Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessica Wallace.
Hi Jessica, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born in Ohio, moved to the suburbs of Chicago, in a town called Fox River Grove. I was the middle child with 4 sisters. I wasn’t very good in school and almost didn’t graduate. I was too busy staring out the window, daydreaming, and pondering life. I was brought into a room with the Dean and teachers while in High school. They sat me down at a big table, my dad sitting at the end. The Dean slid me the drop-out papers. Telling me there was no possible way I would Graduate on time or with my class. I really didn’t enjoy being at school, but I knew it was necessary to finish. I met with a teacher who helped met set my schedule. I had just enough classes and summer school lined up. That if I passed everything, I would graduate. I got on high honors my last 2 years of high school and graduated with my class. I learned at a young age I had the capability to do what I set my mind to. A no to me drove me to push the limits and try it anyway. Which is a good quality but caused a lot of learn-the-hard-way scenarios. Fast forward, I left Chicago and moved to San Diego. At that time, I was a hairdresser, starting over in a beautiful city. I met a Navy Seal, which we ended up getting married and having 3 beautiful kids. I lived the whole military wife life. Moving around, taking care of 3 kids, mostly by myself. I didn’t have him there very often, and I had no family nearby. Even being in the military, we struggled financially. It’s not as much pay as people think for these men putting their life on the line. Not to mention relationship struggles do the job. We fell into the 90% that gets divorced. I moved on my own, newly divorced, came up with a new business idea! Then started on this adventure of running a Startup. Carrying with me the resilience of all I’ve learned through life. My family and my kids are always my number one, but the app that I’m launching is next in line. My hope is it becomes a successful platform to connect people together, called Flok22. My team and I have worked extremely hard on developing this concept. My hope is to become successful with our app launch, then I would like to use the funds to open or fund healing centers around the world. Last year while heavy into working on my startup, I was also diagnosed with Breast Cancer; I know the struggle of not having places available and no funds. Once diagnosed, you have limited time and options. I looked into healing centers in Mexico. Since I was unable to work due to surgeries, and they were very expensive, all out of pocket that insurance doesn’t cover. My belief is there’s a need for more and to have it more affordable for people. We also went through a lot of trials while building our app, running into a lot of companies that take advantage of startups. I plan to shed some light on that process. Being women founders, there’s a much lower percentage of women who get funded. Only 2% of women get funded by investors! That’s extremely low, I hope the more people are aware of this, it will start to make some progress. We have been bootstrapping and self-funded thus far, but we are looking for potential investors to help get it off the ground quicker. I would love to be a resource for women in startups. If you have questions on building an app, being a woman founder, or just need support, please reach out and connect. I love connecting and building up my network. If you’re not networking, you’re not working.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Deciphering through companies that are out there taking advantage of people. There’s a lot of people that pay to get an app built. Yet they get a product that doesn’t work or looks terrible. They don’t have the funds to go after the app developers. So, these people get away with doing it. There a lot of gray area in this, which needs to be addressed. We hope to contribute to making changes to this in the future. Preventing this from happening to others. Also, just being a mom of three, raising children, and running a company is a lot in itself. As women, we are expected to raise kids, cook, clean, work, and look cute while doing it. It’s a tough job!
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I was a hairstylist for over 20 years and received a few other certifications in the health and beauty industry. It was during covid I got this big idea! We had a plethora of meetup apps, but nothing connecting you to someone at the same venue as you. After covid it was an awkward time; I saw people sitting at tables across from one another, swiping on match-making apps. Yet they weren’t talking to each other! That’s when Flok22 idea came to life. I wanted a platform for people to check in at their current place, coffee shop, bar, gym and see who’s there to connect with. Alleviating that awkward approach. There’s been an increase in social anxiety; this gives the ease of approaching someone new and not wasting time messaging and trying to plan a meetup. You can meet someone new while you’re out doing you.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Being with my kids and getting out in nature. That’s when I feel my best. I enjoy reading and learning new things listening to Alan Watts, Wayne Dyer, Joe Dispensa. I feel deep down I’m a philosopher, much like them. Constantly looking into things, studying, and wanting to learn. I also picked up golfing! Which I really enjoy.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.flok22.com
- Instagram: @flok22app
- Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-wallace-b9526361
- Other: https://linktr.ee/flok22
