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Luvvie Ajayi Jones's Recent LinkedIn Posts
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
@luvvie
4X NYT Bestselling Author | Top 1% TED Speaker (10M+ Views) | Book Coach | Cultural Artist
Posts
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
3mo
Building a 7-figure business from ground up, completely bootstrapped, as a Black woman is no small feat. And I'm wiped out from it.
I wanna learn who I am well-rested. I need to go bind my wounds of decade+ of people playing in my face. And I need to go tend to the most valuable asset: ME.
Soooo I'm stopping. Taking a radical break. No launches. No speaking engagements. No press. No work projects.
Much overdue. Excited for it.
Officially out of office for 6 months. ✌🏾
1.3K
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
5mo
The world feels like it’s on fire. Saw someone express that they feel like creating art feels inappropriate right now. I disagree. This is when art is most urgent. 😮💨
Toni Morrison said it best: “There’s no time for despair… We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.” 🗣️
Stories are how we bear witness. Stories are how we refuse to be erased or gaslit. Stories are how we tell the people after us what really happened.
So if you’ve ever felt the nudge to write a book, a memoir, a children’s story, a business book, I wanna help!
I’m teaching a FREE The Book Academy masterclass: ➡️ 7 Steps to Write & Publish Your Book. 📅 Tuesday, January 13.
🔗 Register at http://TBAMasterclass.com or comment MASTERCLASS to get the link in DMs.
It is time. 📝📚
166
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
7mo
There's going to need to be an acknowledgement that the world is broken, and people are not okay. And we will get to the point where we cannot ignore that. Because the way people are moving lately, is giving "brains broke."
COVID did something major to us as a collective for sure. And the lessons we were supposed to take from it, we did not. Then you add everything else *gestures wildly* to the mix.
People are not okay.
464
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
7mo
PROUD is an understatement. 🥹
At The Book Academy, our mission is clear: to get you from idea to ink and into the rooms where your words can change your world. 🖊️
So when Storehouse Voices (an imprint of Penguin Random House) opened submissions for Women & Words 2025, we encouraged our authors to shoot their shot. And y’all did not come to play! 🙌🏾
Out of 1,000+ submissions, only 100 authors were selected to join this powerhouse gathering of writers, editors, and publishers in New York, and 15 of them are from The Book Academy! 💪🏾💫
Help us celebrate our incredible community members:
Ambar Wortham | Aseanté Renee, LMSW | Briana Morris | Candice D. | Cole Banks | Cynthia Strickland | DePrincia McClain | Ifie Natasha Brandon | Joy'El Ballard, MD,FACOG | Joyel Crawford, MBA, CPCC, MJSC, PHR | Kenya Crawford, LMHC, M.A., Ed.M | Olanike A. | Shirl Hubbard | Tiffany Wiggins, Ph.D, ACC | Tori Niemynski, MD
You did the work. You applied the formula. You trusted the process. And you earned your place in that room. 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
THANK YOU to Tamira Chapman and the Storehouse team for opening doors and changing lives!
280
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
6mo
In 2023, I basically started my company over. Fired entire team minus one person. Cuz there was just so much chaos that I could not out-manage or out-mentor.
And when I did, the company's file storage was in shambles. One person I let go of had 79 files named "untitled" when I went into their intranet. Drove me nuts!
So Nov 2023, I hired someone just to organize the company's DropBox and Google Drive. 2 years later, she's still at it. 🫠
I've been creating for over 15 years. My library of content is HUGE. Videos, photos, writing...
We have deleted TBs worth of dupes, had to rename tens of thousands of files and are still finding leftover chaos from that time. It's officially a fireable offense in my company for you to not properly name and organize files you're using. B/c this has literally cost me so much money to fix and chase after.
Legit, it makes me ragey now. Like... how do people just do life so anyhow? How do you find anything? 😡
223
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
5mo
Today is the last quiet day of the year before everyone starts circling back 😩. I wish we had one more week.
But to minimize the rush, I'm telling my team to keep autoresponders up for one more day and not engage with anything public or our inboxes. Let Monday be for planning and triaging, not execution.
May the first real work day of the year not fry all our nervous systems. 🙏🏾
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Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
4mo
One of my mentors saw me a few years ago, tired. She asked me what I’ve been up to and I said “running my company. CEOing.” And she looked at me dead in the face and said
➡️ “You haven’t been writing? Do not let your job get in the way of your purpose.”
I was gagged 😩😮💨. Cuz: GET ME RIGHT TOGETHER. Because she knows where my gifts are, is putting words down to shift folks.
This is a season where I’m getting back to that. I want to double down on my books, my reflections, my words as a portal for change, growth and courage.
Sooooo… anyway, I’m finally on Substack now! 🥰 I've moved the LuvvLetter there too.
➡️ http://LUVVIE.SUBSTACK.com. Come thruuuu!
P.S. I'm def a woo woo girlie in my old(er) age. Anyone else? ✨💫
178
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
6mo
I'm now putting as much energy into healing and restoration that I have into my career. In fact, that is even more important than any professional ambition.
I've accomplished a lot. I have a lot of credentials. And I'm thankful for it all.
But I know my assignment is not about what I do but WHO I AM. And part of the calling is to WALK IN WORTH BEYOND WORK.
So I'm out of office this week at a wellness retreat. 💫🧘🏾♀️🌿
In the words of Anika Apple, HEALING IS REQUIRED.
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Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
6mo
Educators, thank you for your work. For the thankless work you do as second set of parents to these kids (who I'm hearing are more dysregulated than ever). And I'm so sorry y'all do not get paid even remotely close to the value of your work.
It's all so hard, but y'all show up every day. That is hero work. 🙏🏾
137
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
4mo
In October, I moderated Abby Phillip's Chicago stop for her book "A DREAM DEFERRED: Jesse Jackson and The Fight for Black Political Power."
Today, the world lost a GIANT in Jesse Jackson Sr. A walking movement. History in human form.
May he soar and rest in power and peace.
P.S. Buy DREAM DEFERRED and learn more about the critical work Rev. Jackson did. A TRUE Troublemaker for good.
410
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
6mo
We often talk about “bring your best self to work” as a way to show that we’re more accepting of people’s differences and quirks, but I actually don’t think we should be encouraging people to bring their full selves to work.
I think we should be telling people to BRING THEIR MOST GROUNDED SELF TO WORK. 😮💨
Because your full self includes your traumas, your triggers, your unhealed parts, your need for attention, your firstborn and elder-child overcompensation tools, your “I cry every time I’m challenged or somebody makes me feel bad” quirk 🫠. I don’t think those belong in the workplace at all.
We can be who we are authentically without always bringing into the room every part of us that doesn’t necessarily belong there. 😮💨
I think work has become a place of new trauma and wounds. It has become another place where we need to overly manage people's emotions because we’re bringing too many parts of ourselves that don’t belong there.
So that’s why I think we should reframe it to “bring your most grounded self to work.” It still means you’re being authentically you.
But you’re the you that doesn’t blame everybody for everything. You’re the you that is not walking around with your childhood wounds in a brainstorm meeting. You’re the you who understands that feedback is not a personality or character indictment. That’s the version of who we need to bring to work.
So I think we should stop telling people to bring their full selves to work and start telling them to bring their most grounded selves. And I think we’d all be better for it.
251
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
4mo
I ordered a hoodie from a company I've been looking to patronize for a while. My packages sit because I get a lot and travel a lot so I finally opened the box a few weeks after it got delivered.
I tried it on and the zipper on the hoodie fell clean off 😩. Mind you, this hoodie was not cheap ($150), so I emailed their customer service to ask for a replacement. Their response: "Unfortunately, we’re unable to offer a replacement in this case. Any defective items must be reported within 3 days of receiving the order."
😑😑😑
I get that the time has passed. And they absolutely have a right not to replace the hoodie, legally. But this is not what good customer service is. Because from that "no" they just gave me, they lost a customer who would have spent thousands with them otherwise, and recommended them to her audience.
➡️ Business owners, read the book UNREASONABLE HOSPITALITY by Will Guidara.
And NO, I'm not going to name the company, because it is a small business and I know the power of my platform. And I'm hoping OTHER small businesses with policies like this can learn that this isn't how you retain customers. This is not about ruining the reputation of one company.
In a market that is truly oversaturated, customer service can make or break your business. Please know that. Cuz you're trying to save $150 and in the process, you lose tens of thousands in lifetime sales.
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Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
7mo
Why do we save the good perfume for events that never come? Why do we keep the fancy candles on a shelf, unburned? Why do we wait for "the right time" to enjoy the things that bring us joy?
That moment we're waiting for? It's a mirage. There will always be a reason to wait. There will always be something more important, more pressing, more "worthy" of the good things.
I'm using my good things now. Wear the outfit. Spray the perfume. Light the candle. Use the good china. Take the day off.
349
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
7mo
We don't talk enough about how our lives are so much more complicated than the lives of those who came before us. And how that, in itself, is a barrier to peace.
Not saying our parents and grandparents didn't have other struggles. They TOILED in many different ways and we thank them.
I just think about how COMPLEX the lives we live now. Many of them were able to live working one job. We got full time jobs, side hustles, and more. Just to survive.
We know more people. Thousands more. That means community is WIDER. We owe more to more people.
We are pulled in more directions.
We are more disconnected from each other (in spite of the fact that we all have these devices). And it's partly because of those other reasons above.
I think this is also why so many of us Gen Xers and Millennials have gone gray quicker than our parents. We're out here fighting for everything.
And now, we have fewer rights than previous generations. WILD.
197
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
2mo
I've been asked how what I did to prep for 6 months off my company. Here's 3 things real quick:
* Minimized expenses and cancelled all tech tools we weren't using
* Created SOPs for all critical tasks
* Broke down expectations for what needed to happen and what could be put on ice
And yes, I know sharing this feels like I'm still working but my brain is releasing stuff so I can truly rest, so I'm letting it. Instead of forcing myself to go dark. If I got stuff to say or brain dump, I will.
192
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
3mo
I've been talking to a lot of my friends, who are also high achieving Black women. And the consensus amongst a lot of us is that we're tired. We've gotten the awards. The credentials. The visibility. The money.
We’ve also paid for it in blood, sweat and tears. And decades of being The Responsible One has a lot of us in burnout mode.
What more are we trying to achieve? When will we be satisfied and say "I can take a deep breath now?" What are we chasing, if not peace?
It's a collective questioning. And I'm really glad we're doing it.
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Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
3mo
After you've been in business for a while, you learn the following things:
* There are people with skills, who don't have systems. They don't do great.
* There are people with nice systems that mask the fact that they don't have skills. Unfortunately, they fare better for a while. Eventually, people find them out.
