Hello

JaCoi James Pugh is a fun-loving, energetic soul that “experiences” everyone she meets. Originally from South Dallas, Texas, she and her parents moved to Arlington, Texas in 1991 where she later graduated from James Bowie High School (1997). From there, she began her college journey at the University of North Texas at Denton where she proudly pledged Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated in the fall of 1998. In her sophomore year of college, she started her first career (1998) with the Internal Revenue Service as a Customer Service Representative, then quickly moving up the ladder as a new hire trainer, working as a Bankruptcy Specialist and then ending her eight-year government career as a Revenue Officer. JaCoi always knew she wanted to pursue the world of business and entrepreneurship and knew this path would not be linear, yet she took a chance on herself, her strong work ethics, and began searching for more of what life had to offer her.

My Story

JaCoi moved to Phoenix, Arizona thus moving into a different career path in software, serving as a business analyst for a major payroll tax company for two years. While in Phoenix, JaCoi found her place on the local campus of University of Phoenix (UOP) in Phoenix, Arizona (yes, she was at the real UOP, not online) where she graduated with her Bachelor of Business Administration.

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Shortly after graduating and prior to having children, JaCoi was in the market for a career change that offered her a challenge and growth potential. It was at this point that she embarked upon a new city with a different climate, St Louis, Missouri. In 2008, JaCoi was welcomed with open arms to initially serve as an Implementation Manager with Kronos Incorporated. Once again, she quickly scaled from Implementation Manager to Training Manager to Payroll Manager and finally closing out her nine-and-a-half career with Kronos as a Learning and Development Manager of remote instructors and instructional designers spanning across 5 different states.

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During her career with Kronos, JaCoi still had the gravitational pull for her to go into business for herself, yet she faced uncertainty and fear like most people do. One day, as a student in a leadership class held in Indianapolis, JaCoi made a connection with her instructor where JaCoi shared that she wanted to go into business for herself doing similar work but wasn’t sure how to do it. It was those words that the instructor spoke to JaCoi that changed her forever. The instructor said, “you must trust that if God gave you the vision to start your own company, then you have to trust that He will raise up the people who need you and your services.” These words have literally carried JaCoi every step of the way and with that she spent nights and weekends for roughly two years prior to separating from Kronos (2018) obtaining her advanced business coaching certification (2016) and Professional Coaching Certification through the International Coaching Federation (ICF) in 2017.

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J&K Solutions was birthed in 2018 and JaCoi began taking the world by storm by building relationships with the city of Arlington libraries to teach workshops surrounding small business, the importance of soft skills and DISC. JaCoi became known for “being everywhere” because she networked like a champ, never met a stranger and taking a chance of a lifetime betting on her skills, gifts and talents.

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She is also the co-founder and president of Black Women’s Wall Street, Inc, a nonprofit which focuses on empowering Black women who aspire to become business owners by equipping them with start-up business training, financial literacy, and financial education so they can impact local and global communities. JaCoi is well-known for her talks about VISTA which stands for vulnerable, intentional, strategic, transparent, and authentic. Along with her experience, focus and passion for women in business, JaCoi is equally passionate about single mothers (as she once was) and those that desire to build legacy and create wealth for themselves and their children. With this passion, she became a published author of “The Single Mother’s Path to Wealth” which offers a practical outlook and guide on what single mothers can and should do while on the journey to building wealth. For the last 3 years, JaCoi has been a columnist for the Fort Worth Black News sharing a broad scope of information sharing tips, insights, and perspective on all things business.

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Lastly, JaCoi has had the esteemed pleasure of being a graduate of the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business program in connection with Babson College. This program is an abbreviated business college course for those who seek to scale their business. This knowledge and experience, JaCoi is now sharing with you.