[Podcast] How One Woman Is Making a Global Impact

Today Jennifer Iannolo and I sat down to talk about the incredible work she’s doing to make an impact on bringing a voice to women entrepreneurs globally. Jennifer has a phenomenal story to tell and I had such a great time talking with her.

We talk about everything to her having the opportunity to fly around the world to taste delectable food, the founding of her incubator, taking inspiration from Jay-Z, why she felt that her world had come full circle when moved into her office at the new World Trade Center, and so much more.

Make sure you check out the work that she’s doing over at Imperia, which is a global innovation incubator and leadership development program for women who are changing the world for better.

Note: My goal as far as timing goes is to keep the episodes to 30 minutes or less but this conversation was so good and I think it’ll be helpful to so many that we neared the 45 minute mark.

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MACHINE-GENERATED TRANSCRIPT

What follows is an AI-generated transcript. The transcript likely contains errors and is not a substitute for listening to the podcast.

Welcome to episode number three of the Built Unstoppable podcast. I'm your host, Justin Levy and today I'm joined by Jennifer Iannolo, who is the founder and CEO at Imperia, a featured speaker on Women's Entrepreneurship as part of a US Department of State Initiative, and an advisor to 1M1B, which is a startup incubator created to develop 1 million new entrepreneurs around the world who will thus create 1 billion new jobs. Thanks for joining the podcast today, Jennifer.

Thank you for having me.

So first off, I need to know if there's anything I missed or that you're currently involved with, because that was quite the list, but I know you and I'm pretty sure there was a there's other things.

Oh, there's so much more. Um, yeah, I mean, a lot of my focus over the last couple of years has been on female founders around the world. So 

You know, when I'm not on the road speaking, it's really a lot of startup development work and coaching, and then also the incubator with imperia. And so it's, um, you know, really started focusing on women and how we look at women outside actually of the United States. And how can we help them develop their programs, their projects, their companies, things like that. So it's some, my focus is all over, all over the globe, not all over the place, but all over the globe.

Now, and I think you mentioned this up the near response, but why did you decide to launch Imperia? as, you know, what was the impetus for it, but wants to help, you know, women entrepreneurs, you know, globally.

Well, you know, it's interesting because that was never my goal in life. Ever. When when we met many moons ago, you know, I had a food life, I was drinking champagne and flying to Italy several times a year and having a grand old time. But like many entrepreneurs, I burned out. And it created a lot of physical ailments and problems that that actually had me, forced me to stop my food career and have to recreate myself. 

And so in the process of that in the process of looking at, okay, what do I want to be when I grow up now that my life fell apart? What does life look like? What do I want it to be? And I started asking myself, you know, I was about to go into sort of the second half of life, right? 

I was 40 years old. And I thought, well, this is a great time to think about what's the, you know, if I'm going to leave a legacy behind? You know, for my all of my nieces and nephews and the world, what do I want that to look like? 

What matters to me and it really was about looking at what problem kept me up at night. I started really thinking about this on a deep level and I realized it was the idea of a little girl anywhere on Earth being sold or given away or murdered, because she didn't have any value, except to sell.

So I explored that idea for a while I really wanted to look very seriously at how I wanted, excuse me, how I wanted to address that problem and and how I wanted to participate. 

So I realized that if I sort of put all of my skills together, it looked like oh, I can work with women who are building things like that is that's what I do. And, you know, I had already been doing some coaching and I thought, well, what could I do with this? 

So I happened to get connected with the State Department. They started flying me all over the place. And I started meeting women from different cultures. And what I discovered was that no matter what country I was, in, no matter, sort of what demographic I was talking to, I was seeing the same set of things come up over and over and over again, about internal scripts we have as women, whether they're hardwired or they're sort of put upon us by whatever society we live in. 

These problems are all the same. The way that we question our confidence, the way that we are more apt to follow the rules and be good girls and not cause trouble and not speak too loudly. Like all of those things. It's everywhere. And I thought, okay, these are the scripts that I want to dismantle. 
I set upon this quest to literally turn the world upside down. And so the the culmination of that became Imperia, which is a global innovation incubator. 

