Meet Jennie Smythe

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jennie Smythe. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Jennie, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?

Experience and planning have been the most prolific sources of resilience for me and for my team at Girlilla Marketing. You can’t anticipate every problem of course, but planning for a multitude of scenarios and having stepped in sticky situations enough times has made me less nervous about what could or should happen.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

As Founder & CEO of Girlilla Marketing, even 17 years in, every single day is a new day and comes with new challenges in social media and digital marketing. For some that can be daunting. For me, that’s always exciting. I never know what I am going to do day-to-day or what new exciting things I will learn. Being a small, multi-generational all-female office is a rich experience as a human being. I am lucky to be surrounded by thoughtful and opinionated women who respect and work well together for our clients successes.

I’m honored to serve as 2025 Chairperson of the Country Music Association Board of Directors, as well as on the boards of the CMA Foundation (past chairperson) and Music Health Alliance. As a breast cancer survivor, I am proud to have been named a 2025 Advocacy Ambassador by the Susan G. Komen Center for Public Policy.

This year I released my memoir, “Becoming Girlilla: My Journey To Unleashing Good In Real Life, Online And In Others.” I’ve been embraced, ignored, yelled at, fired and rehired. I’ve been told I am worthless, I’ve won awards, I’ve been blamed for shit I wasn’t responsible for and given credit for things I didn’t deserve. I’ve had disgruntled employees, I’ve had slim years and I’ve had fat years. I have heart. I care. I will outwork you and I try not to repeat mistakes. I bleed passion for what I do, who I represent and who I stand next to. And here’s the secret: there’s no secret. To be successful, you must go to work every day like it’s your first day on the job. When you don’t get out of bed with your ass on fire, you need a change. I hope with my own story that I can save you some hassle. I hope that I can make you think, laugh and see your own story in mine… because we are all connected, online and offline.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Over the years, my expectations of outcome have become less rigid, I am open to opportunity and input from other people and I ask for help when I need it. All three of these things shelter me from the anxiety that most entrepreneurial people (I know) all suffer silently through.

How would you describe your ideal client?

There’s a line that circulates in the halls of Girlilla Marketing a lot: You Can’t Care More Than They Do. It’s true. We don’t have successful projects where our clients aren’t collaborative and give us the time and space we need to help them. It’s a partnership and both sides require full steam.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Headshot photographer credit is Matthew Simmons. All other images courtesy Jennie Smythe

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