Jenn is a mom, serial entrepreneur, and life advocate who hosts the podcast Arrays of Living. She is also the creator and co-host of the Get Awesome Show, author of the book Aladdin Carpets – Change your Perspective, Change your Life.
In addition to Brainz Magazine, she is also a Featured Author on Plumose.co for her poetry and stories and Contributing Author on Boss Ladies Mindset.
Jenn is a hidden gem in a desert of gems, and everyone who discovers her is forever changed by her personality and presence. Over the years of working with youths and young adults, she was crowned The Original Goddess to acknowledge the shared feeling that "Jenn is wise beyond her years. I find her to be almost an "old soul" type of spirit."Her voice and writings are powerful, impactful, and life-changing because they trigger thought and promote tantalizing, intelligent conversations.
Today, she uses that wisdom to shatter glass ceilings and power up the purpose she believes everyone holds within. A belief that is foundationally based on all of us being born with a gift and a responsibility to use and share that gift to achieve sustainable happiness. Her mission is to improve how people feel about themselves and empower their sense of self-worth to achieve more personally and professionally than they imagined.
Jenn Drakes, Life Advocate & Author
Introduce yourself! Please tell us about you and your life, so we can get to know you better.
I am Jenn Drakes, and like many of you, I am a daughter, sister, friend, mother, and female. I am also of Nubian descent, originating from the Wolof lineage that ended up in the West Indies. Fast forward, and as a by-product of immigration, I now call North America home. I have come to accept that I am me ‒ an artist and a creative spirit, and my uniqueness can be found in the aspects of me where I am author, poet, speaker, podcast host, broadcaster, strategist and mentor. My fuel is being entrepreneurial, provider and nurturer to others, and an advocator for living with passion for something that holistically heals others and the world. Therefore, I am multi-faceted and complex even when indulging in the simple pleasures of a movie, bike riding, walking, cooking, playing with family pets (2 dogs and a cat), figuring out a puzzle, striving to win a board game, or having an amazing conversation with others. My personal motto is simple – start with self, then lead with love to touch others.
What is your business name and how do you help your clients?
JennDrakesis brand managed by ICANNWORLD INC. My brand exists to positively impact the lives of those it interacts with. Every encounter with me (whether thru my articles, my podcast Arrays of Living, my Live shows, my books, my courses, my Accelerator coaching, or even my social postings) are genuine teaching experiences in which the perspectives you originally held for something gets validated or changed in some way. What is amazing is the fact that changing the perspective of others is all about degrees; meaning the change in mindset and thinking ranges from small to large depending upon the topic and/or the circumstance of the moment.
You see, through my writings and spoken words, I seek to trigger awakenings, conversations, reflections and explorations of ourselves and the world around us. Help comes from igniting self-awareness, a passion about one’s holistic life (personal and professional), and the commitment to fully live that life with gumption. As a Life Strategist and Business Accelerator, I create safe havens for my clients to share their view of their world. My approach fathoms a future to reach for, and anchors clients in the present to take the necessary actions forward. Where we start depends on where each client resides when we start. A variety of best practice techniques, that include NLP, will be used in the nurturing sessions. Together, we overcome perceived limitations, progress forward one achievement at a time, and positively contribute to ourselves (where everything must commence), the life we are striving to achieve, and our communities. What I just explained extends beyond coaching to mentorship, which is Jenn’s quest ‒ to ensure her tribe knows just how much more they are worth, and that the life journey we are all on has a meaning only we can substantiate.
What kind of audience do you target your business towards?
I want my messages to reach everyone. I also want to work in my You Are Worth More Accelerator coaching, with only those who truly wish to grow and prosper personally and/or professionally (in their career or business) in a way and at levels that have meaning for them and extends to others (family, staff, community, society).
Who inspires you to be the best that you can be?