I wanted to be really broaden that definition. So innovation is is, you know, it's it's a very broad term. It's not about tech, it's not about startups, it's about how does this particular woman wants to change the world. 

I thought, Okay, well, let's see who applies for this thing. Like maybe we'll get, I don't know, 10 people? Well, we ended up getting something like 100 applications from six continents around the world for the first round. So that went, Okay. And so our pilot cohort, we're finishing it up right now. And we have 28 women from 17 countries on six continents. And these are women who are all focused on social impact, whether it's with their tech company or their their domestic violence initiatives. Or their products to help children with disabilities. 

So it's really a very broad conversation. But again, we're focusing on those core concepts and those things that women deal with around the world. And it's just extraordinary.

I noticed when I was looking at the women that are part of that cohort that only two of them are based in America. And so it really addresses the global nature. But when you were selecting the women out of this kind of application process of 100, I'm sure that some of it was selected, obviously based on ideas and things of that nature. But were you purposely not trying to stack it in kind of the favor of, of Americans and wanting that to be more globally represented?

Correct. We we for the we kind of crafted a way to expand this. And so we are conscious that not more than three women in any cohort will be from the same country, because we think that's important in creating a truly global perspective. So we cap it because, yeah, I don't want to overly skewed with Americans, Americans have enough resources to be entrepreneurs that they, I don't need to be one more of those. This is so much more a global consortium of badass women who are who are changing the world. And so we wanted to come from that place instead. Absolutely.

Even from any travels that I've made, you know, I I've spent time in the Philippines in Manila, over the course of my career, and there are so many people, you know, both male, male and female, that are doing amazing things that they are just dismissed. 

Right. Yeah, you know, as not being smart enough, or, you know, by definitions that we set, you know, say for those cultures, it's well, they just answer the phones or this were our customer service get shipped. 

And it's No, I mean, when you talk to these individuals, they have very high, you know, goals and things that they that they want to achieve. It is special to watch these folks work to achieve these things. 

Now, the other organization that you're an advisor to the 1M1B Is that is the 1 million new entrepreneurs? Is that focus solely on women? Or is that actually just broader?

No, that's not focused on women. That's, that's more about and actually, we were not as involved anymore because there, here's what I love about that. manav is one of my best friends in the world. 

What he has done is taken the concept of the smart village, right? So we hear about smart villages and we think high tech, right. And what he has done is he's taken this idea and and of what a smart village is, and instead made it to be how can we prevent young people from migrating away from their homes and away from their families? How do we actually bring the future to the village so that the village has an ecosystem, so that the village has, you know, sustainability? 

What he's doing right now in India is so extraordinary. And here's what's really cool about that. So as he's building that, you know, we have a couple of women in the incubator who are from India. 

So right now, one of them is a fashion designer and because India is on lockdown with the pandemic, you know, she thought she was just gonna have to shut everything. And I said, Well, you know, this is a great opportunity, can you flip your manufacturing so that you are making PP, and mass and things like that? 

And so she said, Oh, wait, I think I can do this. So So I connected her with one and one B. And now what they're trying to do is set up manufacturing in a village based on her designs, so now we've spread the sort of the the ability to create income across a bunch of people. 

So manav and I we are we are always looking. We're sort of Spiritual twins. So we're always looking for opportunities, like how can we connect the dots with what we're doing? You know, and he's had me speak at the UN which was incredible and, and some of the women from one on one be have ended up in our cohorts. 

So it's like so it's this very wonderful symbiotic relationship we have. And I think that he will, we will truly change the world because India has a billion people and they, they they're able with what he is doing to create a new way to make villages and village life more sustainable.

Absolutely. And it's incredible when you talk to like I said, when I was in the Philippines, but also as I have friends that come from several other countries, when you talk to them, even when I've taken cab rides, right and you just are in a discussion with someone 

And, again, people write these people off because we're stuck, for the most part in our bubble of thinking that, you know, we're Americans and others that are, you know, in the service industries, such as driving a cab or what have you are less than us, they're providing us as service and because they don't walk, talk look like us. 

That must mean something. And, you know, some of the best conversations I've ever had are with individuals that tell me that they have come from another continent, another country, and that they moved here to make income to send back to their families. 

