On today’s episode of Creative Space, we have the pleasure of speaking with Jennifer Lynn Robinson Esq., a respected professional speaker and authority in strategic networking, leadership, and workplace relations whose life narrative is as stirring as it is enlightening.
After being hit by a truck and suffering a traumatic brain injury, Jen shares her arduous journey to recovery and the role creativity played in helping her transition from working as a corporate attorney to building a life and career she loves as a speaker and lifestyle and communications expert.
Jen opens up about the physical and emotional battles she waged following the accident, including her struggle with PTSD and the uphill task of surpassing expectations while still healing. She also talks about how leaving the corporate world post-accident to pursue life as an entrepreneur actually helped her in the healing process.
In addition, we touch on Jen winning Mrs. Classic Universe, what the experience was like, and redefining what a pageant queen looks like.
Finally, Jen has a book coming out before the holidays, so stay tuned for that.
I hope you enjoy this interview as much as I did. I say it in the podcast but I’m saying it here as well—Jen is such an inspiration and such a light. There’s so much to learn from this conversation. Enjoy!
For more on Jen, visit: jenniferlynnrobinson.net and check out her TEDX talk here.
To sign up for the weekly Creative Space newsletter, visit: eepurl.com/h8SJ9b.
To become a patron of the Creative Space Podcast, visit: https://bit.ly/3ECD2Kr.
SHOW NOTES:
0:00—Introduction
2:30—Being the first-born daughter of immigrant parents
3:13—”Take advantage of the opportunities we have being born in America.”
5:20—Jen’s first creative pursuits
6:33—What sparked her interest in law
9:00—The accident that changed the course of her life
12:03—Grieving the life she once had
15:10—The road to finding her power and voice
18:30—Becoming an entrepreneur out of necessity
22:37— “I don’t have to be perfect to be impactful.”
23:02—Jen’s definition of creativity
25:50—Winning Mrs. Classic Universe
31:00—Rebranding her website and upcoming book
On today’s episode of Creative Space, we have the pleasure of speaking with Jennifer Lynn Robinson Esq., a respected professional speaker and authority in strategic networking, leadership, and workplace relations whose life narrative is as stirring as it is enlightening.
After being hit by a truck and suffering a traumatic brain injury, Jen shares her arduous journey to recovery and the role creativity played in helping her transition from working as a corporate attorney to building a life and career she loves as a speaker and lifestyle and communications expert.
Jen opens up about the physical and emotional battles she waged following the accident, including her struggle with PTSD and the uphill task of surpassing expectations while still healing. She also talks about how leaving the corporate world post-accident to pursue life as an entrepreneur actually helped her in the healing process.
In addition, we touch on Jen winning Mrs. Classic Universe, what the experience was like, and redefining what a pageant queen looks like.
Finally, Jen has a book coming out before the holidays, so stay tuned for that.
I hope you enjoy this interview as much as I did. I say it in the podcast but I’m saying it here as well—Jen is such an inspiration and such a light. There’s so much to learn from this conversation. Enjoy!
For more on Jen, visit: jenniferlynnrobinson.net and check out her TEDX talk here.
To sign up for the weekly Creative Space newsletter, visit: eepurl.com/h8SJ9b.
To become a patron of the Creative Space Podcast, visit: https://bit.ly/3ECD2Kr.
SHOW NOTES:
0:00—Introduction
2:30—Being the first-born daughter of immigrant parents
3:13—”Take advantage of the opportunities we have being born in America.”
5:20—Jen’s first creative pursuits
6:33—What sparked her interest in law
9:00—The accident that changed the course of her life
12:03—Grieving the life she once had
15:10—The road to finding her power and voice
18:30—Becoming an entrepreneur out of necessity
22:37— “I don’t have to be perfect to be impactful.”
23:02—Jen’s definition of creativity
25:50—Winning Mrs. Classic Universe
31:00—Rebranding her website and upcoming book
Hello everyone and welcome to another episode of Creative Space, a podcast where we explore, learn and grow in creativity together. I'm your host, jennifer Loge, and today we have the absolute pleasure of chatting with Jennifer Lynn Robinson Esquire, a professional speaker with an expertise in strategic networking, communications, leadership, resilience and workplace relations. She's been featured in the media locally and nationally and is a contributor to Entrepreneur Magazine. She also teaches business communications at the Wharton School. After surviving an accident that almost took her life, jennifer underwent a complete professional transformation, leaving law behind to launch her own business. What inspires me so much about you, jen, is how bright of a light you are. Whenever I see you on social media, you're so inspiring and you keep raising the bar for yourself and you just keep building this beautiful, creative life despite the challenges you've faced, and it's such an inspiration to others. So I just had to say that.