* There are people who have neither, but they use brute confidence that is unearned to trick everyone. They do well for a while but eventually, it catches up them.
People who are SKILLED: please please please learn to build systems to make your work more efficient. Or get someone to build systems for you.
I see a lot of dope creatives suffer because they don't have infrastructure, automations or more. They go out of office for one day and everything falls apart.
You deserve to win. Because the dishonest, lack of integrity having people who just make things look good are making the money YOU earned.
Get systems.
160
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
3mo
I got acupuncture today and I CANNOT WAIT.
That woman puts needles in my scalp and shuts my brain down for 25 mins. Delightful.
For fellow high achievers who have a hard time turning your brain off, consider acupuncture.
225
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
8mo
Season 5 of my podcast Professional Troublemaker was the hardest and most honest one I’ve ever done.
It was the season where I talked about the near crumbling of my company; the lessons, the humility, and the rebuild. It was raw. It was real. It was me telling the truth about what happens behind the glossy highlight reels.
So finding out this season just won a Signal Awards? Whew. That hit different.
I’ve never been afraid to talk about my mistakes. Vulnerability has been one of the most powerful tools for deepening my community and reminding all of us that courage doesn’t mean perfection. It means truth.
Thank you to everyone who listened, shared, and walked through that season with me. 💛
215
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
4mo
CHICAGO: Join me as I moderate a conversation with the BRILLIANT, NYT bestselling author Tayari Jones on March 8 about her incredible new book KIN.
This book is sublime! I read it in one day b/c I just could not put it down. Layered. Funny. Human. Heartbreaking. Aching. This is storytelling at its best.
https://lnkd.in/gBjh8ZkC
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Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
6mo
My senior year of high school, I had electives to take. So I chose to take a class on EXCEL spreadsheets and how to use them well. To this day, that is one of the most useful classes I've ever taken.
176
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
3mo
I talk a lot about the struggles of entrepreneurship because I don't think we do that enough. Especially as I see the constant glorification of it.
And I do it from a place of "It's brought me more money than I ever imagined AND IT IS STILL HARD." Being a Black woman in business comes with EXTRA hard for so many reasons beyond what you've read in books. There are so many nuances, so many landmines to avoid (or step on and learn expensive mistakes).
If you want to be successful in business, find community of people who are also business owners to lean on. Find mentors. Get group chats. Join masterminds. Because the mistakes that cost you the most are the ones you aren't even thinking about.
And you also need the support for when things happen to hear "It’s not just you. That happened to me too. Here's how I got through it."
You need community in business.
263
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
6mo
8 years ago, I was asked to do a TED Conferences talk, and I declined it twice. Why? because I was afraid I wasn't ready. I know how rigorous the process can be and I let fear make the decision.
And when they asked me a 3rd time and I was about to decline again, I called my friend Eunique Jones Gibson, and she loaned me power and told me I had no other choice but to move forward (shoutout to friends who do not let you shrink 🥹).
So I wrote the talk, about the importance of sitting with our discomfort, speaking when it's hard and moving with courage. I wrote that talk for ME to hear, and when I delivered it at TEDWomen 2017, I got a standing ovation 🤯.
On Dec 1, 2017, the talk went live. It had 1 million views in 1 month 🤯🤯🤯. Since then, it has been viewed over 10M times. This talk has not only changed my life, but I've gotten countless notes over the years about how it has shifted things for people. I've been told that it is ASSIGNED watch in schools all over.
What an honor. Thank you to everyone who has watched, shared and sent me a reflection. Cuz man... for real. The life we want is on the other side of the things we're afraid to do.
MOVE FORWARD REGARDLESS. ❤️
1K
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
4mo
In business, people talk about SCALING a lot. The idea of expansion and growing much larger than where you are.
There is a world in which you actually hit a certain point and you say "this is good enough." I've had someone work with my who was like "we need to scale to $$$$$$$$" and I wasn't interested and she couldn't understand why.
Everything costs. Scaling is no different. The sacrifices that come with it might not be worth it. And in a world of constant striving and pushing goals beyond limits, sometimes, it's okay to say "I'm good right here for a while."
Do not scale if you aren't foundationally sound. And do not do it just for the sake of making more. Cuz in the process, you might spend more, including time and energy and get to that point and say "what was it for?"
Maybe enough is enough. It's okay if you turn down the ambition in certain seasons.
137
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
5mo
I've been really intentional about understanding how I work, and how it energizes or drains me.
One of the things I've learned about myself is that my energy is drained in micromoments, answering micro-questions and anything mundane. So by the end of work days, I might be tapped out and wonder why, if I didn't have to do too much heavy lifting.
Questions. Decisions. Leaders/Founders/CEOs, we underestimate how many micro decisions we make every single day. So how do we fix it? We empower members of our teams to problem solve themselves, and not bring open-ended questions.
Don't ask me HOW. Ask me to pick from 3 options you've already narrowed down the decision to.
So if you're like me, and you find yourself at the end of decision fatigue often, tell the people around you and tell them to help you minimize that by creating recommendations before ever coming to you.
128
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
5mo
If it hurt, say OUCH. 😮💨
Cuz being afraid of promoting your work, your book, your magic is like creating a map to a hard to reach place and then locking it away so people keep getting lost on the way there. Meanwhile, all along, you had the map. 😩
That book you wanna write? It is time. That story you wanna tell? Why not now? Someone out there really NEEDS your words and needs to know that 🙏🏾
I've opened the doors to The Book Academy to help you go from DREAM to IDEA to INK.
My receipts are long, as a 4X NYT bestselling author, 15-year marketer and the community builder. Let's get that book done! I can help.
🚨Doors close January 19th! ➡️ https://lnkd.in/gYAXsMPH
Soooo what are you hoarding that deserves to be released? Tell me.
116
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
7mo
Took the stage yesterday with the brilliant and funny MALALA for her Chicago book tour stop for FINDING MY WAY. Such a great convo about her life and evolution as a young woman, her college experience, falling in love and friendships!
📚 Buy the book everywhere books are sold!
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Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
4mo
Rule at my company: any task that needs to be done needs to have at least TWO people who can do it.
Even if it's stuff I do. I need at least one other person to know how to do something b/c no one person should hold the keys to anything.
The thing folks gotta realize is that making yourself the ONLY ONE is not a flex. You're lowkey building a cage for yourself. Stop gatekeeping as a form of being indisposable.
1.1K
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
5mo
"I'm going to do it next year."
NEXT YEAR?!? You're assuming you will have next year. Who told you that time was guaranteed?
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was 39 years old when he was assassinated. Imagine if he had said "I'll wait" on the mission. How different would history be?
We're often talking about changing the world. I think it starts with simply honoring the calling we were given, in the small moments.
So many of us are waiting on the dreams we have and the assignments we were given. And that procrastination is entitlement to time you were never promised.
320
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
5mo
History is being erased and rewritten in real time.
The real question is this: will yours be recorded?
We don’t all experience the world the same way and that difference is not a liability. It’s power.
Our identities, values, and lived perspectives shape how history should be told. When we don’t claim that responsibility, someone else does it for us.
There’s a quote I come back to often:
“Until the lion learns to write, the glory will always be given to the hunter.”
This is the season to rise.
The moment to double down on legacy work.
The time to ensure your voice, your impact, and your journey are not erased or distorted.
Books remain powerful. Stories remain immortal. And your story deserves its place in history.
Tonight, I’m hosting a FREE live masterclass on how to move from idea to published work:
📅 6pm CT / 7pm ET
Join us at TBAMasterclass.com to learn, connect, and begin building something history can’t overlook.
The world needs your story. Now is the time to write it.
109
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
7mo
I spent International Day of the Girl with the Girl Scouts River Valleys 🥰, and when one of the Scouts asked me how to keep their confidence, I had this to say to her. Who knew I’d need my own wisdom echoed back to me just a few weeks later?
In a harsh world, where girlhood and womanhood is always under attack, keeping our heads up is in itself a feat. That’s why it’s a group project. That’s why we must help each other out. That is part of collective care.
And then we write ourselves love letters for the days where you need to be reminded WHO and WHOSE you are. 😤❤️
In the words of Esther Perel: "Confidence is when you see yourself as a flawed person but you still hold yourself in high regard." 🤌🏾
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Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
6mo
If I wasn't running my own company, I'd be an amazing COO for someone else. This I know. 😁
Cuz I'm type A, pay attention to details, care deeply about efficiency and when I can create some, it brings me satisfaction. I'm strategic AF, I can anticipate obstacles and I can problem solve very quickly. I build systems well.
Honestly, it's why I've been able to build my own company to the level I have, even when team members have been in chaos. I maintain a level of organization that is top notch!
Saying this as I optimize our entire library of SOPs so someone can walk in day 1 and be able to catch up on the most critical processes.
BTW, do y'all use SOPs?
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Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
4mo
I hit 40 and my stamina for grind and hustle plummeted!
I used to be one of the hardest working people I know. Not anymore.
My nervous system is in "turn it down" mode for real. It happened so swiftly too. I went on that sabbatical last year and barely wanted to come back. 🫣
I've worked really hard for a really long time. I've toiled. I've built a lot out of nothing. The success I've had has been HARD WON. I've gotten hella awards, credentials, achievements. And now, I'm more tired than I let myself sit in.
So I'm letting this year be one of flow. Less DOING and more BEING. Less striving. More resting. I've more than earned it. 😮💨🥱
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Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
6mo
Yesterday, I hit a productivity wall and made a call to save my energy and end the year quicker.
This year has worn so many of us out. Like... it has had HANDS. 😩
And we are crawling to the finish line. But in the middle of the day, as I had a convo with someone who was also in the trenches, I decided "I can stop sooner."
Me and my team are in the middle of an early bird launch for our next The Book Academy cohort, and originally, it was supposed to end Monday, Dec. 22. We've sent out emails, sales page is optimized, ads running. And I changed my mind and decided that we should be done by Saturday, Dec 20.
Because I am tired and I don't wanna do it for 4 more days. 😮💨
I hit up my team with a voicenote and said "I want to rest. And I want you all to rest too. Let's wrap this up 2 days earlier."
They went: "But we've already announced, told our audience..."
And I said "That's okay. We can also tell them the truth that we're exhausted."
I don’t wanna push my team (or myself) through one more stretched-thin week just because “that’s what launches are supposed to do.”
Rest is not a failure. Pausing is not quitting.
I am choosing to be the leader who gives everyone space to actually log off, breathe, and go into the new year whole. I want our OOO to be on BY Dec. 22.
And no, it wasn't some marketing tactic. It was the truth. And I am also not willing to choose profit over my own nervous system any longer.
2025 did the doggone most. Let's all go lay down somewhere. 😴🥱🛌
157
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
4mo
If you're going to run your own business and want it to be successful, please make sure you have a therapist.
