Building & Supporting an Amazing Community Culture

[00:00:00] Welcome to Elements of Community podcast about discovering and exploring the Elements of Community. I am Lucas Root, and each week we talk with a community leader about what makes their community thrive and bring value to both the leaders and the members join me as we unpack the magic of the Elements of Community.

[00:00:24] And we're back with another episode of EoC. We have an amazing guest today. One that I'm actually really excited to have this conversation with. Jackie, would you tell us a little bit about yourself.

[00:00:48] Sure. Thank you so much too, Lucas for actually having me come on your podcast. I'm very excited about this and to share, you know, my community projects with you.

[00:00:58] So my name is Jackie Nepola, and I am, I guess you would call me and categorize me as a serial entrepreneur. You know, started in the corporate world and had myself a very successful business. It was a beauty academy and, I had no previous experience either as a beautician or a hair stylist or anything.

[00:01:18] I was always loved the industry and I was so passionate about education and that's kind of where I started my journey, what building a community actually is.

[00:01:30] Okay, hold on. I mean, we can't not talk about community obviously, but what you're telling me is that you had no reason to go into the beauty world. Except that you just loved it and you did, and that's it.

[00:01:44] Yeah. And honestly, it is funny cuz my friends always would tease me like, yeah, you should have gone to beauty school back then. But that just kind of, wasn't a thing, you know, everybody went to college. My husband's an attorney and we are both really passionate about education. And we saw this awesome opportunity to take over a very struggling beauty academy. And that's what we did. And I literally, I never stepped foot into a beauty school. Until they gave me the keys to my own beauty school and like, okay, here's your beauty school's like, oh, okay.

[00:02:20] This is really happening now.

[00:02:21] Yeah, this is happening, you know, and so we had hired this director for 20 something years, but who had this experience? Da da, da, da, da two months in she's like I can't work anymore because you're running circles around me and I can't continue doing the job.

[00:02:36] I'm like, okay. So that day I became the actual owner and director of my school. And I had my 15 year old who's now 15 on my hip when she was a baby. So I then became this director and I fell in love with it. Like when you wanna talk about what your passion and your purpose is, I could really understand when people would say that to me now.

[00:03:02] Cause I never really understood it. Until that time came, when I had that. And now fast forward we're about 15 years plus experience in the industry. And I was fortunate to actually sell my beauty academy and I am actually, yay! It was a bittersweet, bittersweet there's so much I really actually didn't like about it was all the government stuff that I had to deal with.

[00:03:30] But what I loved so much was dealing with my students and my team. That was everything to me and more so I actually took my experience as a life advisor for those 15 years now took that experience and my passion of the beauty school industry and I am now have created, what's called NexGen Bos and Bos-BOS is build oneself.

[00:03:53] And now, I strictly stay in my lane of beauty school world. And I get the best of both worlds. I'm creating my community, but I don't have the responsibility of the school. So, woof, I don't have to deal with accreditation and financial aid anymore. I just get to play with students all day. Like it's the best job I could ever imagine.

[00:04:16] So taking the passion and purpose and knowing exactly what that means, I was able to do it again, basically.

[00:04:25] That's amazing. So sort of to recap you launched into a beauty school with no experience and no reason to assume that you were gonna succeed except for your passion and skills that you had so far, which is awesome, that's super bold, that's amazing.

[00:04:43] You did it for a while. You built something that was awesome enough that it was worth selling, right. It was worth something to someone else. Somebody bought it from you. They didn't just take it over. Like you sold like that's amazing. All by itself, you know, even if you had experience.

[00:05:01] And had a reason to be able to say, this is gonna succeed. Still building something that's worth selling is a huge achievement. That's amazing. And then, so you got out of that, you took a little time off, you cleared your head, you opened yourself up to thought.

[00:05:18] You're like, all right, well, what about that was amazing. What can't I live without? And what I'm hearing is the beauty industry, right? You fell so in love with it that you had to stay in it. Interaction with people and building a community and, supporting and growing personally with that community. That's what I heard.