Speaker 2:I really appreciate that and thank you so much for having me on.
Speaker 1:It's such a pleasure to have you and I think your passion and determination is going to be a source of inspiration for a lot of people listening. So much, much, much appreciated, thank you. So how are you doing today? Where are you calling from?
Speaker 2:I am sitting in my very pink home office in Haverford, PA, and yeah, it's been a long day as an entrepreneur of various work and meetings and Zoom meetings and calls and all of that fun stuff gearing up for my new semester of teaching. So I have some stuff going on with that as well and just trying to get it all done before the long holiday weekend so it doesn't become the focus of my weekend.
Speaker 1:Yes, wearing so many hats as you do. We'll have to touch on that later in the interview, but, as you know, if you've listened to Creative Space, I like to go way back, like way back to the beginning, because it's interesting to see how the creative journey unfolds in different people's lives. And I guess I wanted to ask first, what did you grow up and what was your childhood like?
Speaker 2:So my parents, are both immigrants and they both fled their country from the US, and they both fled their countries for different reasons. My mom's family is from Fez, morocco, and my dad's family is from Krakow, poland, and I was the oldest I am the oldest of three girls and the first generation born into this country of my immigrant parents who really had to give up everything when they came to this country. So I think for me I've born in Philadelphia, started out being raised in Philadelphia and then really just local, you know, bucks County, montgomery County. Currently I live in Montgomery County.
Speaker 2:I haven't lived anywhere besides the Philadelphia region, but I think what they instilled in me that I can say is the sense of you know, america is a place of greatness, with all its problems, and even though this was a long time ago that I was growing up and there's obviously ongoing issues and new issues today that we have to work on as a country, you know, compared to the rest of the world, we still don't really realize how good we have it compared to a lot of places. And since they underwent such trauma with their families and had to come here with nothing, you know they really instilled in us that education was the way out and you know it was very important to them that we become, you know, accomplished and successful and really, you know, help, I guess, use the country for all it's worth. You know, to put it, to put it away, they would probably put it to just really take advantage of the opportunities we have, being born in America.
Speaker 1:Yes, what would you say? Would you say your parents are your big inspirations?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean it's interesting, you know, I know we'll get into a little bit about, you know, the horrific accident I was in and changing courses in my career and they had to go through such reinvention, their families. I don't really think I looked at it until I went through that myself in my own life later in life about how much that actually impacted me. But yeah, I mean absolutely my mother, you know she's she's passed, she's passed over 10 years ago. But she was extremely accomplished, spoke seven languages, crossed the stage with getting her PhD when she was eight months pregnant with my youngest sister. So I mean she was really an inspiration in that respect. Like nothing stopped her. She wanted her PhD, she got it and my father, you know, worked his way up in the law, you know, became a very well known lawyer.
Speaker 2:He's still living, he's in Florida and he still practices law and really at the time he was becoming a lawyer, he was in night school teaching in Camden during the day and was not the kind of person to get a judicial internship and then get on with a big, well known firm, both of which he did, and a lot of people look down on him. But he ended up becoming very, very successful at a time where people in his position maybe wouldn't have been as successful. So he has a lot of drive and that's definitely impacted me.
Speaker 1:Wow, for sure. So when you were younger, what were your hobbies back in the day?
Speaker 2:You remember, so you know, I think my hobbies when I was very much, much younger were dictated by my parents and specifically my mom. You know she had us do dance and ballet and tennis and piano and really I love I'm still to this day I love watching tennis. I'm very involved in watching tennis. We go to the US Open every year. We'll be going this weekend, so cool. But you know, the other stuff, like it was more. I did it for my mom, I would say, as I developed my own interest.
Speaker 2:I loved to argue, I used to go watch my dad in court he's a trial lawyer and you know started doing all the stuff that kind of goes along with that. So in junior, high and high school got involved in debate and model UN and model Senate and World Affairs Council and public speaking and all of that great student council, all of that stuff. And I also really loved writing. So I worked my way up to editor in chief of my school newspaper my senior year and all through junior, high and high school I was involved in, you know, various writing and mostly the school newspaper.
Speaker 1:So cool. So when you became a lawyer, would you say your dad was a big influence.
Speaker 2:Absolutely yes. I mean, I used to watch him in court and think I want to do this, so cool.
Speaker 1:So what made you want to become an attorney, apart from, you know, being inspired by your dad? Was there a particular area of law that you wanted to practice in that you ended up? It's interesting.
