In this episode of Founders, Future, with host Ammar Elm, Teresa Jacobsson—CEO and co-founder of JWIG Industries Group—shares her remarkable journey from leading an Alaska Native corporation to building an SBA 8(a) firm that transforms government agencies and indigenous organizations. With 30+ years in organizational development and federal contracting, Teresa reveals how she pivoted JWIG from local services to aerospace/defense consulting, including their current NASA subcontract. She discusses the "fail-learn-repeat" cycle of entrepreneurship and her Vegas strategy session that rallied her team around their bold new vision for land-and-sky government solutions.*

Teresa breaks down JWIG’s crisis-to-compliance model, where they rescue organizations from financial disarray while fostering cultures where "work doesn’t have to be a 4-letter word." She shares hard-won lessons on government contracting (like SAM.gov bot audits) and why she starts client meetings with gratitude—even during years when "all I could say was ‘I had a good cup of coffee this morning.’" For founders facing impossible odds, Teresa’s story proves that resilience + servant leadership can build enterprises that last generations.*