Meet Courtlyn Jones

We had the good fortune of connecting with Courtlyn Jones and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Courtlyn, what do you attribute your success to?
The most important factor behind my success has been my ability to keep showing up with honesty and intention—especially when things don’t go according to plan.

So much of my work has been built in seasons where I was healing, navigating uncertainty, or rebuilding from the ground up. I’ve learned that success isn’t about having the perfect strategy—it’s about staying connected to your “why,” even when the path shifts. For me, that “why” has always been about creating spaces where people feel seen, supported, and inspired to lead from exactly where they are.

Whether I was founding The Design Database to uplift women in the creative industry, or launching The CRTLYN Edit to explore what healing and leadership really look like in real time, my work has always centered around truth-telling, connection, and self-leadership.

Another key factor has been my willingness to evolve. Pivoting from the creative world into the fitness and wellness space was a risk—but it was also the most aligned thing I could have done. After living with rheumatoid arthritis and going through thyroid cancer and countless injuries, I realized I couldn’t separate my body from my business or my purpose. Getting certified in personal training and corrective exercise, designing a program for myself, and becoming a wellness content creator weren’t detours—they were extensions of the same mission: to help people feel more powerful in their own bodies and stories.

At the end of the day, I think what’s sustained my brand is that I don’t create from the mountaintop. I create from the middle. From the real. From the “still figuring it out.” And I think people connect with that. Because most of us are there, too.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I started my career in the design world, eventually becoming a five-time award-winning entrepreneur and founding The Design Database, a platform built to support and elevate women in creative industries. At the time, it was a response to everything I felt was missing: representation, community, and real access to opportunity. But as I was building something that looked successful on the outside, I was quietly unraveling on the inside.

What most people didn’t see was that I was living with rheumatoid arthritis, managing chronic pain, recovering from a thyroid cancer diagnosis, and constantly pushing through physical limitations just to function. I kept showing up in boardrooms, in meetings, in creative projects—while hiding how hard it was to simply exist in my body. It caught up to me. After tearing my hamstring during half-marathon training and not healing months later, I realized I couldn’t keep outsourcing my healing. I had to learn how to take care of myself.

That realization changed everything.

I got certified in personal training and corrective exercise—not as a career move, but as a survival decision. I designed a corrective exercise program for myself, rebuilt my strength from the inside out, and along the way, The CRTLYN Edit was born—a podcast and newsletter where I now share what it looks like to lead, create, and heal in a body that doesn’t always cooperate. It’s a space for honest storytelling, reflection, and interviews with women athletes, changemakers, and creatives who are rewriting the rules of what strength and leadership look like.

I’m now a content creator and fitness ambassador for brands like Magna (a magnesium electrolyte drink) and Pure Encapsulations (a supplement company), and I continue to bridge wellness and creativity in everything I do. I still design. I still build platforms. But now, my work is guided by embodiment, alignment, and truth.

Getting here wasn’t easy. It required me to grieve an older version of myself, to let go of how things were “supposed” to look, and to rebuild my life from the ground up. But what I’ve learned is this: your body carries wisdom, and your story—even the painful parts—can become the foundation for something powerful.

What I want the world to know is that you don’t have to have it all figured out to be a leader. You don’t have to be “healed” to be impactful. You can build, create, and lead from the messy middle—and that might just be the most honest place to start.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
If my best friend was visiting LA, I’d want to give them a week that feels like a blend of ease, creativity, and coastal calm.

We’d start with a visit to The Grove for some laid-back shopping and people-watching, then spend a day exploring art at LACMA or The Broad. Venice Beach and the Santa Monica Pier would be a must—maybe biking along the path between the two, grabbing brunch at Great White, and ending with dinner at Elephante with ocean views.

We’d make space for wellness, too—like a hike at Runyon Canyon, a yoga class at The Den Meditation, or a stroll through the Hollywood Farmers Market. And for inspiration, we’d visit Abbot Kinney Blvd, The Getty, or even take a day trip to Malibu for beach time and a meal at Malibu Farm.

It’d be a week full of creativity, rest, good food, and sunshine!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
There’s no way I could tell my story without giving a huge shoutout to Nike—not just for the brand itself, but for the community and opportunity it created that helped me fall in love with running again.

A few years ago, I was juggling an overwhelming amount of pressure—building The Design Database, running Fearless Narratives, publishing Art-InspiHerd Magazine—and trying to hold it all together while secretly managing health challenges behind the scenes. I didn’t realize how badly I needed an outlet until one day I found myself at a Nike event—a panel of women runners and cyclists, many of whom were Nike coaches. Something about their energy, their stories, their strength—it lit a spark in me.

Running was something I had loved as a kid. I wasn’t a fan of gym class, but when it came to running, I felt free. Fast. Powerful. For the first time in years, I gave myself permission to chase that feeling again. I laced up, started running a couple times a week, and showed up to Nike’s community runs just to see what my body could do. Before I knew it, I was training for my first marathon with Nike in 2024.

While I ultimately had to pull out due to a serious injury, that moment ended up being a gift. That injury became a turning point—it pushed me to dig deeper into my healing and eventually led me to become certified in personal training and corrective exercise. From that process, The CRTLYN Edit was born—a podcast and newsletter exploring what it means to live, lead, and heal in a body that doesn’t always follow the rules.

So while Nike might’ve simply created space for runners, they gave me so much more than that. They helped me reconnect with a part of myself I had forgotten. They helped me fall in love with movement again. And in doing so, they helped birth the next chapter of my work, voice, and leadership.

Website: https://www.courtlynjones.com

Instagram: @courtlynjones

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/courtlynjones/

Other: Substack: www.courtlynjones.substack.com
Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/0mf5tPThqKJOBFtoXxqMvp?si=ed260ae7deb04b17

Image Credits
Stefania Curto, Paulsta, Flow State Creative