Entrepreneurship is not for everybody. And it is a PERSONAL development bootcamp. Because it will trigger you over and over again. It will show you your shadows. It will shine a light on where you need more healing, and where others do too.
And it will TEST YOU. The amount of people I've wanted to fight and cuss out in the process? Whew. The stories I have? Too many. Blood, sweat and countless tears indeed.
So when I see folks glorify running your own business without talking about the pains? Incomplete.
415
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
3mo
Emails I get: "We are pitching our client to be a guest on your podcast."
THE PODCAST I ENDED 18 MONTHS AGO?!?!?
Oh ok.
😐😐😐😐😐😐😐
91
Girl Scouts River Valleys
Sales & Marketing
8mo
At our International Day of the Girl event, bestselling author and speaker Luvvie Ajayi Jones reminded us that standing out is a strength.
💬 “The audacity to be different is in itself a form of courage... When you stand out, give them something to remember you by.”
Watch the video to hear how being unforgettable starts with owning your voice—and how Girl Scouts are doing just that.
#InternationalDayOfTheGirl #GirlScouts #Leadership #YouthEmpowerment #LuvvieAjayiJones #SilverAward #GirlsWithImpact
360
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
3mo
LinkedIn and social media, in general, have become so obsessed with writing with AI that most people sound like the robots and I hate it. And many of us can tell. Why?
Short sentences back to back to back with a very specific cadence too. There's also a lot of "That's not _______. That's _____."
I've started marking content that is obviously AI and doesn't disclose as spam or "not interested."
As a writer for the last 23 years, I actually really resent how the AI world we live in now forces me to go back and read my own words so they aren't taken as AI.
My books were actually in the database used to train how AI writes.
So if you ever think my writing sounds like AI, IT'S BECAUSE THEY USED MY ACTUAL WRITING TO TRAIN IT. I got here first. 😩😡
Have y'all noticed these patterns?
818
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
3mo
Thank you to Alejandra Rojas for including me in this feature on Forbes, talking about how my LITTLE TROUBLEMAKER children's books gets kids to lean into their leadership skills early!
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Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
5mo
Join 4X NYT bestselling author Luvvie Ajayi Jones for a LIVE Q&A about how to become a published author, and go from IDEA to INK!
As founder of The Book Academy and a 15-year marketing veteran, Luvvie's superpower is not just writing impactful books but helping others get their stories out there.
Bring your book questions, and she got answers for you. That book that has been sitting on your spirit? IT IS TIME.
🎙️ New to streaming or looking to level up? Check out StreamYard and get $10 discount! 😍 https://lnkd.in/gj6d5rBn
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Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
7mo
Your job. The economy. The headlines that never stop. The pressure to hold it all together when, truthfully, you’re barely holding on.
And the one thing that could actually quiet your brain? Writing.
Getting it out of your head and onto paper so it stops spinning inside you. But that’s usually the first thing we push aside. We tell ourselves we’ll write when things calm down.
But things never really calm down, do they?
Here’s what that costs you:
🌀 The clarity you need stays buried.
🌀 Your confidence that you can follow through keeps shrinking.
🌀 And every day you don’t write, you reinforce the story that your voice doesn’t matter as much as your to-do list.
The truth? It’s not that you don’t want to write. It’s not even that you don’t have time. You just don’t have a system that makes it simple enough to actually do.
That’s why I created The Book Academy's Word Work, a 30-day writing challenge to help you find your words again.
Here’s how it works:
📧 A fresh prompt lands in your inbox every morning (no more staring at blank pages).
⏰ 30 minutes of focused writing (not hours — just 30 minutes that can shift everything).
📝 By the end of the month: 10,000+ words, a new writing habit, and a reminder that you can keep promises to yourself.
This isn’t about perfection.
It’s about finally having somewhere to put everything you’ve been carrying.
All you need is a notebook, a pen, and 30 minutes a day.
Your voice deserves space; not someday, but now.
We start Saturday, November 1st.
➡️ https://lnkd.in/gVYqqe2p
28
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
4mo
Word. Hold on the those dreams cuz they see us through.
46
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
5mo
I believe deeply in the power of literacy. As a storyteller, everything I do begins with reading, writing, and the confidence to use my voice. Without literacy, I wouldn’t be able to share my stories or reach the people I hope to reach.
That’s why I’m proud to support The Literacy Lab. They invest in literacy in two powerful ways: by providing our youngest learners with daily, high-impact instruction, and by supporting early-career professionals who are bringing strong literacy practices into classrooms and building the future of the profession.
Literacy is more than a skill: it’s a source of empowerment, possibility, and self-expression. The work The Literacy Lab is doing helps ensure more students and educators have access to that power.
Their end-of-year giving campaign runs through December 31. If you are able, you can support this work at https://lnkd.in/gbEf-V_w.
31
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
5mo
On Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we find ourselves in the turmoil wrought by the walking embodiment of soul rot and white supremacy who is sitting in the White House melting. 🤡
And as people trot out MLK as the Patron Saint of Kumbaya as an excuse to be feckless dweebs, they miss what he said when he said "The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people." 😐
Look at how far we haven't come.
Ancestral side-eye.
#MLKDay
89
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
7mo
Thank you to the Next Big Idea Club for including my book Professional Troublemaker: The Fear-Fighter Manual on this list!
https://lnkd.in/gswuXm8u
20
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
5mo
The DevaSTating Divas of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. are:
🔺️ Dames of Dignity.
❤️ Warrior Women.
🔺️ Purpose Pushers.
❤️ Melanated Majesties.
🔺️ Superior Sisters of Service.
❤️ Valiant Voices.
🔺️ Fierce Fighters for Good.
In my most sacred spaces, I am blessed to be surrounded by Delta women. They have shown me service that is selfless and love that transcends words. They’ve been my keepers, my challengers, my teachers and more. They’ve made me better. 🥹🥰
Happy Founders Day, sorors! 🐘🔺️🤍
84
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
5mo
I'm a 4-time NYT bestselling author with 20 years marketing experience and 10 years in the publishing industry. I've written children's books and essay collections. My books have sold over 250,000 copies.
Now I help others go from IDEA to INK with my work in The Book Academy. In fact, this last year, 20 of my clients got their book deals and that brings me so much joy!
It is a part of my purpose to not only tell my stories, but to help others tell theirs too.
➡️ I'm teaching a FREE MASTERCLASS next week (Jan. 13) on 7 STEPS TO WRITE AND PUBLISH YOUR BOOK.
📚 If you've wanted to write a book but don't know where to start, this will be so helpful.
Save your seat here: http://tbamasterclass.com
72
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
7mo
I spent International Day of the Girl with Girl Scouts River Valleys and one of the Scouts asked me about fitting in. I had to let them know there was no point in trying. 🙏🏾
28
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
3mo
Reflections like this about my book PROFESSIONAL TROUBLEMAKER (which turns 5 years old this year, btw. WHOA) make my whole heart smile. 🥰
I wrote that book because I know how much we ALL want to live purposeful lives but there is a lot that will arise that will scare us or make us doubt what we should be doing. That fear might never go away but it is up to us to choose courage and MOVE anyway.
Fearlessness, to me, is about now letting fear make you do less. So yes, say YES. Choose the scary thing because it's actually the cheat code to the life you want.
30
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
3mo
Building a 7-figure business from ground up, completely bootstrapped, as a Black woman is no small feat. And I'm wiped out from it.
I wanna learn who I am well-rested. I need to go bind my wounds of decade+ of people playing in my face. And I need to go tend to the most valuable asset: ME.
Soooo I'm stopping. Taking a radical break. No launches. No speaking engagements. No press. No work projects.
Much overdue. Excited for it.
Officially out of office for 6 months. ✌🏾
1.3K
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
7mo
There's going to need to be an acknowledgement that the world is broken, and people are not okay. And we will get to the point where we cannot ignore that. Because the way people are moving lately, is giving "brains broke."
COVID did something major to us as a collective for sure. And the lessons we were supposed to take from it, we did not. Then you add everything else *gestures wildly* to the mix.
People are not okay.
464
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
6mo
In 2023, I basically started my company over. Fired entire team minus one person. Cuz there was just so much chaos that I could not out-manage or out-mentor.
And when I did, the company's file storage was in shambles. One person I let go of had 79 files named "untitled" when I went into their intranet. Drove me nuts!
So Nov 2023, I hired someone just to organize the company's DropBox and Google Drive. 2 years later, she's still at it. 🫠
I've been creating for over 15 years. My library of content is HUGE. Videos, photos, writing...
We have deleted TBs worth of dupes, had to rename tens of thousands of files and are still finding leftover chaos from that time. It's officially a fireable offense in my company for you to not properly name and organize files you're using. B/c this has literally cost me so much money to fix and chase after.
Legit, it makes me ragey now. Like... how do people just do life so anyhow? How do you find anything? 😡
223
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
4mo
One of my mentors saw me a few years ago, tired. She asked me what I’ve been up to and I said “running my company. CEOing.” And she looked at me dead in the face and said
➡️ “You haven’t been writing? Do not let your job get in the way of your purpose.”
I was gagged 😩😮💨. Cuz: GET ME RIGHT TOGETHER. Because she knows where my gifts are, is putting words down to shift folks.
This is a season where I’m getting back to that. I want to double down on my books, my reflections, my words as a portal for change, growth and courage.
Sooooo… anyway, I’m finally on Substack now! 🥰 I've moved the LuvvLetter there too.
➡️ http://LUVVIE.SUBSTACK.com. Come thruuuu!
P.S. I'm def a woo woo girlie in my old(er) age. Anyone else? ✨💫
178
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
6mo
Educators, thank you for your work. For the thankless work you do as second set of parents to these kids (who I'm hearing are more dysregulated than ever). And I'm so sorry y'all do not get paid even remotely close to the value of your work.
It's all so hard, but y'all show up every day. That is hero work. 🙏🏾
137
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
6mo
We often talk about “bring your best self to work” as a way to show that we’re more accepting of people’s differences and quirks, but I actually don’t think we should be encouraging people to bring their full selves to work.
I think we should be telling people to BRING THEIR MOST GROUNDED SELF TO WORK. 😮💨
Because your full self includes your traumas, your triggers, your unhealed parts, your need for attention, your firstborn and elder-child overcompensation tools, your “I cry every time I’m challenged or somebody makes me feel bad” quirk 🫠. I don’t think those belong in the workplace at all.
We can be who we are authentically without always bringing into the room every part of us that doesn’t necessarily belong there. 😮💨
I think work has become a place of new trauma and wounds. It has become another place where we need to overly manage people's emotions because we’re bringing too many parts of ourselves that don’t belong there.
