902 Jenna Capozzi:

Wings of Inspired Business, EP902, Jenna Capozzi

Melinda Wittstock:

Coming up on Wings of Inspired Business:

Jenna Capozzi:

My thing is if we stay busy, we’re not going to start doubting ourselves. If they’re having any sort of that inner dialogue or those negative thoughts, I simply point out that that’s not really what’s happen happening today. That is some past something, some weird criticism that’s somewhere on the line that’s just coming into sort of today and it’s just not true. I keep them very busy with big targets. And we also create very large goals because if our goals are big enough, then our attention and our imagination is on creating that piece of future instead of worrying about the day to day.

Melinda Wittstock:

Oftentimes it’s hard to dream big when you let your current circumstances limit those dreams. So how can we turn all those inner doubts we all have into bigger dreams? Jenna Capozzi is on a mission to help women break barriers in entrepreneurship as confident leaders and today she shares her mission at Elev8pwr, and why imperfect action always beats impossible perfection and how to overcome doubts to step into our true power.

Melinda Wittstock:

Hi, I’m Melinda Wittstock and welcome to Wings of Inspired Business, where we share the inspiring entrepreneurial journeys, epiphanies, and practical advice from successful female founders … so you have everything you need at your fingertips to build the business and life of your dreams. I’m all about paying it forward as a five-time serial entrepreneur, so I started this podcast to catalyze an ecosystem where women entrepreneurs mentor, promote, buy from, and invest in each other. Because together we’re stronger, and we all soar higher when we fly together and lift as we climb.

Melinda Wittstock:

Today we meet an inspiring entrepreneur who found herself at a crossroads at age 51 after an accomplished career in the entertainment and advertising industries —working on major films, television shows, and commercials, running a successful production company, and winning multiple awards. Driving to meet a client, Jenna Capozzi suddenly felt an overwhelming surge of boredom. Halted at a red light, a new vision stirred inside her – a vision to make substantial societal changes through leadership, particularly inspired by the transformative impact women have had in her own life. So, she embarked on her entrepreneurial career with a mission to empower women to make a bigger impact.

Melinda Wittstock:

Jenna will be here in a moment, and first:

Melinda Wittstock:

Melinda Wittstock:

It’s Election Day here in the United States. How are you feeling? Nervous, excited?  We stand on the verge of one of our most consequential decisions as a country – either electing our first female president Kamala Harris or gambling away our democracy, our rights, and our freedoms with Donald Trump, the twice impeached convicted felon who bankrupted 6 businesses, even a casino; a man who faces 3 other indictments for trying to steal the last election and absconding with top secret classified documents; a man who gave Vladimir Putin must needed covid testing equipment as tens of thousands were dying. I could go on about his racism, his misogyny, his recklessness. Yes, it’s the most consequential election of our lifetime, and certainly since 1860’s election of Abraham Lincoln before the Civil War. This, compared to a powerful accomplished woman, arguably more qualified than any other candidate before her, a woman who is dedicated to serving all Americans. So, if you haven’t already, I hope you will cast your vote for Kamala Harris, a woman who stands aligned with the mission of this podcast – to lift women and all people to their best possible lives. In the past weeks I’ve shared on this show all the reasons why I think Harris is better for the economy and entrepreneurship, our national security and democratic institutions, and of course our rights as women to control our own lives and bodies. Here is what I know. I don’t want nor do I need Donald Trump’s or any man’s protection whether I want it or not. I don’t want my daughter or any woman to have fewer rights than her grandmother. I don’t want a fascist fanboy who threatens political enemies and the press with firing squads or hardworking immigrants with mass deportation.  Here is what I do want: A thriving, diverse and multicultural society with democratic institutions and a level playing field and opportunity economy for all of us not to just get by, but to truly prosper. Kamala Harris is one of the most accomplished leaders I have witnessed in my life, running a truly flawless and joyous campaign with policy specifics that lift up all Americans. The choice is clear. Please vote and if you’ve voted already, take some time and volunteer to help others get to the polls. Let’s turn the page. Kamala not Dramala. Vote!

Melinda Wittstock:

So, what better a day to be talking about what it takes to empower women leaders to new heights in business. How to overcome all the perfectionism, imposter syndrome, and any other mindset issue that holds us back. How to dream big. We have a powerful example in Kamala Harris, and today we talk to the founder of Elev8pwr, a woman on a mission to help us all “turn the page” – dream and succeed big.