[00:05:40] A hundred percent. It was actually what I realized most. When I sold my school, I did start another business. It was a hair product line and it was me. It was just me and I was very lonely. I was like looking around from like, wait a minute. I used to have two assistant directors.

[00:06:00] I had all these teachers, I had students during the day clients and a team and the same thing at night. So I was surrounded by people that I loved being around that was likeminded. And then I was working by myself and I hated every ounce of it, honestly, like I literally developed this whole product, pick my head up and go, I'm lonely. What do I do now?

[00:06:26] And then I couldn't go into schools anymore and speak. So I created more community again, I'm a very community driven person and that's kind of what I am.

[00:06:36] I hear that. You tried out solopreneur in an industry you know. Right. You'd succeeded. You sold a business. Like you know that industry, you were solopreneur, it wasn't for you.

[00:06:46] Yep. It was not, I did not like it. So now again, I said, I'm fortunate now that we're able to go back into the beauty schools and you know what, it's for me, it's my comfort zone.

[00:06:59] And when you find that zone, you wake up and it's just, I'm always happy because I'm happy doing what I'm doing and that's the best part for me. And I always say this, if I'm not helping somebody, if my job is not involved with other people that I could, what I call MIM.

[00:07:22] And this is a program that I started and it's MIM, Itj's M-I-M it's Mentor Inspire and Motivate. And that's what I bring in to the schools. I bring more my life advising experience my experience of being a school owner, and I've done it all in the school. So now I get to stay in my lane and I get to do what I love to do and help people at the same time.

[00:07:42] So I'm like, win-win, . And no stress about owning a school. So I have to come in and leave, you know, and still interact with the students, they message me all the time. So it's pretty cool. It's ideal.

[00:07:57] It's like you graduated from being a mother to being a grandmother.

[00:08:03] So being what we cut off for a second.

[00:08:05] A grandmother.

[00:08:07] Oh, no, I don't wanna say that, but yes.

[00:08:10] Right. I mean, you had your little family that you were growing and you were like, you know, now you come in, you get to do big, awesome things. And then you go away again. When you come back later, you do big awesome things and you go away again.

[00:08:24] It is kind of like a grandmother, right? When my kids were little, I'd be like, pass them off and my mom I'd be like my dad. Okay, here you go. Here's it just took a poop. So here you go. Exactly.

[00:08:35] That's amazing. I love it. Wow.

[00:08:39] Me too.

[00:08:39] You know, let's get to talking about the community you're building now, but how did community make your previous successful beauty school. How did community make that a success?

[00:08:52] Well, you know, this is my opinion on it actually, too, is in order to build a community, you have to have first a foundation. And the foundation is your culture what's in your company. And when we took over this struggling beauty school, it was chaos.

[00:09:11] I mean, I'm talking straight up chaos. I was like, something's not right. You know, I'm a very energy driven person. So if someone walks in our building and they're a pissed off mood and they're angry at this, I'm like, sense it all the way, someone walks in happy, I'm like, yeah, like it makes your day, you know?

[00:09:29] So I had to figure out, I was like, where are we gonna balance this? So I realized, there was this word culture, like it wasn't really big back then. Now it's a big word, you know? So back 15 years ago, you know, culture was not something really that you could find easily or what it's about.

[00:09:49] And I picked up my first book really was on, that was Pat Riley, The Winner Within and I realized that, wait a minute, if he could control a whole team of these basketball players, like I can do that here at my school. We're a group of these beautiful people that going to be a beauty professionals. So like-minded individuals.

[00:10:13] So that's what it was. And I realized. We talked the same language we all spoke, we were like, wait a minute. And so I created this culture first and I did the core values and I did this with my team, which then we go and we work with the students at the same time. So they know now they could see us working together as a team.

[00:10:35] Then we work with them and it just kind of, that was our underlying foundation. And then the community just grew from there. Because these people started seeing each other in a different way. Instead of competing with one another, cause a lot of times, unfortunately in that industry, they feel they have to compete with each other.

