Jessica Mosley is an author, publisher, award-winning journalist, PR professional, certified life and business coach and entrepreneur who went from jobless and homeless to becoming an investment banker, a vice president of the bank and later, founder of MizCEO Society for Coaches and CEO of J. Mosley Publishing. As a certified life and business coach, she is a board member of the Forbes Coaches Council. As a PR professional, Jessica has put her clients on the Steve Harvey Show, OWN Magazine, Aspire TV, Huffington Post, Black Enterprise, Forbes, and Essence. She was once a woman who fled domestic abuse, leaving behind everything including her job. She was seven months pregnant at the time, had a seven-year-old son and nothing but the clothes on her back. It was in this pitiable condition that she moved into a shelter for battered women. It was in the midst of this adversity that she became an investment banker working her way up to vice president of the bank.
She believes that her valley experiences have helped her to be more compassionate towards women and she continually seeks ways to help women win. She is an advocate for women and volunteers with women and young girls who are victims of domestic abuse. She has established a coaching programme, “Etiquette Fit for A Queen” primarily for women in shelters who desire a transformation. Her MizCEO brand is enjoying growth and expansion with the introduction of a monthly magazine for the entrepreneurial woman, the annual MizCEO Entrepreneurial Conference for Women in Business, the launch of the MizCEO Luxury Mink Lashes and MizCEO Relaxing Raspberry Candle.
Read this interview with Jessica Mosley and be inspired to rise from the ashes. When life knocks you down, as it often will, you don’t have to stay down. You can get back up. And every time you get back up, you increase your chances of winning.
You’re a woman who’s accomplished some really great things, but you’ve also had your struggles like the everyday woman out there. So please share with us your journey of going from being in an abusive relationship to losing your job and your home and going to live in a shelter for battered women.
Well, first of all again thank you for having me and allowing me to tell my story. Just really quickly, I was in an abusive relationship with one of my children’s father. I only have two children. I want to say this; when I first met him, it was beautiful. We did a lot of things together, we both liked to go dancing, hang out with each other and just have fun. People loved coming to our home. But he became possessive over me; he literally counted my footsteps. When we were together I was a young girl, I was in my early twenties, and he let me keep all of my money. At the time I was making close to $70,000, and I mean that’s a lot of money for a young girl who doesn’t have any bills. And the next thing you know it just went from crazy in love, to possessive love, and we all know that that’s not love, it’s possessiveness. Anyway, when I made up my mind to leave him, I already had a child from when I was a senior in high school, so my son was seven years old, and I was seven months pregnant with my daughter. So, the thing that was so crazy was I didn’t think I could leave him. I did not think I could leave. So, I always think about women even today that don’t think that they can get up and leave. And when I left, I just got up and left. I just left. I left everything. When I came to Indianapolis, I came with the clothes on my back with my seven-year-old son, and I was seven months pregnant. And I had to live in a battered women’s shelter, but I will tell you this, that was the best thing that could have ever happened to me — living in a battered women’s shelter. I ended up getting accepted into their transitional housing programme, and that was a two-year programme. In that programme, I ended up becoming an insurance agent, and I went on and moved up to become an investment banker, from an investment banker to an officer of the bank, from officer of the bank to a regional in the bank and from there a VP of the bank. So, I was making more money. That didn’t happen in two years, but I am saying that it all started there, okay? And I just thank God for my journey. People would always volunteer there, they would always give away programmes and so one lady she literally gave away a $5,000 coaching programme, and they picked me to receive it. They said they saw something in me and that was one of the best things that could have ever happened to me. So, I mean, everything happens for a reason because if that had never happened to me, I wouldn’t be the woman that I am today.
So, for the woman you have become you are grateful even for the not-so-good parts of the process that you went through?
Absolutely! Absolutely! Because I had to unbecome to become, you know what I’m saying? So, absolutely! I won’t change nothing in this journey. Nothing.
That’s awesome. Now, I want to know, you had just come out of an abusive relationship, you had lost virtually everything that you owned, and you were having to start all over again, and here you were in the shelter for battered women, no doubt you would have been depressed, no doubt what had happened to you would have affected your self-esteem and affected your confidence. So how were you able to pick yourself up and get into the bank as an investment banker and then rise to the top as VP of the bank? How did that happen? I know some women would have sunk under the weight of the depression or a lack of self-confidence. How did you overcome?
