HI, I’M JEN.
I’m a Storyteller, Mentor, Empowerment Coach, Speaker, Podcaster, Fertility Warrior, Champion of Women, and Mama (after a 10-year pregnancy), and I love dark chocolate in all its forms.
“Receiving dual certifications in health and life coaching, with a focus on transformational habit change, was a crucial addition to my experience. I believe that how you do one thing is how you do everything. If you lack energy and feel run down, it affects every aspect of your life, creating a negative spiral. This holistic approach enables me to better support my clients in reaching their highest potential.”
HOW I GOT HERE
I used to believe I had to go through hard things alone. The something hard happened; I would disappear, isolate myself, get through it, and then return pretending to spew sunshine. I have always been the positive one, the glass-half-full person, and I felt ashamed to have any negative feelings. How crazy is that? Can you relate?
This way of coping worked for a while, but when my fertility journey was the “hard thing” that was happening, and months turned into years, it affected every part of my being, every part of my life. Doing it alone wasn’t working anymore.
Then one day…While I was exhaustedly trying to spew sunshine, a friend asked how I was doing.; I blurted out, “NOT GOOD, LIKE REALLY BAD, ACTUALLY.” She was caught off guard and started laughing, which made me laugh…and then cry!! It was like the dam broke. The cat was out of the bag; I was not doing well! And that was ok. I needed that simple connection, that vulnerability, with someone I trusted to finally admit that I was not ok.
I began assembling a team of “helpers.” I already had a good therapist. (I highly recommend a good therapist. The work we have done together and the tools I have learned have been life-altering.) I also needed a coach.
I had worked with coaches in my creative career, so I sought them out during our fertility and adoption journey. Every coach offered a different specialty and approach, with new tools to apply immediately. I was so grateful for them all. I honestly would not have been able to keep going without them. I always knew that when I got to the other side of my journey, I wanted to help other women going through fertility struggles, and life changes, and transitions.
Life is not meant to be a solo adventure. Humans are social beings, and community is the elixir to so much of what ails us. Our community feeds us in so many valuable ways; it is everything, and often, it is the last thing we turn to.
There is no shame in asking for help to cope, manage, and push past those sticky spots in life. Imagine what you could accomplish if you didn’t have to do it alone.
My bio bullet points would say stuff like this:
I have one child after a 10-year fertility and adoption journey.I am a heart mom. My kiddo has a Congenital Heart Defect. One in a hundred kids do.I have been married to my husband for 20 years.I have lived in Los Angeles for over 20 years, but my heart is rooted in Chicago, where I was born and raised.I have acted for years in theatre, in TV shows you have heard of, and in independent films you probably haven’t.I co-founded a creative studio where I empower creatives and produce meaningful female projects.
I co-created a blog featuring women sharing their "hard."I have entrepreneurship in my genes. I grew up helping run my parent's health and fitness studio.I started a podcast, The Unexpected Way - Fertility to Adoption and Everything In Between, that has grown in my heart for many years.That's just some black-and-white stuff, but the grey is where most of it's lived.