[00:10:56] You know, but you're at school. That's not what we do here. Competing is great, cuz yes, you can encourage each other, whatever, but it shouldn't be a battle where you're judging or being mean or however it is that communication line is the language. So my community was built upon that was first the foundation of the culture, the core values and then we just continue growing together using those core values and speaking that language, which it was like how you explain, I love how you explain that the language part of it, cuz it's true. Like when I really think about it, it was the language that we all spoke that was so common. We had all this commonality between us.

[00:11:39] I love it. Well, there's the beauty industry language, but you added a new layer on top of that. You made a sub language that was even more unique and more focused, right?

[00:11:53] Yes, exactly. It was that. You know, I looked kind of around what other schools were doing and I would listen, I used to be a huge, still I'm Gary V fan.

[00:12:06] And he always would say, watch me, you know, watch, watch and listen. And that's all I did. So I really became a really good listener and I had a nickname that used to call me Hawk because I would literally, I'm like you had nothing to, I would just say I could hear everything through the walls.

[00:12:26] Like I know everything that's going on because if I didn't know, someone else would come and tell me, you know? So what was really watching and learning how they interact. Like, I was really intrigued by it because I really felt like I found my home. I found my purpose. I found my passion. I used to work 14 hour days and I loved every minute of it, every minute of it.

[00:12:50] And it was because I felt again, that I was around the people that inspired me. They MIMed me every day, my students and my team every day, you know, they motivated me, they inspired me and they even mentored me. And some of these students, I even knew that, you know, I would literally have to say like, you helped me.

[00:13:14] And they're like, you know, they couldn't understand cuz they always thought I was helping them. But deep down...

[00:13:19] Wow. I love it.

[00:13:21] They really be helped me be a little bit more authentic and vulnerable because they were vulnerable. So they were vulnerable, it's like, well, I need to show them that I'm gonna be that way for them.

[00:13:33] Because they obviously felt that they could speak to me in this way. Well, I'm gonna reciprocate and give it back. So they could tell me stuff and I would tell them personal stuff. So I just had this way of speaking and it's just, when I speak in a group of all these beauty schools and I go in there, I'm comfortable.

[00:13:53] I go into businesses and speak. I'm kind of a little on it. I'm a little edgy, cuz it's not my people. It's not my language.

[00:14:01] Yeah.

[00:14:03] You know.

[00:14:03] Oh, I love it.

[00:14:04] And we started discovering that part of it.

[00:14:07] So one of the elements of community is common value and it sounds to me like your community's common value included MIM.

[00:14:15] Right. Motivate Inspire Mentor. And it was common. It wasn't something that you provided. It was something that the community provided and everyone, including you benefited from.

[00:14:29] Well, you know, it's really funny is I actually created the MIM society. So we thought, because we had our core values for our team, we needed a separate core values just for the students. So they could feel like they were building something they were including in something. And to remind them on the daily that we're MIMing. I know you to even make them sign a contract. like, this is your MIM contract.

[00:14:57] And we are nonjudgmental. We are supportive and we're fun. I made it very simple, three core values. Boom. And we had this big Blackboard when you walked in, that was framed really pretty when you walked into the beauty academy and on their set, the MIM Society, just to remind them on the daily, like this is who we are with each other, you know, and we would have graduates that would come back and want to what we call MIMing they'd come in and they would MIM the other current students and they would teach them things that they're learning on the outside.

[00:15:32] So then we would give them like a MIM diploma, you know, thank you for coming in and everything. So, but we turn it into a whole subculture from our culture, as a company. So we gave their own student culture and core values for them, you know, when you go to college, I used to say, you go to college, they have fraternities and sororities.

[00:15:55] Right.

[00:15:56] Right. So that was my philosophy because I was like, well, they're going to beauty school. And a lot of their parents hated the fact that they weren't going straight to college or whatever. So I was like, you know what? I know, let's start like a society, like a secret society. It's just here for them to make them feel like they had something together.

[00:16:17] Mm-hmm.

[00:16:18] Like a little community.

[00:16:21] Wow.

[00:16:22] Community within a community.

[00:16:26] Yep, I heard another sort of nugget in there that I think is beautiful and I want to pull out.