So that’s why I think we should reframe it to “bring your most grounded self to work.” It still means you’re being authentically you.
But you’re the you that doesn’t blame everybody for everything. You’re the you that is not walking around with your childhood wounds in a brainstorm meeting. You’re the you who understands that feedback is not a personality or character indictment. That’s the version of who we need to bring to work.
So I think we should stop telling people to bring their full selves to work and start telling them to bring their most grounded selves. And I think we’d all be better for it.
251
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
7mo
Why do we save the good perfume for events that never come? Why do we keep the fancy candles on a shelf, unburned? Why do we wait for "the right time" to enjoy the things that bring us joy?
That moment we're waiting for? It's a mirage. There will always be a reason to wait. There will always be something more important, more pressing, more "worthy" of the good things.
I'm using my good things now. Wear the outfit. Spray the perfume. Light the candle. Use the good china. Take the day off.
349
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
2mo
I've been asked how what I did to prep for 6 months off my company. Here's 3 things real quick:
* Minimized expenses and cancelled all tech tools we weren't using
* Created SOPs for all critical tasks
* Broke down expectations for what needed to happen and what could be put on ice
And yes, I know sharing this feels like I'm still working but my brain is releasing stuff so I can truly rest, so I'm letting it. Instead of forcing myself to go dark. If I got stuff to say or brain dump, I will.
192
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
3mo
After you've been in business for a while, you learn the following things:
* There are people with skills, who don't have systems. They don't do great.
* There are people with nice systems that mask the fact that they don't have skills. Unfortunately, they fare better for a while. Eventually, people find them out.
* There are people who have neither, but they use brute confidence that is unearned to trick everyone. They do well for a while but eventually, it catches up them.
People who are SKILLED: please please please learn to build systems to make your work more efficient. Or get someone to build systems for you.
I see a lot of dope creatives suffer because they don't have infrastructure, automations or more. They go out of office for one day and everything falls apart.
You deserve to win. Because the dishonest, lack of integrity having people who just make things look good are making the money YOU earned.
Get systems.
160
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
8mo
Season 5 of my podcast Professional Troublemaker was the hardest and most honest one I’ve ever done.
It was the season where I talked about the near crumbling of my company; the lessons, the humility, and the rebuild. It was raw. It was real. It was me telling the truth about what happens behind the glossy highlight reels.
So finding out this season just won a Signal Awards? Whew. That hit different.
I’ve never been afraid to talk about my mistakes. Vulnerability has been one of the most powerful tools for deepening my community and reminding all of us that courage doesn’t mean perfection. It means truth.
Thank you to everyone who listened, shared, and walked through that season with me. 💛
215
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
6mo
My senior year of high school, I had electives to take. So I chose to take a class on EXCEL spreadsheets and how to use them well. To this day, that is one of the most useful classes I've ever taken.
176
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
6mo
8 years ago, I was asked to do a TED Conferences talk, and I declined it twice. Why? because I was afraid I wasn't ready. I know how rigorous the process can be and I let fear make the decision.
And when they asked me a 3rd time and I was about to decline again, I called my friend Eunique Jones Gibson, and she loaned me power and told me I had no other choice but to move forward (shoutout to friends who do not let you shrink 🥹).
So I wrote the talk, about the importance of sitting with our discomfort, speaking when it's hard and moving with courage. I wrote that talk for ME to hear, and when I delivered it at TEDWomen 2017, I got a standing ovation 🤯.
On Dec 1, 2017, the talk went live. It had 1 million views in 1 month 🤯🤯🤯. Since then, it has been viewed over 10M times. This talk has not only changed my life, but I've gotten countless notes over the years about how it has shifted things for people. I've been told that it is ASSIGNED watch in schools all over.
What an honor. Thank you to everyone who has watched, shared and sent me a reflection. Cuz man... for real. The life we want is on the other side of the things we're afraid to do.
MOVE FORWARD REGARDLESS. ❤️
1K
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
5mo
I've been really intentional about understanding how I work, and how it energizes or drains me.
One of the things I've learned about myself is that my energy is drained in micromoments, answering micro-questions and anything mundane. So by the end of work days, I might be tapped out and wonder why, if I didn't have to do too much heavy lifting.
Questions. Decisions. Leaders/Founders/CEOs, we underestimate how many micro decisions we make every single day. So how do we fix it? We empower members of our teams to problem solve themselves, and not bring open-ended questions.
Don't ask me HOW. Ask me to pick from 3 options you've already narrowed down the decision to.
So if you're like me, and you find yourself at the end of decision fatigue often, tell the people around you and tell them to help you minimize that by creating recommendations before ever coming to you.
128
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
7mo
Took the stage yesterday with the brilliant and funny MALALA for her Chicago book tour stop for FINDING MY WAY. Such a great convo about her life and evolution as a young woman, her college experience, falling in love and friendships!
📚 Buy the book everywhere books are sold!
404
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
5mo
"I'm going to do it next year."
NEXT YEAR?!? You're assuming you will have next year. Who told you that time was guaranteed?
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was 39 years old when he was assassinated. Imagine if he had said "I'll wait" on the mission. How different would history be?
We're often talking about changing the world. I think it starts with simply honoring the calling we were given, in the small moments.
So many of us are waiting on the dreams we have and the assignments we were given. And that procrastination is entitlement to time you were never promised.
320
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
7mo
I spent International Day of the Girl with the Girl Scouts River Valleys 🥰, and when one of the Scouts asked me how to keep their confidence, I had this to say to her. Who knew I’d need my own wisdom echoed back to me just a few weeks later?
In a harsh world, where girlhood and womanhood is always under attack, keeping our heads up is in itself a feat. That’s why it’s a group project. That’s why we must help each other out. That is part of collective care.
And then we write ourselves love letters for the days where you need to be reminded WHO and WHOSE you are. 😤❤️
In the words of Esther Perel: "Confidence is when you see yourself as a flawed person but you still hold yourself in high regard." 🤌🏾
175
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
4mo
I hit 40 and my stamina for grind and hustle plummeted!
I used to be one of the hardest working people I know. Not anymore.
My nervous system is in "turn it down" mode for real. It happened so swiftly too. I went on that sabbatical last year and barely wanted to come back. 🫣
I've worked really hard for a really long time. I've toiled. I've built a lot out of nothing. The success I've had has been HARD WON. I've gotten hella awards, credentials, achievements. And now, I'm more tired than I let myself sit in.
So I'm letting this year be one of flow. Less DOING and more BEING. Less striving. More resting. I've more than earned it. 😮💨🥱
722
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
4mo
If you're going to run your own business and want it to be successful, please make sure you have a therapist.
Entrepreneurship is not for everybody. And it is a PERSONAL development bootcamp. Because it will trigger you over and over again. It will show you your shadows. It will shine a light on where you need more healing, and where others do too.
And it will TEST YOU. The amount of people I've wanted to fight and cuss out in the process? Whew. The stories I have? Too many. Blood, sweat and countless tears indeed.
So when I see folks glorify running your own business without talking about the pains? Incomplete.
415
Girl Scouts River Valleys
Sales & Marketing
8mo
At our International Day of the Girl event, bestselling author and speaker Luvvie Ajayi Jones reminded us that standing out is a strength.
💬 “The audacity to be different is in itself a form of courage... When you stand out, give them something to remember you by.”
Watch the video to hear how being unforgettable starts with owning your voice—and how Girl Scouts are doing just that.
#InternationalDayOfTheGirl #GirlScouts #Leadership #YouthEmpowerment #LuvvieAjayiJones #SilverAward #GirlsWithImpact
360
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
3mo
Thank you to Alejandra Rojas for including me in this feature on Forbes, talking about how my LITTLE TROUBLEMAKER children's books gets kids to lean into their leadership skills early!
36
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
7mo
Your job. The economy. The headlines that never stop. The pressure to hold it all together when, truthfully, you’re barely holding on.
And the one thing that could actually quiet your brain? Writing.
Getting it out of your head and onto paper so it stops spinning inside you. But that’s usually the first thing we push aside. We tell ourselves we’ll write when things calm down.
But things never really calm down, do they?
Here’s what that costs you:
🌀 The clarity you need stays buried.
🌀 Your confidence that you can follow through keeps shrinking.
🌀 And every day you don’t write, you reinforce the story that your voice doesn’t matter as much as your to-do list.
The truth? It’s not that you don’t want to write. It’s not even that you don’t have time. You just don’t have a system that makes it simple enough to actually do.
That’s why I created The Book Academy's Word Work, a 30-day writing challenge to help you find your words again.
Here’s how it works:
📧 A fresh prompt lands in your inbox every morning (no more staring at blank pages).
⏰ 30 minutes of focused writing (not hours — just 30 minutes that can shift everything).
📝 By the end of the month: 10,000+ words, a new writing habit, and a reminder that you can keep promises to yourself.
This isn’t about perfection.
It’s about finally having somewhere to put everything you’ve been carrying.
All you need is a notebook, a pen, and 30 minutes a day.
Your voice deserves space; not someday, but now.
We start Saturday, November 1st.
➡️ https://lnkd.in/gVYqqe2p
28
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
5mo
I believe deeply in the power of literacy. As a storyteller, everything I do begins with reading, writing, and the confidence to use my voice. Without literacy, I wouldn’t be able to share my stories or reach the people I hope to reach.
That’s why I’m proud to support The Literacy Lab. They invest in literacy in two powerful ways: by providing our youngest learners with daily, high-impact instruction, and by supporting early-career professionals who are bringing strong literacy practices into classrooms and building the future of the profession.
Literacy is more than a skill: it’s a source of empowerment, possibility, and self-expression. The work The Literacy Lab is doing helps ensure more students and educators have access to that power.
Their end-of-year giving campaign runs through December 31. If you are able, you can support this work at https://lnkd.in/gbEf-V_w.
31
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
7mo
Thank you to the Next Big Idea Club for including my book Professional Troublemaker: The Fear-Fighter Manual on this list!
https://lnkd.in/gswuXm8u
20
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
5mo
I'm a 4-time NYT bestselling author with 20 years marketing experience and 10 years in the publishing industry. I've written children's books and essay collections. My books have sold over 250,000 copies.
Now I help others go from IDEA to INK with my work in The Book Academy. In fact, this last year, 20 of my clients got their book deals and that brings me so much joy!
It is a part of my purpose to not only tell my stories, but to help others tell theirs too.
➡️ I'm teaching a FREE MASTERCLASS next week (Jan. 13) on 7 STEPS TO WRITE AND PUBLISH YOUR BOOK.
📚 If you've wanted to write a book but don't know where to start, this will be so helpful.