Speaker 2:He became very well known for family law, which you know, if you don't know, is like divorce law and things like that. My parents you know talking about my childhood when I was a teenager my father left and my parents went through a very lengthy and very public divorce because my dad at the time was very well known public figure and that was really hard on me. So, you know, a lot of people, as I continued through school and I started law school, assumed that I would go into family law like my father and continue on his path or maybe work with him, and I really wanted nothing to do with it because of what I had gone through with my own family. It just wasn't something I wanted to do. Like I said, I used to go watch him in court.
Speaker 2:I found it fascinating that you could get up there and kind of you know, share your story, share a story, convince an audience, convince a jury. You know, like I said, I loved the public speaking, so for me that was where I wanted to be. You know, I wanted an audience, like I wanted the show of it all. You know.
Speaker 2:Well, it can be very theatrical, Absolutely, yeah, yeah, and you know you definitely play your role and people make all kinds of just in any other aspect of life. People make assumptions about you as the attorney, you make assumptions about the jury and you know it's always interesting to see how that plays out, especially if you have an opportunity to talk to the jury after and see what influenced them and it's never what you think it's going to influence them.
Speaker 1:So interesting. It's like creativity in that regard, or any piece of art. You write something, like you write a song or something, and another person might interpret it in a totally different way because they receive it in their own way, through their own experiences, their own perspective.
Speaker 2:And we can never. Everyone has biases. Everyone has a different background. You know upbringing. They live in different neighborhoods in the city. You know that impacts people and so all of that plays into how they see the facts, as you said.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so interesting. I mean, we'll inspire some creatives out there to go the law route. So now you became an attorney, you worked like crazy becoming an attorney, You're an attorney, you're practicing and then in 2008, your life completely changed. It did what happened.
Speaker 2:I was crossing the street as a pedestrian on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania and I got hit and pinned underneath a truck and I almost died. I was newlywed at the time, my husband and I had just gotten married a year before and my youngest sister was actually getting married within about a week of the accident I had. So, you know, I am very, all these years later, still very blessed and lucky to be here. I was also very fortunate that, even though some terrible things happened, I was, you know, at 33rd and Walnut, so close to the University of Pennsylvania Hospital, which is like a trauma level one hospital and that's a lot of the reason I'm here today, you know because it happened so close and people were able to help me so quickly.
Speaker 1:Wow, do you remember what was running through your head?
Speaker 2:Absolutely I do you know? One of the things that was very difficult as far as my recovery was that I was awake for the whole accident. I didn't lose consciousness until the ambulance. So I had a lot of like PTSD and stuff to work through because I did remember all of it and I did have one of those experiences you hear about where you're like above your own body kind of you know watching your life go by and it's very scary when that happens, you know.
Speaker 1:Wow, how did you feel?
Speaker 2:You know, when something like that happens to you and you almost lose your life, I mean I can't speak for anybody, I'll just speak for myself. Like initially, there is a sense of blessing and euphoria that you know, many days you turn on the news and people get hit as pedestrians and they die right at the scene. So there's this idea of I am really blessed that I am not a statistic and I survived and here I am in this hospital bed and I didn't die. Unfortunately, once you get past that, there is a lot of different stages of emotions you go through and for me, a lot of that was anger. You know why did this happen to me? Why is my life so disrupted? Why can't I go back to my normal routine? Why do I have to deal with all these surgeries and rehab? Like you know, why did this guy hit me? Like you know all the things that you have to try to work through.
Speaker 2:And you know there started being a lot of anger and even jealousy in a sense. Like I remember feeling a lot of jealousy at one point when I was home and I was getting taken to rehab and everything that my husband was just able to get in his car and go have a normal work day and even though you know he would look at that as nothing, you know just to be taken out of your whole life and your routine and your career. Not be able to drive, not be able to, you know, for a while, get dressed on your own, shower on your own. You know, lost my driver's license because of a traumatic brain injury. You know all the things and it's when you have that kind of disruption in your life there's a real sense of loss and I think you know normal to have a sense of anger. So there was a lot of anger.
Speaker 1:You're going through the grieving process, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you're going through grieving your life, basically your life. What was you know? Now, these days, we talk about things like free COVID and post COVID. So I mean, for me it's always going to be free accident and post accident, and those are always going to be two different things.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for me it's pre epilepsy and life after epilepsy, you know, because I didn't always have it. It was, you know and it's, or maybe I didn't, I just didn't manifest, but it's like life just changed forever. It's so in my own way I can relate, but not to that degree. No, absolutely can relate. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's definitely a grieving process. But did you ever give away your power in that time, would you say?