And, you know, and then they described some of these folks describe, you know, the places and the property that they have back home and there was an individual that I worked with had a previous job who had a farm that had everything you could ever imagine on it and his brother took care of the farm that's also where his wife and kids left lived. 

But from everything from you know, lettuce and tomatoes and things like that to black pepper, mm hmm he they grew it or made it or what have you and you know, various Indian spices and and all that. And, though his income he keeps enough of it to live comfortably here would go over there to help supply his farm and, and they are incredible stories when you take the time to listen to them and and understand it.

I love hearing those stories.

Yeah, and I, you know, I think it's you talk to the average cab driver in New York City, you know, he's probably a surgeon, or a philosopher or a professor or something, where he's from. And, and I think it's really important to look at how do we create a world that does not require that kind of altering of oneself, you know, how do we create? 

How do we create the kind of world where he can be a professor and succeed or, or she can be a whatever a doctor. You know, I mean, I look at even my intern for for imperia you know, she's from Aleppo, Syria, and what she has been through and had to go through just to get her education and be here, right now. You know, we had to stall the beginning of her internship because Because Visa requirements are going crazy here in the United States, and it's just that kind of instability. 

How can you? How can you expect a human being to thrive when you know that kind of instability is part of the everyday? So it's really looking at how do we not have people be forced to leave where they are to try and start somewhere else at the, you know, like the very bottom rung of the ladder. Why does it have to be that way? Why can't it be another way? And so, you know, I'm always looking at those bigger questions like how do we improve the world on a local level, so that people don't have to leave? 

How do we create a thriving economy where they are and I and again, that's what one on one B is doing also, and it's like that, that is what will change the world?

Yeah, and it's funny you mentioned a cab driver in New York being a surgeon, because that is the exact same conversation I had with a cab driver in Austin. One year when I moved there for South by Southwest Interactive, yeah, I was talking to them asking, you know, how long he had been in the country and, you know, what his passions were and and, you know, his family was here and things like that. 

He told me that he was a surgeon back home and that his wife was a professor. So yeah, exactly to the, you know, professions that you mentioned. That's incredible. 

So, you know, think that someone's essentially driving cab for kit, you know, because their income isn't that much. Yeah, but back home, they've earned this level of respect. 

Exactly, that here a surgeon commands, just, you know, by the, you know, sole nature of their job, and their education and everything that goes behind that. 

So, you know, And you've kind of addressed this at a basic level, but beyond your focus on helping women and you know, the global nature of, of what you do you dress you focus your attention at a broader level on systemic issues like race, diversity and inclusion. 

Can you talk about that in a little bit more? Because that even stretches, at least in my opinion, that stretches beyond just women entrepreneurship, right? Because now you're looking at their own way.

Yeah, and I, you know, I think that all of those topics are, are sort of subsumed into what I believe my subject matter is, which is really, it's, and this has become such terrible cliche. A word, but it's the one that's easily accessible. Right? So it's it's about human empowerment. 

And what I mean by that is, how a human being pretty much finds the the the will and the ability to keep going, right? Which is a lot of what you talk about with being unstoppable. 

And so, for me, it's really about I started looking at humanity, I find humans fascinating. And so I started searching and looking at why is it that some people, even when everything is stacked against them, Why do they thrive? And I happened to kind of start thinking that way because I had gotten sick, right? And so I was trying to get better. And I was looking for inspiration. And I thought, who are the people who really inspire me? 

You know, one of them is my best friend who, who literally should be a statistic and instead she is working for Google. Leader right now on, I started looking at people like Jay Z, right? Yo, who was not supposed to make it, but he did anyway. And I started thinking, Okay, why them? What What did they have inside of them that said, This is not for me, I'm I want more. And can I bottle that right and give it away to the planet? Like what is it? 

So I started coming up with this formula. It's what I call self directed empowerment. And it's really about how do we become our own renewable, sustainable source of power, right, so we become like our own solar panel, if you will. And, and so that's the work that I've been doing. And it's the root of whether I'm talking to, it doesn't matter what age what gender, it's about a human being. And it just so happens that right now I'm focused on women because that's where the focus needs to be. 

