JESSICA KHOURIE
Jessica Khourie is the founder and CEO of JOVA, a women’s nutrition brand built on authenticity, integrity, and science-backed simplicity. She comes from a family of entrepreneurs which gave her the heart, hustle, and passion to build something meaningful. After spending 10 years as an operator at Procter & Gamble building and scaling global brands, while also scaling startups 0 to 1, Jessica returned to her entrepreneurial roots and launched JOVA to simplify nutrition and make wellness more accessible.
What gets Jessica out of bed in the morning is helping others, whether it’s simplifying health with JOVA or serving on the board of St. Jude’s. Jessica’s philosophy of “freedom in a framework” guides her approach to health, business, and life.
HOW SHE OPERATES:
How Jessica manages her health and energy while building a company:
“Freedom in a Framework”
She loves her freedom, but needs guardrails to ensure productivity
Routines are about customization and flexibility, not perfection. Part of the routine is managing the chaos.
When the curve ball comes, it’s usually something really amazing on the other side of it.
Shifted from Data Obsessed to Simplicity Obsessed
At the peak of her health tracking obsession, she looked at all her supplement powders and realized her drift away from real food is what was hurting her health.
She started optimizing for life, not numbers. This shift changed everything: more strength, better mood, more energy, and led to the creation of JOVA.
Focuses relentlessly on the basics
Prioritizes sleep, nutrition, and movement first
Understands how the brain and body are in sync. Your gut is your second brain.
Builds momentum for the long game
Her entire world is eat, sleep, breathe JOVA. Her passion for the product and its mission is what energizes her.
When you're a founder, you're the sole source of creating momentum and your burnout will always be lurking.
You have to create systems quickly and constantly test different routines to find what drives the best productivity (before you need it)
Trusts her intuition and the unknown
Shifted from rigidity toward trusting the process
It all genuinely works out as long as you’re staying true to your core values and the problem you’re solving. It’s the most secure feeling you can have as an entrepreneur.
Opportunity starts opening up when you let go of control and leave room for uncertainty. When it comes, it's because you've already set yourself up to capitalize on it. It just looks like luck.
Protects her mornings
She is off limits to others before 9 am.
Wakes up at 5 am, meditates, then sets intentions
Mind first then body: makes time to run, nourish her body (with JOVA (chocolate of course)), and look and feel her best
Blocks of Deep Work
Schedules deepest, creative work for the morning. Can sit at a computer and crank out 12 hours of work straight (it's a superpower but can be detrimental), so she schedules 30-60 min call blocks for every 3 hours of deep work
Applies corporate discipline to startup chaos
Look at your business and be decisive, even on a $1000 problem, and let that behavior compound into bigger, scalable execution.
In corporate, time and capital absorb risk. In a startup, one wrong call can deplete you fast
Believes in balance
Still eats Wendy’s bacon cheeseburgers and believes in enjoying food (Her family’s entrepreneurial roots are in the QSR and fast-food industries)
“At the end of the day, there is no right and wrong, there is just decide and go.”
MY TAKEAWAY:
When you invest in a company, you’re ultimately betting on the founder. The business can be great, but it only works if the founder has the clarity, capability, and passion to execute, and Jessica embodies that. She communicates quickly and clearly.
Your intuition is only as strong as your baseline. When your gut (literally) and your mind are in a good place, you make better decisions.
There’s a balance between trust and action: things work out, but only if you put yourself in a position for them to.
That same principle applies to health; small, consistent habits compound. Nutrition, movement, and sleep move the needle
Your brain and body aren’t separate systems. Taking care of one strengthens the other, physically and mentally.
WHAT MOVES THE NEEDLE (From Jessica):
For business, from a 0→1 startup lens: a disciplined planning system. Success comes down to prioritization: knowing your strengths, your energy, your productivity, and what the business actually needs.
For health: meditation in your own form. Creating space to tap into your mind builds clarity, unlocks creativity, and sharpens the intuition to place better bets, a superpower for leaders at any level. For her, that used to only come through running; now she can access it through stillness.
STEAL THIS:
Actions you can take right now
Start gradually replacing processed foods with real, whole foods. Focus on consistency over perfection and let it compound over time.
Find something that lets you access your flow state, out of reactive thinking. It can be a walk, a run, yoga, or just sitting still
WHAT SHE IS BUILDING:
JOVA
JOVA is a nutrition brand built on the belief that wellness should be simple. It offers nutrient-dense, whole-food smoothies designed to support you at any stage of your wellness journey, prioritizing balanced macros and easy daily use over complicated supplement routines.
The mission: cut through wellness noise and help people focus on habits that actually move the needle.
Available on Shopify, Amazon, and Thrive Market.
ORDER JOVA BELOW:
Thank you for reading!
