What Would You Do If You Knew You Would Fail? | Jess Ekstrom, Forbes Top Rated Speaker

Jess Ekstrom has built companies, written books, and become one of the most sought-after speakers in the world. She also started all of it trying to right a wrong no one asked her to fix.At sixteen, Jess's family was caught in the Bernie Madoff scandal — her mom's uncle had stolen billions. The media, the betrayal, the upheaval. And Jess, quietly, decided she was going to do something so good it covered up the bad. In this conversation, she traces that thread all the way to now — the purpose test she runs before chasing anything new, the failure/regret reframe that changed how she handles rejection, and the question she's still sitting with in her thirties: what's enough?We talk candidly about postpartum depression, the addiction to impact, and why learning to be still can feel so hard.👤 About Jess Ekstrom:Jess Ekstrom is the founder of Headbands of Hope and Mic Drop Workshop, an investor in women, bestselling author, Forbes Top Rated Speaker, and mom. Her entrepreneurial journey began at age twelve selling toys on eBay, and since then her work has been featured on the TODAY Show and Good Morning America. Through her companies, she has helped millions of women and girls worldwide, and she is the author of Chasing the Bright Side and Create Your Bright Ideas.💻 Jess can be found:www.instagram.com/jess_ekstromwww.facebook.com/jessekstromwww.twitter.com/jess_ekstromhttps://www.tiktok.com/@jessekstromhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jess-ekstrom-59160342/https://micdropworkshop.com/https://jessekstrom.com/✨ About Vlada Bortnik:Vlada Bortnik is the CEO and co-founder of Marco Polo, the video messaging app designed to help people feel close without sacrificing time, privacy, or wellbeing. A Ukrainian refugee who arrived in the U.S. at 11, she built the company alongside her husband Michał while raising two young children, guided by her belief that technology should strengthen human connection, not exploit it. Today, she leads Marco Polo as a profitable, mission-driven company and speaks candidly about balancing parenthood and entrepreneurship while building ethical technology that scales.💻 Vlada can be found:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vladaSubstack: https://heartfulwonders.substack.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vladabortnik📎 Resources mentioned:Marco Polo: https://www.marcopolo.me/The Big Leap – Gay Hendricks: https://gayhendricks.com/the-big-leap/Talkadot: https://www.talkadot.com/Brick: https://getbrick.app/Headbands of Hope: https://www.headbandsofhope.com/Mic Drop Workshop: https://micdropworkshop.com/Making It Without Losing It – Jess Ekstrom: https://www.jessekstrom.com/bookChasing the Bright Side – Jess Ekstrom: https://www.jessekstrom.com/booksCreate Your Bright Ideas – Jess Ekstrom: https://www.jessekstrom.com/books