I Lived in a Cult and Was Ready to Give Up. Today, I’m A Successful Female CEO With a Million Dollar Business

Julia McCoy
6 min readAug 22, 2018
Me today, doing what I love and thrilled about it.

Biggest piece of advice: Following a gut passion and working hard is key to success.

Seven years ago, while living inside a cult with very little freedom of my own, I built the foundations of a multimillion-dollar business. Today, I lead and build my business, which has more than 80 on staff and has served over 5,000 clients. I’m also a wife and a mom.

I’m writing a memoir telling my life story and how I built my business from the ground up. It will be my third book, due out in 2019. Sign up here to know when it’s out.

For 21 years of my life, I grew up in a religious cult in Pennsylvania. I wasn’t allowed to wear pants, makeup, sandals, or bright colors. I was locked in an upstairs wing every night as a young adult, fined monetary amounts and mentally harassed, shunned, and beaten if I didn’t live up to extreme religious standards every day.

By the time I was 19, at my parents’ behest, I was enrolled in nursing school and working full-time at McDonalds to pay my way. I didn’t enjoy any of it, and I began to fail my classes. One morning in the middle of that year, I woke up and asked myself how I could make a living doing something I loved. The question was simple, and the answer was…

--

--

Julia McCoy
Julia McCoy

Written by Julia McCoy

Julia is a keynote speaker, 9x author, CEO of FirstMovers.ai, and hosts Leaders of AI Podcast w/ Dave Shapiro. She lives, breathes, eats and sleeps AI adaption.

Responses (1)