July 9, 2020 • 58 mins
Jennifer Malcolm launches a lifelong dream with this podcast. She is interviewed by Kelly Waite, Chief Strategy Officer at Jennasis & Associates. Jennifer shares her why in creating this podcast by beginning to unravel her story. Her goal is to empower women, to break off the controversies of stories and let truth and healing arise. Jennifer's goal is to spread this message to women everywhere.
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Jennifer Malcolm (00:10):
Welcome to the Jennasis Speaks podcast. The
Transformative Power of Women'sStories, a platform that
empowers women storytelling, topromote collective
vulnerability, acceptance andhealing. I am your host,
Jennifer Malcolm, self madeentrepreneur, women advocate and
life balance expert. Welcome toour first Jennasis Speaks
(00:31):
podcast The Transformative Powerof Women's Stories where every
woman has a story and everystory matters. I'm Jennifer
Malcolm, founder and CEO ofJennasis and Associates. And
with me today is Kelly Wait, whois our chief strategy officer.
And for our first podcast, we'regoing to do something a little
different than what we'renormally going to do as we've
launched through these. ButKelly is going to take the time
(00:53):
to interview me and capture mystory. So welcome, Kelly.
Kelly Waite (00:57):
Hi, Jen, how are you today?
Jennifer Malcolm (00:58):
I'm good. How are you?
Kelly Waite (01:00):
Great.
Jennifer Malcolm (01:01):
I'm so excited about this.
Kelly Waite (01:02):
I'm excited to be here.
Jennifer Malcolm (01:04):
We have been talking about this, the podcast
for months, but we've beentalking about a women's movement
for years. And so excited thatwe're finally putting our dreams
together and into action. Socannot get started.
So now we're here and we gotthis thing called Jennasis
Speaks. And we're talking aboutevery woman has a story and
(01:27):
every story matters.
Kelly Waite (01:29):
Why?
Jennifer Malcolm (01:31):
Oh my gosh, I'm already tearing up.
Why? Why are we doing this?
Kelly Waite (01:35):
Why are you doing this? Oh, it's good. Why are you
dragging us all along?
You'redrinking I'm just kidding.
We'regoing willinglycheerleading all the way up.
Jennifer Malcolm (01:40):
Now the way I look at them already, I have
tears. I don't know there'ssomething burning in myself.
That is the importance of women.
The importance of women to havetheir cake and eat it too. The
importance of women not beingpigeon holed into a place women
not being able to have a voiceor not being heard. I am pro
(02:03):
man. I'm not gonna say I am nota bra burning woman. I no
judgment. No, I got remarried.
Two years ago, my husband who'sour spotlight guy behind the
(02:24):
scenes. Guru today is, you know,one of my biggest heroes, if not
my biggest cheerleader. So it'snot about that. It's just about
women giving voice and choiceand that every story matters. I
don't care what your backgroundis, there is a deep gift of
compassion in my soul that Ican't deny. And at this point in
(02:49):
time, I'm just allowing it toflow. And my team who's you and
Stephanie and Jessica and Joelleand people behind the scenes,
Christine has been here and mymom, who's one of my biggest
cheerleaders are all justsaying, Yeah, it's time for you
to go like time for you to useyour voice. And, and the whole
point is that it unlocks whenyou tell a story. It's going to
(03:14):
unlock things and other woman'shurts, whether that's courage,
whether that's healing, whetherit's compassion, or whether it's
understanding, it's going tounlock something. And I think
this pause with COVID has helpedjust slow life down. I just
finished my business MBA inanalytics, while running a
(03:36):
business and being a mom andwife and one thing so the gift
of time, the last several monthshas come and I think that piece
of why not now kind of just cameto the forefront.
Kelly Waite (03:48):
So what what's the ultimate goal behind it? And you
should talk about empoweringwomen. But what do you hope that
our listeners get out of it?
What do you hope that you getout of it? Or that your guests?
What? What kind of goals do youhave for the podcast.
Jennifer Malcolm (04:00):
So the goal is to capture women's stories. So
when I share my story today,it's going to resonate with a
lot of women, there's going tobe parts of it that won't
resonate with a lot of women.
And it's not about that my voiceand my story is going to impact
every woman you know, in theUnited States or worldwide. But
as we interview women throughthe process and talk through
different stories, there's goingto be something in your story
(04:23):
when I interview you sometimeand other people's stories along
the way that unlock courage andother women's hearts. Maybe it
gives them voice maybe it's alittle bit of a path to healing.
Maybe it breaks off some shameor regret or hardest on
ourselves. And so that thathuman connection of kindness and
empathy and coming together withother women is really the heart
(04:48):
and the goal of it.
Kelly Waite (04:52):
Awesome. Well, let's let's go right into your
story. Okay, were born on whatday you're how old just Can I
just get a I know never asked awoman her age, right?
Jennifer Malcolm (05:03):
No, no, no.
Okay,easy one. Um, where do youthink the story of Jennasis as
an evolution really started. Um,so let's see, it'd be 11, almost
12 years ago, go now, I wentthrough a separation divorce. I
was a high school scienceteacher. Previous to that, and
(05:23):
had been a stay at home mom, Ihad learned the work of virtual
admin support during that timeof having small kids. My husband
at the time, worked, swingshift. And so I had the ability
to work in the evenings, we haveto put the kids to bed from
eight to midnight and get workdone. And so I learned the art
(05:45):
of working from home doingimpactful work, and having some
flexibility on that. And so whenJennasis started, I kind of took
that same semantic piece andasked to women in my life one
was a neighbor, my neighbor Pam,and other was Shelly Solomon
call who hopefully one day willbe on this podcast with me. Just
(06:07):
ask them if they knew if theyneeded or if they knew of anyone
who needed some virtual adminwork. So the idea that at that
point, Reagan was inkindergarten, my now almost 16
year old was in kindergarten.
And I knew that the opportunityto put on the bus, rush off to a
(06:28):
job and be back on the back hometo get off the bus at 1115.
There's not many jobs that havea I can be there for two hours.
And so you start using thattime. They immediately Shelly
Amelie hired me for some workthat she needed done with her
work and business. And Pam gaveme a lead which that was January
of 2011. February, I had sixclients and March I had 12
(06:53):
clients. And I was like,Alright, we have something going
on here. And the essence iseveryone needed a little bit of
help. At that point, therecession coming out of
2000-7-8-9. A lot of people hadhad laid off bootstrapped work
and 2011 there was a little bitof wiggle room for additional
(07:15):
work and services. And so Istarted partnering there.
Genesis obviously has my name init I spelt with the jem, a
little bit of egocentric namingin that but it took Shelley
Shelley was the brainchild withme on this one. We sat for weeks
and just wrote out Jennifer's,VA, Jen's VA Jen's assisting
(07:40):
Jen's this that the other and atone point, we just put it
together and it was Genesis andfor me that name obviously has
my name in it. But for me, itwas going back to New
Beginnings, the Garden of Edenthe story of that in the book of
Genesis in the Bible, and reallyhaving a new beginning in life,
and where creation can happenand things are born and birth.
(08:05):
And so that kind of just when wefinally need it. After weeks, it
was like Ah, there it is. Ittook us forever. But so that was
the essence of the birth childof Jennasis.