Melinda Wittstock:

Jenna Capozzi brings more than 30 years of C-level executive experience to her work empowering women, having led innovative projects for global brands such as Samsung, Target, and BMW, and produced notable films and TV shows. Transitioning from the spotlight of Hollywood and the world of advertising, Jenna leverages her extensive background to mentor women to make a big impact and achieve their goals with confidence and clarity.

Melinda Wittstock:

Today we talk about helping women take actionable steps towards realizing the biggest of their dreams, why it’s vital never to wait for the so-called “perfect moment” but learning to build the plane as we fly it. As Jenna says, “don’t think just do” and focus on who you’re helping rather than how perfect you are. We also talk about the power of collaboration rather than competition and how to overcome any subconscious mindset blocks that may be holding you back.

Melinda Wittstock:

Let’s put on our wings with the inspiring Jenna Capozzi and be sure to download the podcast app Podopolo so we can keep the conversation going after the episode.

[INTERVIEW]

Melinda Wittstock:

Jenna, welcome to Wings.

Jenna Capozzi:

Thank you. I’m excited to be here.

Melinda Wittstock:

You know, you’ve navigated Hollywood and we’re going to get into all of that. And we were joking just before we started this that if you can succeed in Hollywood, you can succeed as an entrepreneur. You’ve probably seen everything, right? But something changed for you last year and you leapt into a whole new direction with Elev8pwr.Tell me more about Elev8pwr. And what was the impetus to found it and run with it?

Jenna Capozzi:

Yeah, you know, the impetus was boredom, to be quite honest with you. I had just turned 51, and I remember I was driving to a client’s house, and I was thinking to myself, what do I really want to do with the next 50 years? You know, how can I be a bit more of use? It just felt like I reached the top of my game. I’ve worked on major films; I’ve worked on major television shows. I ran my own production company, I’ve done major commercials, I’ve won awards. You know, I’ve been around who’s who, and here I am just bored, driving to a very lucrative client whom I was completely helping in the area of advertising and marketing. I started moving into consulting and I thought, you know, I look around this world and I go, how can I really impact change? And I thought, you know, it’s really leaders who can make change. And then I started to think, this is how the whole dialogue went, honestly, sitting at a red light here in Florida, where, you know, there are five-minute-long red lights. And I was thinking, you know, for me, women have impacted the most amount of change in my life.

Jenna Capozzi:

I lost my father when I was 2 years old. My mom had to be, you know, a, a single mom with two girls and had to be a go getter and survive. And so, I always had that inspiration. And really my girlfriends were always people I can rely on. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love my husband, he’s wonderful, but there’s nothing like that real help and camaraderie that I get from my, from my girlfriends. And I thought, you know, if I can take all the knowledge I have of boosting brands, helping others build an audience, get their influence out there, perhaps I can tip the cup a little bit in the direction of more goodness, of having better leaders, sane leaders with sane messages, influencing whatever zone or area they work in in order to really impact change. And that got me excited. And so that’s how it started.

Melinda Wittstock:

How beautiful. There are so many women now coming into entrepreneurship, kind of discovering really their own value.

Jenna Capozzi:

Yes.

Melinda Wittstock:

You know, and our voices really are our value. And like at that age too, like at, you know, you know…

Jenna Capozzi:

Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

…50S, just suddenly, like, there’s no Fs left to give, you know, so.

Jenna Capozzi:

Yeah, exactly, exactly.

Melinda Wittstock:

Just go for it. So, so tell me, the types of clients that you work with and how specifically you’re helping them. Is. Does it range from, like, mindset to their marketing or, like, what aspects of leadership do they need the most help?

Jenna Capozzi:

Yeah, so I really focus on the group of 40 plus right now. It’s the niche that’s closest to me. I understand it the best. And it’s hitting women at a place where, you know, the kids are older, maybe there’s a change of career. Some are retired and want to really dive into their passion or some idea that they’ve always wanted to pursue. So that’s the group I help. Surprisingly, I didn’t think I would have to do as much as I have to do in regards to mindset. I thought it was going to be more of a consulting education in really how to get their message out there, how to hit a broad scope of an audience, all the different, you know, strategic partnerships and all the different strategies of marketing.

Jenna Capozzi:

I’m finding that there is, excuse me, a bit of a mindset help. And really, you touched on this in our previous conversation. It’s. Wow, do we wrestle with perfectionism? And, wow, do we wrestle with lack of confidence? It’s quite interesting.

