From Baby Biz to Bold AF

When I first hired Lexi from Myliu Marketing to create a brand for JAC, we were both lil’ baby businesses just trying to figure it out as we went. I found her on Instagram, immediately saw myself in her hustle, and thoughtr: yep, this is my kind of person. Since then, Lexi has truly become one of my favorite people to work with (and also someone who tolerates my 11 p.m. “random idea” emails, short deadline requests, and often vague instructions, so basically a saint).

From the ground up, she built me a brand that represented what I thought I wanted JAC to be: a one-woman grant writing shop helping small nonprofits get funding, while also trying to look polished enough to play nice with corporations. So basically, the brand had to be welcoming but professional. Translation? Cute, but kinda bland, like nonfat vanilla yogurt.

At the time, that made sense.

But ohhh, how wrong I was about who JAC would actually become.

Since then, I’ve learned far more about who I really am, who I want to keep becoming, and what this business truly means to me. Frankly, JAC isn’t just about writing grants anymore. It’s about impact. Real, messy, transformative impact.

What we do is a balance. Some of our clients are “the haves,” otherwise known as the nonprofits with staff and resources who need help doing more. Others are “the have-nots.” The scrappy organizations without extra support or shiny systems, but who are equally out there changing lives and making a real impact in their communities.

And honestly? That balance is everything. It’s what keeps this work real and keeps me grounded.

Somewhere along the way, I also realized that there’s no mold for me to fit into. I am the mold. Every day, with every client, every win and loss, every late-night venting session to my husband, I’m shaping what JAC is and what it stands for.

The old brand was built for the version of me who thought I had to play small and blend in. But this rebrand? It’s for the version of me who knows better. The me who’s not afraid to say the thing out loud, to call out the bullshit in this sector, and to show up as my whole self (yes, tattoos, shaved head, jean shorts with a pink blazer, and all).

We’re not over here to slap together some “professional” sounding paragraphs and call it a day. We’re here to be bold, to shake things up, to say the shit other people won’t, and to help nonprofits stop spinning their wheels and actually get results.

So why rebrand now? Because the version of JAC you’ve seen so far doesn’t fully match the version that exists today. We’ve grown both personally and professionally, so it’s time for our brand to catch up.

However, this isn’t about walking away from who we were. It’s about owning who we’ve become and being so damn proud about it!