Kelly Waite (08:16):
So you're telling us all the good parts or give me
the highlights? What Okay, solet's start easy and say okay,
what's the funniest, craziestthing that somebody asked you to
do?
Oh, I think I've shared thisstory with you before, but
definitely dog walking.
Jennifer Malcolm (08:36):
Definitely the dog walinging
Kelly Waite (08:38):
teacher cup biology teacher
Jennifer Malcolm (08:40):
turns dog walker and afternoon I had so
much like, oh, okay, I need to Ineed to up my game or up. But it
was one of those that I was onsite with the client, which I
really wasn't hardly ever. I didsome initially in the beginning
to go and get work and thenbring it home and do it from
home. But in the middle of thisone work session, I had my
(09:05):
client who had to jump on a calland she was like, hey, do you
mind walking my dog and I waslike my, like, dogs, hear the
work, not walk your dogs and Iwas like so humiliated at like
age, I guess I was age 34 ish.
And walking a dog. And I waslike, This is not my calling in
life. But we've had ups anddowns. You've been on this ride
(09:29):
with me for years. You came fora while you you left for a short
period of time you've been backfull force the last four or five
years. And you've seen theessence and how we've grown and
changed and evolved. And what westarted with almost 10 years ago
is very different than today.
And that's the fun of the joy ofbeing a business owner I guess.
Kelly Waite (09:53):
So what can What can you share about the
struggles because I'm sure thatthere's a lot of women out there
You know, like yourself thatfound yourself in a transition?
You know, I think a lot of thewomen that we're talking to now
are finding themselves intransition for various reasons.
And what, what did it feel like?
What did you like? Did you cry?
(10:15):
Did you? Did you journal? Didyou? How did you get through the
the transformation of goingfrom? I'm going to school every
day, taking my kids and I'mgoing to teach my class I'm
going to come home and makedinner to, to come up with
something out of nowhere, whereyou're, you're going next door
to your neighbors? And hey, doyou need any help? I mean, like,
how do you cut?
(10:35):
Where does that courage? Wheredid that come from? How did you?
How did you get there?
Jennifer Malcolm (10:39):
Honestly, I think part of it was
desperation. Part of it wascreativity, I think it's a mix
of that part of it is, you know,courage to take one step at a
time, one baby step at a time.
And, you know, I've been verycandid with you had I known
then, and, you know, 2010 11what I know now what our
(11:00):
business would be, I probablywouldn't have the courage to do
it. It's like the, you know,it's like the frog that's in a
pot and you raise thetemperature really slowly, and
you don't realize that it's aboiling pot of water now and the
temperature rose, we've beenthrough hell and back in the
business, you know, we've hadlawsuits, we've had loss, we've
had betrayal, we've had, youknow, clients who have been
(11:23):
assholes, frankly, or teammembers that turned in betrayed
us. And so there's a lot of, youknow, you're carrying this is
like my fourth kid and, and soI'm and you know, me, I'm a deep
feeler, I feel everything. Andso to try to not to take it
personally and have thick skin.
But it's not been easy. It'sjust been taking one baby step
(11:46):
at a time, the best of to thebest of my ability, and making
mistakes along the way, butbeing gentle to you know,
continue to go forward as well.
Kelly Waite (11:56):
Who did you lean on in that time period? I mean, I
know that I know your story. ButI think our listeners would love
to hear like, you literallystarted this business from your
kitchen table. helped you youknow, what lessons did you have
to learn? Um, you know, like,Who did you? Did you get support
from your kids? You know, tellme a little bit about about the,
(12:16):
you know, the inner tribe andthe working of what was your
life? Like, while you're tryingto start this business?
Jennifer Malcolm (12:21):
Sure. So, um, definitely, my mom was there,
she has, you know, bookkeepingbackground, so she really jumped
in on the, I'm gonna take careof the books and help with the
financial pieces. And, you know,I always be entered with my mom
that you can, you're going toobviously see all my, you know,
financials. And if you ever tellme how to spend my money, you're
(12:43):
going to get fired? Like, howdoes that I might know, if I'm
going to make decisions that arepoor, or it's going to put the
bet the company in a badposition, obviously, you know,
heads up, but, um, with being avirtual business, we dine out a
lot, we meet our clients out alot pre COVID, not as much the
last several months, but, youknow, we're out and then the
(13:05):
community. And that was the onepiece I always said to her,
like, you can't tell me how tospend my money. And but you can
have the power of invoicing andbookkeeping and all that. But
then I also had, honestly,neighbors, friends, anyone that
could help. Um, becauseinitially, the work was enough
for me. And then I startedgetting asked questions such as,
(13:28):
Oh, do you do graphics? Do youdo do web? And I was like, Yes,
I do. And I know enough to bedangerous. I know enough to get
into the back end, piddlearound, get into graphics, but
I'm not a graphic designer byany means. I have a good eye for
(13:50):
things, but I don't know how tocreate them. And so in that,
that space, I remember tryingand trying really hard and being
laborious on this one trifoldgraphic, and I took it to the
client and they were like, yeah,that's that's not gonna work.
That's how I got like, what Ican get from that. Yeah, well,
the concepts you have, and I waslike, that's it. I have nothing
(14:13):
left. And so at that point, Iwas in working women connection,
networking group for women, herein Northeast Ohio. And there was
graphic designers and webdesigners in there. And so I
started learning the art ofselling projects project,
managing them, being therelationship builder with the
(14:33):
client, and then having thesewomen Julie and Xu do the work.
And, and so that really was ablethen to take on more work,
diversify our offerings. Andthen as we progress, it was
being at the right place at theright time. I was at a chamber
of commerce meeting I sat nextto woman, Terry, and she was
(14:57):
asking just what I did and We'veseen her in, she's like, I've
been looking for a VA forever.
And I was like, Oh, she's like,What do you mean, she's like, at
that point, she was working forthe Plain Dealer and doing
interviews. And she had allthese recordings, and she just
needed them transcribed. And Iwas like, yeah, that's
absolutely something we coulddo. As simple as it is, people
don't like to transcribe you,and I don't like to transcribe
our own notes. And so pull thatin, gave it to someone else on
(15:21):
the team, and then ended upinterviewing me and featuring
myself and the business andplane in the plane dealer,
January 1, on a Sunday paper of2012. So we weren't even really
one year under our belt. Andhere we are on the front page of
the business section of thenewspaper. And so it's just
things like that, where thatjust really opened doors to new
(15:43):
clients. People started callingin asking to get together
asking, How do I be on yourteam, and I was like, Whoa, I
don't even like I'm used tomanaging, like teenagers. So
like I said, it taught highschool science. And so in that
it's just a dictatorship. Youtell them what to do. And they
have to do it. But I wasn't, Ididn't have experiencing
experience managing adults. Andso really trying to learn how to
(16:06):
be a leader in that regard. Thathas was a challenge. And still,
at times, I don't likeconfrontation. I'm not a
combative person at all. And sothat piece of managing people
was a new skill that I had tolearn. And from there, we just
kind of went down the rabbithole, and here we are today.