Jenna Capozzi:

You know, I was at this conference recently, and this gentleman was speaking, and he. And it was. It was about how to speak on stage, right? And I was there listening, and he said, how many people here are going to sell a program for $500 or less? And there is a quite large group that raised their hand, and he said, how many people here are going to sell their product for $1,000 or more? Another group raised their hands, and he said, okay, the ones 500 unless, please raise your hands. Look around the room. 80% of you are women. Now let’s look at the thousand plus, 80% of you are men. He’s like, it’s so interesting to me, right? And he said, I bet you most of you women probably have three or four degrees. You probably have 20 years of experience in what it is that you want to help others with, yet you’re still diminishing yourself to be a $500 product.

Jenna Capozzi:

And he said, I bet you all you gentlemen out there watched a few YouTube videos and you’re ready to go. And everyone started laughing. You know whether it was true or not true.

Melinda Wittstock:

Men don’t have that issue with pricing that women tend to, you know, underprice and then over deliver every time and every time and we’ve got to change that. And I, I don’t know what the fear is like maybe deep subconsciously just not knowing our own value or, or you know, is that it really, is that what it comes down to?

Jenna Capozzi:

Here’s my take. You know, for the Gen Xers out there, we’ve grown up in a very different business environment. Okay. Especially for me in Hollywood. Right. It was very male dominated. You could not talk about your, you did not talk about your personal life at all.

Jenna Capozzi:

You couldn’t be a mother. No one had to know that. Right. It was like in for women. It’s interesting because people say, oh, you were in Hollywood, you must have been, you know, dealing with all this stuff. And it’s like, yeah, I was. But my thinking, my survival tactics where I just have to do 125%. I didn’t, I wasn’t even going, oh poor me or because I’m a woman.

Jenna Capozzi:

Because there was no room for that. There was no, there was no vantage point of that that you have now. I grew up in a more male run business, you know, and so I think that’s where we feel that I have to do extra, extra, extra and I have to charge less and do extra, extra. So, you think that I’m worthy of being there and it’s just like so the wrong way to look at things.

Melinda Wittstock:

And I detect scarcity in that.

Jenna Capozzi:

Yes, right.

Melinda Wittstock:

And it’s encouraged by what’s around us. I think this is really interesting kind of generational thing. I think that the Gen Z is coming up, right. Gen Z women have much more of a sense of their value. I really hope so.

Jenna Capozzi:

Well, here’s the thing. I have one client, she’s 29 years old and she’s amazing, amazing. And she had, what she’s running into is ageism because they’re like, well, she’s 29 and so some of her clients are talking down to her like, are you sure you can handle this? That’s what one of her clients said to her. Okay. And I said, you fire that client. And she said, well, but the, and she went into scarcity yeah, but the money and this. And I said, honey, I’m like, it is absolutely not okay for you to have a client who asks you if you can do it when you have such an amazing track record, and you’ve improved social media by 2,500%. She needs to look at statistics.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah, like I wouldn’t anyone in social media that’s like older.

Jenna Capozzi:

Exactly, exactly, exactly, exactly. But, but here’s the thing. She did get in communication with that client, and she did set them straight. And you know what happened? Literally the next day her dream client reached out to her and said, I’m ready to start with you. And what I, what the lesson was even her a Gen Z, hold your position. It’s okay, you don’t have to be rude, you don’t have to be horrible. But it’s also not okay for someone to talk to you like that. And so, by doing that it was like all of a sudden her ideal client came into play, you know, really big, really big, well-known client and she’s going to smash it.

Jenna Capozzi:

I think it’s a bit more of a female thing but I think there is more awareness of it.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah. Well, the irony of course is often the more you charge, the more people actually want what you have because they think it’s valuable. Like people like to be paying a little bit more. You know what I mean? Like if you’re, if you’re, if you’re, yeah, nickel and diming, then I, I’ve found in any of the businesses that I’ve done that are more oriented, that if I’m charging a low amount I attract much more difficult clients that expect a lot more for less. But if I’m charging more, they tend to be a lot more easygoing. I don’t know why that is kind of counterintuitive.

Jenna Capozzi:

100% 1. Every time I did it, you know, when I had my production company I was, I was kind of like a mini agency for companies that were between the, you know, 5-to-20-million-dollar range where they couldn’t really afford that $100 to $200,000 retainer for a big ad agency. Right. And but if I took on, you know, if times were a little lean and I decided to take someone on for, you know, half the price, it was always more trouble. Absolutely. Because you’re devaluing your ability, you know, it’s so true.

Melinda Wittstock:

So, it’s interesting what you said about mindset before, that you didn’t think that it was going to be as much a mindset thing. But you know, it’s, it’s funny on this entrepreneurial journey because at the end of the day, you quickly discover just by entrepreneuring that it’s all an inner game. If you need to learn how to master sales or you need to the leadership or like any of these things that you need to be good at, to, to really succeed, starting running, scaling, growing, you know, your business, it’s going to be a mindset issue.