Well, let me be very clear. First of all, it’s my relationship with God; I am a believer in Jesus Christ. And also, when I was living in the shelter, we had to go to counselling, so I was in therapy twice a week. First, I was going to church, so I really feel in my heart that those two things were the reason that I made it. Now, I’m not one of those people who don’t believe that therapy is good. I needed therapy. I was in group therapy as well as individual therapy because I was traumatised, okay? Yes, I had a lot of great things that happened to me, but I had to go through the process of healing. And that’s what I went through. And while I was going through, while I was becoming healed, all of these things happened, but I believe it in my heart that those things that happened to me, is what made me the woman that I am today. Because the question was raised, is a leader born or is he raised? I believe it’s both because had those things never come about in my life; I don’t believe I would have risen to be a leader because adversity is either going to make you or break you, you decide.
That is so true. So, you had God on your side, and you had therapy, and that’s what helped you get out of that situation?
Absolutely! Absolutely! I came to church every time the doors were open. I mean, I did the work to become healed, to become whole again. It didn’t just happen. And depression is real; it is definitely real. It wasn’t easy because it happened for me. I had to fight for my freedom, and that’s what I did.
Awesome. Now, what would you say was the biggest lesson that you took away from that experience and from that season of your life?
Never judge anybody. You don’t know why they walk in the shoes that they walk in, because domestic violence does not discriminate. You can be black, white, single, married, rich, poor, gay, straight; it does not discriminate. It taught me not to be judgemental because you know how you see women on TV and they’re crying, and you’re like, oh girl just leave him, just leave him, God! But it’s like that season of my life made me know never to judge anyone’s journey.
And to be more patient, I guess, with people?
Yes! Because let me tell you, the tables always turn. I would have never thought that that would have been my story, never. But I’m glad that it is, absolutely.
Jessica, following your job as an investment banker you became a coach and founded the MizCEO society for coaches where you now work with female entrepreneurs and you also do PR for your clients. You’ve been able to put your clients on Steve Harvey Show, Aspire TV, Huffington Post, and Black Enterprise just to name a few. Please tell us how and why you got into this line of work. What did you want to achieve, and would you say that you have achieved your goal?
Well, the thing is, I started off in radio, I am still in radio and so me starting the society for coaches, that’s just another part of my brand. I publish authors, I also have the radio and TV, and then I have the society for coaches. So, if someone wants to become a certified life or business coach, they are able to go through my school. And then PR is just something that I didn’t even know I was doing because in media you just make so many different relationships with different people in different walks of media, so that’s what ended up happening where I was able to then go ahead and start doing PR, I was doing it anyway. I don’t think I’ll ever stop doing that. I’ll never stop doing PR; I’ll never stop doing radio, I mean it all goes hand in hand, it truly does. I’m all about helping the woman become everything that she wants to be. I want her to be equipped on every side so that when she shows up, she is showing up in her greatness.
That is awesome. So, what is it that you require when you help your clients get on these shows or in these magazines? What is it you require of them to expose them and to expose the work that they do? Someone’s probably thinking, I would like her to get me on the Steve Harvey Show, but it’s probably going to cost me an arm and two legs. If you were going to get someone on a radio show, get someone in a magazine, what would you require?
For someone to come alongside and work with me for PR services, I have PR strategy sessions with them because everybody is not ready for OWN Magazine or Essence Magazine or Forbes. So, I coach them; I do PR coaching. We are able to set goals. So, I don’t just put people out there; we go through a strategy that is going to be best for them because your strategy may be different from my strategy. So, I have three different packages, beginner, intermediate and advanced because everybody’s not on the same level. And I am very affordable, I want to work with everyone because I remember being in the position where I needed PR, I needed someone to help me but their prices were so astronomical, so I decided that when I got into the position to be able to help people that I would make sure that I was able to work with them. So, no I don’t cost an arm and a leg. There are some of my packages that are very expensive, but hey, you work your way up to them.
That’s good to know. Now, let’s talk a bit about the MizCEO organisation. So, you’ve got several things that you’re doing there, and you’ve got a conference coming up in October. Can you tell us a bit about this conference first of all?
Yes! Absolutely! So, it’s October the 12th and 13th we’re going to have my first ever women’s business conference. It’s where we’re taking our faith and taking it to the market place. So, I’m dealing with women from all over; people are registering from all over the world, all over the country, to come to this conference. This is for women in business; we’re going to have two jam-packed days of not just information but inspiration because I’m even throwing a prayer breakfast. All the speakers are actually my clients; I have some reality star TV clients, I have some celebrity life coaches, I just have it. I mean my business is so vast, but I am excited because women are coming to learn. We’re even having something on mental health because as you know, it’s being more and more exposed, so I’m just really excited about being a part of this conference and what it’s going to do for women. Like I said we have the prayer breakfast on Saturday morning on Friday we’re having a MizCEO award show, I mean so much is going to be jam-packed into these two days, so I’m really excited.
Awesome. So, is this something that’s going to be regular? Is it going to be yearly or bi-yearly? How do you plan to run it?