Kelly Waite (16:32):
So what was the hardest thing in those first
couple of years? when you'restarting out? What was? What was
it? How was it on your family? Imean, you went from, you know,
being a mom and having a normaljob, right? to being an
entrepreneur, and how did thatsets your kids
Jennifer Malcolm (16:49):
or so I always said that I created a business
for them to have work lifebalance, and to spend the time
with them. So not having toleave the house being there for
them Valentine's Days beingthere to get them on the bus off
the bus. And it was probablythree years in that Remember,
(17:10):
you know, hey, we're gonna havefamily time, the four of us
gonna sit down and watch amovie. And one of my kids was
like, my, you always have yourlaptop on your lap, you're
always in front of yourcomputer. And I was in that and
it hit me like, I've createdthis business to be with them.
And to me, I was like, Well, I'mwith you. Like I can knock out
some emails and watch you know,Disney, I can do I can do that.
(17:32):
But for them, the reality was Iwasn't present. And that they
always saw me on the phoneworking on something on my
computer, and it was an eyeopener, it was one of those that
kind of like, you know, thebusts that just hit me and and
it made me pivot to say okay,and you have to have boundaries.
Being a at that point, I wasdoing a lot of the work myself
(17:53):
for our clients and being in thebusiness and working on the
business it's a it's more than afull time job, you know, you're
working 60 7080 hour weeks,weekends, evenings, anywhere you
can squeeze in time and thatreally that work life balance
became off kilter. And so thatbecame a little bit of an
advocacy for them to putboundaries on and for me at that
(18:18):
point shared custody with theirdad I you know, really look
worked long days on Tuesdays andThursdays because that's when
they were with their dad shorterdays on Mondays and Wednesdays
because they came home and youknow was home by to 230 from
from school so shutting it downnot doing out of office meetings
those days. So it's just atransition but really putting
(18:39):
those boundaries around tryingnot to work weekends or doing it
early when they're before theywake up or the weekends with
their dad so it it I think theythey're proud of me I think
there's so at times like it wasthree years ago Reagan was like
so what do you do again? Likelike oh my gosh, I've been doing
this for eight years and they'relike she's like but you just
(19:00):
always have like, pictures andwords and papers everywhere.
Marketing you know, like, wesell words pictures, ideas to
people and just like people buythat like theybase right?
Like Yeah, they pay for that andshe's like, that's dumb. So you
(19:24):
know that today, each of my kidshave worked for me throughout
the years for a little bit ofthis a little bit that filing
notes. Kanda now is going isediting our videos for the
podcast and so they are involvedand I think they're proud I am
you know, it's always that youdon't always hear the accolades
from your kids, but it's been agreat journey with them and it
(19:48):
has given me the opportunity tobe around them. Way more than
you know I would have I would beat a at a traditional downtown
type of job.
Kelly Waite (20:00):
What piece of advice? Could you give Jennifer
back then? Or some of ourlisteners from that bet? That
beginning part of your personaljourney and Jennasis as an
organization? You know, what,what kind of advice would you
wish you would have heard orlearned back then.
Jennifer Malcolm (20:20):
Don't do it.
Don't do it, that's not what Iwas expecting. I don't know. Um,
I think it's that piece ofcourage. If you have a dream in
your heart, you're only on thisearth one to one time. And for
you to have the courage. Now, Ithink there's wisdom in that.
(20:41):
When I started, I was actually Ipicked up a side gig and I was
working at a brewery doingserving tables. And so I knew I
had money coming in there. Andthen I supplemented it with the
work I was coming in forJennasis. And then the more as
more work came in from Jennasis,I cut back more of my hours. And
finally, I cut you know how tocut the rope of being a server.
(21:03):
But I think it's just that thepace of proceed with wisdom. But
also proceed with courage andmake good choices, you always
have to pay your bills. So justdon't jump out and be like, I'm
gonna start my business and quitmy job and, and now you're
broke, or, you know, makeyourself make sure you're
setting yourself up for success.
(21:25):
Long term, and not just a quickterm, not a quick fix to jump
into something, but live yourdreams, I was talking to someone
who's been on this team, you'll,you'll recognize the story that
works for a law firm, and sheworked with us for a year or so.
And she's now through COVID,learned the art of working from
(21:47):
home and is loving it, and she'sstill still doing it in the
legal legal world. And, youknow, we were talking a couple
of weeks ago, and she was like,I'm really enjoying this type of
work. And, and I said, so putout to the network, there has to
be there has to be other soloattorneys that have their own
(22:08):
solo practice, who have overflowwork, or things that they do
nights and weekends, that thatwould be a huge resource for
them, you know, for for in thelegal community. And she was
such a brilliant idea. And I waslike, as simple as it was, and I
and she's stepping forward withmaking that request and trying
to pull in some additional work,you know, in the legal field.
And, and so I think it's thatpiece of stronger people,
(22:31):
surround yourself with peoplewho are going to encourage you,
who's going to give you goodadvice. Often maybe not what you
want to hear, but some safetyprotocol there and, and live
your dreams. So just go for it.
Kelly Waite (22:47):
So you talked about the transition from a dog walker
right here. And and I'm watchingDisney movies, while you're
while you're working inanswering emails, how did you,
you obviously have this influx,right, so all of these kinds of
things came in how, and youtalked about the difficulty of
(23:10):
managing adults, you never hadthat experience before? What did
that feel like?
Jennifer Malcolm (23:17):
Like, I would say overwhelmed is probably an
honest word overwhelming.
Feeling the weight andresponsibility of caring for my
kids and jumping into somethingunknown. Not created. So I'd say
there, there was uncertainty,there was excitement. I think
(23:38):
anyone who knows me from youknow, elementary school through
now, I tend to be aperfectionist in what I do. And
it has to be, you know, madewith excellence, but pretty,
pretty darn near perfect aswell. And so that piece of
courage and pride and joy tocreate something out of nothing.
(24:04):
But there's you know, definitelyself doubt when, especially when
checks aren't coming in, and youneed to pay your bills and
you're waiting and waiting andwaiting. And now you're in the
collections of your, of yourorganization because clients
aren't paying on time or forwhatever reasons is delayed. So
the feelings are I mean, it's ait's a bag of emotions of
excitement and joy and freedom.
(24:29):
You know, that free heart but alot of uncertainty worry,
staying up way past, you know,time I put my head on the pillow
and, you know, just my mindracing of how am I going to do
this and how many do this andhow am I going to accomplish,
you know, deadlines and bepresent with my kids. So there's
I think it's a bag of mixedemotions from being honest.
Kelly Waite (24:51):
I hear a lot of courage in your story. Not that
word keeps coming up and You'reyou're talking, where does your
courage come from? How do youfind courage? How do you how do
you build courage? How do you gofrom? You know, being a science
teacher to being a divorcedsingle mom, you know, like, I
(25:13):
get it, I was a single mom tofor quite some time and, you
know, you it was constantly onyour mind is like, you know, how
am I gonna feed my kid? How am Igonna have a house for my kid,
you know, like, you know,clothes, you know those kinds of
things. So I can't imagine youhaving that. And then you're
talking about Genesis as yourfourth child, all of those
things, it's going to be a neverending hamster wheel. So how do
(25:33):
you find inspiration? How do youfind courage? How do you? How do
you say, okay, client, I'm good.
I need you to pay me so I canpay my mortgage. You know, like,
how, where did? Where does thatgumption come from?