Speaker 2:I would say I did. I think there was a point of time where I kind of let everyone around me define me and define the expectations or lack thereof that they had on me post accident. And what I mean by that is, you know, I had wonderful, wonderful therapists and things in rehab, but there was this expectation that I wouldn't really be able to go back to a quote, unquote regular job and you know I had all these cognitive deficiencies where I couldn't find words and I couldn't remember things and you know I couldn't even be exposed to light and like stimulus and conversation. So there was this sense of you know you're only going to be able to do so much and you know this sense of you're not going to be back, be able to go back to what you're doing, and you're not going to be able to do anything. That takes a lot of focus and concentration and even some family.
Speaker 2:I mean, you know I've said my mom passed. You know we could have a whole interview about my mom and you know, obviously I want to remember the best of her, but she had some, you know, mental problems and she handled loss in her life very differently than I do, which I didn't realize until my accident happened. So she was somebody that I would talk to every day and would say things to me like you are lucky to have survived this and you'll have a settlement from your case, and now you should just sit on the couch and do nothing because you're lucky to be here. So I kind of internalized that for a little and then I realized how much I was not that person and how I really didn't want this to define my life and I really wanted to find a way to move on from it in spite of what happened and not define it because of what happened.
Speaker 1:How long did it take you to get to that point where you want to decide for yourself? It's asking for a friend.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it took a few years. I mean I was, I was in a very dark place for a while. I mean I was going through a lot of surgeries and doctors and I had no sense of routine or normalcy and I, like I said, I had PTSD, I had a traumatic brain injury, I had anger issues, I had depression, I was addicted to pills for a while. So I mean I went through the gamut of things and I lost a lot of friends and colleagues. That was also very challenging. People don't really know how to deal with you when things like that happen and some people stick around to try to help and deal with it and be there for you and other people don't, and you know. Then you have people who think they should define what you do after that because they're well-meaning and they have good advice and I didn't necessarily want to listen to it. So I would say it took a few years of really finding my voice, and part of that involved making a clean split with my legal career, because after the accident I went back to my office after six months against all my doctor's recommendations. I wasn't allowed to go back to court and that's really why I became an attorney because I was having all those issues I talked about. So my job at the time I worked for a wonderful company and I had a great boss and great colleagues and I missed everybody. You know you wanted some sense of normalcy in your life but I really went back to a part-time desk job and, juggling all of that with everything else I was dealing with, it just got harder and harder and worse and worse. So at the beginning of 2011, kind of the straw that broke the camel's back for me was, unfortunately, after all of that, my husband and I both lost our mothers the same week in 2011.
Speaker 2:You know, anybody that's listening out there and I'm sure you can probably relate to when you go through trauma and you go through psychiatric and psychological care is, you know there is an improvement. Obviously it's not always linear. Sometimes it's, you know, one step forward, two steps back. But you know, by the time that had happened in 2011, it had been a couple of years since the accident and I had seen some improvements. But then I got, you know, very much sent backwards by what happened in our lives and you know therapists call that compounded trauma. So I really, at that point I think I hit my lowest point In 2011,. I left my job, you know, not even part time. I was sitting at home. I was basically just like eating Chinese food and ice cream and putting on weight and crying and just in a really, really bad place. You know, still going to therapy, still having surgeries, all of that, but just I really got set back.
Speaker 1:Wow, yeah, and it's not linear. The recovery no.
Speaker 2:No, I think that you know I've talked to a lot of people now who have gone through you know, whether it's post traumatic stress or having a traumatic brain injury or cognitive impairments, and it's really something I try to be really open about. Having gone through it myself, I think I know I got very frustrated and I've seen a lot of people that I know who have been through that type of thing. You know there is that sense that like, well, it's been X amount of time, or you know I should be at this place because it's been two years or five years or seven years, and you know it's just not necessarily the case. Everybody has their own journey and there are times where it feels like you're going backwards but ultimately you will go forwards and I think that's that's what you have to keep in mind.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's like a long term investment. You know sometimes there'll be little dips, but if you look at the way things go up over time, it compounds the recovery compounds, you know definitely.
Speaker 2:I love that statement yeah.
Speaker 1:So now you left your law career. When did you decide to work? Start working for yourself.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean basically I had never had any plans to work for myself. I never had any plans to be an entrepreneur, start a business. It was out of necessity because I really couldn't handle sort of a traditional corporate nine to five anymore. I really couldn't sit at a desk, I couldn't juggle tasks and I figured that if I started something for myself, you know, I could do it at my own pace. I could take on as many clients as I thought I could handle, I could work on my own time.
