The EdUp Experience

Episode 2: What can Higher Education learn from media influencer Jac Vanek?

Introduction:
You're listening to The EdUp Experience, where we make education your business. On today's episode, we have an incredible guest, Jac Vanek. She's a social media dominator, a fashion trendsetter, a revolutionary podcast host, and an entrepreneur extraordinaire. Let's get to it.

Elvin: Welcome, everybody.

Joe: This is Elvin Freytes, and this is Joe Sallustio.

Elvin: And on the line we have Jac Vanek. Jac, how you doing?

Jac: I am so great, you guys. I'm working by my pool right now, which is amazing.

Joe: Spoken like a true entrepreneur.

Jac: What can I say?

Elvin: Where are you right now, Jac?

Jac: I'm at my apartment in Marina Del Rey, California.

Elvin: Oh, that's beautiful. I'm in freezing New York City. Actually, it's not that bad. It's kind of sunny, a little warm, so it's nice. So enjoy that beautiful sun over there.

Jac: Yeah. At least it's not blizzarding.

Joe: That's right.

Elvin: Absolutely. So, Jac, we're very excited to have you on the show. Thank you so much for being the first guest. This is an honor and a pleasure, and we would love to know. Let's go all the way back to the beginning, how it all got started, the Jac Vanek brand. Talk to us about that story. How did it get started?

Jac: Oh, boy. I'm going way back, way back. So the Jac Vanek brand actually started when I was a senior in college. I went to UCLA. I studied design and media arts, which is kind of their version of graphic based design. And while I was in my undergrad, I was also, you know, on the Internet, like many people that were my age ahead of MySpace. And I kind of gained this following on MySpace through going to different concerts and writing about my experiences.

So I had a lot of people really interested in my life. So while I was trying to either get a second job to help pay for my way at UCLA or figure it out some other way, I had this idea to make these rubber bracelets with different sayings and different words on them, and I started selling them on my MySpace page. I started selling them in my backpack at concerts, and I gave them to some of my friends in bands. They'd wear them on stage. Their fans would see them, and it kind of snowballed from there. All these kids wanted to buy bracelets to kind of emulate their favorite rock stars. So that's kind of where it began while I was in my design class at UCLA.

Joe: Now, Jac, this is Joe. And, you know, I was reading a little bit about your bio, and, you know, sort of you were doing blogging before blogging was really even a thing. Did that blogging that you were doing and journaling lead to the business and the brand? Or was it the reverse where you started the brand first and the bracelets, and then you started, you know, promoting it through journaling and your blogging?

Jac: So it's. It's. I actually started blogging, I guess, before it wasn't even called blogging. I had an online journal called LiveJournal when I was 16 years old. I was still in high school, and that's kind of where my online life began. So that's when everybody kind of started following what I was doing. And then the brand came after, and it was kind of taking advantage of this following that I had on the Internet.

And this is back in a time before, you know, people that were, quote, unquote, MySpace famous or famous on the Internet, nobody saw that as a value. Everybody kind of thought it was a joke. So it's funny looking back now when that's kind of now all brands really want is that grassroots, organic following for brands.

Elvin: So this is Elvin. I had a question for you, Jac. So how did you actually market, because you said you ended up having a follow up. Did people just find you, or did you do word of mouth? How did you let people know that you were online?

Jac: So I guess it was kind of word of mouth, more of like a digital word of mouth. Like I said, it was through. I was on my journal, I was on MySpace, and kids that were in. I was in a very kind of niche music scene, all of the concerts that I was going to. So these kids kind of were in their own little world, and they followed all of the band members and their friends and that whole music scene very closely. So I kind of just organically had people coming to me, following my stories and following, you know, playlists and that kind of stuff. So it's kind of pre-influencer influencer.