Jennifer Malcolm (25:45):
I think, I think part of it is, is it it's
an innate characteristic of mylife. There is, I would say,
what's a banner word over mylife is courage. Not that my
knees aren't knocking, not thatI don't have butterflies in my
stomach. Not that I don't havefear. But it's walking through
(26:07):
that fear. I do listen to a lotof podcasts and women and men
that I listen to, that areinspirational to me that it's
feeding my soul with positiveenergy and positive words and an
overcoming spirit. And for me,I'm not a big risk taker. So you
know, the courage, I have beenlabeled courageous by people on
(26:29):
our executive team and friends.
I don't see myself as a big risktaker, I just make calculated
decisions. So I do a lot ofresearch, I do a lot of
educating myself on what's thepros and cons of things. And
then I make the best choice Ican make. And some of it hasn't
led the right you know, down theright path, but really, just
(26:51):
really taking a baby step. But Iam Yeah, it's something that is
just a fire in my belly of, ofstepping through the impossible.
And part of that's my faith, Igrew up in a Christian home. And
part of that is I have faith Ihave I surround myself with
positive people who encouragedme who helped me who, when
(27:14):
you're one of those when I falldown, and my knees are all
dusty, and scratched up, youknow, that cheer me on and say
can do it and leave theimpossible and, and I think that
that gift of faith and desire tocreate something fuels the
courage to walk through and tomake those choices for the, for
(27:36):
the business and for myself.
Kelly Waite (27:40):
Is there a specific example that you know, you
really had to dig deep to findthe courage to walk through? is
there is there? Is there anexample that sticks out to you
that you you're comfortablesharing with our listeners that
really kind of you had it testedyou and you really had to pull
pull the courage up?
Jennifer Malcolm (27:59):
Yeah, I would say, we've only been threatened
with a lawsuit, I think, once in10 years, and that was about
five years ago. And for me, I'mlike, What do you mean, I'm
getting threatened with thelawsuit, you know, like, we did
the work and, and the clientwasn't happy. And then the
client got really aggressivethrough text messages, emails,
(28:20):
phone calls, and I was like, Iknew this client wanted a full
refund. And I was like, I don'tknow, like, I want and I at that
point, I didn't even have themoney to reimburse them in
fullness, I would have to makeinstallment plans. Be I had paid
the team out for the work done.
And see it just it was unjust,it was unfair, and that that
that fire in me was like No,like it's wrong. And I've I
(28:44):
talked to numerous people'speople about the situation and
my parents and Chad, who's nowmy husband and you and other
colleagues and I had advice allover the gamut of this person's
a bully and don't give it tobullies to reimburse the money
it's only money just you know,cut the ties and let it go and
(29:08):
and both are valid, both arevery valid, you know, advice
given in the situation and whatbecause it was just causing so
much turmoil in my in my mindand my heart and but the word
kept coming in cases of bullyingthis person's a bully and you
knocked down the bully once youhit them in the chin one time
(29:29):
and they don't they're not abully anymore and you overcome
that fear and and so I hired anattorney and told him the
situation and all it took wasone email and one phone call
from my attorney and it alldisappeared like it just went
away and and so for me, it waslike, was a guarantee that was
going to come out that way?
(29:50):
Absolutely not. But for thissituation that courage of like,
Alright, I'm at least going tobe an advocate for myself
because it's unjust and and whathe's asking for is is not right.
And, and having advocacy throughpeople. And you know, I chose
the legal route to at leastrepresent and stand between me
(30:13):
and the situation. That for mewas one of the hardest
situations I've worked throughin business and I know
listeners, you're gonna listento like, as I did, that's really
not that big of a deal. But forme, like, again, remember, I did
not have a background inbusiness, I was self taught, I
avid learner, I got businesscoaches, I read, I studied, I
(30:34):
took online, you know, minicourses. Recently, I finished my
MBA and get some, you know, bookknowledge to go with my
experience knowledge. But forme, like that was a big deal.
And now it's that muscle that'sgrown in me that other
colleagues of mine who have hadit like, Ah, no, like, at least
I have advice, it may not be theright advice, but at least I
(30:56):
encouraged to breathe into themas well to, you know, stand up
for themselves and, and toprotect themselves and what they
built and grown, and not toallow bullies to take that away
from you.
Kelly Waite (31:10):
So you talked about, you know, surrounding
yourself with with great people,you know, sharing, filling your
mind with, with good thoughtsand good things, books and
education, stuff like that. Howdid that translate down in to
just from you to a team? BecauseI know Genesis today just
(31:30):
associate stays a little bit alittle bit different than just
Jen, doing some dog walking,knocking on the neighbor's say,
Do you need any help? Okay, alot different.
Jennifer Malcolm (31:40):
So how it sounds so far? No, I don't know
where that came from. But itworked. It worked back then.
Kelly Waite (31:47):
Hey, man, everybody started somewhere. I mean, look
at look at all the companiesthat are multi billion dollar
companies that were started in agarage, right? You're, you're
starting from the kitchen table.
So maybe, who knows? Right?
That's exciting part ofencouragement to other women out
there too, that it is possibleand you and you can, you know,
(32:08):
make your own path however yousee fit. So how do you translate
that down to a team? How do yourecruit people? How do you find
people because you talked aboutyou're in a networking group,
and you sell projects and thingslike that? So what types of
people have you? Have you gonethrough? Let's say, yeah,
Jennifer Malcolm (32:28):
So um, yeah, initially, if you had a pulse,
through the gamut.
and you had time, you were onthe team, like, I just needed
Kelly Waite (32:35):
You know, I remember that evolution of even,
extra hands on deck, andrealizing that a lot of those
choices were great. They theyserved clients, well, they, they
exceeded some of the things thatI could do my skill level. And
I've made some really horriblehires as well. So we've gone the
gamut of hiring all across theboard. And as, as we grew the
(32:56):
executive team, and we saying,okay, I loving where we're
going. But I really don't wantto be in on every account, I
don't want to be on everystrategy session. And our
multiplication like you, inorder to grow, I have to let go.
And, you know, reading bookswith the team, you helped
spearhead some of that with EOSand traction and that
(33:19):
methodology of you have todelegate to elevate, letting go
the VI I remember having thatconversation with you letting go
of the vine The first time yougot it, you're like, oh, you're
like freaking out in sweats.
You're like, How can I do that?
How can I let go? I remember theinsoles.
(33:41):
you know, witnessing you goingthrough the evolution of letting
go the vine, Tell, tell thelisteners a little bit more what
you wentthrough with that?
Jennifer Malcolm (33:48):
Yeah, part of it is control, like fear of
trusting someone else to do thework as good or the quality of
work with my name, myreputation, my clients might
connections and colleagues. Andso there was that control factor
of, well, if I do it, I knowit's gonna be done well, and
it's gonna be done withexcellence. And so how can I
(34:10):
trust someone else to do thatsame caliber and, and so for me,
it was 2014 15 that I was like,Alright, if I'm going to do
this, I have to start hiringpeople who are better, faster,
stronger than me in lots ofdifferent areas. And whether
that's finance, whether that'sobviously we already talked
about graphic design and webdesign, but I'm marketing and
(34:32):
marketing strategy or writingand editing. I think I'm a good
writer. I'm probably not a greatwriter, for you know, certain
pieces. And so I had enoughskill to be dangerous, and a
hard worker and I'm a hardlearner, but for me, it was just
letting go have control. Andagain, it's that that courage
and a breakthrough of right.