This will be yearly; this is my first one, that is kicking off in October. And then I’m going to be doing another conference that I’m going to be doing yearly as well, but that’s not going to come up till April of next year, and that’s the writers and bloggers conference. Because I am a writer, I write for a lot of national media outlets myself. So yes, my goal and passion is women. I want women to succeed, I want to see them on the frontline, I want them to be recognised. We will no longer be silenced. When they show up, I just want them showing up in their greatness.
You’re an awesome woman. It takes an awesome woman to want other women to succeed.
Oh my God! You know what? Everything in my life that has happened to me was handed to me by a woman: my mother, my grandmother. My grandmother is the one who instilled in me the name Jesus and was adamant about me learning about God. My mother did the same thing. I come from a lineage of priests and prophets, and so I am just fortunate to be able to do what I love and not have to be mindful. When you work for someone else, they want you to be mindful of other people I don’t have to be mindful in my own things you know I can be who I am freely.
Let’s talk about your magazine. The MizCEO society has a magazine so tell us about it.
For the MizCEO magazine, absolutely. I wanted to create a platform where women who may normally not be able to be picked up by different national media outlets could be picked up so that it opens up more doors for them. So, the MizCEO magazine is for the entrepreneurial woman by the entrepreneurial woman, and we have great content from all over the world from different contributing writers. I am always looking to help women. I just want them to have a voice, and this will be another voice for digital as well as on-demand print.
Okay. When did you start this?
This happened in March of this year 2018. So, we’ve gone on for six months; we’re in 42 different states and in seven countries. So that’s exciting.
Yes. That’s exciting, and that’s amazing. Awesome. If people want the magazine where do they go?
They can go to MizCEO.com, or they can reach out to me, it doesn’t matter. (She laughs.)
Jessica, you have a coaching programme, Etiquette Fit for A Queen. What was it that made you decide to create this coaching programme and so far, how has it helped women?
Well, it is for the abused and battered and recovering woman. So, whether they’re recovering addicts or they’re in a transitional home. And you know, like I said, the first time I ever heard of a coach was when I lived in a battered women’s shelter. So, I make sure that I go back, and I give back and I coach women, whether I’m coaching them financially on how to save money, the type of account they want to get and all of those good things, just to be able to help the woman get to that next level. And someone actually recommended me for my programme and that’s how I received the Barak Obama Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award, which is a high honour. So, yes, I love giving back. You know, I know how they feel. I know how they feel because I was once her. I remember people coming in and donating their time and coaching us and all that kind of stuff. Some people took it, some people didn’t, but I remember being in those shoes.
So, what do you find most fulfilling about being able to go back to the shelter for battered women and give back? What do you find most fulfilling about inspiring and empowering those women to be all that they can be?
You know what? To me, it’s like when a person knows that you can identify with them that’s when they’re more prone to listen to you. So, for them to be able to see me walking in my purpose? It’s a beautiful thing to be able to give somebody hope because I don’t know about you, but I’ve been hopeless before. I’ve been hopeless when I didn’t think I was going to make it. I know how they feel, to not know if you’re going to make it or not. So, when you get people who actually care to come alongside you, that’s a whole different story. You feel if they could make it, I can make it through this; I’m going to make it through this, this is not the end of my story. A light bulb comes on.
I know. And it’s a lot better when they know that the person talking to them can relate to what it is that they’re going through
Absolutely! Absolutely! That they’re not just coming up and trying to get their community hours done. Yeah. Absolutely.
Well done, Jessica. Well done.
Well, again, to God be the glory. Because there’s a scripture that talks about after you’ve been converted go back and strengthen your brethren.
So, I guess this is a good time to ask, what effect if any does being a Christian have on the work that you do?
(She laughs) It has everything to do with the work that I do. There’s one scripture that pops into my head that whatever you do in word or in deed, do it all in the name of the Lord. I’m a businesswoman, and as the believer, I believe that the best CEO is the CEO of the world, the one who created everything. There’s even one parable that Jesus talks about where the master, he gave different one’s talents, one took his talents, and he doubled it, another one did the same thing, but then there was one who hid his talents, and I don’t want to be that person who hid my talent, and I believe that every time you multiply what God gives you that’s what He gives you more and more and more of. Because I would have never thought that radio would have landed me here, never. Just doing A Blog Talk Radio from inside of my bedroom, I never would have thought that it would have landed me here. So yes, I’m walking it out by faith, this is a faith walk, but every time I step out and do something that God has placed on my heart, then He gives me more.
Yes. So, what are some of the challenges that are associated with the work that you do and how do you overcome these challenges?