This response may seem strange to others, yet, at this point in my life, I look to myself first; meaning I have a personal commitment to value myself and within that commitment comes the response-ability to self-manage my excellence in thinking, treatment of others, and leading with love. However, when looking external I am foremost inspired by my ancestors and children, and then by those before me such as Tony Robbins, Brendon Burchard, Dr. Kim Redman, Carolyn Colleen, Katey Yeats, Margie Witko and others who believe in the human capacity for greatness.
What is your work inspired by?
I am inspired in knowing that we only have one life to live. In living that life, we pursue careers and/or businesses, and we do so to build a life. That life includes all aspects of who we are ‒ personal and professional ‒ to ensure we make our life journey whole and not fragmented. Now layer on my practice philosophy to lead with love based on knowing that:
We were all born with at least one gift.
We have a responsibility to embrace and use our innate gifts to establish worth, fulfillment, and achieve perpetual happiness within ourselves and in serving others.
Those underpinning beliefs mean I hold a mission to:
improve how people feel about themselves;
empower their sense of self-worth (amour de soi); and
help them achieve more personally and professionally than they even imagined
Now, here is the thing, the living of one’s life is forward moving, yet many of us choose to stand still in the midst of the forward momentum, which is akin to standing in the middle of a wind storm. If I can pull people out of that turbulence and get them moving in sync with the forward momentum of life, defined and motivated by their own desires; what is not inspiring about that?
Tell us about your greatest career achievement so far.
Hands down, my first published book and my podcast. My Aladdin Carpets book represents me walking the walk and coming out of the closet as a writer. Prior to that, I had written my thoughts and poetry in quiet and hidden solitude. Away from prying and possibly critical eyes. Until one day, I considered legacy and shared some with my children, who subsequently challenged my thinking and insisted I should share them more broadly. As scary as that was, I listened and here we are. My Arrays of Living (originally One Life Fully Lived) podcast fed my love of speaking, but was scary as an online social platform. I would be out “there”!! ‒ was my thinking, and even that mindset proved wrong. The flood of positive feedback confirmed I knew my gifts and holding those back was a disservice to myself and those that could benefit from what I had to say, and I had things to say and weigh in on. See, how silly we can be and how we end up being our own worst enemies?
If you could change one thing about your industry, what would it be and why?
Today, everyone is a coach or knows how to make you one. The level of online noise that creates makes it very difficult for those looking to consume services to know who truly is authentic and can actually help. I would ask people to see who is not in that hype. I say this because I have found the ones who aim to help and do help, do so in less overt ways. For example, I have a program with no upfront costs for businesses. We let you test-drive our services and our knowledge.
Tell us about a pivotal moment in your life that brought you to where you are today.
Driving one day on a local highway, I had an epiphany that I had so much more to do and bring to this world, and the time was now or never. I hadn’t a clue of the what or the how, but I knew I had to declutter my world and pave a way to change my current focus. Long story short, I took steps to ensure I could support making a pivot – I sold a house, the person buying the house became a friend (I was told “no one befriends the home buyer”‒ uniquely I see nothing bizarre in doing so). That friend connected me to an organization who connected me to Tony Robbins (someone I had been following for years), who schooled me with the resources I needed to transition into the online world that included podcasting, and just under 2-years later, here I am. How amazing is that? I took action without a clue of the what or the how, and the universe showed me the way with every step I took into the unknown. I will never tell you it was easy, and I will never sell the 1-2-3 quick-fix solutions flying around. Growing your life and a business requires strategy, goal setting, and actionable commitment to acquire the resources that will enable you to achieve the goals set. I am here because I put in the time, money, and effort that was required. As an example, I delivered a BRAINZ article every single month of that commitment to do so. If you are taking this in, let me show you how to take a chance on yourself with the innate gifts you have, but come truly wanting and committed to grow you and/or your enterprise.
I can be reached at jenn@youareworthmore.co
All that I am and all that I do and will do, can be found at jenndrakes.com
To stay informed, follow my Jenn Drakes Linkedin company page