But it really is applicable to any human and how we go about powering ourselves. Because I think around the world there is this very conventional conversation about empowerment called, I'm going to empower you, right? We're going to empower young girls in India. Well, what does that mean? Because if we follow the logic, if I can give it to you, I can take it away from you. So that is not sustainable. So if I go and empower a bunch of young girls, and then I leave what happens to them?

Sure. Exactly.

And we see this in the charity model all around the world, all of the UN, especially the white savior complex, right? We're going to go save the brown people. And the world does not need one more white woman going to save the world because the world doesn't need her. And so, you know, I'm trying to be very cognizant of that in all of the work that I do that it's really about igniting what people already have inside And then giving them the tools to keep it going. Right? Because it's, it's more about the tools and the knowledge. 

And so that's the, you know, the book I'm writing, it's the entire curriculum that we do for imperia. And we are seeing the way that it's changing lives the way that women are sort of their their blossoming, and they're discovering that it is indeed all up to them. And they, they do have the ability to affect change around them. And so it's it's really quite extraordinary. And I feel very, very blessed to kind of be in this incredible human conversation. And watching people really just blossom and thrive.

Yeah, absolutely. And, and it's interesting that you bring up Jay Z, because I've been a fan of his since 1995. When his resemble that draw, right? Yeah, at that time, he was selling albums out of The back out of the trunk of his car. And a lot of people that are fans of hip hop rap know his story back then and how he progressed through his albums, you know, but they don't know the true stats of him maybe they know him now because he's married to Beyonce. And you know, he appears on fortunes list and and all that.

But they don't know how he progress through, you know, owning rock aware or Rockefeller and buying his the rights to his albums so that he would own them and no one else and becoming CEO of Def Jam and, and, you know, everything that he did, you know, becoming one of the first artists to ever own or ever have a 360 deal that allowed him to venture into every all the other spaces such as clothing and shoes. 

Open nightclub, took ownership of the nets, sold that and open Barclays, you know, moving the team to this new, huge and beautiful arena. And, you know, and then selling those rights and opening, you know, rock nation, which helps artists and in well they sign artists and that's kind of the front and center of what you hear about, you know, they signed x new, you know, artists, the real impetus behind it was because he saw that, you know, roughly 75% of new athletes and artists are out of money within, you know, within the first couple of years because they don't know how to invest they don't know how to say things like that, because as he's kind of accrued his wealth. 

He has properly understood how to invest and diversify and, and whatnot. And then you don't even get I mean, never mind getting into the, you know, 22 Grammy records and you know, I've been fortunate enough to see him four times in concert I believe. 

And He's incredible to me. He is my favorite artist of all time, but it's also because he's a big inspiration to me. And for all intents and purposes through multiple points in my life, I was supposed to be a statistic. Mm hmm. I had two different choices throughout life. And at multiple points throughout my life, I had a choice to follow one path or the other one right, very destructive, and one hopefully not destructive, you know, make those decisions. And, you know, hopefully I've chosen one over the other, but you know it. 

That's where you gain these inspirations. And I agree with you and some of them are very famous people like Jay Z. And some of them aren't. They're friends that have just accomplished something, you know. And the purpose of this podcast series is to elevate those, whether the topics are on leadership on diversity on overcoming something physically, you know, life threatening all these topics that hopefully other people can take and use that to get past whatever they're going through. 

And that's what the whole purpose of built unstoppable became. That's that wasn't my intention actually out of the gate. idea was stupid and start to write about what was going on with me because people were asking, but then and we lived through it with you right? 

That was very, but that's the thing you know it's sometimes life has to knock you on your ass before you really get how unstoppable you can be I mean look I The reason we we really bonded was because of that because I get it you know i i've been flat on my back sick wondering what's going on? And how am I going to get up tomorrow? And what am I going to do with my career and everything looks terrible and and then you come to that Crossroads where it's time to sink or swim, who are you going to in this moment? And you have to choose? And if you choose well, that what seems like a tragedy in that moment can actually become your greatest spiritual fuel. 

Yep. Um, you know if you had told me 15 years ago, or even 10 years ago, Jennifer, you are going to become a global advocate for women. You're going to speak at the UN you're going to work for the State Department once in a while, um, you know, And oh, by the way, you're not gonna be doing food stuff anymore. I would have laughed. I would have thought that was the funniest thing ever. Um, I didn't even really like women that much at that. 

