Jackie B. Grice says rest is a growth tool for women entrepreneurs

Black women are the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs in the U.S., but wellness strategist Jackie B. Grice says the hidden cost of that growth is burnout. Grice is urging women founders to treat rest, meditation and stillness as business strategy, not self-indulgence.

Why it matters: - Black women are the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs in the United States. - Black women-owned businesses grew 50% between 2014 and 2019, according to a J.P. Morgan analysis of American Express research data. - Grice says the data does not capture the cost of sustaining that growth. - Her message targets a real business problem: exhaustion can limit decision-making, creativity and leadership capacity.

What happened: - Jackie B. Grice, founder of Launching Deeper, outlined five practices she says women entrepreneurs can use to prevent burnout. - Grice framed rest as one of the most underused tools in a woman entrepreneur’s business. - Grice said women do not lose momentum when they rest; they gain clarity, resilience and the capacity to lead with greater purpose. - Launching Deeper focuses on helping women entrepreneurs build businesses that support well-being rather than deplete it.

The details: - Grice’s five tips are to schedule stillness, begin each day with meditation before consumption, stop treating rest as a reward, listen to the body before it forces a slowdown, and lead from alignment rather than exhaustion. - Grice says even 10 to 15 minutes of uninterrupted quiet can help reset the nervous system, improve decision-making and create space for clarity. - Grice recommends meditation, prayer or mindful breathing before checking emails, social media or messages. - Grice argues that rest is a business strategy, not a luxury, and says recovery, reflection and renewal should happen throughout the journey. - Grice points to early warning signs of burnout such as fatigue, irritability, brain fog, sleep disruptions and loss of creativity. - Grice says stillness creates space for wisdom, creativity and strategic thinking. - Her guidance centers on 10 to 15 minutes of unstructured quiet each day.

Between the lines: - Grice is linking personal wellness to business performance, not separating the two. - Her approach suggests that overwork can become a hidden drag on entrepreneurship, especially for women who feel pressure to constantly produce. - Grice draws credibility from her own experience co-building a multimillion-dollar transportation company that stalled during the COVID-19 pandemic. - She said the forced pause, sitting under a tree in her yard after revenue disappeared, gave her clarity she could not reach while moving.

What’s next: - Grice is using Launching Deeper to keep promoting rest, burnout prevention and purpose-driven leadership for women entrepreneurs. - Her broader public profile includes contributions to Essence and appearances on Fox 8 and WGN9. - More information is available at Jackie B. Grice’s website. - Her social channels are listed on Instagram, Facebook and YouTube.

The bottom line: - Grice’s core message is simple: for women entrepreneurs, stillness is not a pause from business. It is part of the strategy.