Mompreneurs: Building A Top 100 Firm With Business Guru Jodi D Covington

This week on the Mompreneurs podcast, Jodi D. Covington reflects on building a brilliant career in public relations and marketing, and how she uses her expertise and grit for good. The author and CEO of the award-winning Brand Development Group sat down with Mompreneurs host Nancy Redd to reflect on her career and how she managed to accomplish so much while raising two daughters.

‘From the projects to being one of the top 100 companies in America’

“It’s been a long journey,” said Covington. As a new mom in Fayetteville, North Carolina, she was able to graduate college early with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice and went on to earn her master’s in psychology.

Covington discovered her passion for helping people while working for the government in her native Bermuda. While running the government’s housing program, she came across plenty of opportunities to support Bermudians. “I loved the ability to help people start their businesses,” said Covington. “I would go around and help people start their mental health group homes or psychosocial rehabs and the like—and I loved that.”

Determined to master her craft, Covington was inspired to pursue her master’s in public relations and marketing. In 2012, she founded JD Lewis Group.

2015 was a transformative year for Covington.

“A lot was happening in 2015. And that kind of led me on this journey.”

Covington’s business was flourishing—that year, JD Lewis Group won best PR firm in Bermuda. But 2015 also came with divorce. “With motherhood, you shift when you have your own business and your own aspirations,” she said. “I think for a while, I felt like my place was to support my husband and my children. But you shift where you have to now support yourself, and that means sometimes being a bit selfish.”

2015 was also the year Covington was introduced to UberSoca Cruise, billed as “the largest Soca festival at sea.” The branding expert has been instrumental in helping UberSoca grow year over year, and serves as the company’s marketing and operations director to this day.

Mompreneurs: Building A Top 100 Firm With Business Guru Jodi D Covington

Jodi D Covington. Source: Jodi D Covington

The mompreneur balanced a thriving business with two daughters.

“The thing that helped me was being very honest with my children,” she said.

Covington made sure that her children understood early on the importance of hard work, which sometimes meant time away from mom. Covington’s own mother relocated from Texas to Bermuda to help raise her daughters as she ran her growing business.

Her company merged to become The Brand Development Group.

Since launching in Bermuda over a decade ago, JD Lewis Group has merged to become The Brand Development Group, an award-winning agency recognized among America’s Top 100 Small Businesses by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

BDG offers a “whole suite of services, so you can bring us your vision and we bring that to reality,” said Covington. Everything is handled in-house—from branding to website development, PR and social media management. Covington built a one-stop shop for business development.

The business guru uses her expertise for good.

Covington has been able to harness her expertise not only in the business realm, but to enact real change.

Her team’s work on the tragic case of Miya Marcano, the young woman who was murdered in her Florida apartment, helped Marcano’s family navigate the media and amplify their daughter’s case to pass important legislation.

“This was a massive case that we took on and it included every single element of PR, marketing, and web,” Covington explained. From helping the family start a foundation to organizing fundraising events, Covington and her team went above and beyond to highlight Marcano’s case, provide resources, and raise awareness of missing people. “It was a lot, but it was well worth it,” she said.

Their efforts ultimately helped pass legislation in Florida and Virginia regarding home tenant safety and security. “We work other cases that are similar. It is a passion of mine,” she added.

Don’t miss out on the full conversation. Watch this episode of Mompreneurs featuring Jodi D. Covington above.

Catch new episodes of ‘Mompreneurs’ every week.

Every week, we celebrate beautiful Black entrepreneurs who are simultaneously amazing business moguls and awesome moms. Join host and New York Times bestselling author Nancy Redd as these mompreneurs share their life stories and inspiring advice. Catch new episodes of Mompreneurs every Monday on MadameNoire’s YouTube channel. Or listen to the podcast online on the Urban One Podcast Network.