Speaker 2:If I was having a bad day, you know, and I didn't do anything all day and then at night I felt better, I could do work, you know. So there were a lot of aspects of starting a business that I thought kind of fit where I was at in my life, but I really knew nothing about starting and running a business. I really feel that doing that really actually sped up my recovery, because I was, I started a business doing consulting and I wanted to grow it into a public speaking business. But I was basically being told that going back to a career that involved public speaking was going to be very, very challenging for me and I should really reconsider it, which of course I didn't want to hear Awesome.
Speaker 2:Yes, I started doing consulting and I really had to get out there because, you know, I had a reputation as a litigator but all of my network was in the legal community. So I realized very quickly if I didn't get my name out there I wasn't going to have clients. And it really forced me out of the shell and depression that I was in because I started going out to a lot of events and, you know, having coffee meetings with people and sitting down and going to seminars, and it helped me back out of my shell. You know you've only known me since post accident, so and I think by the time you and I met I was at a good place. But there definitely was a point where I was unrecognizable to myself and I was very withdrawn and I didn't return calls and I didn't maintain relationships. So trying to do that, to start the business, actually really helped me both professionally and personally.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's incredible. Thank you for sharing and before I watched your TED Talk, jen, I had no idea what you went through. You're just always fabulous and like one of the most well spoken people that I know. You know and, as I said, you're always such a light, so just, it's such an inspiration to see how you've persevered and just, and you keep raising the bar. As I said before, thank you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's, that's something you know when you talk about posts. You know what you people have gone through post accident. That has been something that's really been a priority for me every year. I kind of am like what's, what do I want to do this year? Like what am I going to do? That's new and challenging and different. And I think I would have never done anything like that had this accident not happened. So I'm, you know, I am a big believer that there are positive things that come out of trauma and tragedy. And you know, I was just in Miami sitting down for breakfast with my dad and he was down there and he said something you know about. You know, if this had never happened to you, you would just be a litigator and an insurance company and he's like, and you were very good at it, but he's like, but look at the impact that you're making now and it's so true. So I mean, I can't deny that there have been some very positive things that have come out of that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I like to believe life happens for us. Yes, you know, if we look at it that way, like, the journey can be that much sweeter and you can have an impact on people the way you have. That's, that's amazing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's that's been very, very important to me. Just, you know, learning to be outspoken and share my story and share things that are very personal and hopefully make people more comfortable to do the same and try the new things and be vulnerable. And I wasn't always able to do that, and some days it's a lot more challenging than others. I remember this past spring I spoke for I think it was Girl Scouts and I just like broke down like I was on a panel and I just like broke down and I didn't expect it to come. You know, sometimes you don't expect it to come, but it's okay, you know, because I mean, that's probably one of the biggest lessons I've learned is, you know, I don't have to be perfect to be impactful and it's more important to share my story, which was really my goal in doing that TEDx talk, and it took me five years of rejections to do it, but I was determined.
Speaker 1:Wow, that was powerful. So I'll link to that in the show notes too, because everyone has to watch it. Thank you for added inspiration to this podcast episode. So this is creative space, Jen, and I love asking this question of everyone but how do you define creativity?
Speaker 2:I define creativity as finding ways to reinvent and use the skills that I am passionate about. That's how I would define it for myself, because I feel I remember you know at the time all that was going on I had this one session with my psychologist and I was. It was the point where I was toying with should I leave my career in law, should I leave my firm, you know? And I was really struggling and I said I don't know what I'll do if I leave. I'm a lawyer and she's like that's what you do, it's not who you are.
Speaker 2:And it really like was a aha moment.
Speaker 2:You know, when you talk about those aha moments and I really had to sit back and think about what are the skill sets I have that are powerful, that I want to grow and maintain, and how can I use those to do something else.
Speaker 2:So to me, that's creativity, and you know it doesn't end with just starting the business. I mean, I remember when COVID hit and I know I'm not the only one we all had to find ways to creatively you know, pivot as we hate that word now and reinvent and all the things, because it was a different world. And you know, I looked at this business I had grown for, you know, eight years before that and I watched a lot of my business go away and I had to find ways to stay visible and stay creative and take on different work and new work and make it work. And I felt like, even though it was very hard, it was still easier because of what I had been through before that. So, finding those ways to reinvent yourself and still be passionate about what you're doing, to me that's that's being creative.