It's like when you you leaveyour child at home for the first
(34:55):
time with a babysitter and yougo and you're like constantly
looking at your phone. They'regoing to call it is everything
okay? And, you know, does thatworry and it's practicing, the
more you practice those musclesgrow of trust and rapport. And
again, I don't think in 10 yearsI've ever yelled at anyone on
this team for any work that wasnot done or late or I was
(35:17):
disappointed, I think theharshest ever say is, alright,
that's not acceptable. And Ithink people know when I say,
okay, that's not acceptable. Tome, like, Oh, yes, this has to
be fixed and fixed now. But I'vebeen on the receiving end. So
those conversations, no, this isnot what I was like, Okay, I'm
(35:37):
sorry about that. Like, for me,the other piece was, I got out
of my own way on hiring. And Iremember having this
conversation with you, and acouple people, probably three,
four years ago, they're like,okay, you are just the worst
interviewer ever, because youlove people, like you love
people, and you get snatched upwith their story and their need,
(36:00):
and you're like, Oh, we have tohire them. And you would go
like, Where are you putting themon the bench, like, we don't
have, we don't need that, thatskill. And I'm like, they're
fine. And so getting out of myown way, and realizing those
certain things I just am notgood at and we we set
established our core values ofpassion, innovation, and
(36:20):
collaboration, right. I waslike, the See, that's all there
was like communication nowcollaboration, and, and really
hiring against those corevalues, you know, and, and doing
reviews against those corevalues, and setting up some of
that, that the quality of peopleon our team now has exceeded,
(36:40):
you know, we're where we were567 years ago. And, and then for
me, it's just breathing intolife into, you know, we have
mostly women, it's women onwomen lead, we have men in the
team, we're not anti men, we'renot bra burning, you know,
feminists, or by any means welove, we love the guys in our
lives. But we love being anadvocate for women. And this
(37:04):
podcast and the Genesis speaksmovement is being birthed out of
that same advocacy for women tofind their voice have passion,
in what they're doing, haveflexibility, have opportunity,
have great pay, and to reallysucceed in the world. That can
be it can be tough at times forwhatever circumstances.
(37:29):
So we kind of went through thisevolution. So just give me the
the the 32nd, you know, answerof how did you go through from,
you know, being a VA and justdoing all that you talked about
marketing strategist, and youtalk about websites. Now, what
did that evolve to? How did youget to how did you go from VA to
to where you are today?
(37:50):
I think it was just the the thequestions our clients were
asking, of, you know, can youdo? You know, social media
became a large part of ourorganization strategy over the
last decade and being educatedin those those resources. And so
I think it was more evolvingwith the times evolving with our
(38:11):
clients growing them asking forthings that maybe we didn't
offer, but I knew that we couldoffer was just kind of a one off
from what we were offering. Andso I think it was just growing
up and getting into the next,you know, bigger pair of shoes,
and growing through those shoesand getting the next bigger pair
of shoes. And I think it's justgrowing with the times growing
with our clients and growingwith the way marketing was, is
(38:35):
you know, continues to evolve.
And I'm sure team in five yearsis going to be very different
from what it is now and thatwe're going to grow into
wherever the marketing trends,you know, lie and hire into
those positions. So I thinkthat's probably the biggest way
that we grew.
Kelly Waite (38:51):
Okay, so you did when you sat down and decided
you are going to work from homeand be able to be you know, with
their kids when they got off thebus and go to people's houses
and do their filing or or, youknow, transcribing. Did you have
a business plan when you did allthat?
Jennifer Malcolm (39:10):
back? No. No, in a business.
Kelly Waite (39:13):
You didn't even see this path coming, huh?
Jennifer Malcolm (39:15):
No, no, I did not. I didn't even know what a
business plan was probably like.
I remember like I was inacademia and academia world and
the business world are twoparallel universes that don't
cross over very often and thelanguage and who you're with, so
I was like, business plan. Idon't know what that is, or
what's a SWOT analysis or thingslike that, like, and you know,
(39:37):
it's like business 101 liketruly like freshman class 101 of
some of them. I was like, Idon't know what that is. But
again, like, I got straight A'sin high school and in college,
like, I'm smart. And so I justknew like if I if I learned
stuff, and studied it, I coulddo it and I was very confident
that and you Again, I hadcoaches through the years I had
(40:02):
people in my life who I wouldjust take the luncheon and ask
questions and be a sponge and,and really try to be humbled
through the process of I don'tknow what I don't know. And I
need to learn really fast someof this stuff and, and that's
how a lot of this evolved. And Ithat piece I'm really proud of
going from, you know, thekitchen table, and a condo that
(40:23):
I bought after my divorce and tonow you know, having a team of
35 plus people all across thenation, our clients are in
Cleveland throughout the USinternational as well. And and
that's really, really gives megreat pride.
Kelly Waite (40:41):
I got to ask him we I mean, come on. Oh, you are
such Suzy sunshine and makingthis sound like yeah, the worst
thing you said was don't do it.
But But you've got to have some,okay, talking about the one hard
time How did this affect thisbusiness? You know, and growing
the business from from a one manband to you know, 30 people?
(41:01):
roster, right, you got a bench abench for you?
How did that affect yourpersonal life?
Jennifer Malcolm (41:10):
Because I don't think it's not just about
your kids, I think it's aboutyou know, how did it affect your
personal life, or, um, I thinkthere's, there's, you know,
there's healthy stress, andthere's unhealthy stress. And,
you know, for me, there's timeswhere I know that I'm out of
balance, out of integrity withmy friends, as far as time or
(41:32):
follow up or conversation oreven being present, you know,
always having this 18 thingsgoing on my mind instead of
really listening and beingthere. So, there's a lot of
stressors, you know, overeating,over, drinking, staying up too
late, you know, trying to numbsome of the stress or pain
(41:55):
through, you know, exercise, TV,alcohol, food, all those things,
you know, all those come intoour lives, at different points
in time. And to really find thatbalance of an A far from perfect
a name, you know, it's comingacross as Susie sunshine. But as
we continue to go deeper into mystory, like, I'm a broken hot
(42:15):
mess at times, and I'm justreally taking one step at a
time, to the best of my abilityto live in integrity, to live a
life that I'm proud of first,that my husband's proud of, of
me, and my kids are proud of meand, and so that piece of I've
gone through really dark times,you know, through through the
(42:38):
years and dealing with issuesfrom childhood coming into, you
know, into my life years gone byof trauma or pain and loons that
that come out sideways, becausenot dealing with them. And, and
so for me, it's you know, I, Ido surround myself with great
people who encouraged me whogive me hope, who give me
(43:01):
encouragement. But there has tobe that self activation to to
heal to journal to you know, I,the one gift I asked for
Christmas, especially, was apunching bag. Because when I'm
angry, I went to go punchsomething and be punching a
punching bag is a very healthyoutlet versus me keeping all
that negative energy inside. Andso it's, it's finding things
(43:24):
like I really want to hitsomething. And so I just beg
Chad, I'm like, and it's onlywhen for Christmas, it's a
punching bag and gloves. Andit's funny, because now that
it's up, like it's almost like asymbolic representation, because
I use it initially that firstmonth after Christmas, and they
haven't been using it as much,but it just allows that energy
to flow. So you're like, I'mhuman, I, you know, I argue with
(43:47):
my kids, I argue with myhusband, far from perfect, you
and I have had tension andstuff, but I choose to get up
and be gentle with myself and toshare the story with a friend.