[00:16:31] Okay.

[00:16:32] One of the things that I try to understand through this podcast and share and help people learn, you know, the listeners, the audience is what makes an effective community leader.

[00:16:42] And you shared a little bit of how you became an effective community leader, at least a little bit. So let's talk about it, but let me also share what I heard. So what I heard was you are a student of your own community. Right. You're the Hawk. You are listening to absolutely everything.

[00:17:05] Not to be a hall monitor. But to be the most effective member leader. Right. Not leader of members, but member leader, you're in the community. You're part of the community. You're getting MIMed. They're motivating, inspiring, and mentoring you. You were listening and watching absolutely everything so that you could be a student of that community as the leader be a student of the community as the leader. I love it. I I'm amazed by it. What else makes an effective community leader?

[00:17:40] You know, it's funny because I wasn't the best when I first started and I am a New Yorker, Italian New Yorker, and I used to have a very short fuse and I remember sitting there one day and I had a student who was pissed off about something. And I had a teacher there with me and the student was going on and on, and I'm listening to her just bash and bash and bash me in front of my face. My instructor sitting next to me, literally leans over and says, I could feel the heat coming off your body.

[00:18:13] Because I was in the red. All I saw was red.

[00:18:17] You're fuming.

[00:18:18] Yes. Right then and there, I realized I need to fix something. Something wasn't right. You know, it's knowing, being very self-aware also is a very important factor. I believe in leadership a hundred percent. And you gotta be able to take constructive criticism as well.

[00:18:38] So I was very clear also with my team, my job was to make them a shining star. Their job was to make me a shining star. So, back and forth, back and forth. And I was a very firm believer in everybody needs someone to talk to. That is like, one of my taglines for my life coaching business, because of my school.

[00:19:05] I had students lining outside my office door where they would joke and say, I need a ticket taker, like at the deli, because we were shoeing them back to class because they needed to come in and talk. They wanted to talk. So I made it where I was available for my team to talk. I was available for my students and my team made themselves available because I did, they followed me.

[00:19:30] You know, because I allowed it, I wanted it. That's how I wanted it. I wanted us to work as a team. And I learned this from one of my mentors that you'll know when you're doing something right. Is when you walk into your business and everybody keeps doing what they're doing. No one just turned around and goes, oh shit.

[00:19:50] Here comes the boss. Let's make pretend we're working or make pretend this, or, oh, hi Jackie, hi. No like, hell no. When I walked in the building that music better have been pumping. People could have been, I don't care if you're talking, I would love to see you dancing in the middle of the hallway.

[00:20:07] Like that was our culture. That was who we were. And if I was like that, then they felt like, oh wait, I can be comfortable. Yes, comfortable making people feel comfortable was another thing.

[00:20:25] And also as a leader, like, I know how to hire the right people to put them in the right positions. I don't know how to do financial aid like a genius says, yeah, I know how to do it because I always did a little piece of every job responsibility, in my job I did, I did. So I could know and understand what the, maybe the director of first impressions was thinking. That's my front desk. So I taught classes. I did financial aid. I did this, I did everything in the building. So I know how to relate and talk to people, you know, you hire your weakness. I know my strengths. I hire all my weaknesses. That's it. That's that's the end. That was it. That's how you do it. Hire on your weaknesses and know your strengths. And I was fortunate to have the best team, best team.

[00:21:20] Awesome. Okay. So build and support an amazing company culture or community culture in this case. Right. Share in the community value. Right. So as a leader, it's not for everyone else. It's for everyone. It's not for everyone else. It's for everyone. Right. You're getting the MIMing. You're you're giving it and you're getting it.

[00:21:44] I also heard that you participate in every project, right? Cause in community, there are projects and in a corporate community or in a school community where the community involves professional outputs and theoretically it's a for profit scenario. Because communities can, and perhaps sometimes are for profit.

[00:22:06] It sounds to me like the jobs that need to be done in order for the profit to be generated. It sounds like those are projects and you're participating in everyone, even if it's only a little bit, right. You're participating in financial aid, you're participating in curriculum writing, you're participating in some of the instruction.