You know, I had to go on my own voyage with that, but But yeah, you don't realize when you're in it, when you're in the mess when you're in the tragedy when you're in the problem. You don't have the ability to float to 40,000 feet and really look at that. And it's only in hindsight that you can find the comfort right? 

If I could go back to her 10 years ago and say, it's going to be okay, I know things are absolutely terrible, but I promise you that what is coming is going to knock your socks off.

I felt that way. Right. As I look back, we're going as, as we record this podcast now in July of 2020. You know, I'm at roughly almost six years since my injuries, right? Because of be August 10. that it happened. And when I look back at that, it's something that I never want to experience. I don't wish it on anyone. I, I'm sorry. And feel sorry for when someone stubs their toe, right? And they try to you know, they joke or they fall on whatever and they say, Ah, you know, it's nothing like you experience so no, it caused you pain. 

You don't have to compare yourself to me, but you know, because of the closeness I developed with some friends and family the I think for two that I had to deal with it, and I knew it would crush other people, if if they went through it. Mm hmm. You know, made me happy. 

And I had a lot of people over that period of time asked me and even record and podcast why that we are as a society, typical to only show the happy sides of us on social media, Instagram photos, the happiest status updates on you know, Twitter and Facebook. And question why I chose to be 100% transparent, like in the worst possible ways, right? 

And yeah, but some of that over those 545 days of deaths from the first night to the last day of chemo, stop thing, almost magical happen that again, I never plan to write every day. But also people start to reach out and say everything you're doing is become an inspiration to me. And, you know, I never thought that I'll take that dream vacation or, you know, commit to lose some weight or any variety of things. And in the year since then, I've had people reach out and ask to, if I would talk to them or talk to their significant others, because they're going through something that they're inspired by what I've been through. 

And you never, you never understand until something like that hits you, like you said until your medical issue really burns you out. And yeah, that you have this whole potential different direction. That never should have happened in your life. 

My all intents and purposes, and, you know, that's why I'm personally making different decisions now to move forward. And you know, I know that that you've done that as well. I, I always think one of the interests and things with you, I have a feeling that they play one on one together. 

But I've never asked you about is that when you got your office for imperia Mm hmm. You're I know how excited you were to be in the World Trade Center. Yeah. What is the background on that? Or, or why was there so much joy to be there?

Well, yeah, it's really a full circle. Kind of a story. So the everything behind me getting very sick 10 years ago. was a result of the Fibromyalgia that I have in my body? Well, that's what they call it. I don't know what it actually is because we're still scientists still trying to figure that out. Yep. Bottom line is that on September 11 2001, the the aftermath of the stress of that and working in Manhattan and being alive in that moment triggered all of the symptoms that would eventually lead to me getting very sick 10 years later, and so being able to go into the new world and I never even went down to ground zero like it was just not anything I wanted to be a part of. 

You know, and I had cooked at the at the James Beard house during the cleanup, you know, dirt when they were on the pile, looking for survivors, you know, we were cooking and and taking care of the firefighters and police and all that and so so was a very deep experience for me. 

And then walking in there am I, I started in my office on September 10 2018, which was its own special kind of very bizarre moment. But going up to the 85th floor and standing up there and looking out at the world, especially as a child of two immigrants who came from two different European countries with nothing on to have an office in that building and stand and look at everything was just extraordinary. And it felt like an achievement on multiple levels. 

Yeah, emotionally, you know, and as a businesswoman and and as a young girl who dreamed of having an office in a big skyscraper, like it was just, it was a lot. It was a very intense day. And so yeah, it was just a really full circle moment for me. So it was very special. Thank you for asking. That, that I'm glad

My assumption was correct. In fact, have been, you know, us, you know, nearby, essentially being in Manhattan, but I, I assume that it was kind of full circle. Yeah, doing what you loved and almost been been that high in the air mental power of what you could do for the women that you know. 