Jenna Capozzi:

Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah, this is really what it comes down to. So, like, what are some of the other things? Do you, do you find that women have, like, with the whole thing around perfectionism, imposter syndrome, all of these things, how do you deal with that with all the women that you work with?

Jenna Capozzi:

I keep them busy. My thing is if we stay busy, we’re not going to start doubting ourselves. And the other thing is, when I work with my clients, they have me and I make myself very available. So, if they’re having any sort of that inner dialogue or those negative thoughts, I simply point out that that’s not really what’s happen happening today. That is some past something, some weird criticism that’s somewhere on the line that’s just coming into sort of today and it’s just not true. I keep them very busy with big targets. And we also create very large goals because if our goals are big enough, then our attention and our imagination is on creating that piece of future instead of worrying about the day to day. And oh no, you know, like someone just came by and said, oh, what are you doing? I said, oh, I got to jump on a podcast.

Jenna Capozzi:

Like, oh, aren’t you nervous? I’m like, no, it’s a conversation. It’s going to be totally fine. You know, it’s just, wow, should I be nervous? No, you know, well, that’s the other.

Melinda Wittstock:

Thing around us, like with our girlfriends or just even family and whatnot. Sometimes their fears invade us. They mean well most of the time, right. But they also project their own stuff onto us 100%.

Jenna Capozzi:

I was meeting with a woman yesterday. I make myself very available, so people can just book a free session with me at any time. So, she was someone I hadn’t met before. And she popped on and I said to her, I said, what is your goal? And she, you know, she thought about it she, she wants to be a mom influencer. And she said, my goal is to get a free trip for my family. I said, “that’s your goal? Seriously?” And she looked at me and I said, that’s not a big enough goal.

Jenna Capozzi:

I can get a free trip right now. What’s the goal? So, I said, I’m going to, I’m going to go away, I’m going to come back in two minutes. You can tell me your goal. I came back and she just lit up. She was like, wait. My goal is to create mom communities in different cities and different chapters where we’re helping each other and we’re doing, you know, it just all of a sudden became this big picture and she looked beautiful as she’s talking about her goals. And then I said to her, I said, okay, now be careful who you tell. Your family and everyone have their best intentions, but I’m going to tell you something, they might not dream as big as you, which is why the first thing you said to me is, I want a free trip.

Jenna Capozzi:

You can keep telling them you want that free trip, but only tell those that have your back, you know. And she looked at me a little confused, but I think she got the point.

Melinda Wittstock:

Think a lot of women limit their aspirations sometimes specifically around other women as well. Like, I don’t know, I’ve been in a series of just female focused entrepreneur groups or whatever. And I remember right before the pandemic and associated with this podcast, I started doing retreats for high performing female entrepreneurs. And I remember sales calls saying things like, I want us all to be able to learn how to play a bigger game. And I started to notice when I said the word bigger game.

Jenna Capozzi:

Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

Looks like a split second of abject fear in their eyes. And I’m like, what’s that about?

Jenna Capozzi:

Wow.

Melinda Wittstock:

What’s that about? Like, they kind of like don’t feel that they have the right.

Jenna Capozzi:

Yes.

Melinda Wittstock:

Or there’s some sort of fear that they’ll be judged by other women. And there was that aspect like, of, you know, so, like, it’s not very often that you hear a woman say, right, I have a moonshot and I’m building a billion-dollar business.

Jenna Capozzi:

Right, right.

Melinda Wittstock:

You just don’t really hear that. You hear men say that. And so, women really do need to affirm that in others. And like, if we’re in scarcity, then we sort of think, oh, and this goes back to the kind of Gen X thing like, oh, if she succeeds, I won’t be able to Right. Some of that old programming still sort of exists in this subterranean. So, like how do we break out of this? It’s like there’s room for everybody. I mean there really, there really is.

Jenna Capozzi:

I went to dinner with someone last night and she said, hey, I just want to let you know that I’m about to do a course on the same subject that you have a course on. And I said, fantastic. And she said, really? I said, Absolutely. There’s 8 billion people on this planet and there’s, you know, half of them are women. Like, absolutely. Go, go. Because what you’re teaching them is fantastic.

Jenna Capozzi:

I’m teaching it my own way. You’re teaching it your way. Like, who cares at the end of the day, you know. It was really cute though.

Melinda Wittstock:

In the context of women raising, say for their startups, like a scalable technology company. Right. That kind of thing. Right. Where you need venture capital and women only get 2% of the venture capital.

Jenna Capozzi:

Yes.