Save your seat here: http://tbamasterclass.com
72
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
3mo
Reflections like this about my book PROFESSIONAL TROUBLEMAKER (which turns 5 years old this year, btw. WHOA) make my whole heart smile. 🥰
I wrote that book because I know how much we ALL want to live purposeful lives but there is a lot that will arise that will scare us or make us doubt what we should be doing. That fear might never go away but it is up to us to choose courage and MOVE anyway.
Fearlessness, to me, is about now letting fear make you do less. So yes, say YES. Choose the scary thing because it's actually the cheat code to the life you want.
30
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
5mo
The world feels like it’s on fire. Saw someone express that they feel like creating art feels inappropriate right now. I disagree. This is when art is most urgent. 😮💨
Toni Morrison said it best: “There’s no time for despair… We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.” 🗣️
Stories are how we bear witness. Stories are how we refuse to be erased or gaslit. Stories are how we tell the people after us what really happened.
So if you’ve ever felt the nudge to write a book, a memoir, a children’s story, a business book, I wanna help!
I’m teaching a FREE The Book Academy masterclass: ➡️ 7 Steps to Write & Publish Your Book. 📅 Tuesday, January 13.
🔗 Register at http://TBAMasterclass.com or comment MASTERCLASS to get the link in DMs.
It is time. 📝📚
166
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
7mo
PROUD is an understatement. 🥹
At The Book Academy, our mission is clear: to get you from idea to ink and into the rooms where your words can change your world. 🖊️
So when Storehouse Voices (an imprint of Penguin Random House) opened submissions for Women & Words 2025, we encouraged our authors to shoot their shot. And y’all did not come to play! 🙌🏾
Out of 1,000+ submissions, only 100 authors were selected to join this powerhouse gathering of writers, editors, and publishers in New York, and 15 of them are from The Book Academy! 💪🏾💫
Help us celebrate our incredible community members:
Ambar Wortham | Aseanté Renee, LMSW | Briana Morris | Candice D. | Cole Banks | Cynthia Strickland | DePrincia McClain | Ifie Natasha Brandon | Joy'El Ballard, MD,FACOG | Joyel Crawford, MBA, CPCC, MJSC, PHR | Kenya Crawford, LMHC, M.A., Ed.M | Olanike A. | Shirl Hubbard | Tiffany Wiggins, Ph.D, ACC | Tori Niemynski, MD
You did the work. You applied the formula. You trusted the process. And you earned your place in that room. 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
THANK YOU to Tamira Chapman and the Storehouse team for opening doors and changing lives!
280
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
5mo
Today is the last quiet day of the year before everyone starts circling back 😩. I wish we had one more week.
But to minimize the rush, I'm telling my team to keep autoresponders up for one more day and not engage with anything public or our inboxes. Let Monday be for planning and triaging, not execution.
May the first real work day of the year not fry all our nervous systems. 🙏🏾
821
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
6mo
I'm now putting as much energy into healing and restoration that I have into my career. In fact, that is even more important than any professional ambition.
I've accomplished a lot. I have a lot of credentials. And I'm thankful for it all.
But I know my assignment is not about what I do but WHO I AM. And part of the calling is to WALK IN WORTH BEYOND WORK.
So I'm out of office this week at a wellness retreat. 💫🧘🏾♀️🌿
In the words of Anika Apple, HEALING IS REQUIRED.
435
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
4mo
In October, I moderated Abby Phillip's Chicago stop for her book "A DREAM DEFERRED: Jesse Jackson and The Fight for Black Political Power."
Today, the world lost a GIANT in Jesse Jackson Sr. A walking movement. History in human form.
May he soar and rest in power and peace.
P.S. Buy DREAM DEFERRED and learn more about the critical work Rev. Jackson did. A TRUE Troublemaker for good.
410
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
4mo
I ordered a hoodie from a company I've been looking to patronize for a while. My packages sit because I get a lot and travel a lot so I finally opened the box a few weeks after it got delivered.
I tried it on and the zipper on the hoodie fell clean off 😩. Mind you, this hoodie was not cheap ($150), so I emailed their customer service to ask for a replacement. Their response: "Unfortunately, we’re unable to offer a replacement in this case. Any defective items must be reported within 3 days of receiving the order."
😑😑😑
I get that the time has passed. And they absolutely have a right not to replace the hoodie, legally. But this is not what good customer service is. Because from that "no" they just gave me, they lost a customer who would have spent thousands with them otherwise, and recommended them to her audience.
➡️ Business owners, read the book UNREASONABLE HOSPITALITY by Will Guidara.
And NO, I'm not going to name the company, because it is a small business and I know the power of my platform. And I'm hoping OTHER small businesses with policies like this can learn that this isn't how you retain customers. This is not about ruining the reputation of one company.
In a market that is truly oversaturated, customer service can make or break your business. Please know that. Cuz you're trying to save $150 and in the process, you lose tens of thousands in lifetime sales.
619
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
7mo
We don't talk enough about how our lives are so much more complicated than the lives of those who came before us. And how that, in itself, is a barrier to peace.
Not saying our parents and grandparents didn't have other struggles. They TOILED in many different ways and we thank them.
I just think about how COMPLEX the lives we live now. Many of them were able to live working one job. We got full time jobs, side hustles, and more. Just to survive.
We know more people. Thousands more. That means community is WIDER. We owe more to more people.
We are pulled in more directions.
We are more disconnected from each other (in spite of the fact that we all have these devices). And it's partly because of those other reasons above.
I think this is also why so many of us Gen Xers and Millennials have gone gray quicker than our parents. We're out here fighting for everything.
And now, we have fewer rights than previous generations. WILD.
197
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
3mo
I've been talking to a lot of my friends, who are also high achieving Black women. And the consensus amongst a lot of us is that we're tired. We've gotten the awards. The credentials. The visibility. The money.
We’ve also paid for it in blood, sweat and tears. And decades of being The Responsible One has a lot of us in burnout mode.
What more are we trying to achieve? When will we be satisfied and say "I can take a deep breath now?" What are we chasing, if not peace?
It's a collective questioning. And I'm really glad we're doing it.
728
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
3mo
I got acupuncture today and I CANNOT WAIT.
That woman puts needles in my scalp and shuts my brain down for 25 mins. Delightful.
For fellow high achievers who have a hard time turning your brain off, consider acupuncture.
225
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
4mo
CHICAGO: Join me as I moderate a conversation with the BRILLIANT, NYT bestselling author Tayari Jones on March 8 about her incredible new book KIN.
This book is sublime! I read it in one day b/c I just could not put it down. Layered. Funny. Human. Heartbreaking. Aching. This is storytelling at its best.
https://lnkd.in/gBjh8ZkC
123
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
3mo
I talk a lot about the struggles of entrepreneurship because I don't think we do that enough. Especially as I see the constant glorification of it.
And I do it from a place of "It's brought me more money than I ever imagined AND IT IS STILL HARD." Being a Black woman in business comes with EXTRA hard for so many reasons beyond what you've read in books. There are so many nuances, so many landmines to avoid (or step on and learn expensive mistakes).
If you want to be successful in business, find community of people who are also business owners to lean on. Find mentors. Get group chats. Join masterminds. Because the mistakes that cost you the most are the ones you aren't even thinking about.
And you also need the support for when things happen to hear "It’s not just you. That happened to me too. Here's how I got through it."
You need community in business.
263
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
4mo
In business, people talk about SCALING a lot. The idea of expansion and growing much larger than where you are.
There is a world in which you actually hit a certain point and you say "this is good enough." I've had someone work with my who was like "we need to scale to $$$$$$$$" and I wasn't interested and she couldn't understand why.
Everything costs. Scaling is no different. The sacrifices that come with it might not be worth it. And in a world of constant striving and pushing goals beyond limits, sometimes, it's okay to say "I'm good right here for a while."
Do not scale if you aren't foundationally sound. And do not do it just for the sake of making more. Cuz in the process, you might spend more, including time and energy and get to that point and say "what was it for?"
Maybe enough is enough. It's okay if you turn down the ambition in certain seasons.
137
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
5mo
If it hurt, say OUCH. 😮💨
Cuz being afraid of promoting your work, your book, your magic is like creating a map to a hard to reach place and then locking it away so people keep getting lost on the way there. Meanwhile, all along, you had the map. 😩
That book you wanna write? It is time. That story you wanna tell? Why not now? Someone out there really NEEDS your words and needs to know that 🙏🏾
I've opened the doors to The Book Academy to help you go from DREAM to IDEA to INK.
My receipts are long, as a 4X NYT bestselling author, 15-year marketer and the community builder. Let's get that book done! I can help.
🚨Doors close January 19th! ➡️ https://lnkd.in/gYAXsMPH
Soooo what are you hoarding that deserves to be released? Tell me.
116
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
4mo
Rule at my company: any task that needs to be done needs to have at least TWO people who can do it.
Even if it's stuff I do. I need at least one other person to know how to do something b/c no one person should hold the keys to anything.
The thing folks gotta realize is that making yourself the ONLY ONE is not a flex. You're lowkey building a cage for yourself. Stop gatekeeping as a form of being indisposable.
1.1K
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
5mo
History is being erased and rewritten in real time.
The real question is this: will yours be recorded?
We don’t all experience the world the same way and that difference is not a liability. It’s power.
Our identities, values, and lived perspectives shape how history should be told. When we don’t claim that responsibility, someone else does it for us.
There’s a quote I come back to often:
“Until the lion learns to write, the glory will always be given to the hunter.”
This is the season to rise.
The moment to double down on legacy work.
The time to ensure your voice, your impact, and your journey are not erased or distorted.
Books remain powerful. Stories remain immortal. And your story deserves its place in history.
Tonight, I’m hosting a FREE live masterclass on how to move from idea to published work:
📅 6pm CT / 7pm ET
Join us at TBAMasterclass.com to learn, connect, and begin building something history can’t overlook.
The world needs your story. Now is the time to write it.
109
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
6mo
If I wasn't running my own company, I'd be an amazing COO for someone else. This I know. 😁
Cuz I'm type A, pay attention to details, care deeply about efficiency and when I can create some, it brings me satisfaction. I'm strategic AF, I can anticipate obstacles and I can problem solve very quickly. I build systems well.
Honestly, it's why I've been able to build my own company to the level I have, even when team members have been in chaos. I maintain a level of organization that is top notch!
Saying this as I optimize our entire library of SOPs so someone can walk in day 1 and be able to catch up on the most critical processes.
BTW, do y'all use SOPs?
221
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
6mo
Yesterday, I hit a productivity wall and made a call to save my energy and end the year quicker.
This year has worn so many of us out. Like... it has had HANDS. 😩
And we are crawling to the finish line. But in the middle of the day, as I had a convo with someone who was also in the trenches, I decided "I can stop sooner."