Well, you know, what's interesting about that is about a week in, I was sitting there and I'm looking out the window and I was looking at Queens, which is, as you may know, the most diverse population center square foot, I think in the world. And because I was thinking to myself, how am I going to sort of workshop this thing that I want to do globally, but I'm here in New York City right now. I thought, well, there's queens. And as I'm looking at all of it, I thought, Okay, this has got to be much bigger. 

It's got to being up in the sky, looking at the world made my ideas much bigger. Because there, there is an expansiveness, when you're that high up, and you're looking out at everything serving your domain. 

Um, there's no way to think small. It's impossible. And so that actually changed everything. And that's when we went fully global. Let's do this bigger. Let's make this. You know, my idea of fun is what looks impossible. Let's go do that. What is, what is no one ever done before? Let's do that. Because if someone's already done it, I'm not interested. If it's not a world's first, I'm not interested.

No, it's what you said about you know, September 10. And and that being mean I'm full. I had my and what many people might not know unless they go back and kind of make the correlation or go look through all of the content of the of the years was that my brain surgery actually happened on September the 11th. 

And that was happened chance it was supposed to be for something like a week or two later, man We got a call by my neurosurgeon on the Sunday before that said, Hey, listen, you know, a spot opened up and I booked you for your coming in this, you know, Thursday and having your surgery. 

And at first, you know, first thing that ran through my head and even for a couple weeks after, or and even months after, I guess was something negative is always done like now there's two things in my life associated that are negative. fright September 11, which no American will ever forget, and having to have brain surgery like that, which is negative, you know, which a lot of people's negative. 

And then, you know, over the years, I've kind of flipped that on its head, similar to what you said with coming into your office. And it was that September the 11th 2001 was, you know, a attack on our country that we will never forget, naturally. And I can remember every moment just like any can, where you were what you were doing, you know, things like that. 

September the 11th 2014 was when I was kind of given a new lease on life. Mm hmm. You know, I came on out on the other side of that and I and I lived through having a brain surgery and So there always be those two different worlds for me.

And, you know, I don't know if you know this, but I still vividly remember that because I had a, I was on a press trip. It was the sort of women in tech press tour, and I had to fly on September 11. 

And I thought, Oh, really, and, and as I had my layover, I was checking in with I think it might have been cc Chapman. I'm trying to find out how you were doing. Were you awake yet? So I lived through that with you. So it was a that particular day stands out because I specifically remember walking through a very empty airport because nobody flies that day. And waiting for you to wake up. So So yeah, it was quite a bookend of a day.

It was that day and I'd find out. Of course, you know, Couple weeks later, was a similar thing happened with Tom Webster and Mark Schaefer. They wrote they recorded it in a podcast that huh, that they stayed up or would wake up several times throughout the night to see if I had written anything about or posted any photo or or anything. We were waiting for the picture. Yeah, I couldn't really type at that point. 

After brain surgery, they have you in the ICU connected to every machine and everything inside of you humanly possible. Even things you never want to know were possible. And I I ended up finding out that there's a kind of online waiting room right this year. And and certainly when I had woken up from the seizures that first night people had initially found out you know, I had hundreds Have texts in, you know, emails and messages across the social platforms. And anyway, someone knew how to get a hold of me or my wife. 

But the brain surgery was so much more. It was. And I'll always remember that, because that term, you know, the online waiting room, always stuck out, always has meant the most to me with at all. 

So that kind of brings me to the question I asked everyone and I already told you this ahead of time to think of this, but what does being built unstoppable mean to you?

Well, I mean, I think it's very simple. It's that it's who you're willing to be. When everything looks impossible.

It's it's your Jay Z moment. get really is it's it's like okay not today Satan you know we're doing this and then who who do you have to discover inside of you to make it happen that's awesome

Lastly where can people find you on the web?

Haha super simple on so my last name is very complicated so I made it easy for people they can simply go to Empress Jennifer calm a Jennifer with two ends and that's where my my personal website is with my speaking and coaching and then imperia I love this we actually have one of the new the new kind of style of domain names so we're at imperia dot global that is our dress.

Fantastic. Thank you so much for joining us today, Jennifer,

Thank you for having me. You you are, you know, my Superman as I always call you and for one caped crusader to another.

You know, I'm hoping we can make a dent in this world before we go whenever that is. Yes, well well take care and have a good day.

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