About six years ago, I got atattoo on my foot that says
unconditional love in Hebrew.
And for me it was that was gonnabe my foundation on my life is
(44:10):
that I was going to deal withself forgiveness issues for
making poor choices. And I wasgoing to mark it in
unconditional love. And that wasmy foundation of my body soul
spirit. And if I could do thatfor myself, then I would be in a
place to give that to otherpeople. And so that passion of
gathering women's stories,listening to them. None. We live
(44:31):
in a world that is so judgingand hard on people and to show
compassion and deep empathy forfor where people are. We're all
just, you know, struggling inthis world. We make bad choices.
Sometimes we make themunintentionally sometimes we
make them purposely but toreally be gentle on ourselves
(44:52):
and to love and to forgivequickly is apparent Mine?
How do you share that with yourteam? Um, I think you don't beat
you being the foundation and Ican be on the receiving end of
it, I can definitely say that.
There are times where I'm in adark place and you you don't
(45:15):
bring out this, like, you do thesame thing that you said I do
for you, you do for the rest ofus. If I'm speaking for the
team, you do that for us andsaying, like, yeah, you can do
this, and he brings out theSuperwoman kind of bracelet, and
you kind of show that out. Ihope what you're wanting you
want for your team?
(45:39):
Yeah, um, I guess it's thatpiece of walking in that perfect
calling. And for that, my life,my mission is to build this
organization to make it thrive,to make houses sustainable, and,
and money flowing in through thework that we do. And, and so
want that for other other women,I want women to walk in that
(46:01):
freedom. And so there's a lot oftimes where someone on the team
is going through some roughstuff, whether it's, I'm getting
kicked out of my house, I'mgoing through a divorce. I'm
dealing with a kid that ishappy, you know, doing drugs, I
just lost a baby, I had amiscarriage, my adoption fell
(46:21):
through, we've all we've had somany things happen, cancer
through through the last 10years. And to really just be
empathetic of I understand takethe time you need your jobs
here, when you come back. If youwe just need to make
adjustments. And so I want thatadvocacy for me. And I want to
create that community for me.
And so I want that for the teamas well. You need to you need to
(46:44):
take time take time. What can weget off your plate. And I see
that more now as a culture ofGenesis where other team members
are doing the same thing forothers, like Tommy, Tommy can
take off your plate, tell me howwe can help out. Because we've
all been there when we needed tohave that help. And so I think
that really has been a cultureand a in a, a core value, even
(47:06):
though it's not spoken out ofreally just lending a hand and
being empathetic in, in thesituations that we're walking
through.
Kelly Waite (47:18):
You know, you could be you could be pretty selfish,
right? And say, like, I want todo this for myself, why do you
choose to want to share it?
Jennifer Malcolm (47:27):
Oh, it's a great question.
Kelly Waite (47:28):
I mean, not just with your team, but I mean, even
with this, this, this, thiswhole podcast thing like you, I
know what the reason why youwant to do the podcast, but you
know, like, why do you want toshare this stuff I need to
accomplish?
Jennifer Malcolm (47:40):
I think for me, it's breaking off the lies
that are in our head and cominginto truth. If I can be a small
inspiration, a small spark insomeone's heart life, that they
then catch the spark, and theyhave a little bit of a flame.
And then they can repeat it andbe a spark in someone else's
(48:01):
life. It's just, I just, I feelI'm so passionate about
empowering women, giving themvoice. And there's been times
through my life where I felthelpless, I felt hopeless, I
felt I didn't have choices, Iwas robbed of my choices, I was
robbed of my voice. And when youcome out of that, and you and
you finally can catch thatbreath of fresh air, or you can
(48:24):
drink that first taste of waterafter being in the desert. You
You know what it feels like thatdesperation of coming out of
something of a dark place a darksituation, and healing through
that. And if I can be a catalystin any woman's life, to bring
that spark, and I don't carewhat the situation is, you know,
(48:48):
I've talked to you know, aswe're prepping for these
podcasts, you know, every womanis beautiful. Every woman has a
story and every story matters.
And that's why the essence ofthat we're being so in your face
about that, that it's everyperson and and it doesn't mean
that there's not boundaries,there's that, you know, people
are harming you or harming yourhouse or there's healthy
boundaries, but the advocacy forwomen to break off shame, break
(49:10):
off lies, we all have self worthissues. We all have things that
want to overcome. And we don'tknow how we get stuck and so we
create a community that hascompassion and empathy and
acceptance right where you're atfor who you are You don't have
to be better to be to be in thisgroup. You don't have to heal
(49:32):
first to be in this group likewe want you right where you are
healing journey because we allhave things that we're
continuing to heal from. I stilldeal with issues of shame, I
still deal with issues ofunworthiness, I still deal
issues with trust issues and andkeeping things centered. And so
if I surround myself with otherwomen on this path to heal and
(49:52):
to be better, then we're allencouraging each other along the
way and when one falls, we canyou know, pick them up Or, or
sit with them and cry with themor hug them. And we all know
what it feels like to receive agift of unconditional love when
we didn't deserve it, when wedidn't expect it. And that
surprise element is what I wantto continue to bring hope and
(50:16):
healing into other women.
Kelly Waite (50:20):
So if there was one thing, we're gonna wrap up,
we're getting to the end here.
So hang with me just got a fewmore minutes, right? Um, if you
could have listeners take justone thing away from this episode
from your story, what would itbe?
Jennifer Malcolm (50:35):
That you matter, and that you're enough.
I think that that I startedwriting this week, and the
phrase that I wrote over andover and over again, and it felt
like it was for me, but more as,as I'm writing and journaling
and podcasting that I haveenough, and I am enough, I am
enough who I am today is enough,I don't have to be better. We
(50:58):
all again, we all want to grow,we all want to heal, we want to
overcome, you know, the the crapis going on in our lives. But
the gift of I am enough, I havea voice, I am important. I am
beautiful, you know, just thosehealing aspects in that, and
(51:18):
when we're vulnerable with eachother, it opens up vulnerability
in other people. And so if I cancontinue and you know,
throughout this, you know,series, you know, elements of my
story will continue to come outand, and I'm looking forward to
as I'm interviewing other women,you know, some of them are
really going to hit home with meof issues that I've dealt with
(51:40):
in my in my life. And justreally like we're not far
enough. As a woman, I'm enoughas a mom, I'm enough as a wife,
I'm enough as a business owner.
And just being in that place ofrest of I am enough. Yes. Can I
be better? Or could I couldn'tmake better choices? Or, you
know, do I do I deal with otheryou know, issues of anger or
(52:02):
frustration or being short, youknow, tempered or? Yes, but
right today, like who Godcreated me to be who I am as a
woman is enough. And that's whatI want women to really hear.
Kelly Waite (52:16):
So how what do you What's your? Because you You're
such a great planner, you know,from Jennasis at your kitchen
table to Jennasis & Associatestoday, at what do you see your
path going next.
Jennifer Malcolm (52:30):
So I really, my desire is this becomes a
movement across for obviously,you know, across the United
States, I hope it goes globally.