Me and my team are in the middle of an early bird launch for our next The Book Academy cohort, and originally, it was supposed to end Monday, Dec. 22. We've sent out emails, sales page is optimized, ads running. And I changed my mind and decided that we should be done by Saturday, Dec 20.
Because I am tired and I don't wanna do it for 4 more days. 😮💨
I hit up my team with a voicenote and said "I want to rest. And I want you all to rest too. Let's wrap this up 2 days earlier."
They went: "But we've already announced, told our audience..."
And I said "That's okay. We can also tell them the truth that we're exhausted."
I don’t wanna push my team (or myself) through one more stretched-thin week just because “that’s what launches are supposed to do.”
Rest is not a failure. Pausing is not quitting.
I am choosing to be the leader who gives everyone space to actually log off, breathe, and go into the new year whole. I want our OOO to be on BY Dec. 22.
And no, it wasn't some marketing tactic. It was the truth. And I am also not willing to choose profit over my own nervous system any longer.
2025 did the doggone most. Let's all go lay down somewhere. 😴🥱🛌
157
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
3mo
Emails I get: "We are pitching our client to be a guest on your podcast."
THE PODCAST I ENDED 18 MONTHS AGO?!?!?
Oh ok.
😐😐😐😐😐😐😐
91
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
3mo
LinkedIn and social media, in general, have become so obsessed with writing with AI that most people sound like the robots and I hate it. And many of us can tell. Why?
Short sentences back to back to back with a very specific cadence too. There's also a lot of "That's not _______. That's _____."
I've started marking content that is obviously AI and doesn't disclose as spam or "not interested."
As a writer for the last 23 years, I actually really resent how the AI world we live in now forces me to go back and read my own words so they aren't taken as AI.
My books were actually in the database used to train how AI writes.
So if you ever think my writing sounds like AI, IT'S BECAUSE THEY USED MY ACTUAL WRITING TO TRAIN IT. I got here first. 😩😡
Have y'all noticed these patterns?
818
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
5mo
Join 4X NYT bestselling author Luvvie Ajayi Jones for a LIVE Q&A about how to become a published author, and go from IDEA to INK!
As founder of The Book Academy and a 15-year marketing veteran, Luvvie's superpower is not just writing impactful books but helping others get their stories out there.
Bring your book questions, and she got answers for you. That book that has been sitting on your spirit? IT IS TIME.
🎙️ New to streaming or looking to level up? Check out StreamYard and get $10 discount! 😍 https://lnkd.in/gj6d5rBn
64
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
4mo
Word. Hold on the those dreams cuz they see us through.
46
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
5mo
On Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we find ourselves in the turmoil wrought by the walking embodiment of soul rot and white supremacy who is sitting in the White House melting. 🤡
And as people trot out MLK as the Patron Saint of Kumbaya as an excuse to be feckless dweebs, they miss what he said when he said "The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people." 😐
Look at how far we haven't come.
Ancestral side-eye.
#MLKDay
89
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
5mo
The DevaSTating Divas of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. are:
🔺️ Dames of Dignity.
❤️ Warrior Women.
🔺️ Purpose Pushers.
❤️ Melanated Majesties.
🔺️ Superior Sisters of Service.
❤️ Valiant Voices.
🔺️ Fierce Fighters for Good.
In my most sacred spaces, I am blessed to be surrounded by Delta women. They have shown me service that is selfless and love that transcends words. They’ve been my keepers, my challengers, my teachers and more. They’ve made me better. 🥹🥰
Happy Founders Day, sorors! 🐘🔺️🤍
84
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
7mo
I spent International Day of the Girl with Girl Scouts River Valleys and one of the Scouts asked me about fitting in. I had to let them know there was no point in trying. 🙏🏾
28
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
3mo
Building a 7-figure business from ground up, completely bootstrapped, as a Black woman is no small feat. And I'm wiped out from it.
I wanna learn who I am well-rested. I need to go bind my wounds of decade+ of people playing in my face. And I need to go tend to the most valuable asset: ME.
Soooo I'm stopping. Taking a radical break. No launches. No speaking engagements. No press. No work projects.
Much overdue. Excited for it.
Officially out of office for 6 months. ✌🏾
1.3K
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
7mo
PROUD is an understatement. 🥹
At The Book Academy, our mission is clear: to get you from idea to ink and into the rooms where your words can change your world. 🖊️
So when Storehouse Voices (an imprint of Penguin Random House) opened submissions for Women & Words 2025, we encouraged our authors to shoot their shot. And y’all did not come to play! 🙌🏾
Out of 1,000+ submissions, only 100 authors were selected to join this powerhouse gathering of writers, editors, and publishers in New York, and 15 of them are from The Book Academy! 💪🏾💫
Help us celebrate our incredible community members:
Ambar Wortham | Aseanté Renee, LMSW | Briana Morris | Candice D. | Cole Banks | Cynthia Strickland | DePrincia McClain | Ifie Natasha Brandon | Joy'El Ballard, MD,FACOG | Joyel Crawford, MBA, CPCC, MJSC, PHR | Kenya Crawford, LMHC, M.A., Ed.M | Olanike A. | Shirl Hubbard | Tiffany Wiggins, Ph.D, ACC | Tori Niemynski, MD
You did the work. You applied the formula. You trusted the process. And you earned your place in that room. 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
THANK YOU to Tamira Chapman and the Storehouse team for opening doors and changing lives!
280
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
4mo
One of my mentors saw me a few years ago, tired. She asked me what I’ve been up to and I said “running my company. CEOing.” And she looked at me dead in the face and said
➡️ “You haven’t been writing? Do not let your job get in the way of your purpose.”
I was gagged 😩😮💨. Cuz: GET ME RIGHT TOGETHER. Because she knows where my gifts are, is putting words down to shift folks.
This is a season where I’m getting back to that. I want to double down on my books, my reflections, my words as a portal for change, growth and courage.
Sooooo… anyway, I’m finally on Substack now! 🥰 I've moved the LuvvLetter there too.
➡️ http://LUVVIE.SUBSTACK.com. Come thruuuu!
P.S. I'm def a woo woo girlie in my old(er) age. Anyone else? ✨💫
178
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
4mo
In October, I moderated Abby Phillip's Chicago stop for her book "A DREAM DEFERRED: Jesse Jackson and The Fight for Black Political Power."
Today, the world lost a GIANT in Jesse Jackson Sr. A walking movement. History in human form.
May he soar and rest in power and peace.
P.S. Buy DREAM DEFERRED and learn more about the critical work Rev. Jackson did. A TRUE Troublemaker for good.
410
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
7mo
Why do we save the good perfume for events that never come? Why do we keep the fancy candles on a shelf, unburned? Why do we wait for "the right time" to enjoy the things that bring us joy?
That moment we're waiting for? It's a mirage. There will always be a reason to wait. There will always be something more important, more pressing, more "worthy" of the good things.
I'm using my good things now. Wear the outfit. Spray the perfume. Light the candle. Use the good china. Take the day off.
349
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
3mo
I've been talking to a lot of my friends, who are also high achieving Black women. And the consensus amongst a lot of us is that we're tired. We've gotten the awards. The credentials. The visibility. The money.
We’ve also paid for it in blood, sweat and tears. And decades of being The Responsible One has a lot of us in burnout mode.
What more are we trying to achieve? When will we be satisfied and say "I can take a deep breath now?" What are we chasing, if not peace?
It's a collective questioning. And I'm really glad we're doing it.
728
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
8mo
Season 5 of my podcast Professional Troublemaker was the hardest and most honest one I’ve ever done.
It was the season where I talked about the near crumbling of my company; the lessons, the humility, and the rebuild. It was raw. It was real. It was me telling the truth about what happens behind the glossy highlight reels.
So finding out this season just won a Signal Awards? Whew. That hit different.
I’ve never been afraid to talk about my mistakes. Vulnerability has been one of the most powerful tools for deepening my community and reminding all of us that courage doesn’t mean perfection. It means truth.
Thank you to everyone who listened, shared, and walked through that season with me. 💛
215
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
3mo
I talk a lot about the struggles of entrepreneurship because I don't think we do that enough. Especially as I see the constant glorification of it.
And I do it from a place of "It's brought me more money than I ever imagined AND IT IS STILL HARD." Being a Black woman in business comes with EXTRA hard for so many reasons beyond what you've read in books. There are so many nuances, so many landmines to avoid (or step on and learn expensive mistakes).
If you want to be successful in business, find community of people who are also business owners to lean on. Find mentors. Get group chats. Join masterminds. Because the mistakes that cost you the most are the ones you aren't even thinking about.
And you also need the support for when things happen to hear "It’s not just you. That happened to me too. Here's how I got through it."
You need community in business.
263
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
5mo
I've been really intentional about understanding how I work, and how it energizes or drains me.
One of the things I've learned about myself is that my energy is drained in micromoments, answering micro-questions and anything mundane. So by the end of work days, I might be tapped out and wonder why, if I didn't have to do too much heavy lifting.
Questions. Decisions. Leaders/Founders/CEOs, we underestimate how many micro decisions we make every single day. So how do we fix it? We empower members of our teams to problem solve themselves, and not bring open-ended questions.
Don't ask me HOW. Ask me to pick from 3 options you've already narrowed down the decision to.
So if you're like me, and you find yourself at the end of decision fatigue often, tell the people around you and tell them to help you minimize that by creating recommendations before ever coming to you.
128
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
4mo
Rule at my company: any task that needs to be done needs to have at least TWO people who can do it.
Even if it's stuff I do. I need at least one other person to know how to do something b/c no one person should hold the keys to anything.
The thing folks gotta realize is that making yourself the ONLY ONE is not a flex. You're lowkey building a cage for yourself. Stop gatekeeping as a form of being indisposable.
1.1K
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
7mo
I spent International Day of the Girl with the Girl Scouts River Valleys 🥰, and when one of the Scouts asked me how to keep their confidence, I had this to say to her. Who knew I’d need my own wisdom echoed back to me just a few weeks later?
In a harsh world, where girlhood and womanhood is always under attack, keeping our heads up is in itself a feat. That’s why it’s a group project. That’s why we must help each other out. That is part of collective care.
And then we write ourselves love letters for the days where you need to be reminded WHO and WHOSE you are. 😤❤️
In the words of Esther Perel: "Confidence is when you see yourself as a flawed person but you still hold yourself in high regard." 🤌🏾
175
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
6mo
Yesterday, I hit a productivity wall and made a call to save my energy and end the year quicker.
This year has worn so many of us out. Like... it has had HANDS. 😩
And we are crawling to the finish line. But in the middle of the day, as I had a convo with someone who was also in the trenches, I decided "I can stop sooner."
