In this episode, I interview Dr. Lucinda Jackson of LJ Ventures. We talk about:
- How her career in environmental chemistry led to starting her own consulting business
- How she incorporated many different aspects of her work, including speaking and writing books, into LJ Ventures
- How we can empower and retain more women in STEM
NOTE: I highly recommend you to listen to this entire episode, as we also cover more details about managing parenthood in STEM, which is not covered in this newsletter.
Starting and Growing LJ Ventures
BT: In your business, LJ Ventures, you do a lot of different things. Can you share a little bit about how you decided when you wanted to start your consulting business and all the different things you would do in your business?
LJ: I think it started when I left the corporate world. I wanted less structure. I’d been in that for, you know, a while, and it is a fairly structured environment. And so I decided to join the Peace Corps, and I thought that that would give me a career. I wanted to start as a volunteer and then maybe become a regional manager and, you know, maybe head of the whole Peace Corps or something. And I thought that would be full of freedom and fun and and, it was not. I found that the peace corps was very structured, more like the military, actually, had a lot of rules and regulations.
And so when I got back from that, I started doing some consulting and environmental and chemistry type consulting in the energy business primarily. And, then I started writing, and I realized it was kind of turning into a book. And then I realized I was earning money from consulting, and I was spending money by working on my book.
Books do cost money to put together. And, when you look at that income and expenses, you go, oh, it’s a business. And it dawned on me that it could have some tax advantages. And, it’d be a great way for me to kind of advertise myself and keep everything in order, keep all my, you know, expenses and income in order.
So that’s when I started it, and the reason I called it LJ Ventures was because I wanted it to be eclectic. And I didn’t wanna be, you know, Jackson Consulting Services because I didn’t wanna just do consulting. I wanted it to be free flow. So venture means you can do anything you want.
BT: Looking back at your business, can you share with us how your business looked when you were starting it versus how it has grown and changed over the years and how it looks like now?
LJ: I started out with consulting in energy and environment and then stuff with my books. And in the beginning, I did hire a number of people to help me. So that’s something that’s good to do in the beginning. So I hired, like, a public relations person. I hired a lawyer for a little bit of stuff. Of course, I had my editor and an admin that I hired for a little bit, a web designer, to get things going. Now I can do it all myself. More free freedom.
Now I’m doing more consulting, career consulting and retirement consulting than I am, science, but I’m doing it for scientists. And I’m finding that with LJ Ventures, it can evolve. I don’t have to keep doing the same thing like doing consulting for companies. I was getting a little tired of that, and what I find really energizing is career work with scientists. You know, I just love it. And I think we’re the future.
I spent a lot of time making money at the beginning, and now I do more pro bono work. And that’s because things have gone well, and I can do that. And it’s very fun, and I I like being able to donate my time and not charge and worry about that.
I guess what’s also changed is I worked a ton in the beginning. Just like they always say, working, having your own business is like 20 full time jobs, and it is. I mean, you work all the time, and now I’m working less. So that’s been a lot better.
So that’s kind of an evolution of a small business, you know, from needing a lot of resources in the beginning, earning the money, and then figuring out what your shtick is and then and then letting it evolve for those of you listening who wanna start your own business.
Getting Your Ideas Heard as a Woman in STEM
BT: In your book, Just a Girl, you chronicle a lot of experiences you had with men in STEM. You include tips or some actual things that people or specifically women can do to advocate for themselves and others in these situations and, also providing reframes of their own beliefs and thoughts. As a woman in STEM who was in the 1st generation of women really getting into STEM, how were you able to come up with these reframes when you didn’t really have anybody, you know, there as a role model or to help you and to really guide you through all that process?
LJ: I studied men. I paid attention. I was in a field starting from college. Few women and then into grad school and on to work, it was pretty much all men. So I studied them and what they were doing. I’d watch them in meetings and the way they frame things and how they protected their egos and how they complemented themselves in kind of offhand ways, and I learned a lot of tricks. I didn’t want to become a man.
I didn’t like everything they were doing that I was watching. But I saw it for my own spin on it. But I saw that there’s definite techniques, and nobody had told me any of these techniques. Somehow these guys learned it from each other, maybe on the golf course or something, but I practiced in the mirror.
You know, I try saying things like “I propose” instead of, “well, I don’t know. I kinda have an idea, but I’m not sure if anybody’s interested.” You know, saying things about myself that so I learned how to just say I propose or or or say, you know, compliment myself, but in a way that doesn’t sound braggy. And I didn’t know that you had to do all that, and I found it I have found it very useful in business.
You know a lot more than you think you know. If you have an idea, you probably know more about it than anybody in the room. Right? So you have a right to have some confidence about it. But saying things like, I propose, you’re not saying I know everything.
You’re saying, “I propose we’d look at this idea.” And the next person could say, well, “that’s interesting.” And they might not totally buy it, but they could say, but that leads me “I think I’ll propose this. How about that?” And they go, “Yeah, that sounds like a compromise” So that’s sort of how it goes. It doesn’t mean you’re proposing and you have all the solutions and you have to know everything about it.
It’s a way to get your thoughts out there and make your thinking visible, as they used to say in the corporate world. So you’re part of the conversation. You know? And your idea, even if it’s not perfect, it can lead somebody else to think of another idea. You’re you’re you’re having a conversation. So that hopefully would give you some bravery.
When you kind of have some doubt, go ahead and say it anyway. It’s just out there on the floor. And, again, you know more than you think you do. I learned that from watching men too. They were much more bold about bringing forward ideas even if they were half baked. And a lot of women think that they have to have the whole thing completed in order to present it, and you don’t have to.
Final Words of Wisdom
BT: Any final thoughts or words of wisdom that you wanna share with future, or current women and minorities in STEM?
LJ: I think to retain an enlightened self interest. So take care of yourself. Think about yourself. Realize other people have a lot of demands on you. Be aware of that, but think about yourself. So enlightened self interest is something I found very useful, especially as a woman where we tend to give and be raised as givers, to take some of that energy and put it into yourself.
Don’t give up. The world needs us, us women scientists, in whatever format, whether it’s how to own businesses or in schools or in universities in the industry, wherever they they’re just remember those statistics, only 35%. The jobs are going to women, and there’s more of us out there with those degrees who could be participating in a really, not only lucrative, but also super, super interesting and powerful career.
Follow Dr. Lucinda Jackson for updates on her speaking events and books!
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucinda-jackson/
- Website: https://lucindajackson.com/