I envision women's conferences,how that looks like with COVID
and separation, all that I wantto surprise women, I bless
women, I want to be an advocatefor women. I want people to come
away feeling refreshed body,soul, mind, spirit, having
(52:53):
courage having voice and so forme, I think it's me podcast, I
think it'd be interviewed, Ithink it's going to be a women's
conference, I think there'sgoing to be breakout groups, I
think there's going to be alliedgroups, there's going to be
dream groups, there's gonna bedream teams, there's gonna be
all sorts of things that comeout of this and all of that it's
not going to be done by methrough me on my shoulders, but
(53:14):
is that building that team ofwomen who want to support women
and encouraging and it's notabout coaching people through to
get them to the other side, it'sjust about collaboration and
community and coming togetherand collective vulnerability
that that we heal along the way,these are the things that I want
to bring to women of joy ofmovement and dance and just
(53:38):
dreaming dreams. And you know,and and even that piece of you
and I had this conversationalmost a year ago, I said I want
I want to fulfill dreams on ourteam. I don't know those dreams
are I may not be able to fulfillevery one of them. But when we
have collective dreams, theremay be something in your life
connections path, you're like,ah, I can't fulfill my dream. I
(53:59):
don't have the resources tobuild my dream. But I have
something in my bucket that canfulfill your dream. And so that
piece of collective dreamsharing and and getting women
just that surprise aha in theirheart to bring them again the
body, the soul, the mind thespirit all together that says I
am enough.
Kelly Waite (54:21):
Who that was that?
Okay, so how does Jennasis tieit to all this? What What can
how often are people going to behearing from you on our podcast
and what types of stories youhave upcoming and how can other
people engage with you? Youknow, and and in this Jennasis
Movement worth?
Jennifer Malcolm (54:40):
So the Our goal is we're we're gonna be
dropping this podcast everyThursday morning. It'll be
buzzsprout I don't know all thelogistical pieces. That's what
the team is for. It's called thebig ideas and then I tell the
team Okay, now that no good, nogood, we'll make it happen every
every Thursday that a podcastwill be lunched, it'll be a lot
(55:02):
of just capturing women'sstories, we've already have a
few under our belt that we'vebeen recording over the last
several weeks. Some of it, ithas to do with dealing with
being biracial, and especiallyin today's times of the
sensitivity with the GeorgeFloyd and, and all that. So just
dealing with biracial issues,disrupted adoptions where people
(55:26):
adopt a child and then basicallysay, I don't have the skill set,
or I don't want this childanymore. And so they break up
the adoption. And so how peoplecome in for and be an advocate
for other adoptions in forinfertility. moms who have gone
and carried to and had astillborn baby cancer survivors,
(55:52):
but we want to also get into thenitty gritty of sexual
molestation and rape and daterape and suicide and attempted
suicide and eating disorders inimage orders, disorders. And so
we really just want to talk andinto into bring normalcy, that
we all have felt certain thingsthroughout our lifetime. And who
(56:12):
are we to judge through thatprocess. So we want to get, we
want to get into the nittygritty, and it's not to show
blame or shame it is to promotehealing and collective
vulnerability. We have othersthat are, you know, frontline
workers through COVID. And howdealing with that and balancing
(56:33):
life and some of it is justnormal life of who I am as a
woman. And but there, there'sgonna be that alignment that
women start really advocatingand coming together to support
other women.
Kelly Waite (56:47):
Love it.
They love it, too. Oh, okay,gentlemen, I think that wraps up
about wraps us up today, unlessthere's anything else you want
to talk about. And we can wecould sit here for a little
while longer.
Jennifer Malcolm (56:59):
Oh, this is great. I am super excited. I
cannot wait to get this goingand continue to interview women.
I've met some of the women I'vealready interviewed. They are
the text messages of like, thatwas so much fun. Or I didn't
know how much that would help melike that in of itself. If it
(57:21):
was just for that one personbeing interviewed, being seen
being heard, then that successfor me because it's one person
at a time. So I'm excited. Icannot wait for this to go live.
And we're excited to be a partof the journey. It'll be on our
website, our Genesis associateswebsite, the links will be
there. As we you know, buildthis out. Who knows what's down
(57:43):
the road, but we'll have clipson there. We'll have articles on
there. We'll be starting someFacebook groups on there,
through there. So check it out.
And we'll we'll see you soon.
Kelly Waite (57:53):
Have a great day Jenn.
Jennifer Malcolm (57:55):
Thanks. You too.
Kelly Waite (57:56):
Bye.
Unknown (57:57):
Subscribe to the Jennasis Movement to empower
women's voices and reclaim thepower over your own narrative.
Welcome to the Jennasis Speaks podcast. The
Transformative Power of Women'sStories, a platform that
empowers women storytelling, topromote collective
vulnerability, acceptance andhealing. I am your host,
Jennifer Malcolm, self madeentrepreneur, women advocate and
life balance expert. Welcome toour first Jennasis Speaks
(00:31):
podcast The Transformative Powerof Women's Stories where every
woman has a story and everystory matters. I'm Jennifer
Malcolm, founder and CEO ofJennasis and Associates. And
with me today is Kelly Wait, whois our chief strategy officer.
And for our first podcast, we'regoing to do something a little
different than what we'renormally going to do as we've
launched through these. ButKelly is going to take the time
(00:53):
to interview me and capture mystory. So welcome, Kelly.
Kelly Waite (00:57):
Hi, Jen, how are you today?
Jennifer Malcolm (00:58):
I'm good. How are you?
Kelly Waite (01:00):
Great.
Jennifer Malcolm (01:01):
I'm so excited about this.
Kelly Waite (01:02):
I'm excited to be here.
Jennifer Malcolm (01:04):
We have been talking about this, the podcast
for months, but we've beentalking about a women's movement
for years. And so excited thatwe're finally putting our dreams
together and into action. Socannot get started.
So now we're here and we gotthis thing called Jennasis
Speaks. And we're talking aboutevery woman has a story and
(01:27):
every story matters.
Kelly Waite (01:29):
Why?
Jennifer Malcolm (01:31):
Oh my gosh, I'm already tearing up.
Why? Why are we doing this?
Kelly Waite (01:35):
Why are you doing this? Oh, it's good. Why are you
dragging us all along?
You'redrinking I'm just kidding.
We'regoing willinglycheerleading all the way up.
Jennifer Malcolm (01:40):
Now the way I look at them already, I have
tears. I don't know there'ssomething burning in myself.
That is the importance of women.
The importance of women to havetheir cake and eat it too. The
importance of women not beingpigeon holed into a place women
not being able to have a voiceor not being heard. I am pro
(02:03):
man. I'm not gonna say I am nota bra burning woman. I no
judgment. No, I got remarried.
Two years ago, my husband who'sour spotlight guy behind the
(02:24):
scenes. Guru today is, you know,one of my biggest heroes, if not
my biggest cheerleader. So it'snot about that. It's just about
women giving voice and choiceand that every story matters. I
don't care what your backgroundis, there is a deep gift of
compassion in my soul that Ican't deny. And at this point in
(02:49):
time, I'm just allowing it toflow. And my team who's you and
Stephanie and Jessica and Joelleand people behind the scenes,
Christine has been here and mymom, who's one of my biggest
cheerleaders are all justsaying, Yeah, it's time for you
to go like time for you to useyour voice. And, and the whole
point is that it unlocks whenyou tell a story. It's going to
(03:14):
unlock things and other woman'shurts, whether that's courage,
whether that's healing, whetherit's compassion, or whether it's
understanding, it's going tounlock something. And I think
this pause with COVID has helpedjust slow life down. I just
finished my business MBA inanalytics, while running a
(03:36):
business and being a mom andwife and one thing so the gift
of time, the last several monthshas come and I think that piece
of why not now kind of just cameto the forefront.