Me and my team are in the middle of an early bird launch for our next The Book Academy cohort, and originally, it was supposed to end Monday, Dec. 22. We've sent out emails, sales page is optimized, ads running. And I changed my mind and decided that we should be done by Saturday, Dec 20.
Because I am tired and I don't wanna do it for 4 more days. 😮💨
I hit up my team with a voicenote and said "I want to rest. And I want you all to rest too. Let's wrap this up 2 days earlier."
They went: "But we've already announced, told our audience..."
And I said "That's okay. We can also tell them the truth that we're exhausted."
I don’t wanna push my team (or myself) through one more stretched-thin week just because “that’s what launches are supposed to do.”
Rest is not a failure. Pausing is not quitting.
I am choosing to be the leader who gives everyone space to actually log off, breathe, and go into the new year whole. I want our OOO to be on BY Dec. 22.
And no, it wasn't some marketing tactic. It was the truth. And I am also not willing to choose profit over my own nervous system any longer.
2025 did the doggone most. Let's all go lay down somewhere. 😴🥱🛌
157
Girl Scouts River Valleys
Sales & Marketing
8mo
At our International Day of the Girl event, bestselling author and speaker Luvvie Ajayi Jones reminded us that standing out is a strength.
💬 “The audacity to be different is in itself a form of courage... When you stand out, give them something to remember you by.”
Watch the video to hear how being unforgettable starts with owning your voice—and how Girl Scouts are doing just that.
#InternationalDayOfTheGirl #GirlScouts #Leadership #YouthEmpowerment #LuvvieAjayiJones #SilverAward #GirlsWithImpact
360
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
5mo
Join 4X NYT bestselling author Luvvie Ajayi Jones for a LIVE Q&A about how to become a published author, and go from IDEA to INK!
As founder of The Book Academy and a 15-year marketing veteran, Luvvie's superpower is not just writing impactful books but helping others get their stories out there.
Bring your book questions, and she got answers for you. That book that has been sitting on your spirit? IT IS TIME.
🎙️ New to streaming or looking to level up? Check out StreamYard and get $10 discount! 😍 https://lnkd.in/gj6d5rBn
64
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
5mo
I believe deeply in the power of literacy. As a storyteller, everything I do begins with reading, writing, and the confidence to use my voice. Without literacy, I wouldn’t be able to share my stories or reach the people I hope to reach.
That’s why I’m proud to support The Literacy Lab. They invest in literacy in two powerful ways: by providing our youngest learners with daily, high-impact instruction, and by supporting early-career professionals who are bringing strong literacy practices into classrooms and building the future of the profession.
Literacy is more than a skill: it’s a source of empowerment, possibility, and self-expression. The work The Literacy Lab is doing helps ensure more students and educators have access to that power.
Their end-of-year giving campaign runs through December 31. If you are able, you can support this work at https://lnkd.in/gbEf-V_w.
31
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
5mo
The DevaSTating Divas of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. are:
🔺️ Dames of Dignity.
❤️ Warrior Women.
🔺️ Purpose Pushers.
❤️ Melanated Majesties.
🔺️ Superior Sisters of Service.
❤️ Valiant Voices.
🔺️ Fierce Fighters for Good.
In my most sacred spaces, I am blessed to be surrounded by Delta women. They have shown me service that is selfless and love that transcends words. They’ve been my keepers, my challengers, my teachers and more. They’ve made me better. 🥹🥰
Happy Founders Day, sorors! 🐘🔺️🤍
84
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
3mo
Reflections like this about my book PROFESSIONAL TROUBLEMAKER (which turns 5 years old this year, btw. WHOA) make my whole heart smile. 🥰
I wrote that book because I know how much we ALL want to live purposeful lives but there is a lot that will arise that will scare us or make us doubt what we should be doing. That fear might never go away but it is up to us to choose courage and MOVE anyway.
Fearlessness, to me, is about now letting fear make you do less. So yes, say YES. Choose the scary thing because it's actually the cheat code to the life you want.
30
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
5mo
The world feels like it’s on fire. Saw someone express that they feel like creating art feels inappropriate right now. I disagree. This is when art is most urgent. 😮💨
Toni Morrison said it best: “There’s no time for despair… We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal.” 🗣️
Stories are how we bear witness. Stories are how we refuse to be erased or gaslit. Stories are how we tell the people after us what really happened.
So if you’ve ever felt the nudge to write a book, a memoir, a children’s story, a business book, I wanna help!
I’m teaching a FREE The Book Academy masterclass: ➡️ 7 Steps to Write & Publish Your Book. 📅 Tuesday, January 13.
🔗 Register at http://TBAMasterclass.com or comment MASTERCLASS to get the link in DMs.
It is time. 📝📚
166
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
6mo
In 2023, I basically started my company over. Fired entire team minus one person. Cuz there was just so much chaos that I could not out-manage or out-mentor.
And when I did, the company's file storage was in shambles. One person I let go of had 79 files named "untitled" when I went into their intranet. Drove me nuts!
So Nov 2023, I hired someone just to organize the company's DropBox and Google Drive. 2 years later, she's still at it. 🫠
I've been creating for over 15 years. My library of content is HUGE. Videos, photos, writing...
We have deleted TBs worth of dupes, had to rename tens of thousands of files and are still finding leftover chaos from that time. It's officially a fireable offense in my company for you to not properly name and organize files you're using. B/c this has literally cost me so much money to fix and chase after.
Legit, it makes me ragey now. Like... how do people just do life so anyhow? How do you find anything? 😡
223
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
6mo
I'm now putting as much energy into healing and restoration that I have into my career. In fact, that is even more important than any professional ambition.
I've accomplished a lot. I have a lot of credentials. And I'm thankful for it all.
But I know my assignment is not about what I do but WHO I AM. And part of the calling is to WALK IN WORTH BEYOND WORK.
So I'm out of office this week at a wellness retreat. 💫🧘🏾♀️🌿
In the words of Anika Apple, HEALING IS REQUIRED.
435
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
6mo
We often talk about “bring your best self to work” as a way to show that we’re more accepting of people’s differences and quirks, but I actually don’t think we should be encouraging people to bring their full selves to work.
I think we should be telling people to BRING THEIR MOST GROUNDED SELF TO WORK. 😮💨
Because your full self includes your traumas, your triggers, your unhealed parts, your need for attention, your firstborn and elder-child overcompensation tools, your “I cry every time I’m challenged or somebody makes me feel bad” quirk 🫠. I don’t think those belong in the workplace at all.
We can be who we are authentically without always bringing into the room every part of us that doesn’t necessarily belong there. 😮💨
I think work has become a place of new trauma and wounds. It has become another place where we need to overly manage people's emotions because we’re bringing too many parts of ourselves that don’t belong there.
So that’s why I think we should reframe it to “bring your most grounded self to work.” It still means you’re being authentically you.
But you’re the you that doesn’t blame everybody for everything. You’re the you that is not walking around with your childhood wounds in a brainstorm meeting. You’re the you who understands that feedback is not a personality or character indictment. That’s the version of who we need to bring to work.
So I think we should stop telling people to bring their full selves to work and start telling them to bring their most grounded selves. And I think we’d all be better for it.
251
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
7mo
We don't talk enough about how our lives are so much more complicated than the lives of those who came before us. And how that, in itself, is a barrier to peace.
Not saying our parents and grandparents didn't have other struggles. They TOILED in many different ways and we thank them.
I just think about how COMPLEX the lives we live now. Many of them were able to live working one job. We got full time jobs, side hustles, and more. Just to survive.
We know more people. Thousands more. That means community is WIDER. We owe more to more people.
We are pulled in more directions.
We are more disconnected from each other (in spite of the fact that we all have these devices). And it's partly because of those other reasons above.
I think this is also why so many of us Gen Xers and Millennials have gone gray quicker than our parents. We're out here fighting for everything.
And now, we have fewer rights than previous generations. WILD.
197
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
3mo
After you've been in business for a while, you learn the following things:
* There are people with skills, who don't have systems. They don't do great.
* There are people with nice systems that mask the fact that they don't have skills. Unfortunately, they fare better for a while. Eventually, people find them out.
* There are people who have neither, but they use brute confidence that is unearned to trick everyone. They do well for a while but eventually, it catches up them.
People who are SKILLED: please please please learn to build systems to make your work more efficient. Or get someone to build systems for you.
I see a lot of dope creatives suffer because they don't have infrastructure, automations or more. They go out of office for one day and everything falls apart.
You deserve to win. Because the dishonest, lack of integrity having people who just make things look good are making the money YOU earned.
Get systems.
160
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
4mo
CHICAGO: Join me as I moderate a conversation with the BRILLIANT, NYT bestselling author Tayari Jones on March 8 about her incredible new book KIN.
This book is sublime! I read it in one day b/c I just could not put it down. Layered. Funny. Human. Heartbreaking. Aching. This is storytelling at its best.
https://lnkd.in/gBjh8ZkC
123
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
6mo
8 years ago, I was asked to do a TED Conferences talk, and I declined it twice. Why? because I was afraid I wasn't ready. I know how rigorous the process can be and I let fear make the decision.
And when they asked me a 3rd time and I was about to decline again, I called my friend Eunique Jones Gibson, and she loaned me power and told me I had no other choice but to move forward (shoutout to friends who do not let you shrink 🥹).
So I wrote the talk, about the importance of sitting with our discomfort, speaking when it's hard and moving with courage. I wrote that talk for ME to hear, and when I delivered it at TEDWomen 2017, I got a standing ovation 🤯.
On Dec 1, 2017, the talk went live. It had 1 million views in 1 month 🤯🤯🤯. Since then, it has been viewed over 10M times. This talk has not only changed my life, but I've gotten countless notes over the years about how it has shifted things for people. I've been told that it is ASSIGNED watch in schools all over.
What an honor. Thank you to everyone who has watched, shared and sent me a reflection. Cuz man... for real. The life we want is on the other side of the things we're afraid to do.
MOVE FORWARD REGARDLESS. ❤️
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Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
5mo
If it hurt, say OUCH. 😮💨
Cuz being afraid of promoting your work, your book, your magic is like creating a map to a hard to reach place and then locking it away so people keep getting lost on the way there. Meanwhile, all along, you had the map. 😩
That book you wanna write? It is time. That story you wanna tell? Why not now? Someone out there really NEEDS your words and needs to know that 🙏🏾
I've opened the doors to The Book Academy to help you go from DREAM to IDEA to INK.
My receipts are long, as a 4X NYT bestselling author, 15-year marketer and the community builder. Let's get that book done! I can help.
🚨Doors close January 19th! ➡️ https://lnkd.in/gYAXsMPH
Soooo what are you hoarding that deserves to be released? Tell me.
116
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
5mo
"I'm going to do it next year."
