Jackie Courtney
Who are you?
Mother, wife, friend, entrepreneur, aspiring relaxed person, sometimes writer, fashion lover
Where do you live?
Brooklyn mostly, a bit back/forth to Iowa
Who took your photo?
My husband Patrick
How do you define success?
At the core, I think I define success as pushing past your fears and the boundaries you set for yourself, whatever those may be, and however big or small. The perimeter outside of our comfort zones is where we change and evolve, and anything that moves us there is success. Culturally, it is hard to divorce success from the idea of success as a large, seismic event that occurs after which we are somehow changed, and I think the truth is more incremental. The successes are the small ones, the ripples that eventually make waves.
I also think kindness is very underrated.
What is your favorite success?
Running my business for 6 years, there are some shiny things in there like being on Shark Tank and the NYT and crossing our first million dollars in sales… those are pretty good to say out loud. but staying with it and weathering the harder days (hello year 4!) are where I found some of the grit and resolve I am most proud of.
What is your favorite failure?
Failing is not fun. It’s so great and has so much to offer, mostly because you live through it and see the other side and that it came, and it went but it really is unpleasant as it happens. Recently I had an epic Instagram faux pas fail, which was embarrassing, but it was one of the first times that I shared it as it happened and addressed it head on, and chose to be vulnerable during it, so I suppose that. Failure is all how you learn and deal with something, right? Maybe it’s good that my ‘favorite’ one is one just 3 weeks ago haha.
What is your favorite thing about yourself?
My humility… though does a person full of humility cite themselves as such? If that doesn’t count, maybe my wit ;) See, there you go, I snuck two in. huzzah!
Who inspires you?
I am very inspired by Brené Brown, her work on vulnerability, and I saw Taryn Toomey recently and was blown away. Women, mothers, people that choose to smile back on the subway.
Jackie is wearing Toni | the jewel.
