Today we’d like to introduce you to Rylie Jennings.
Hi Rylie, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I grew up in Yakima, WA with both my parents, my brother, and a large loving family around us. I was always a naturally curious child who would constantly create “new” inventions and document it in my tiny Bratz notebook. Early on, I knew I wanted to make an impact in some way, but didn’t realize until my freshmen year of college exactly how. I attended San Diego State University earning my degree in Finance. The year prior to me moving to San Diego for school, I experienced a fairly severe traumatic brain injury where I lost 70% of my taste, smell, and hearing in my right ear for about 6 months. Just a few months after my accident, it was time to apply to colleges which added to a tough recovery process to begin with.
At that time, I learned very quickly that you must appreciate the smallest moments in your life. So, I decided that moving to a new State could bring me opportunities that Yakima, WA couldn’t. My first week of college, I walked into an Entrepreneur Society meeting which ultimately shifted the trajectory of my life. In this meeting, they inspired students to take their ideas and make them into real companies. In this meeting, I realized you don’t have to wait until you’re 30_ years old to start a successful business. That week I applied to the SDSU Incubator program called the Zip Launchpad and started building my first company, Sem-plus, a software platform to help traumatic brain injury survivors manage their recoveries alongside their caregivers. During that first year, I often got kicked out of in-patient rehabilitation centers trying to collect customer interviews, developed my first prototype, and even hired my first software engineer. I took a lot of lessons from that experience but eventually discovered venture capital my junior year; the peak of the pandemic.
I found venture capital as an incredible way to help founders and create an exponential effect on changing other’s lives. At that time, I was the program’s manager for the Lavin Entrepreneurship Center on campus and started my podcast, Baddies Mean Business. My podcast stemmed from the conversations I would have with close friends of mine who wanted to start a company or just pursue what they are most passionate about but felt that they weren’t capable of doing so. Therefore, we emphasize sharing the stories of individuals in the process of pursuing their passion to hopefully inspire others to do the same. Now, as we expand into a media com
Currently, I work as the Chief of Staff for Behind Genius Ventures led by founding partner, Paige Finn Doherty. As co-founder of Baddies Mean Business, I’m excited to continue building Baddies Mean Business into more than a podcast, but a thriving media company and community.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The year prior to me moving to San Diego for school, I experienced a fairly severe traumatic brain injury that led me to lose 70% of my taste, smell, and hearing in my right ear for about 6 months. Just a few months after my accident, it was time to apply to colleges which overall added to a tough recovery process my Senior year of high school.
At the time, I was 18 years old, a finance major, and had frequent thoughts of imposter syndrome on whether I was qualified enough to pursue the idea that I did. It was the feedback and support I would get from other TBI survivors that made all of those thoughts vanish.
As for Baddies Mean Business, it was more about getting comfortable with the challenges that came with learning something brand new. It takes practice and is something we still practice every single time we record. We try and ask ourselves, “how can we best help this individual tell their life story as they see it?”
As you know, we’re big fans of Baddies Mean Business. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Baddies Mean Business is a perspective-driven media company, community and podcast focused on sharing the stories of entrepreneurs, creators, and change-makers as they pursue their passions. My co-host, Makenzie Hatfield, and I started this podcast in September 2021. We share stories focused on the most difficult moments in the journey rather than the point at which each individual achieves success. We are most proud of our ability to create genuine conversations with professionals across all industries. Our list of guests includes the founder of DEI-focused podcast, Rise Urban Nation, Taryell Williams, the founder of protein health bars, 2Fit, Nathalia Rojas, and 2022 San Diego Tech Awards nominee, Raj Pabari, a young rising star in the social entrepreneurship world.
We hope each of our community members feel inspired to get started, leverage their own personal perspective to their advantage, and create their own unique mark on their part of the world.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out.
Get started. People delay getting started because they believe who they will be tomorrow is better than who they are today. Getting past that is easier said than done, but the quickest way to learn is to fail hard and fail fast. It’s incredible to see how something you love can organically grow by sharing your story with others.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.baddiesmeanbusiness.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/baddieswithbusiness/?hl=en
- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@baddiesmeanbusiness
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNZ6HSaSAgI0gASlvT2FKlg
