Jessa Messina: Your Culture Is Your Revenue

Today's discussion centers around the transformative impact of corporate wellness, particularly through the lens of Jessa Messina, founder and CEO of YoJo. Jessa's journey into wellness began with her experiences overcoming personal challenges, including a traumatic accident and health struggles, which fueled her passion for creating accessible and trauma-informed wellness solutions. At YoJo, she has successfully integrated wellness programs into organizations like NBC and Urban Outfitters, emphasizing the importance of fostering a safe and inclusive work culture. Our conversation delves into the necessity of meeting employees where they are, the dangers of toxic positivity, and how genuine healing requires acknowledging both struggles and triumphs. As we explore the intersection of personal experience and professional innovation, we aim to illuminate how wellness can be a powerful catalyst for change in corporate America.Our Guest this Week:Jessa Messina is the Founder & CEO of YoJo, a corporate wellness company that has brought trauma-informed, accessible wellness to teams at NBC, TIME Magazine, Urban Outfitters, and Grubhub. Her path began in 2006 teaching yoga to FSU students and the university’s football team, and by 2011 she’d earned Trainer of the Year at Tribeca Equinox, where she pioneered yoga programs for men who never imagined a studio was for them—and later partnered with the landmark Stonewall Inn to create space for the LGBTQ community. Drawing on more than 10,000 combined hours of teaching and training, plus three years in tech sales that sharpened her understanding of the corporate grind, Jessa built YoJo into a comprehensive platform of live workshops, ergonomic programming, and on-demand classes designed to reduce burnout and improve retention. Having healed from both an autoimmune disease and major head trauma, she leads with hard-won compassion, building wellness that meets people exactly where they are—intersectional, accessible, and deeply human.Takeaways:Real healing rejects toxic positivity. Making space for grief is what lets people move toward healing—and being truly seen is itself a form of medicine.Purpose is a power for business. Culture is revenue, and the ROI of keeping one person in their seat is far greater than most companies realize.Meet people where they are. Lower the barrier to entry and give people service they can actually use, rather than what looks impressive.Keep moving, and ask for help. Growth genuinely gets harder over time; that’s not a personal failing, and smarter strategies plus mentorship close the gap.Let technology augment humanity, never replace it. AI should automate busywork and guard people’s data while protecting human connection.Burning Questions Answered:How can a founder make purpose and goodness a genuine engine for growth and profit?How do you break into corporate and HR wellness—and build traction that lasts a decade?How do you sell effectively when sales wasn’t your original passion?How do you design wellness that a stressed, fight-or-flight nervous system can actually receive?How do you adopt AI without losing the humanity at the center of your business?How do you know which “hat” is truly yours, and when it’s time to pass the torch?Chapters:00:07 - Amplifying Women's Voices in Leadership00:34 - Jessa Messina: A Journey Through Wellness and Healing18:34 - Building Unique Communities for Wellness24:43 - The Future of AI in Business28:24 - Transitioning into Community ActivismGuest Offers & Contact Information:Jessa’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessa-messina-87780720/ YoJo Website: https://www.yojo.co/YoJo App: https://www.yojo.co/app YoJo LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/yojo-llc/ YoJo Instagram: http://instagram.com/yojoyoga Follow the #WisdomOfWomen show for more inspiring stories and insights from trailblazing women founders, investors, and experts in growth and prosperity.YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@AForceforGoodBiz Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3yVTY6prvdTf2CDwI90zxY?si=cfc7bb3591914276Amazon Prime: https://a.co/d/07yJR76E Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wisdomofwomen/id1728992296 RSS Feed: https://feeds.captivate.fm/womengetfunded/ Coco Sellman, the host of #WisdomOfWomen, believes business is a force for good, especially with visionary women at the helm. With over 25 years of entrepreneurial experience, she has launched five companies and guided over 500 startups. As Founder & CEO of A Force for Good, Coco supports purpose-driven women founders in unlocking exponential growth and prosperity. Her recent venture, Allumé Home Care, reached eight-figure revenues and seven-figure profits in just four years before a successful exit in 2024. A venture investor and board director, Coco’s book, *A Force for Good*, reveals a roadmap for women to lead high-impact, high-growth companies.Learn more about A Force for Good:Website: https://aforceforgood.biz/ Are Your GROWING or PLATEAUING? https://aforceforgood.biz/quiz/FFG Marketplace: https://courses.aforceforgood.biz/marketplaceThe Book: https://aforceforgood.biz/book/