[00:22:24] It sounds like those are aspects of being an effective community leader and part of what you think made you awesome. And I tend to agree.

[00:22:34] Thanks. It was really because I learned to hire the right people after a while, you know, in the beginning it was tough because I didn't have a name.

[00:22:46] No one knew who we were. No one had any idea. And here I was, I was like, I'm The Boutique Academy. They're like, what the hell is that? Well, I have 12 students in my class. How many do you have? 25, 30 is what they had. I'm like, I'm not doing that. And I was able to bring on people that experience a different way in the beauty school industry.

[00:23:08] And I wasn't doing it that way. I always would say to my team, let everybody go this way to the left because the right is right for us because we're not gonna follow them. We're gonna do our own stuff. We're gonna create our own community. We're gonna create our own culture. We don't have to do what they're doing.

[00:23:24] And I was just very involved and I got the best. I always remember this. I got the best compliment from an instructor of mine who had literally years over 20 something years experience over me in the beauty school industry. And she said to me, when I had to tell them that I was leaving and selling my school, she said, you know, I'll be forever grateful for you because you were the only director and owner that I ever worked for that understand both sides.

[00:23:54] She says, you understand the business side, but you also understand the art creative side because I, myself am that person too. I'm a split. I can split it. I'm the business side, which I love I could live and breathe. I remember, I only like to talk within my strengths, this, I could talk with you all day long.

[00:24:16] Talk about finance, accounting, analytical statistics in this I'm like, oh, I can't, I wouldn't even join the conversation. I'll just keep my mouth shut, firm believe I don't say anything unless I know what I'm talking about. or experienced it. You know what I mean? So like, again, I was just in my place of being, I was in it and literally it was in it to win it.

[00:24:40] I was like, there is no word for failure here because love it so much. And I love it. Like I really did. I always would say the good outweighed the bad and boy, oh boy, you should do a show in just on the bad stuff that happens and we can get back on there. And that will be like a, like the stuff that can go on. But if you're a business owner, you know, that's part of it.

[00:25:04] I actually had a listener right in that they wanted to hear a show about the bad stuff in community. And I was thinking about it. If I find the right community leader, maybe I'll do that.

[00:25:16] Oh, yeah. Especially in a beauty school, boy, there's drama every single day, every day. I will say it every day. We got lucky and I used to, again, it's just leadership. You know, there's only so much shit I would take, you know, so you have to learn that.

[00:25:33] Right. So you have an extraordinary track record. You've built an amazing community. How are you taking what you've learned and sort of retooling that into the new community that you're building now. And what are the sort of lessons that are driving that to be successful?

[00:25:53] Well, it's experience also. You know, I'm a firm believer too on I believe your life lessons really is what helps you in your career versus going to college and like, I have a degree in business and the one thing I remember literally is my professor saying location, location, location, and made us read like this book from Lee Iota. Is that it? No. Is it Lee? I always read his name. He was the guy with the cars. I can't remember his name no

[00:26:27] Lee Iacocca, the president of Chrysler in the eighties and nineties.

[00:26:32] Correct. Yes. Yes. That is a book, I remember reading that was it, that was it. How much money did that cost me? You know what I mean? So for me it's experience. So I was very, very, again, I was in a position that I found that I loved, but there was a time to get out because again, this goes on your show.

[00:26:56] This has gotta go on the other show. I only even put it out there, but a really horrible situation happened and devastated me. It rocked me to the core. And you wanna talk about. I'm a very strong minded person and this took me down. So when one person affected another person in my building, That was it. I was done.

[00:27:20] And it was a very difficult time, but it got back up. But again, for me, it's the community part. So now all of that experience that I have, I bring it to the forefront now. And again, I am so lucky that I get to have both of the things I just love so much. And I could be in the beauty industry and I could be with these students.

[00:27:45] And I tell them, I literally, every time I go in there, I say, I'm gonna talk to you. Like I talk to my students. And this is what I'm gonna do because again, as experience. So I'm fortunate to have that, but I also trained myself too. I read tons of books on culture tons, because that is what I knew I needed. And that is what I know. I just loved. So we focus on and build.