Speaker 1:Yes, those transferable skills, that the ones that mean the most, to you too.
Speaker 2:Right and for me, you know, a lot of that was public speaking. So that was also particularly hard. When COVID hit and my speaking move to virtual and I wasn't even a lot of times able to do what we're doing where I can see your beautiful face, you know I was just talking to a box, didn't see the audience. You know people are asking questions in chat that I can't see and you know all of that kind of like happiness and energy and light that I get from doing what I do. You know it was much, much harder and I didn't really get the same return doing it virtually. So once things started going quote unquote back to normal, that was also a real turning point for me, just having that connectedness with my audience again Lovely.
Speaker 1:So we talked about this a little bit, but we can expand on it a little more now. Did creativity play a role in your healing process? I mean, I know we talked about how you know pivoting your career, and that's a creative act in itself.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I think that you know there was so many steps and I'm sure they'll continue to be more so many steps along the way about how to, you know, reinvent the business and change what I'm doing and figure out what to focus on. So and that takes being creative. I mean, I think, going back to what I said a few minutes ago, I think COVID was the most challenging point because the staying visible part as a small business, solopreneur, was really challenging. But I actually, you know, thought that it worked out really well in my favor because I started doing a lot of remote like media segments, mainly with Fox and PHL 17. And you know I was doing them pretty regularly during COVID and also just finding you know other ways that I could get my name out there. And you know, at a time where people were home and nobody was seeing each other and nothing was happening and I had no events, that really took a lot of creativity and and re-evention. So I definitely attribute that to you know, everything I had gone through before that.
Speaker 1:Yes, being resourceful and, yes, brilliant, definitely. What is your relationship with creativity like today versus before the accident, would you say?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, as I said, I think every year I definitely have things that I say yes to that I wouldn't have said yes to before, and then I have things that I want to accomplish which I would have never thought I would try to accomplish, not only in my life, but, like you know, we have all those expectations, or lack thereof, that we put on ourselves.
Speaker 2:Like you get to a point where you're like I can't do this at this age or at this stage of my life, or with the obligations that I have, or in a marriage or whatever it is. You know, we put all those things on ourselves and I think that you know that has been a really big aspect of recovery and reinvention for me is finding those new challenges, you know, and and and making sure that I set new goals for myself. My biggest one right now is getting my book out, which I'm almost finished, so cool. And I really, really want to speak of South by Southwest, where I applied once and got rejected, but that will be my new, you know, journey. I get very fixated on goals and, like I said, I tried five years for TEDx and if it takes me five years or more for South by Southwest. I know I'm going to be on that stage. It'll be worth it.
Speaker 1:Yes, you know it's only. It only doesn't work when you give up.
Speaker 2:Right. So yeah, I never give up.
Speaker 1:I found the people who stick around and keep at it. Eventually they get it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you know, talking about creativity it's like finding, you know, let's let's take the South by Southwest example. It's just finding new ways to package yourself and new things you can talk about. And you know that was the same thing with TEDx is can I fit what I want to say into this theme? And, you know, is there other topics that I can submit? And how do I want to present myself on this two minute video so that they have an impression of who I am? So that does take a lot of creativity to kind of figure out, like what is the magic sauce here to get to this goal that I want to get to? So cool.
Speaker 1:So you've a lot going on career wise. We touched on a lot of your paths right now, a lot of the things you're juggling your contributor for Entrepreneur Magazine. Your featured in the media all the time. Your teaching at Wharton. How do you juggle so many hats? How do you do it?
Speaker 2:You know I run into a lot of people that literally are convinced there's two of me and sometimes I feel like that's that might be true. But I think you know, given everything we've talked about here, I think it's really important, especially in light of my. My background with my medical stuff is kind of just knowing when I can focus and when I can't focus even all these years later.
Speaker 2:So if there's a day where I'm particularly challenged I have a bad migraine and I haven't slept and it means that everything I thought I was going to get done that day isn't getting done, that's fine, and maybe two days later I'll be productive and I can work for eight hours that day. But I don't push myself. You know, I think you can't push creativity and you also can't push productivity. So I think some of the way I juggle it all is to do what works for me within the limitations that I still have. And if there are entire days where that means I'm not doing anything and you know I'm just watching a movie and hanging out with my dogs, that's okay too.
Speaker 1:Learning to be gentle with yourself and to have compassion. Yes, that's something I'm still working on myself.
Speaker 2:I mean, I think it's something we all struggle with because I feel like I'm so able to. You know, if my friends need that pep talk like I'm the one, I'm the one who's like doing such great things and what do you mean? You haven't accomplished anything this year, like, what about these five things? And then, when it comes to myself, I can't. It's hard to do the same thing, at least for me. I think maybe that's true for all of us.
