Woke Media’s Founder Jessica Poulin Discusses 8 Years Of Black Ownership And Evolution
Longtime Publicist Jessica Poulin has forged her own path of success with her company, Woke Media. Having begun in NYC, her Black woman-owned agency has expanded to Barcelona through culturally driven communications.
Jessica discusses the most challenging aspects of her journey, as well as the message she’d like young Black women to receive. Furthermore, she talks about going against society’s internal biases of being in competition with other women, and encourages embracing and building together to further relationships and career endeavors.
Her Agenda: How did you get into PR work?
Jessica Poulin: I originally went to college for it. I went to Manhattan College in the Bronx, New York. I actually went in undecided because I was one of those high school kids that applied to nursing school, fashion design, and liberal arts. So I started taking some intro classes, and someone was like ‘I think you would be a good publicist’. I was like ‘What is that?’ And they kind of explained it and the communication side of it, and I was like oh I actually do think I might be good at that. So I fell into it in college, and from there, everything just kind of snowballed.
Her Agenda: So what inspired you to create Woke Media?
Jessica Poulin: I don’t want to age myself, but I graduated in 2013, and I immediately got a job right out of college; and it was mainly because I interned for Capital Records, and the head of the department of blues and jazz was this woman, J.R. Rich, who gave me my entry into PR. She sat me down and asked about my goals. Kevin Chiaramonte is still a music publicist who took me under his wing and taught me the basis of what I really learned from music PR.
Her Agenda: What would you say is your primary goal with the company?
Jessica Poulin: I have so many goals, aside from number one, make money [laughs]. I would say number two for me is creating an equitable workplace environment. I want to create a work environment that I never had. So the girls I have here, I tell them all the time, I don’t want to be your boss, but I want it to be a give-and-take environment where we’re building and growing something together, and maybe I’m the organizational leader of it all.
Her Agenda: To piggyback off that, as a Black-owned business, what is the message you’d like to send to young black women?
Jessica Poulin: I feel like that’s such a loaded question. I don’t know, because I think as a black woman, it’s so annoying to hear people tell you to just be strong, you know? But I feel like that’s really the only thing that you have to think of. But I guess I would honestly say build community. Try to break down those internal biases. Those internal biases from society telling you that you need to be threatened by this woman, and find a way to break that down and be friends with as many women as possible, because those are the people that get you through life, especially running a business.
Her Agenda: Did you ever foresee your company expanding as far as it has, especially to Barcelona?
Jessica Poulin: I feel like I have to be humbled and say no [chuckles]. I mean, I am a Capricorn, so I am very goal-driven, and usually if I have an idea in my head, I’m doing it. I always wanted to move to Spain, and I was so excited when I first started my career and my career kind of naturally took me to Europe, mainly London and the UK, when I started out in music. And I always wanted to be in Barcelona. I mean, in Spain in general, it’s just so beautiful and relaxing. And contributing to that work-life balance where I can still run my company, and do my thing, but still have pleasant weather, and floral smells all over the city. And just a much easier perception of what it means to live and work.
Her Agenda: Do you have a favorite quote or mantra that you live by?
Jessica Poulin: Everything is going to be ok. That is my mantra to myself every day. At least once a day. You know, being an entrepreneur is stressful, so sometimes you just have to remind yourself, everything’s gonna be okay.
Her Agenda: What’s been the most challenging aspect of your journey? And how did you overcome it?
Jessica Poulin: I would say building a team. We are essentially a startup, and even though it’s been eight years, we’ve had ebbs and flows just like every other business. So it’s not even like people are leaving because they don’t like the work; it’s because of budgets. It’s because of the workload. And that has been really hard.
Her Agenda: Do you have any additional comments?
Jessica Poulin: Life’s too short. Just do it. If you have the idea, figure it out. It’s a shameless plug. If you have the idea and you need someone to help you develop it, give me a call. We can figure it out together.