Joe: When did you realize that, Jac? When did you realize that you really had something on your hands here? I mean, there, you know, I'm imagining that you go and you're selling bracelets and you're going and you're, you know, meeting with bands and they're wearing your bracelets. Is there a moment when you go, you know, I really have something here that I need to leverage, and, you know, does your brain kick in from, you know, this is cool to wait a minute? I've got a business idea here that I can really leverage. And was there a switch in how you were thinking about what you were doing to turning this into a business, and how did that sort of unfold in your head?

Jac: Right. So I did have a moment. It was funny. There was this tour called the Warp tour, and it was like a punk rock music festival tour in the summer. It would travel all over the country. It'd be 500 people on this tour. But this is back when I was, like, 21 years old, just starting the brand. I just had bracelets out of my backpack, like I was saying, and I, you know, was just standing out in the crowd selling bracelets out of my backpack.

And I ended up getting this line of kids that was over 100 people long that was bigger than any of the bands there that were selling their merchandise, that were actually playing. So that was kind of the moment where I was like, holy moly. This actually is something more than, you know, selling five bracelets and making $20 a day. So it was. It was a cool moment because I didn't really. I didn't plan for it. I obviously had no experience. It kind of just organically happened, and I just trusted my gut at that point.

Elvin: That's awesome. So I had a question. Who did you turn to for support? I'm curious. During your time at UCLA, did you talk to faculty? Did you talk to friends, roommates, family members who say, hey, I have this. I want to do this? What do you think?

Jac: So, my parents are, like, my biggest support in the entire world. They're my best friends, but they take on every crazy idea that I have and just roll with it ever since I was a kid. So my parents actually helped me ship out all of my bracelets and my merchandise from their garage for the first five years of doing my business. It was insane. Insane.

So they have always been my people that I go to, but again, they didn't have any business experience in that world, either. So it was kind of just learning as you go. But as far as faculty, I mean, design wise, I did have a degree in graphic design, and that did obviously help me in what I'm doing today. I'm literally doing graphic design on my computer right now. So I did have one teacher that really helped me through that just for design purposes specifically.

Joe: So talk to us a little bit about what is the Jac Vanek brand and what's the scope? And maybe highlight some of the things that have been significant for your brand as you have expanded to give our listeners really an idea, if they don't know you, what your brand is today. Where your brand is, you know, where they can find what you offer, how you market the items that you sell. Give us a sort of an overall idea of what the brand is today.

Jac: Right. So it started off with the bracelets, like I said, the little one inch rubber bracelets with different words and sayings on them. Since then, it has expanded into clothing, apparel, home goods, accessories. So it's kind of, you know, built into this complete lifestyle brand out of this one single rubber bracelet, which is really cool.

And from there, too, I'm still doing the Jac Vanek brand now, but I've expanded in my professional life. A couple different ventures, too, that I've used my design experience and my branding experience to help with that as well. So it kind of. The Jac Vanek brand kind of shines through in everything that I do in my life professionally now.

Joe: Is it fair to say, Jac, that you sort of helped define a generation of kids? I mean, you know, as I was doing research about you and your brand, it seems like this was really a movement to some degree. You know, there were celebrities and kids all wearing your brand all of the time. It was sort of almost seemed like a generational thing that you had going on when you first started out.

Jac: Yeah, I mean, I'd like to say that I was kind of part of the way of paving that wave of people. We. There was me and a couple other people back in the day, in the MySpace day, that started brands off of their popularity. And like I said before, this was kind of something that people didn't take seriously if you have a bunch of followers or friends on a website, and I think I really took advantage of that and showed that you could turn that into something that's really tangible and profitable. So, yeah, I'd like to think that it helped.

Joe: So that's good.

Elvin: I just had a question. So now that you're doing the brand, and I know that you do the Lady Gang podcast, I would love to learn more about how did you get involved in that, and where is that going in the future?

Jac: Okay, so the Lady Gang podcast is a podcast with me and then two of my girlfriends, Kelty Knight, who is a TV presenter at Entertainment Tonight, and then Becca Tobin. She's an actress best known for her role on Glee. And we started the podcast over four years ago. We're all kind of in the industry a little bit, feeling plateaued in our careers and just sick of waiting for everybody else to kind of make answers on, you know, where our career was going to go.