Speaker 1:It must be yeah yeah, I was just having this conversation with one of my closest friends last week.
Speaker 2:It's just man, we're funny and sweet, it's so easy to be a cheerleader, you know, Like I think it's so easy to see all the amazing things about your friends and colleagues and community and everything they don't see about themselves, but it's much harder to see that about yourself.
Speaker 1:It is so true, and that's why it's important to have a good support system, too, to remind you of who you are. Yes, so now you've had your business purposeful networking for 10 years, but now you're about to embark on this new chapter. Do you wanna talk about this new transition in your life With purposeful networking?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I started the business purposeful networking and I focused almost 100% for many of the years on networking skills and networking workshops and strategic networking, and I am a big, big believer in the power of networking and relationships. To this day it's still a component of my business, but at this point I feel like I do so many other things that I think the name is a little limiting. So I've decided to rebrand under my own name and I'm in the process of trying to do all that now. So essentially, my new website will house all my speaking, it'll house the new book called Lucky and it'll house also my influencer stuff that I do, so that'll be all under one umbrella of my name.
Speaker 1:Love it and it'll be JenniferLynneRobinsonnet. Yes, okay, cool, we'll shout that out at the end of the episode, too, sure. So now this I have to ask this question for creators, especially artists, maybe writers or music producers, or maybe they're so focused on their craft that they're not networking as much as they should be for their career. Why is networking important?
Speaker 2:I could tell so many stories, but I mean the opportunities that come through knowing people and staying top of mind with people and then really having a sense of who you are and what you're about and what you're looking for. It really makes all the difference from a professional standpoint. You know, I remember one time where I went to this mentorship seminar where I was a mentee and I sat in front of somebody who was like a big wig, like C-suite at a company in Philly and she talked to me for probably less than 10 minutes and the next day I got a call from at that point the biggest company that had hired me saying, well, she recommended you, so we want to bring you in to speak. Wow, we had had such a brief conversation. So I mean, I really feel that you don't know where your opportunities are going to come from.
Speaker 2:Like with speaking, it's really a long game. I mean, sometimes I get these calls like hey, I'm sure you don't remember me, but I saw you speak like a year ago, or like a colleague of mine saw you speak six months ago and she said I really need to get in touch with you, or you know, those kinds of things do not happen unless people remember that you're out there. And I also think having the career I had before this, seeing that I had a great network in the legal community and no network outside of that, it really makes me be somebody that pushes for people to get outside of their box. Sure, if you're a creative, if you're a musician, a writer, you know, a fashion person, whatever it is, it is comfortable and easy to stay within your insular community, but that's not where your opportunities are going to come from.
Speaker 1:That's true.
Speaker 2:So you know your opportunities. If you look at, you know the statistics and everything really come from people who don't know you well and aren't within your inner circle, and that all comes from networking. So, if you know, people are listening out there and they think, oh, I know I should be going to all these things and I'm not doing it. I would say, even if you could start with going to something once a month, where you're not gonna overlap with the people already in your network.
Speaker 2:So you know, if you only hang out with musicians, let's say, maybe go to you know an art gallery opening or a restaurant opening or a seminar on a book that interests you, something where you're gonna overlap with not the people in your network and more meet new contacts. I think it's really important to keep building on your network.
Speaker 1:That is such smart advice. It's so strategic and it's hard for us to see outside of ourselves you know, and how limited our networks can be when we keep milling about with the same and the opportunities aren't gonna get different in that regard.
Speaker 2:Right, because you know as much as the people in your inner circle wanna help you. They know most of the same people you do, and if it's people only within your industry, they're looking for the same kinds of opportunities you are. So you need to find the people who are not looking for those things.
Speaker 1:Yes, oh my gosh, such valuable advice. Now we're gonna switch topics here because we have so much to talk about in this episode, but I can't leave this out because it was so inspiring to see and you recently won Mrs Classic Universe, which I'm just like wow, she's like a pageant queen now too, like she's so cool. Wanna tell the audience about that?
Speaker 2:Sure, yeah, I mean, you know I was hitting a milestone birthday. I turned 50 this year, so I entered. Last year I was age 49, and I'm plus size and I'm not like what you would think of as a traditional pageant girl. You know, I wasn't somebody who grew up doing pageants or had ever even done a pageant, but I decided to enter this one because a fellow lawyer and speaker had been involved in it, who's a local person, and after talking to her she convinced me that I should apply and I interviewed and they offered me the Mrs Classic Pennsylvania and then I went to the World Finals last year in Vegas and I won and I just finished my reign, actually in July, and it's been the most amazing year. You know, of course, we all have preconceived notions about, maybe, what it is to be pageant or pageant queen.