NEXT YEAR?!? You're assuming you will have next year. Who told you that time was guaranteed?
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was 39 years old when he was assassinated. Imagine if he had said "I'll wait" on the mission. How different would history be?
We're often talking about changing the world. I think it starts with simply honoring the calling we were given, in the small moments.
So many of us are waiting on the dreams we have and the assignments we were given. And that procrastination is entitlement to time you were never promised.
320
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
6mo
If I wasn't running my own company, I'd be an amazing COO for someone else. This I know. 😁
Cuz I'm type A, pay attention to details, care deeply about efficiency and when I can create some, it brings me satisfaction. I'm strategic AF, I can anticipate obstacles and I can problem solve very quickly. I build systems well.
Honestly, it's why I've been able to build my own company to the level I have, even when team members have been in chaos. I maintain a level of organization that is top notch!
Saying this as I optimize our entire library of SOPs so someone can walk in day 1 and be able to catch up on the most critical processes.
BTW, do y'all use SOPs?
221
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
4mo
If you're going to run your own business and want it to be successful, please make sure you have a therapist.
Entrepreneurship is not for everybody. And it is a PERSONAL development bootcamp. Because it will trigger you over and over again. It will show you your shadows. It will shine a light on where you need more healing, and where others do too.
And it will TEST YOU. The amount of people I've wanted to fight and cuss out in the process? Whew. The stories I have? Too many. Blood, sweat and countless tears indeed.
So when I see folks glorify running your own business without talking about the pains? Incomplete.
415
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
3mo
LinkedIn and social media, in general, have become so obsessed with writing with AI that most people sound like the robots and I hate it. And many of us can tell. Why?
Short sentences back to back to back with a very specific cadence too. There's also a lot of "That's not _______. That's _____."
I've started marking content that is obviously AI and doesn't disclose as spam or "not interested."
As a writer for the last 23 years, I actually really resent how the AI world we live in now forces me to go back and read my own words so they aren't taken as AI.
My books were actually in the database used to train how AI writes.
So if you ever think my writing sounds like AI, IT'S BECAUSE THEY USED MY ACTUAL WRITING TO TRAIN IT. I got here first. 😩😡
Have y'all noticed these patterns?
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Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
7mo
Your job. The economy. The headlines that never stop. The pressure to hold it all together when, truthfully, you’re barely holding on.
And the one thing that could actually quiet your brain? Writing.
Getting it out of your head and onto paper so it stops spinning inside you. But that’s usually the first thing we push aside. We tell ourselves we’ll write when things calm down.
But things never really calm down, do they?
Here’s what that costs you:
🌀 The clarity you need stays buried.
🌀 Your confidence that you can follow through keeps shrinking.
🌀 And every day you don’t write, you reinforce the story that your voice doesn’t matter as much as your to-do list.
The truth? It’s not that you don’t want to write. It’s not even that you don’t have time. You just don’t have a system that makes it simple enough to actually do.
That’s why I created The Book Academy's Word Work, a 30-day writing challenge to help you find your words again.
Here’s how it works:
📧 A fresh prompt lands in your inbox every morning (no more staring at blank pages).
⏰ 30 minutes of focused writing (not hours — just 30 minutes that can shift everything).
📝 By the end of the month: 10,000+ words, a new writing habit, and a reminder that you can keep promises to yourself.
This isn’t about perfection.
It’s about finally having somewhere to put everything you’ve been carrying.
All you need is a notebook, a pen, and 30 minutes a day.
Your voice deserves space; not someday, but now.
We start Saturday, November 1st.
➡️ https://lnkd.in/gVYqqe2p
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Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
5mo
On Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we find ourselves in the turmoil wrought by the walking embodiment of soul rot and white supremacy who is sitting in the White House melting. 🤡
And as people trot out MLK as the Patron Saint of Kumbaya as an excuse to be feckless dweebs, they miss what he said when he said "The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people." 😐
Look at how far we haven't come.
Ancestral side-eye.
#MLKDay
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Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
5mo
I'm a 4-time NYT bestselling author with 20 years marketing experience and 10 years in the publishing industry. I've written children's books and essay collections. My books have sold over 250,000 copies.
Now I help others go from IDEA to INK with my work in The Book Academy. In fact, this last year, 20 of my clients got their book deals and that brings me so much joy!
It is a part of my purpose to not only tell my stories, but to help others tell theirs too.
➡️ I'm teaching a FREE MASTERCLASS next week (Jan. 13) on 7 STEPS TO WRITE AND PUBLISH YOUR BOOK.
📚 If you've wanted to write a book but don't know where to start, this will be so helpful.
Save your seat here: http://tbamasterclass.com
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Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
7mo
There's going to need to be an acknowledgement that the world is broken, and people are not okay. And we will get to the point where we cannot ignore that. Because the way people are moving lately, is giving "brains broke."
COVID did something major to us as a collective for sure. And the lessons we were supposed to take from it, we did not. Then you add everything else *gestures wildly* to the mix.
People are not okay.
464
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
5mo
Today is the last quiet day of the year before everyone starts circling back 😩. I wish we had one more week.
But to minimize the rush, I'm telling my team to keep autoresponders up for one more day and not engage with anything public or our inboxes. Let Monday be for planning and triaging, not execution.
May the first real work day of the year not fry all our nervous systems. 🙏🏾
821
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
6mo
Educators, thank you for your work. For the thankless work you do as second set of parents to these kids (who I'm hearing are more dysregulated than ever). And I'm so sorry y'all do not get paid even remotely close to the value of your work.
It's all so hard, but y'all show up every day. That is hero work. 🙏🏾
137
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
4mo
I ordered a hoodie from a company I've been looking to patronize for a while. My packages sit because I get a lot and travel a lot so I finally opened the box a few weeks after it got delivered.
I tried it on and the zipper on the hoodie fell clean off 😩. Mind you, this hoodie was not cheap ($150), so I emailed their customer service to ask for a replacement. Their response: "Unfortunately, we’re unable to offer a replacement in this case. Any defective items must be reported within 3 days of receiving the order."
😑😑😑
I get that the time has passed. And they absolutely have a right not to replace the hoodie, legally. But this is not what good customer service is. Because from that "no" they just gave me, they lost a customer who would have spent thousands with them otherwise, and recommended them to her audience.
➡️ Business owners, read the book UNREASONABLE HOSPITALITY by Will Guidara.
And NO, I'm not going to name the company, because it is a small business and I know the power of my platform. And I'm hoping OTHER small businesses with policies like this can learn that this isn't how you retain customers. This is not about ruining the reputation of one company.
In a market that is truly oversaturated, customer service can make or break your business. Please know that. Cuz you're trying to save $150 and in the process, you lose tens of thousands in lifetime sales.
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Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
2mo
I've been asked how what I did to prep for 6 months off my company. Here's 3 things real quick:
* Minimized expenses and cancelled all tech tools we weren't using
* Created SOPs for all critical tasks
* Broke down expectations for what needed to happen and what could be put on ice
And yes, I know sharing this feels like I'm still working but my brain is releasing stuff so I can truly rest, so I'm letting it. Instead of forcing myself to go dark. If I got stuff to say or brain dump, I will.
192
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
3mo
I got acupuncture today and I CANNOT WAIT.
That woman puts needles in my scalp and shuts my brain down for 25 mins. Delightful.
For fellow high achievers who have a hard time turning your brain off, consider acupuncture.
225
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
6mo
My senior year of high school, I had electives to take. So I chose to take a class on EXCEL spreadsheets and how to use them well. To this day, that is one of the most useful classes I've ever taken.
176
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
4mo
In business, people talk about SCALING a lot. The idea of expansion and growing much larger than where you are.
There is a world in which you actually hit a certain point and you say "this is good enough." I've had someone work with my who was like "we need to scale to $$$$$$$$" and I wasn't interested and she couldn't understand why.
Everything costs. Scaling is no different. The sacrifices that come with it might not be worth it. And in a world of constant striving and pushing goals beyond limits, sometimes, it's okay to say "I'm good right here for a while."
Do not scale if you aren't foundationally sound. And do not do it just for the sake of making more. Cuz in the process, you might spend more, including time and energy and get to that point and say "what was it for?"
Maybe enough is enough. It's okay if you turn down the ambition in certain seasons.
137
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
7mo
Took the stage yesterday with the brilliant and funny MALALA for her Chicago book tour stop for FINDING MY WAY. Such a great convo about her life and evolution as a young woman, her college experience, falling in love and friendships!
📚 Buy the book everywhere books are sold!
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Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
5mo
History is being erased and rewritten in real time.
The real question is this: will yours be recorded?
We don’t all experience the world the same way and that difference is not a liability. It’s power.
Our identities, values, and lived perspectives shape how history should be told. When we don’t claim that responsibility, someone else does it for us.
There’s a quote I come back to often:
“Until the lion learns to write, the glory will always be given to the hunter.”
This is the season to rise.
The moment to double down on legacy work.
The time to ensure your voice, your impact, and your journey are not erased or distorted.
Books remain powerful. Stories remain immortal. And your story deserves its place in history.
Tonight, I’m hosting a FREE live masterclass on how to move from idea to published work:
📅 6pm CT / 7pm ET
Join us at TBAMasterclass.com to learn, connect, and begin building something history can’t overlook.
The world needs your story. Now is the time to write it.
109
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
4mo
I hit 40 and my stamina for grind and hustle plummeted!
I used to be one of the hardest working people I know. Not anymore.
My nervous system is in "turn it down" mode for real. It happened so swiftly too. I went on that sabbatical last year and barely wanted to come back. 🫣
I've worked really hard for a really long time. I've toiled. I've built a lot out of nothing. The success I've had has been HARD WON. I've gotten hella awards, credentials, achievements. And now, I'm more tired than I let myself sit in.
So I'm letting this year be one of flow. Less DOING and more BEING. Less striving. More resting. I've more than earned it. 😮💨🥱
722
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
3mo
Emails I get: "We are pitching our client to be a guest on your podcast."
THE PODCAST I ENDED 18 MONTHS AGO?!?!?
Oh ok.
😐😐😐😐😐😐😐
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Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
3mo
Thank you to Alejandra Rojas for including me in this feature on Forbes, talking about how my LITTLE TROUBLEMAKER children's books gets kids to lean into their leadership skills early!
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Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
4mo
Word. Hold on the those dreams cuz they see us through.
46
Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
7mo
Thank you to the Next Big Idea Club for including my book Professional Troublemaker: The Fear-Fighter Manual on this list!
https://lnkd.in/gswuXm8u
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Luvvie Ajayi Jones
Sales & Marketing
7mo
I spent International Day of the Girl with Girl Scouts River Valleys and one of the Scouts asked me about fitting in. I had to let them know there was no point in trying. 🙏🏾
28