So we came up with the idea to start a podcast. I had only listened to one podcast at that time. They were very. Nobody really had them. They're very minimal. So we started the podcast idea out thinking it was going to be a celebrity driven podcast. You know, we'd have different celebrity guests on. We still do. But the more that we did it and the more we shared about our lives, the more that our listeners became really invested with us personally and what was going in our lives. And it's now kind of, you know, taken on a life of its own and turned into this massive community of amazing women all over the world.

Joe: Yeah, I think you're being a little humble, Elvin, and you pulled the cover off this sort of huge topic, and she's being super humble. And as we were looking at researching the Lady Gang and the impact that you have, I just want everybody that's going to listen to understand how humble Jac is being here. The Lady Gang - you're one third of this amazing host panel - have had over 55 million downloads. And, like, that number just in my head, I can't even compute as Elvin and I are doing this podcast with you. 55 million would be nice. We're going to start somewhere.

But that means just how incredible that is. And, you know, when you say it's a community of women, it's almost like a rabid community of women, meaning they're just so passionate about the Lady Gang and women's empowerment and, you know, sort of dominating. And it's awesome to watch how your impact that you and Becca and Kelty have had on women and women's issues. And so I don't even know if there's a question in there, Jac, other than just to say how impressed we were as we were looking at your information. I mean, 55 million downloads. Can you even get your mind around that now in four years? Do you guys look back at that and go, holy crap, what has happened?

Jac: Yeah, it's kind of crazy. I mean, like I said, we started this not really knowing exactly where it was going to go. We thought it was going to be something that was completely different than what it's turned into. So I think the thing that we've all learned is to kind of just roll with what's working and expand and focus on that.

And what that has been is kind of our girls in our community. Like, we have so many dope girls in our Facebook group that are helping each other out, that are just outside of what we're doing. And it's just really cool to see women coming together and supporting each other in a really awesome way. I've never seen anything like it before.

Joe: Do you get a lot of feedback, Jac? Elvin, let me ask her this before you jump in. Do you get a lot of feedback from the women that listen? Do you understand the influence that you have? Do they tell you about the influence you have on them? Are people's lives being changed as a part of your podcast? Do you ever get that type of feedback from your listeners?

Jac: Oh, yeah. We get that all the time, which is so crazy. And I think the coolest, one of the coolest things about the way that we're doing things is we have this, quote, unquote, secret Facebook group that we have around 30,000 women in, and Kelty and I are still in it, and we're still. If some girl is posting about, you know, problems that she's having with her husband, we're jumping in and giving her feedback. I just made a post the other day about how my boyfriend snores, and I really need to get a solution to it so he doesn't have to sleep on the couch.

Interlude: Hey, everyone. Reminder that you're listening to The EdUp Experience, where we make education your business. As you can tell in this first episode, we did have some audio issues, which will be cleared up in future episodes. For now, please enjoy the second part of the conversation with Jac Vanek.

Joe: Oh, my God. I just want to let you know that Elvin and I, we also have a secret Facebook group with three people, so we're aspiring for the 30,000, so.

Jac: You know, oh, you're. You're almost there. You know, you got to start somewhere. There was a time when there's only three people in our Facebook group, so you never know.

Joe: Yeah, that's right.

Elvin: You know what I love about the podcast, too, is that when you do the advertisements, I love how you use your personal lives and your personal stories, and you just, like, you know, put in the sponsorship there. And I just think that's brilliant. I think that's so well done. So bravo to you. I love that makes it so personal and so understanding. It's kind of like you. You match yourself up with a sponsor that you feel comfortable with, and you feel as though, okay, I can talk about this because something has happened to me or to my girlfriend or stuff like that. So, you know, bravo to you. That's fantastic.

But my question is, I wanted to know, you know, because this is about EdUp. You know, it's kind of like education. I'm kind of like level up. So how do you always find time to progress, to learn something new? Do you read, watch videos, podcasts? What's your process to kind of stay in the know?

