Jamee Herbert
CEO and Co-Founder
Berkshires, MA
My Role
As CEO and Co-Founder of BridgeCare, I set the vision for the company and determine goals, and the path to achieve those goals. We partner with local and state governments to create healthy, well-funded early childhood education systems, so I also spend significant time managing relationships with government agencies and leaders.
What I love most about my role
At BridgeCare, we are very impact-focused. I love having the opportunity to use the expertise I have developed over the years from both work and personal experiences to better the lives of families and children.
How I define success
There are two main areas I focus on when defining success:
- Evaluating whether we are helping our clients accomplish their goals and achieve the impact they set out to have in their community.
- Ensuring that, as BridgeCare grows, our team remains connected to the work within a supportive, engaging environment.
The best piece of business advice I ever received was
There is an idea in conscious leadership that I have held on to.
When dealing with a difficult situation, you should detach emotionally from the outcome. Ask yourself, “If that outcome doesn’t happen, how could it be for the best?”
This can be especially challenging in an impact-focused company like ours, where we work toward creating positive outcomes for our clients every day. However, I have found this exercise helpful for moving from operating out of fear into thinking about possibilities—possibilities you may not have considered beforehand.
Since launching BridgeCare in 2016, we have pivoted multiple times to get to where we are today. We had to let go of some of our strong emotional attachments to what we were originally building to reach our current position.
What would I tell my younger self
The most interesting opportunities for success do not follow a straight line.
My younger self felt pressure to know the path I needed to follow and believed I would miss opportunities if I took a "wrong turn." I worried about not taking the right classes or having the perfect GPA. I didn’t know what I wanted. You can’t plan those things. Just start and see where it leads you.
What 2B Bolder mean to me
Trust yourself. This can be difficult, and you must balance it with not being too stubborn. Part of that is knowing how to filter external voices. Trust yourself, and don’t be afraid of owning that trust, even in the face of stakeholders who disagree or markets going in different directions.
Years of Experience
More than 10 years
I recommend you focus on developing these 3 skills to succeed in a role like mine
For Founders and Entrepreneurs:
- Get good at sales and asking for what you need. When starting something from scratch, you have nothing. You’ll need to ask for connections, funding, and people to believe in you and your mission. Being a good salesperson helps. Many founders and CEOs are uncomfortable with sales and hire salespeople early on, thinking that a salesperson can sell something they have not yet figured out how to sell. It does not work.
- Discipline. You need to be willing to work toward something for a long time before it pays off—not necessarily financially, but when you begin to see the results of your work. You must be willing to work daily without someone else holding you accountable.
- The ability to wear many hats is required as the CEO of an early-stage company. Later, you will fill these roles with team members who will help fill the gaps.