We can all learn from one another’s experiences, and so we present to you: AccelerateHER Cohort Stories! From what we’ve gathered about this amazing group of women who are part of the first cohort of the incubator program offered in partnership between TWU Center for Women Entrepreneurs and Stoke, AccelerateHER, we knew that you need to get to know them too.
Photos: Games & Course Design Magic slide from Juli James, Juli teaching, 9/22/15 from Junebug Clark & UNT Libraries Special Collections
When Juli James discusses design, content, and tools for online learning, you know that she knows exactly what she’s talking about. There’s confidence in and expertise behind every tip and tool that she recommends.
Combining her passion and self-proclaimed, proud geek side, Juli tackles everything she does sincerely and brilliantly. After a conversation with her, whether it’s about education or balancing life/work/self/sanity, you walk away a better person.
She is cofounder and managing director of Playable Media, online learning and education technology company, an entrepreneur, a veteran, an educator, a mother, and a Wonder Woman who might just inspire you to take the leap you’ve been thinking about, like pursuing your side gig full time! Check out the rest of Juli’s story, as a part of our AccelerateHER Cohort Stories series.
You’ve talked a lot about balance and the side hustle vs. sanity; what does that look like in 2020?
This year, balance looked like letting go of the year I wanted to have and accepting that my family would be at home and on top of each other for work and school.
Balance looked like knowing kids will interrupt Zoom calls. My husband and I will be working from home full-time and our kids will be learning from home full-time. I got another new gig in that while being a parent, I also became the learning coach for two fourth-graders and a seventh-grader. Meanwhile, I also worked the main hustle AND the side hustle at the same time.
It's easier to see this in retrospect but accepting reality and finding balance in acknowledging things are out of balance, and being ok with the wackiness, was an evolution for me.
Also: noise-canceling headphones.
Where do you picture Playable Media in 5 years?
One of the big jumps I am making at the end of this year is to leave the current main gig as a full-time university educator to run Playable Media full-time. It’s something I’ve thought about for a long time. In five years, I would like to see my company with a small team of designers continuing to create online learning for organizations whose missions are to have a positive social impact in the area of health.
The work I’ve done so far, creating ed-tech tools and designing learning for health literacy has been rewarding. With a small team in place, I see myself spending more of my time designing new ed-tech solutions. I designed two tools for creating engaging learning content, and I see those tools out in the world, supporting educators. I am passionate about having a positive social impact through engaging online learning for adults.
How do you stay up-to-date on new apps and developments in the education technology arena?
I have a network of ed-tech founders and innovators that I regularly check in with - this is helpful to stay aware of how things look for the tools in online education today. As far as new developments and new apps, I read sites that focus on innovation in education and technology. The game space is a great place to look for consumer response and the spread of emerging technologies.
I highly recommend that anyone looking to stay on the edge of their arena is to find the futures thinkers in those areas. I try to keep up with futurists like Jane Mcgonigal and Amy Webb. Futurists are who I look to for clues on where education and technology might be going. These thinkers are an excellent source to spur creative and innovative ideas.
What does your day-to-day look like as co-founder and managing director of Playable Media?
My day-to-day is pretty standard for a small business owner of a young company. I am the manager, marketing department, financial planner, instructional designer, and technical developer. That's what we do when we start businesses - we have to do a lot ourselves - and I am no different.
On good days I start with coffee and reading the news. Then, I move to my planner, a Traveler’s Notebook. I check my emails, update the to-do list if needed, and get to work on projects. I love lists. I keep them in my notebook and on a whiteboard hanging on my office wall.
Most days, I am also checking homework, answering questions about today's schoolwork, taking kids to sports practice or appointments, etc. This part is what kills productivity the most right now, because it’s harder to chunk my time for work and family demands, but I remind myself, this part is temporary.
How have different parts of your background and career helped you as an entrepreneur in education technology?
I was born in the same year as Space Invaders. In terms of background, video games and I grew up together and this shaped my perspective and attitude toward how I work today. Playfulness, playing games, and creative risk-taking played a considerable role in my life growing up and bled over into my career. I also think this is why I decided to jump into entrepreneurship without needing to know the outcome. Gamers know that they will win at some point, even if it takes multiple restarts and new strategies.
On the other side, one thing about my career that ties my varied experiences together is evolving media technology. I have always been interested in how technology is changing education and media communications. In graduate school, when gaming, learning and media technology came together formally, I changed the direction of my career to focus on games and learning. This shift led me to my partners and we founded Playable Media in 2015 and launched our first software for educators, the Story Builder. I hadn’t ever considered myself as someone who would start a business, today, I can’t think of anything I’d rather do than work for myself and continue to build new technologies and design online learning.
Do you have a personal and/or professional motto or mantra that you call upon during tough times? What is it?
I guess it's not a motto or mantra, but the first thing that comes to mind is my personal symbol - the phoenix. I am drawn to the sunlight, heat, and fire of the phoenix. When times are tough, I remind myself that there will be ashes and then there will be a rebirth.
How do you get yourself out of a creative rut or solve problems creatively?
When I am in a creative rut or trying to solve a problem, I try to do two things:
1) Focus on something else so that my brain can do its thing without me interfering. When I come back, usually I can move forward in some direction that gets me back on track.
2) Talk to others. I need community and conversation, it helps me to get un-stuck. It is a lot of fun to say to others, “I’m stuck on this problem… What do you think?”
Name a woman, past or present, whom you admire or look up to. Why?
I feel like this isn't a fair question! 😁 There are so many women who teach me things and have qualities I admire. My mother, sister, daughters, aunts, cousins, friends, my business partner, the women in the AccelerateHER cohort, the women at Stoke, the list goes on. These women are out hustling every day. They are intelligent, creative, determined, willing to be vulnerable, brave, passionate. I see these women support each other, collaborate, take care of children and families, solve problems, and get things done. These are qualities that I admire.