Jac: I'm a huge documentary fan, and then I'm also a huge podcast listener. I would like to say that I read more than I do, but my ADD has gone crazy in the past couple of years. But audiobooks are great. I think podcasts are great because you can just put them on when you're working or when you're driving or when you're cleaning. So I like to be productive while I'm also teaching myself something. So that's kind of where I like to learn.

Elvin: Now, are you listening to marketing podcasts? Is there like this for, you know, how to market, or are you listening to Gabby V or Tony Robbins? Kind of motivate? What type of podcast are you listening to?

Jac: So this is going to be a really weird answer. I'm a big fan of true crime, so I listen to a lot of true crime podcasts. Yeah, I have a true crime podcast of my own as well. So that's kind of my passion project. That's where I have just so much interest in it and like that, the criminal justice system and all that kind of stuff. So that's where I always am finding myself when I'm browsing the podcast list.

Joe: Which is interesting because I understand that your true crime podcast is growing pretty rapidly as well. Is that the case for you guys?

Jac: It's blowing up, which is crazy. It's such a. It's a genre that is absolutely exploding. So it's really cool.

Joe: What's the name of the podcast for everybody that's going to listen to us so that if they want to tune in?

Jac: It's called The First Degree. And the premise of a podcast is telling stories to somebody that is one degree away from the crime or the perpetrator or the victim. So you're getting a very personal, anecdotal kind of insight to different circumstances, which is really cool.

Joe: That's cool.

Jac: Yeah.

Elvin: And so I wanted to ask about the reality show. I read something about the reality show.

Jac: Yeah. So we did a season of our Lady Gang TV show for E! last year, and it was a new experience for me. The other two girls have been in the entertainment industry for ten years plus, so they're kind of used to the ropes in that world, but it was a new experience for me, totally out of my comfort zone. But it was really cool, great learning process, and we had a lot of fun.

Joe: Now, Jac, how does that, when you look back on your life now and because it's moving probably faster than it ever has if you're doing, I mean, I don't even know how to ask you how you balance all this stuff because I think you're just scratching the surface on the stuff that you're actually doing out there right now.

You go from your undergrad, selling bracelets, creating a brand, moving into, really, a social media dominator, then onto a podcast that grows at an exponential level, then onto TV, basically a celebrity. You know, how is that? I mean, because you're the entrepreneur of the three hosts on the Lady Gang podcast, right? One's been an entertainer and one's been an actress, and you're sort of, I hate to say the odd one, but an entrepreneur, generally, when you're doing podcasts like that, where there's a celebrity tone, have celebrities also that host, you're the entrepreneur. So you're the self-made, you know, from the beginning.

How does that, when you look back on things, can you believe it? I mean, do you just look back and go, how did I get to this point? Or were you really progressing to wanting to get to this level?

Jac: I mean, it was not intentional. I mean, honestly, nothing in my professional life has been intentional, which is I look back and that's why I say for the Lady Gang, it's like we kind of just are going with the flow and, you know, really going in the direction that the tide is taking us.

Because when I had my Jac Vanek brand, when it was starting in the first few years, I tried to really push back against a lot of things because I wanted to do something this way. And I thought people would like the thing I'm, this thing that I'm doing. And you really have to listen to the people that are your consumers and are your fans and your listeners because they're going to be the ones that are consuming any content that you're putting out there.

So I think you kind of got to get out of your own way in that realm, because that's what's going to bring you the best success. But, yeah, I definitely wasn't expecting, I didn't even know, barely knew what a podcast was when we started a podcast. So that thing has been, it's been pretty crazy.