Melinda Wittstock:

Crazy, right?

Jenna Capozzi:

Crazy.

Melinda Wittstock:

We tend to return much more on every dollar. We survive. Like we have a much higher survival rate than.

Jenna Capozzi:

Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

Only found, you know, founded companies and such. So, all the data is in our favor and yet we still. So, so, you know, we have to be better, you know, all this sort of stuff.

Jenna Capozzi:

Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

So yeah. Started to, you know, look at, it’s always been a goal of mine to invest in other female founded companies in this space because it’s been so hard for me…

Jenna Capozzi:

Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

For so many years. And so, you know, I’ve started to, you know, go to, you know, angel group meetings or like start to do a review. Other women founded startups. Yeah, fascinating. Just when you look at their financial projections.

Jenna Capozzi:

Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

Any that could be a billion-dollar business, their projections are really low. So, in a Q and A, I found myself asking this woman, like, tell me how you could make this a bigger company. Like I want to see, like if you really knocked it out of the park, what would your numbers be? She, she was like flummoxed. She couldn’t see it.

Jenna Capozzi:

Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

That immediately would disqualify her for funding because the absolutely capitalist wants to see that it could be a unicorn. Right?

Jenna Capozzi:

That’s right. That’s right. It’s interesting that you bring that up because I was approached about six weeks ago from a very almost billionaire investor man and said, hey, I know him through a friend. Through a friend. Through a friend. And he said, hey, I’m noticing you. I’m noticing you online a bit more. I would like to have a meeting with you.

Jenna Capozzi:

I said, okay, you know, go and have a meeting. I show, you know, my projections are literally by 2026, I’m going to be hitting 10 million. I’m completely on track for that. And I have it all done, and I show them. And I wasn’t really looking for an investor because I’d been down that road before with my other company and I went down that road when I started this one, and it was just, it just so many nos. It’s just so disappointing that I’m just. Forget it.

Melinda Wittstock:

Destroying. Actually. It really is.

Jenna Capozzi:

Like, it’s just forget it. Right. I get a little like my Sicilian blood boils at that point and I just want to tell everyone to F off. But I said, fine, I’ll. I’ll entertain this conversation. And, and it, and it was a no. And it was fine. Like, honestly, it wasn’t really my ideal person to invest in me.

Jenna Capozzi:

You know what I mean? It just wasn’t. But it’s interesting. Even with proof of concept, even with everything in my statistics and my goals and what I even created in the last eight months and the projections, it was still no. And I felt, I did feel that it was because the lack of confidence is me being a woman. It’s interesting. I just think it’s interesting.

Melinda Wittstock:

It’s true. There have been all kinds of studies about this.

Jenna Capozzi:

Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

They, there’s just an unconscious bias. And a lot of investors, they invest based on pattern recognition. And their pattern recognition is, is actually mirror recognition. Like, like, does this person look interesting? Literally? And they look at people like, I don’t know, Facebook, they see a guy in a hoodie that dropped out of MIT, Harvard, Stanford. So, if you don’t fit that pattern automatically and women fit a different pattern, women tend to come into entrepreneurship later in life with deep domain expertise. They’ve already been great leaders.

Melinda Wittstock:

Like, they’ve hired and fired, and they’ve dealt with. They know their industry inside out, so they know exactly how to disrupt it. They have so much more going for them. And, and there is like an ageism on that end of things as well.

Jenna Capozzi:

Right.

Melinda Wittstock:

Literally don’t understand. And they’re burning money. Like, they’re leaving money on the table. So, like, it’s a big passion of mine, you know?

Jenna Capozzi:

Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

And you know, the company that I’m building to really change that game, educate more women about women, investing in other women. Yeah. Yeah, that happened.

Jenna Capozzi:

Yeah, absolutely. And you know, when I had my, my company before, I, I loved hiring working moms because, man, did they get the job done. They didn’t have any time.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah, the less time, it’s kind of like the more you get done, like you get really good. And, and men are not. It’s so funny. Like the, the lead investor in my company who has a new fund, I mean, he has now come to the conclusion that women are better CEOs and that he really only really wants to invest in, in female founded companies. Right, interesting. And it’s interesting like he’s in his early 60s and he just, he’s a serial entrepreneur himself. He’s seen it all. He’s been a.

Jenna Capozzi:

Sure.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right. And he’s just like, hands down, like women are better.

