I made MSN's Leaders to Watch list, and honestly, I almost didn't post about it

10 self-made leaders to watch in 2026

I've read the excerpt about six times now and each time I get to "the realization that the business they built no longer reflects who they are" and think, yep, that's the sentence. That's the whole thing.

MSN named me one of their self-made leaders to watch for 2026, and the write-up dug into something I don't talk about publicly very often, which is that I walked away from a decade in corporate cable marketing to start JMG in 2012, and then years later I walked away from JMG too. Not because it failed. Because it stopped fitting who I'd become. That's a much harder story to tell than "started a business, it grew, the end," but it's the true one.

Here's what actually happened in between those two decisions. 300+ businesses across the Lakes Region trusted JMG with their brands. WORK Lakes Region opened in 2023 as the first coworking and event studio this area had, and we're expanding it in 2026. I stepped into a Strategic Partner role with Binnie Media's Streaming TV division. I kept my seat as Board Secretary for BEDC through a stretch of real organizational change.

None of that is a straight line. It's not supposed to be.

The part of the piece that means the most to me is this: I try to bring my own experience of building, scaling, and letting go into how I work with clients now. Not just so their marketing is sharper, but so they leave clearer on why they started in the first place. That's the actual job. The marketing is just the vehicle.

Next up: growing WORK Lakes Region into new markets, going deeper on coaching and leadership programming, and staying stubbornly committed to the entrepreneurs coming up behind me. The Lakes Region isn't just where I work. It's where I've chosen to build, over and over, even when building meant starting over.

Grateful for the recognition. More motivated to keep proving it out.

Read the full MSN feature [here].