask my parents about the origin of the universe. I remember being on the phone with my great aunt, who tried to explain some of these complex topics to me.”
From growing up in New Orleans, to four highly-accomplished years at Louisiana State University (where she was named “Woman of the Year” in the Manship School of Mass Communication), to being featured on 500 million cans as a scholarship recipient and spokesperson for Dr. Pepper, to grad school in Paris and at Oxford, to human rights work around the world, to a Washington DC startup focused on international development, and, ultimately, to Alaska, Jennie has had more incredible experiences in the past 10 years than some people will in a lifetime. The extraordinary journey that brought her here would not have been possible without her walking the walk and talking the talk when it comes to being Wild, and this approach has helped her successfully launch her two companies: Wild Awake Creative and Wild Awake Publishing.
In 2011, Jennie began doing independent creative consulting, supporting socially responsible companies and initiatives. Her independent practice eventually turned into a partnership, Lore de Force, which was recently rebranded as Wild Awake Creative when she struck out solo again and moved to Alaska.
“I started working as a full-time entrepreneur in March 2016, but I have always had a side gig alongside my full-time career” shared Jennie.
Wild Awake Creative launches social good initiatives and works with women in the social good space, helping them to launch new projects and ideas in an authentic way that can have the most impact. Recently, their focus has been on the launch of several affordable housing projects and they’ve spent the past few years supporting the launch and growth of the Equitable Evaluation Initiative. Originally, Wild Awake Creative worked with for-profit companies as well, but she has changed the model so the company can impact more communities through launching initiatives and women-led businesses, with a greater focus on community.
“When you really listen to your community, you find ways to give back,” said Jennie. “It was always about giving back and working with strategic partners: with people and non-profits. It’s all about building relationships and not launching something top-down, but engaging in human-centered design. This has always been very important to me.”
Jennie has also worked with 10 women over the past year, helping them launch their ventures, and Wild Awake Creative has evolved to meet the needs of its clients. The company has created “launch packages”, which include web templates created on Squarespace that are strategically designed, providing clients with a website version of “Mad-Libs”. These packages provide everything an entrepreneur needs to go from idea to launch, based on Jennie spending the past decade refining her approach on how to build a meaningful brand and have a successful launch.
“It’s fill-in-the blank for clients, who can watch the trainings in the launch package course, develop their messaging, and add it all to a beautiful, easy-to-use template,” said Jennie. “This allows them to differentiate themselves and launch faster so that they can focus sooner on the work they do that makes an impact.”
Wild Awake Creative has big plans for next year as well, as it prepares to launch a business accelerator and a ten-part entrepreneurship course, which will teach startup leaders how to launch ventures and ideas while prioritizing self-care and building something unique to them, versus following in the footsteps of entrepreneurs who came before them. Jennie also hopes to continue mentoring more women and help them turn their ideas and dreams into reality.
In 2018, Jennie co-founded Wild Awake Publishing, which builds off her work with Wild Awake Creative. “Storytelling is a big part of everything that we do,” said Jennie. “I love books and have had my nose in one since I was four years old. As I met incredible women through Wild Awake Creative, I began to encounter authors, like Tonya Ingram, whose poetry I love. I loved her poetry before we ever met in person. I never worked in publishing before but I saw an opportunity to provide more support for our authors in a rapidly changing industry.”
Jennie begrudgingly used the word “disruption” to describe her entry into the space, but the description is fitting, because her venture goes far beyond the support that traditional publishers offer to their authors. Through Wild Awake Creative, Jennie already had many tools at her disposal to help authors share their message. She could support brand building and web design efforts, set up e-commerce stores, and effectively launch ideas. Her company does more than simply publish books: it turns these books into something that reaches far beyond ink and paper.
“What does it look like for a book to become a movement?” questioned Jennie. “I want to publish any book, no matter the genre, that has a message that can go beyond the book and impact people’s lives.”
Last November, Wild Awake published poet Tonya Ingram’s book How to Survive Today, and proceeded to launch two campaigns to turn this book into a movement: the 30-Days of Self Care Campaign and the Support Black Poetry Campaign. Jennie’s company is also launching Tonya’s e-commerce store with inspirational products this month and is pitching a documentary about Tonya’s life.
Wild Awake Publishing is a one-stop shop for everything an author could ever want, and the author’s message is something that the company is eager to promote.
“For me, Tonya has a beautiful message,” said Jennie. “She is an advocate for those struggling with mental health, trauma, and chronic illness. We want to take her story and positively impact the lives of others.”
Jennie is also interested in exploring more creative ways to publish books. She worked with Tonya to avoid a more traditional “passive” reading experience by providing readers with places to pause and reflect on the themes that they were exploring in the text through the inclusion of prompts and journal pages.
“Throughout the book, there are pauses, questions, and places for reflection so readers can reflect on their own story, in the context of what they have read,” explained Jennie.
Looking ahead at the next two years, Wild Awake may have two other projects in the publishing pipeline, including a book by a doctor on holistic wellness and health care, as well as a children’s book series by another author. A wide range, Jennie admits, but crucial nevertheless, and certainly fitting given Wild Awake’s ambitious founding principles and bold execution.
As my interview with Jennie drew to a close, she provided me with a song recommendation. Her offering, “Midnight in Harlem” featured on the Tedeschi Trucks Band’s 2011 Grammy-winning debut album Revelator, was one that I had never heard before, but immediately loved. Why? Because its beautiful lyrics are open to interpretation. But as I listened to this song after our call concluded, I could not help but think back to Jennie’s journey as I heard the song’s final lines.
The streets are windy
And the subway's closing down
Gonna carry this dream
To the other side of town…
For that is what Jennie has done, and continues to do. She carries her dream and those of others to that other side of town, to the place where they may flourish and change our community, state, nation, and, finally, back around to ourselves. But a journey of this nature cannot be done by the faint of heart. Set against the backdrop of windy streets, our journey to carry our dream rests firmly on our backs. We cannot bank upon the subway or technology bailing us out. It requires us to be Wild. For at the end of the day, isn’t that what entrepreneurship is all about?