Joe: Yeah. Elvin put me, asked me to do this podcast with him, and I had absolutely no idea what the podcast was either at this point. So I'm figuring out as I go here as well, which is not completely true, but, but podcasting, you know, everybody's doing, you know, a lot of people are doing podcasts now, and there's the big question that I don't think we have and other people have, and part of why we wanted to have you on as really our first guest is because your podcast is so huge. How do you get the most out of podcasts? How do you grow your podcast? You know, because this is all about learning on our podcast, The EdUp Experience. How do we take a podcast, or how does anybody else take a podcast and grow it?

Jac: So, you know, with podcasting, all you have is audio. That's all you have. That's all anybody is going to judge you off of. So you need to just make sure that whatever you're creating, your content is good. So whatever it is, I mean, there's a podcast about everything, and there's going to be consumers of any type of subject in the world.

So whatever you're going to decide to make your podcast on, you just have to make sure your content's good. People can see right through it within the first, you know, five minutes of listening. So I think just focusing on that and then just really figuring out what your brand is.

I think the biggest problem that I see, especially in podcasts like the Lady Gang, like in our genre, is there is no structure to a lot of them, and it kind of, the conversations can drag on or, you know, there's no focal point of what they're talking about. So I think just keeping things very concise and knowing what you're going to talk about and getting your point across so things don't kind of drag on and become this long-winded conversation. I think that's where people digest it the best.

Joe: I hope our conversation doesn't go on too long here, but I know.

Elvin: I was thinking the same thing. Let me get my last question in there, because what I want to do is I want to ask all our guests, no matter where they come from, because you've been through education, you went through K-12, and then you did college. So I'm just curious about your thoughts, Jac. What do you see is the future of education? What do you think?

Jac: Oh, that's a loaded question. The future of education, I mean, with technology and with the availability for so much information to so many people with the Internet, I don't know, I feel like the future of education, it's kind of the opportunities are endless of where it can go and how people can learn.

I think, you know, conventional education can probably and is probably starting to change. I'm not super into that world, so I don't know exactly what's going on, but I think that there's just probably a lot more opportunity for people that didn't have it previously, which is awesome because there's so many different ways to learn.

Joe: You know, it's funny that you say that, and it's funny that you say that because, you know, as we're starting this podcast, Jac, you know, people perceive, because Elvin and I both work in higher education, and I think the perception, you know, if you don't work in the industry is that higher ed is boring. I mean, you know, for us, it's exciting. We want to work in higher education, but for a lot of people, they look at higher education and go, oh, wow, this is super boring.

So our aim with this podcast is to talk about learning. Doesn't have to be boring, you know, learning about how someone becomes a part of a three-person team to grow a podcast to 55 million downloads. If you can even take one thing away from this podcast and listen to Jac talk about how to grow to 55 million downloads, that's how we can learn. We can learn through listening to other people and all these other ways, like you said, access to technology.

But my question is, if you now, with the Lady Gang in particular, you're influencing women every day, how do you accept that responsibility, and how does it make you feel when you know that you're doing good? So do you feel that sense of responsibility to continue to influence? And how does it make you feel when you're making that positive impact?

Jac: Right. So I think the coolest thing about the Lady Gang and the three of us is what we are talking about in the podcast, we are so unapologetically ourselves. You know, womanhood is messy. It's beautiful and it's fun, but it's heartbreaking. And we're, you know, just trying to stumble through it all together. And we've all just tried to be as much ourselves as we can.

So when that resonates with our girls, that makes us feel, you know, incredible. There's no feeling like it because it's not like we're trying to put on, you know, a mask or, like, the best version of ourselves. We're just being us, even when it's not our best day. And, you know, that's where I feel like we resonate with our girls the most. So it's a really great feeling.

And I don't think that we are like, quote-unquote role models in any sense, because we're not trying to be this, like, buttoned-up version of ourselves. But I think maybe because we're sort of, you know, stripping everything back, we can actually be an authentic person for girls to look up to.

Joe: That's awesome. And real quickly, before we wrap up now, you went on tour. I was sort of looking at some information here. And you guys did a nationwide tour, is that correct? And what was that tour about? And how did that go?