Speaker 2:This one really attracted to me because it highlights women over 40, and I was a woman over 40, and also a lot of I think 30 or 40% of the time of your scoring was based on your story and your platform and it was really important for me to and it still is to have a larger and larger platform to get my message of my story out and help people. So that was really what drew me to the pageant and I really consider myself somebody who's very confident and not afraid to try new things. But I will tell you that I got to the pageant finals last year in Vegas and after maybe 48 hours I was ready to pack up and leave and quit. Wow, and I was actually surprised at the low place that I hit in my head, that I kind of allowed myself to get to that place because all the other women you know were involved in pageants in some degree, whether it had been one pageant before or years of pageants, and they had coaches with them and they had paid for coaches and custom gowns and I had none of that. Like I had none of it.
Speaker 2:I really underestimated what you know, once I got there, I was like, wow, I'm really in over my head and I just really thought like I can't finish this respectively, and I wanted to not embarrass my pageant mom.
Speaker 2:You know, the leader of the pageant, who is this wonderful. I mean I call her pageant mom but she's, you know, she's become like a mom and she's a wonderful person and it's a wonderful system and it really is inspirational. And I just didn't think I belonged. And you know, when I went back in July to help crown my successor and we sat in orientation, she brought up her name is Linda, my pageant director, and she said I remember when you were sitting here last year and you said something out loud that you thought you mumbled to yourself, but I heard it and you said you know, it was something like why am I here? What am I doing here? I don't belong here, or something like that. And she answered you know, I thought I was just saying it. I must have thought I said it in my head, but she was like I'm looking around and you belong here and you know.
Speaker 2:So yeah, it was interesting. When I talk about doing new things and new challenges, it's not like I woke up one day and said let me do a pageant. But you know, this had sort of like fallen in the realm of my network and I thought this would be very interesting to do and show you know what a pageant queen can look like at age 50, who's plus size, who has a story to tell, and I wanna be that kind of inspiration for women.
Speaker 1:Yeah well, you did the job. Thank you so inspiring. I get chills whenever I hear you talk about it. So Thank you, or post about it. So if you could leave listeners with one piece of advice, what would it be?
Speaker 2:It's what I say at the end of a lot of my talks, because I feel like a lot of times I'm giving a lot of tips and advice and I start to see this glossed over, looking people's eyes like how could I possibly do all these things?
Speaker 2:And so I tell people you can do anything, but you can't do everything at the same time, and I think that's really important.
Speaker 2:When you talk about, you know, how do I juggle things or how do I incorporate new projects and everything, like not everything can be a priority at the same time, and it goes for your professional life and your personal life. You know there's times where I have to focus on things and my husband doesn't come first, you know, and other times that he needs to come first, you know when he really needs my support. And you know there are times where I have five things I want to do and I realize, like you know, trying to get this booked on as the priority and I can't focus on all the bright, shiny things that I have ideas about. I just need to do this and just get the draft to my editor. So I think that really, looking at what you want to focus on in the moment and what are those micro goals and what are the steps that you're going to take to get there and really not trying to multitask and doing one thing at a time?
Speaker 1:I needed to hear that. So you started saying that and I'm like, wow, this is awesome advice, like it's very timely for me and I'm sure it'll be that way for a lot of other people out there too. So, and what's next for you? We talked about the book rebranding. Anything else you want to talk about?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean the book. You know I'm hoping to have it out before the holidays and then I hope that next year is really involved with a book tour and interviews and all kinds of fun things that I hope come out of that. I'm definitely hoping to leverage it to get that space at South by Southwest to speak and really get on a more international stage and having more international platform to do speaking that's. That's really kind of like where I see the next couple years going.
Speaker 1:Love it. Well, it's happening. It's already happening. It's already in motion. So thank you For more on Jennifer Lynn Robinson. Visit Jennifer Lynn Robinson net or follow her on Instagram at are you networked? And thank you so much for tuning in and growing in creativity with us. I'd love to know what you thought of today's episode. What you found was interesting. We found was helpful. You can reach out to me on social media at Jennifer log, or leave your view for creative space on Apple podcasts so more people can discover it. I appreciate you so much for being here in the beginning stages of this. My name is Jennifer log and thanks for listening to this episode of creative space. Until next time.