Well, you know everything is not easy. So now I’m a full-time entrepreneur so there may be times when people don’t pay their bill, their invoices that they owe me, right? But you have to keep going; you have to find the ways and the means. I wasn’t always a full-time entrepreneur; this is just something that recently happened in the last two years. So of course, things are going to come up, but you just deal with them as you go, giving up is not an option. That’s the coward’s way out. Anybody can give up, anybody can say, I can’t do this anymore, I’m not going to do this anymore, anybody can do that. But it’s those that persevere; the Bible says that it is he that endures to the end. Is it always easy enduring? Absolutely not! You know the thing that I’ve learnt? There is power in taking it one day at a time. Just take it one day at a time, one day at a time, that’s all you have, it’s that one day. That’s why Jesus said, give us this day our daily bread. That’s all you have, is this day.
So, don’t worry about what is to come?
No. Now you can prepare because anybody who has common-sense knows that you need to prepare. There is power in being prepared, but I can’t focus all of my attention and life on what isn’t. I have to take one day at a time. Worrying only happens when you start going into tomorrow’s affairs. You’ve got to stay focused, and you’ve got to keep going, no matter what. No matter what it looks like, you got to keep going. Just keep going. Remember the movie, Finding Nemo? Well in the movie there is a fish named Dory, and he tells him, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming, just keep swimming. And that’s how life is. You’ve just got to keep going, you’ve got to keep swimming. Even when you don’t know the way, the water may be coming against you, the tide may be high, but you got to keep swimming. Just keep swimming, that’s all you can do, just keep swimming.
I feel inspired just listening to you.
(She laughs) Oh my God! You know what? David said he encouraged himself in the Lord. And am I always encouraged? Absolutely not! Planning a conference is not easy either, you know you want to know how it is going to happen, but it won’t be faith if I knew how everything was going to turn out. I’ve got to work it out.
That is so true. Let’s talk now about your books. You’ve authored quite a few books and co-authored a few. You’re also a publisher of many books. And you have a book set to be released, No Matter What You Can Make It: Three Ways to Overcome Life’s Hardest Battles. What is this book about and what are you hoping that people will grasp from reading it?
Well, this book is about perseverance. So, in no matter what, I talk about the murder of my son’s father when my son was eight days old. I talk about living in the battered women’s shelter. I talk about betrayal from a person that I never thought it would come from, and having to live through that because betrayal is like death to me and I’m just being totally transparent and honest with you. I did not know how I was going to make it. So, when I say, no matter what you can make it, I go through like I said the murder of my son’s father, I go through being homeless, being in an abusive relationship not just one abusive relationship but two abusive relationships. So, that made me take a look at myself like what are you doing to attract this? So, with that being said, absolutely no matter what, you can make it. It goes through what people may perceive as some of life’s worst battles, but it also shows you that anybody can make it, you can make it. I was born and raised in Gary, Indiana, I have a lot of friends to be murdered, they didn’t even see past 13 years old, that’s devastating traumatising, but I made it. I made it, and you can make it. So I allude to my faith and what I believe in and why I believe what I believe.
Wow! Thank you for sharing that. Where can people get the book to buy?
Any place that books are sold. (She laughs)
Awesome. You’re also a freelance makeup artist for Mac Cosmetics and Bobby Brown Cosmetics. Jessica, how are you able to juggle all of these various things that you do and be amazing at them all?
Well, first of all, being a freelance makeup artist basically means just that, I take the job when I want to. I used to work exclusively for Mac Cosmetics. This something that I’ve always loved doing, doing makeup, helping people to look nice, doing their hair, I even went to school for cosmetology. But like I said, remember the man with the many talents? that’s me. (She laughs) I can’t help what was put inside of me.
And you’ve got to use them all?
That’s right. You’ve got to use them. Because you know what? Some people are going to want you to tone down who you are; those are not your people. There’re some people that are going to be able to accept you for who you are, and some people are not, and you’ve got to be okay with whichever way it goes. And it’s nothing personal; you’re not just for everybody.
That is true. So, how can people contact you if they want to know more about you, or they want to become your clients? How do they get in touch?
Well, they can always reach me on the mizceo.com website. They can follow me on Instagram, mizceo0717, or they can look me up on Facebook, Jessica Mosley.
Okay. Awesome. Jessica, do you have any final words before I let you go?
Absolutely. Final words would be from me, to never stop praying and to know that no matter what you’re going through God is going to come through for you. I don’t care how it looks, how bleak it may seem, there is always a word from the Lord. God will come through for you. He said, I will never leave you, neither will I forsake you. That means that He will not abandon me, He will not leave me destitute, and He will not abandon me emotionally. He said I will never leave you neither will forsake you. That comforts me when my back is against the wall that He said it. And this is the final word; He said that heaven and earth will pass away before one jot of my word will fall to the ground. He said all these will pass away before I lie to you. That’s something you can stand on. That’s how much He’s in love with you.