[00:28:12] You weren't just a student of your community. You were a student of culture in general. And part of the inspiration that your community brought to you was to be inspired, to become more knowledgeable and better at building and supporting culture. Not just community but culture.

[00:28:30] Right, because I also had an audience. I had an audience all the time, so I had to make sure I knew what I was talking about and like, what am I doing over here? Like, what is she doing? Like, why is she doing this now? You know what I mean? It was like, well, it's all for you guys.

[00:28:45] You know, it's all community driven. It's all culture based, you know, and whatever I could bring to them I'm gonna try my damnedest to bring to them. So to bring what I already started was so easy. It was the starting point that was the most difficult, you know, now I just feel like I have a blueprint, you know, and I have the blueprint already, so I could just tweak it as I go along, if I want to.

[00:29:11] Amazing. Thank you, Jackie. This has been a fantastic conversation. I've enjoyed it. I have a curve ball for you, a zinger.

[00:29:20] Oh no. I only do good with all the spot stuff, but okay. But I'll try.

[00:29:24] No, no you're gonna like this one. If there was a question that I should have asked you, but didn't what would it be?

[00:29:29] Ooh, see, I don't do good with that kind of stuff. What would be the question? Oh my gosh. If there was a question that, what was a question, you would ask me a question.

[00:29:42] What should I have asked you, but didn't. What should I have asked you? What question do you want to have been asked?

[00:29:50] I don't know, maybe I guess maybe. Well, I don't know. I think I answer like why I do what I do. I don't know. I feel like I've answered that. Did I answer that though? I think

[00:29:59] I feel like you answered it cuz you love the industry and you love the community.

[00:30:05] How about what is, I got a question. I got it for you. Ask what do I do for fun?

[00:30:10] There you go. That's right, Jackie, what do you do for fun?

[00:30:15] I love going to concerts outside, outdoor concerts cuz it's community. It's community, like I even do community in my personal life. And I started that when I lived, where you are in San Diego. When I was younger in my twenties, I was a big time club promoter and raver.

[00:30:36] And if you read Tony Shay's book, Delivering Happiness, he was one who owns Zappos, who was killed in a fire. He told us about community is a lot like raving it's unity, it's what it is. So me, even on my outside of business, I do this personally, my friends that I hang out with and we, we go together to Mexico every year, like 20 of us to a music festival for five days.

[00:31:07] I call it white people reggae it's like reggae on the beach with all the bands from California and it's a community. It is all like-minded language, same language. And I do that actually for me, with my husband, who I've been with 28 years. So when I'm in community, I am like living, breathing community in personal and business. It's just who I am.

[00:31:33] I love it. That's awesome. Thank you, Jackie.

[00:31:36] Oh, okay. That was a good question. I got it.

[00:31:38] Amazing. As we wrap up, where can our listeners find you?

[00:31:42] Oh so I'm on Instagram at Jackie Nepola and it's N E not A, E like elephant P like Peter O L A on Instagram, on Facebook. And they'll start seeing eventually NextGen Bos will be up there and it's N E X G E N BOS. So we're just starting that Instagram too.

[00:32:05] Awesome. Awesome. I'm excited to see what you do with it.

[00:32:08] Thank you. Me too. Me too. I'm really excited.

[00:32:12] Thank you, Jackie.

[00:32:15] Thank you for joining us this week on Elements of Community. Make sure to visit our website ElementsOfCommunity.us, or you can subscribe to the show on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or via RSS.

[00:32:29] So you'll never miss a show. If you found value in this show, we'd appreciate a rating on iTunes or if you'd simply tell a friend about the show that would help us out too. If you like the show, you might wanna check out our EOC Inner Circle, where we deep dive with each guest on the inner workings of their community.

[00:32:49] We cover things like community model, profitability and engagement strategies. You can join the inner circle at ElementsOfCommunity.us/inner circle. Be sure to tune in next week for our next episode.