Jenna Capozzi:

Well, you know, let’s look at Hollywood, right? The top producers, you know. And somebody asked me on a recent podcast, what does a producer do anyways? And I said, well, the producer is literally responsible from the inception of an idea to the money, the return for the investors on a film. It’s like, right, it’s an entrepreneur and the majority of the most successful ones in Hollywood are women. We were a little like guided on that track. That’s why I ended up as a producer as well. You know, it’s like you weren’t the director. You weren’t, you know, you didn’t have sort of the sexy roles, but you were the producer.

Jenna Capozzi:

And what was interesting too is it would come out like, oh, producers don’t do anything or who cares about it? It was, you know, sort of this war against the producers. You know, it’s just, well, happened without the producer. That’s right. Keep someone to keep it online.

Melinda Wittstock:

I’m laughing because I went to a dinner party not so long ago in, in Hollywood and in the, and there was someone there who had been like a. I, I think he was like the producer of La Brea, and I, I just asked him what’s the hardest thing. I was really intrigued, like, what’s the hardest thing about your job? And he paused for a second. He said, the people.

Jenna Capozzi:

Yeah, yeah. The last big project I did was holiday campaign commercials for Samsung. So, you know, there’s 180 people on set and I’m the executive producer. And it is, it’s all those Personalities. And I think, you know, this is where that skillset lends itself to what, you know, being an entrepreneur is like. I have to move those 180 people at the same time to collaborate on something creatively, you know, and get it done on budget and on time. Absolutely. And you’re dealing with quite a facet of egos in different types and different ones.

Melinda Wittstock:

I can only imagine, like, all the stories.

Jenna Capozzi:

That’s an off, off podcast conversation. But yes…

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Melinda Wittstock:

And we’re back with Jenna Capozzi, founder and CEO of Elev8pwr, on a mission to empower the next generation of women leaders.

[INTERVIEW CONTINUES]

Melinda Wittstock:

But that’s really hard because you’ve got a lot of different people. You’ve got to align them in a goal, all with all. And they all literally have different lenses. And like, before you even get into mindset, it’s just like they have different. They all think their job is the most important one. Right. Or whatever.

Jenna Capozzi:

That’s right. Whatever it is. Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

So, I’m fascinated by that.

Jenna Capozzi:

Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

Was it that made you a good leader in that context? Like, how did you manage that?

Jenna Capozzi:

It’s interesting. I mean, I definitely am a bit of a natural born leader, and I would attribute my leadership qualities to. This might sound funny, but playing sports. I played on the U.S. soccer team when I was 16 years old. It was before it was pro. There wasn’t much future for us, but

I was touring all around Europe. I was the youngest player, but I was the team captain, and I was one of three team captains. And that was really where I learned about perseverance and keeping the team together. And it’s a group of girls, teenage girls. You know, things happen. It’s like you have to keep the morale up. And that was really where I learned the power of being a leader and getting everybody on the same page to literally make a goal.

Jenna Capozzi:

You know, that’s what we had to do in our game. And that translated itself. It’s why I pushed my kids to play team sports as well, no matter how difficult. Because I think that managing of others, and I mean, what is a sport anyways? It’s a form of communication. Right. It’s one ball, 11 players. You got to be in tune with each other. You know, you got to pass it, and you’re all directed towards making one goal.

Jenna Capozzi:

And so I’ve just taken that, and that is transcendence itself, up and through. But I think the other piece to it and sort of my quote unquote superpower is I really have an. A strong ability to understand another person. And I think when You.

Melinda Wittstock:

Yeah, right. Yeah. I’m actually listening, being curious and whatnot. So, like, women do. I think that’s one of the things that makes us better leaders when we step through it with confidence.

Jenna Capozzi:

Yes.

Melinda Wittstock:

Own that. It’s not some soft skill. Like it’s critical.

Jenna Capozzi:

Yes, yes, it is. Because if you can understand the other person, it doesn’t mean that I’m giving that other person sympathy, but if I can understand that other person, I can understand what are their challenges, and also what are their strengths that they’re just not seeing. I’m going, wait a second. You’re actually a brilliant communicator. Get out there. Stop it. Stop holding yourself back or whatever it is, you know?

Melinda Wittstock:

Exactly.

Jenna Capozzi:

And that I think is key because what is the whole purpose of a leader? It’s not to be a dictator. Right. That’s false information. The point of a leader is to be able to inspire others to be as competent as they possibly can. And everyone’s driven on, like, a common goal, you know? Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

So, like, as a leader. Yeah. This is, this is very important as a leader. It’s about empowering others to be their best. Right. So, like, in any company, if you, you know, you hire all these people and you want results from them, but they may have all kinds of different mindset issues, or they may not have the right information, or they need really kind of help and encouragement to be their best selves. Right. In.

Melinda Wittstock:

In that, in that context. So those whole command control structures are really, like, flying apart because they, they really do.