Jac: Yeah, so we did a tour this summer. It was seven dates over the country. We did Texas, DC, Chicago, some West coast dates. It was amazing. I mean, my favorite thing in the world is meeting our Lady Gang girls out in the wild. They're so cool. They're so rad, they're so smart, and I want to be friends with every single one of them.

So that's what kind of touches us the most, is actually seeing the impact that we're making in person with these girls. So it was amazing. We're doing another one this summer. We have a book coming out, so we're doing a book tour, and we'll be heading to more cities, so I can't wait.

Joe: Well, so that, with the tour, did you do your podcast live while you're there?

Jac: Yeah, they're all live shows. Yeah.

Joe: Wow. They got rowdy Elvin, something for us to shoot for live.

Elvin: Jac, that could be. Yeah. Jac, you are amazing. Thank you so much for your time. We really, really appreciate it. This has been fantastic. And, you know, I think you provided tons of value, and we're going to put all your information in the show notes so people can get in contact with you and follow you and see what you're doing. And all the best. Our continued wonderful success to you, Jac.

Jac: Well, thank you so much for having me, guys. It was so fun.

Joe: Thank you. And good luck with the book. Thanks. All right, Jac, talk to you soon.

Jac: Bye, guys.

Elvin: So there you have it. Joe, what a fantastic conversation with Jac. Don't you think?

Joe: You know, the most amazing thing about her is that when you think about her in her undergrad as a senior selling bracelets at rock concerts to going and literally having a podcast that has 55 million downloads and a TV show. Like, I can't even get my head around it. It's amazing to see somebody that could do that level of success.

Elvin: Yeah, absolutely. And you know what I love, too, I think the most for me was her parents and the support they gave her. When she said they always support her crazy ideas, I thought that was fantastic. So kudos to her parents. And I wish, you know, more parents who kind of listen to this and take a piece of that and roll with that because, you know, the kids have crazy ideas and they got to roll with them. And look what happened to her. You know, she has so much support from her parents, and she's doing fantastic. So I thought it was a very, very great first interview.

Joe: Yeah. And, you know, for us to take away how to grow a podcast, and she has a lot of success. The Lady Gang is huge. And then her true crime podcast, The First Degree, is also growing rapidly. But, you know, the thing that I love the most out of this is where, you know, she says, be yourself, be authentic.

And I think that's, you know, I hope, I know we're on the same page, Elvin, that we want to make this as natural as possible. You know, this is higher Ed can really be, you know, I hate to say boring, but it can be. And we want to make it bring the exciting parts of higher ed out where you can literally learn anything at any time and upskill yourself in any way.

Elvin: Absolutely.

Joe: Yeah.

Elvin: And that's the whole idea about The EdUp Experience, and that's what we want to do. So it's a great first episode. We're still going to work on the audio quality. It's going to take us a little time. We're going to figure this out. It'll get better. We'll only get better, but it's our first one, so it's exciting to have the first one under our belt. And for everyone listening, thank you so much for supporting us, and we really appreciate it.

Joe: And don't forget, Elvin, our next guest is a highly influential higher ed leader who will be bringing a perspective on higher education, what it looks like in the future. And I think I'm very excited to talk to him.

Elvin: Oh, absolutely. I can't wait for that one. So please definitely tune in for the next episode because it's going to be fantastic. This guy that we have coming on is amazing. That's really interesting perspective for the future of higher Ed and education in general. So I look forward to picking his brain. So it's going to be fun.

Joe: Download and listen to this podcast subscribe, rate us, review us. We love feedback, good or bad. We'll take whatever you want to give us. And thanks for being an awesome co-host, Elvin.

Elvin: Thank you Joe.

Outro: Until next time, hope you enjoyed that episode. To learn more about The EdUp Experience, please visit edupexperience.com. That's edupexperience all one word dot com. And please feel free to rate, review, subscribe, and share this podcast with us. We really, really appreciate your support. You've been listening to The EdUp Experience where we make education your business with your hosts, Joe Sallustio and Elvin Freytes.