Resilient, Radiant, Relentless: Jewel Lagreen — Entrepreneur, Pastor, and Family Architect

Quick Facts

Early Life and Entrepreneurial Roots

Born on March 23, 1974, in Detroit, Jewel LaGreen grew up inside a household where commerce was as normal as a family dinner. Her parents, both entrepreneurs, taught counting, negotiating, and confidence before most kids learned cursive. Those lessons became literal tools: she launched a Nextel franchise in Detroit and scaled it to 15 employees within a year — a number that speaks to operational speed and managerial grit.

Small-company hustle framed her worldview. She learned to read balance sheets the way other children read bedtime stories. The early 1990s brought a brief first marriage and a child from that union; the experience later informed how she navigated and ultimately led a blended family with tenderness and structure.

Partnership, Marriage, and the Blended Tankard Family

Jewel met Ben Tankard in the late 1990s at a concert. He famously declared her the woman he would marry; they wed on January 27, 2000. That union became a fusion of two entrepreneurial spirits and two families. Together they formed a household of five children, with several grandchildren adding new threads to an already intricate tapestry.

The Tankard household often functions like a tight orchestra: individual parts—different ages, temperaments, histories—play distinct lines, but the couple conducts toward harmony. Jewel has described the marriage and family-building years as a process of negotiation, prayer, and practical systems: family meetings, clear expectations, and consistent communication. Those systems were featured candidly in their reality television seasons, where messy conflict gave way to reconciliation on camera.

Tankard Family Snapshot (names & roles)

(The above ages and years are drawn from family timelines and public accounts; they reflect approximate ranges.)

Career Highlights, Numbers, and Institutional Work

Jewel’s professional life reads like a three-act play with overlapping scenes: direct sales and operations; media and public mentoring; ministry and community building.

• Direct sales / MLM success: Jewel achieved elite status with a major multi-level marketing company, reportedly building a network of 65,000+ members and generating more than $2 million in sales during peak campaign years. Those figures fueled her credibility as a financial coach and public speaker.
• Franchising: The early Nextel venture demonstrated her ability to scale brick-and-mortar operations — hiring, training, and local market penetration in under 12 months.
• Brand building: She launched a clothing line, authored an e-book titled JumpStart: Quick Tips for Wealth Building, and created the Millionairess Club, a mentorship platform aimed at women entrepreneurs and investors.
• Media: Beginning in 2013, the Tankard family’s reality series aired multiple seasons, amplifying Jewel’s platform. She also hosts a syndicated show focused on personal finance, entrepreneurship, and spiritual wellness.
• Investments: Real estate holdings and diversified income streams (media, product lines, speaking, ministry) contribute to an estimated net worth of about $5 million — a rounded figure that captures tangible assets and brand equity.

These numbers are not just metrics; they are a map of movement — from cash flow to cultural footprint. Jewel frames wealth-building as an act of stewardship. She teaches that money, like a tool, must be maintained and wielded intentionally.

Ministry, Media, and Recent Public Presence

Jewel and Ben co-pastor a non-denominational congregation known as The Destiny Center Church in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Their ministry traces back to prayer meetings that grew into institutional outreach: missions trips, community events, and pastoral care—all unpaid roles that underline a commitment to service over salary.

On the media front, Jewel moved from reality TV spectacle to a more measured public-facing work: syndicated programming, interviews, digital mentorship, and social posts that emphasize family milestones and spiritual reflection. Notable recent touchpoints include a birthday celebrated on March 23, 2024, during a missions trip to Kenya, and social-media reflections on marriage and identity (for example, a January 3, 2025 post about embracing a “soft girl wife era” while running businesses and ministry).

YouTube and other video platforms tend to feature Jewel in family contexts: interviews about blending households, conversations about resilience, and occasional musical dedications. Views vary; some videos are intimate, low in view count, and rich in personal detail—like private letters shown on a public stage.

Timeline of Key Milestones

Voice and Vocation: How Jewel Moves

Jewel’s public persona blends the pragmatic and the pastoral. She speaks like a CEO who prays. Her mentorship mixes spreadsheets and scripture, negotiation tactics and bedside prayers. At times she is exacting; at others, she softens the household corners until the family fits more comfortably together. Think of her influence as a braided rope—separate strands (business acumen, faith, family discipline) woven tightly so each strengthens the other.

Her story is not theatrical reinvention but incremental mastery: launching, scaling, mentoring, repeating. The texture of her life comes from the contrast—Detroit grit against Tennessee ministry, network marketing metrics against intergenerational Sunday breakfasts. The result is a public life that is at once industrious and intimate, a ledger that balances profit and prayer.

Ongoing Projects and Public Focus

Jewel continues to steward the Millionairess Club, host programming that centers financial literacy, and participate in ministry and family life. Her public appearances, whether on camera or at community events, tend to emphasize empowerment, resilience, and practical steps toward financial independence. The family remains central: their blended household is both a lived experiment in modern family dynamics and a recurring subject of their media work.