Jenna Capozzi:

Right.

Melinda Wittstock:

Work. They especially don’t work with young, younger generations who see through that. Just don’t want to deal with that.

Jenna Capozzi:

Right.

Melinda Wittstock:

As a leader, it’s not about you and your ego. It’s about empowering others. Right.

Jenna Capozzi:

Yeah. Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

And. And so, like, how to get out of the way of, like, you know, I, you know, in, in the context of men, like, they have to kind of step back from their ego. Women tend to be less egoic, right?

Jenna Capozzi:

Yep. Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

So, for women, what holds them back from really stepping into their full power? I guess, as empowering leaders, like, do we get just a little bit, you know, I don’t know.

Jenna Capozzi:

Yeah. I mean, I think what I’ve recognized is I re. At least the women I’m working with is I just remind them that it’s not about them, right? And I said, and I put their focus on who are you helping? Especially when they have to go on camera or they have to, you know, have a sense of confidence. I said, it’s not about you. It’s not about how you look on the camera. It’s about who are you talking to on the other side of that lens, who are you helping. The minute I say that they all chill out because their intention is to actually help, you know, and as. And I said, let’s just take the attention off you and just put it on someone else.

Jenna Capozzi:

They’re like, oh, thank you, please. I said, because it’s that willingness to help. And granted, I don’t work with just anybody. I work with people who really want to impact change. And I’m building a community of people want to impact change. And I say, I don’t care if you’re going to help 5 people, 100 people or 1000 people or a million people, as long as you’re helping someone else, you are impacting a change, you know. And so, when the minute I put the attention on who they’re helping or what their purpose is or what they’re really doing, then they seem to step into that role much easier.

Melinda Wittstock:

Oh, interesting. Because we. We do tend to start companies because of a mission, because of a purpose, or we’ve had a problem in our own correct that we’ve mastered, so now we can help somebody else. Like whether it’s like in correct tech or whether it’s this or whether it’s that sale, anything. Right. And do tend to be really focused on that service. So as long as mentally and emotionally we can kind of stay in that, we get, we get like. It’s like stepping outside of yourself.

Jenna Capozzi:

Yeah, yeah, exactly. And I think that is the sweet spot for an empathetic woman who wants to be a leader. You know, that is really what I mean. Every single one of my ladies, if you ask them, be like, you know, what is your, the biggest win? What is that moment that you feel like, you know, you’ve kind of hit it. And they said, when my client or customer has an aha moment, that is the beauty of what I’m doing. And so, when I hear that from someone, I’m like, great. We can absolutely work together.

Melinda Wittstock:

That’s amazing, right?

Jenna Capozzi:

Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

Just somebody like, well, well, entrepreneurs are problem solvers, right? We see a problem. How. How many people can we fix this for? Right?

Jenna Capozzi:

For great.

Melinda Wittstock:

Also, to the point where we’ve actually changed something in the world. So, like, that to me is the whole point of entrepreneurship.

Jenna Capozzi:

Right, Right.

Melinda Wittstock:

The why. Why we do it. And yet we put all these kind of blocks in our own way. Like, I think it’s interesting with women and the issue about visibility and, like, how many women over the years that I’ve mentored or whatever who are like, okay, well, I can’t really do my photos yet. Or I can’t really do video yet because.

Jenna Capozzi:

Right.

Melinda Wittstock:

I need to lose 10 pounds. Or, like, I mean, all these blocks. So.

Jenna Capozzi:

So that’s right.

Melinda Wittstock:

And at a time when authentic authenticity or imperfection actually works better…

Jenna Capozzi:

Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

…than not.

Jenna Capozzi:

It’s true. And I have this motto that anybody who works with me knows that I say it over and over. I even have merchandise that says it, which is, don’t think, just do. Because we can think ourselves out of any amazing, bright idea, and it just puts us. It just gets us in trouble, you know? And so, I really push my ladies to do that. Like, some who are a little bit shy to go on social media, I’m like, just start with a live alive. I said, yeah, because you can’t edit it. It’s out there.

Jenna Capozzi:

There’s nothing you can do about it. But you communicate it. You know, you’re helping somebody.

Melinda Wittstock:

Right. And then you learn. And this is the other thing, too, is learning from failure. We’re all going to fail all the time. And so just getting the right.

Jenna Capozzi:

Right at that.

Melinda Wittstock:

You are. It’s. It’s iterative. It’s like you’re learning from your customers. You’re learning from the feedback. Like, those failures are opportunities that are so valuable. So not let it make. Let it mean something about you.

Jenna Capozzi:

Yeah. And nobody really cares is what I tell them, too. No one’s tracking every single video you do on social media. Like, at the end of the day, they just don’t, you know, but they might hear a message, something might impinge, you know, the communication is senior to how well it looks, you know, so.

Melinda Wittstock:

It’s so, so true.

Jenna Capozzi:

Yeah.

Melinda Wittstock:

So tell me a little bit more all the different things that you do. I want, you know, for anyone listening who’s like, oh, my God, I really want to work with Jenna. She sounds really cool.

Jenna Capozzi:

Yeah. Yeah. So.

Melinda Wittstock:

And what. What’s the program?

Jenna Capozzi:

Yeah, absolutely. It started off with retreats. And as I’m sitting in my home with the three dogs and the parrot, my two kids and my husband going, if I could just get five days away, what I would get done in five days. And I thought, you know, I bet there’s a lot of other ladies that were like five days away. And so, I have taken women on retreats, we’ve done online courses on retreats, we’ve done building their marketing campaign on retreats.

Jenna Capozzi:

So that has been super successful. I also do a group coaching program where people work with me on a one on one every month for two hours and then they meet with the group every other week. And the group is not seminar. It’s basically the time that’s set aside for everyone to get super productive and have access to me and my team for any questions answered. And that’s very popular right now. It’s going extremely well, and I love that. And then I’m doing something really interesting because I’m piloting a bunch of new stuff this year. As you know, I’m in my first year doing these pop-up city marketing tours.

Jenna Capozzi:

I just did one here in Tampa, I’m about to do one in la, then I’m doing one in Dallas and I’m doing one in Atlanta where I tour to these cities, and I partner with a client I have in the area to help them understand what it’s like to put an event on and bring people in. And I’ll start it off for them and kick it off with some marketing and strategy and then I’ll have them come in and talk about whatever it is that is their specialty and then I’ll do a group offer with them. So it’s a little bit of a strategic partnership to help get them going and then we’ll go ahead and you know, put them in the sales funnel and get those sold. So those I’m really enjoying right now. They’re a lot of fun and I have online courses and so that’s, that’s so far what the products are. But there’s just more events and more retreats. I’m about to do a Costa Rica one for founders and CEOs in November and it’s just really, you know, working with women in environments. The retreats seem to be successful.

Jenna Capozzi:

Obviously you did retreats as well, so you know that world. I’m just having a blast doing it. I’m just meeting the most incredible people that I never would have meant being bored at my other job. I was doing.

Melinda Wittstock:

Amazing. Amazing.

Jenna Capozzi:

Yeah. So let’s see.

Jenna Capozzi:

What I’m wanting to create in life moving forward, is to really inspire women to go after that bright idea or that thing that’s been sort of on the back burner. It’s an idea one day and make it happen now, or at least explore the possibilities of how we can make it happen and not feel that we have to wait until the kids are out of the house or maybe someday know. Because I think that most women who I work with really do want to impact change. And again, I keep saying that over and over because I do. That is my mission, you know, how to help these women get out there. But the other thing I’ll say is I do have a gift for your listeners. Yeah, it’s called Lead with Jenna, obviously, because it’s very hard to spell Kaposi and I didn’t want people messing up getting my website, so I figured I’ll just make it simple.

Jenna Capozzi:

It’s called Lead with Jenna and it’s a downloadable leader builder is what I call it. And it really helps one go through stating their goals, their purpose. It takes them through understanding some branding, understanding their audience, who they can help, their niche. It’s about a 15-page document that just sort of asks the right questions. And my hope is that it kind of, you know, stimulates some thought patterns as far as, like, you know, what could be possible and thinking a bigger game. And then at the end of that, they can book a free session with me, and I could just kind of help them align those goals and see if they want to work with me or not or if it’s a good fit. But at least, least give some advice. So that’s for your listeners.

Melinda Wittstock:

Amazing. So, I’ll make sure that that’s in the show Notes. And Jenna, thank you so much for putting on your wings and flying with us today.

Jenna Capozzi:

Absolutely.

[INTERVIEW ENDS]

Melinda Wittstock:

Jenna Capozzi is the founder of and CEO of Elev8pwr, on a mission to empower the next generation of women leaders. Be sure to download Podopolo, follow Wings of Inspired Business there, create and share your favorite moments with our viral episode clip feature, and join us in the episode comments section so we can all take the conversation further with your questions and comments. And make sure you vote!

Melinda Wittstock:

That’s it for today’s episode. Head on over to WingsPodcast.com – and subscribe to the show. When you subscribe, you’ll instantly get my special gift, the WINGS Success Formula.

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