Kelly Waite (03:48):
So what what's the ultimate goal behind it? And you
should talk about empoweringwomen. But what do you hope that
our listeners get out of it?
What do you hope that you getout of it? Or that your guests?
What? What kind of goals do youhave for the podcast.
Jennifer Malcolm (04:00):
So the goal is to capture women's stories. So
when I share my story today,it's going to resonate with a
lot of women, there's going tobe parts of it that won't
resonate with a lot of women.
And it's not about that my voiceand my story is going to impact
every woman you know, in theUnited States or worldwide. But
as we interview women throughthe process and talk through
different stories, there's goingto be something in your story
(04:23):
when I interview you sometimeand other people's stories along
the way that unlock courage andother women's hearts. Maybe it
gives them voice maybe it's alittle bit of a path to healing.
Maybe it breaks off some shameor regret or hardest on
ourselves. And so that thathuman connection of kindness and
empathy and coming together withother women is really the heart
(04:48):
and the goal of it.
Kelly Waite (04:52):
Awesome. Well, let's let's go right into your
story. Okay, were born on whatday you're how old just Can I
just get a I know never asked awoman her age, right?
Jennifer Malcolm (05:03):
No, no, no.
Okay,easy one. Um, where do youthink the story of Jennasis as
an evolution really started. Um,so let's see, it'd be 11, almost
12 years ago, go now, I wentthrough a separation divorce. I
was a high school scienceteacher. Previous to that, and
(05:23):
had been a stay at home mom, Ihad learned the work of virtual
admin support during that timeof having small kids. My husband
at the time, worked, swingshift. And so I had the ability
to work in the evenings, we haveto put the kids to bed from
eight to midnight and get workdone. And so I learned the art
(05:45):
of working from home doingimpactful work, and having some
flexibility on that. And so whenJennasis started, I kind of took
that same semantic piece andasked to women in my life one
was a neighbor, my neighbor Pam,and other was Shelly Solomon
call who hopefully one day willbe on this podcast with me. Just
(06:07):
ask them if they knew if theyneeded or if they knew of anyone
who needed some virtual adminwork. So the idea that at that
point, Reagan was inkindergarten, my now almost 16
year old was in kindergarten.
And I knew that the opportunityto put on the bus, rush off to a
(06:28):
job and be back on the back hometo get off the bus at 1115.
There's not many jobs that havea I can be there for two hours.
And so you start using thattime. They immediately Shelly
Amelie hired me for some workthat she needed done with her
work and business. And Pam gaveme a lead which that was January
of 2011. February, I had sixclients and March I had 12
(06:53):
clients. And I was like,Alright, we have something going
on here. And the essence iseveryone needed a little bit of
help. At that point, therecession coming out of
2000-7-8-9. A lot of people hadhad laid off bootstrapped work
and 2011 there was a little bitof wiggle room for additional
(07:15):
work and services. And so Istarted partnering there.
Genesis obviously has my name init I spelt with the jem, a
little bit of egocentric namingin that but it took Shelley
Shelley was the brainchild withme on this one. We sat for weeks
and just wrote out Jennifer's,VA, Jen's VA Jen's assisting
(07:40):
Jen's this that the other and atone point, we just put it
together and it was Genesis andfor me that name obviously has
my name in it. But for me, itwas going back to New
Beginnings, the Garden of Edenthe story of that in the book of
Genesis in the Bible, and reallyhaving a new beginning in life,
and where creation can happenand things are born and birth.
(08:05):
And so that kind of just when wefinally need it. After weeks, it
was like Ah, there it is. Ittook us forever. But so that was
the essence of the birth childof Jennasis.
Kelly Waite (08:16):
So you're telling us all the good parts or give me
the highlights? What Okay, solet's start easy and say okay,
what's the funniest, craziestthing that somebody asked you to
do?
Oh, I think I've shared thisstory with you before, but
definitely dog walking.
Jennifer Malcolm (08:36):
Definitely the dog walinging
Kelly Waite (08:38):
teacher cup biology teacher
Jennifer Malcolm (08:40):
turns dog walker and afternoon I had so
much like, oh, okay, I need to Ineed to up my game or up. But it
was one of those that I was onsite with the client, which I
really wasn't hardly ever. I didsome initially in the beginning
to go and get work and thenbring it home and do it from
home. But in the middle of thisone work session, I had my
(09:05):
client who had to jump on a calland she was like, hey, do you
mind walking my dog and I waslike my, like, dogs, hear the
work, not walk your dogs and Iwas like so humiliated at like
age, I guess I was age 34 ish.
And walking a dog. And I waslike, This is not my calling in
life. But we've had ups anddowns. You've been on this ride
(09:29):
with me for years. You came fora while you you left for a short
period of time you've been backfull force the last four or five
years. And you've seen theessence and how we've grown and
changed and evolved. And what westarted with almost 10 years ago
is very different than today.
And that's the fun of the joy ofbeing a business owner I guess.
Kelly Waite (09:53):
So what can What can you share about the
struggles because I'm sure thatthere's a lot of women out there
You know, like yourself thatfound yourself in a transition?
You know, I think a lot of thewomen that we're talking to now
are finding themselves intransition for various reasons.
And what, what did it feel like?
What did you like? Did you cry?
(10:15):
Did you? Did you journal? Didyou? How did you get through the
the transformation of goingfrom? I'm going to school every
day, taking my kids and I'mgoing to teach my class I'm
going to come home and makedinner to, to come up with
something out of nowhere, whereyou're, you're going next door
to your neighbors? And hey, doyou need any help? I mean, like,
how do you cut?
(10:35):
Where does that courage? Wheredid that come from? How did you?
How did you get there?
Jennifer Malcolm (10:39):
Honestly, I think part of it was
desperation. Part of it wascreativity, I think it's a mix
of that part of it is, you know,courage to take one step at a
time, one baby step at a time.
And, you know, I've been verycandid with you had I known
then, and, you know, 2010 11what I know now what our
(11:00):
business would be, I probablywouldn't have the courage to do
it. It's like the, you know,it's like the frog that's in a
pot and you raise thetemperature really slowly, and
you don't realize that it's aboiling pot of water now and the
temperature rose, we've beenthrough hell and back in the
business, you know, we've hadlawsuits, we've had loss, we've
had betrayal, we've had, youknow, clients who have been
(11:23):
assholes, frankly, or teammembers that turned in betrayed
us. And so there's a lot of, youknow, you're carrying this is
like my fourth kid and, and soI'm and you know, me, I'm a deep
feeler, I feel everything. Andso to try to not to take it
personally and have thick skin.
But it's not been easy. It'sjust been taking one baby step
(11:46):
at a time, the best of to thebest of my ability, and making
mistakes along the way, butbeing gentle to you know,
continue to go forward as well.
Kelly Waite (11:56):
Who did you lean on in that time period? I mean, I
know that I know your story. ButI think our listeners would love
to hear like, you literallystarted this business from your
kitchen table. helped you youknow, what lessons did you have
to learn? Um, you know, like,Who did you? Did you get support
from your kids? You know, tellme a little bit about about the,
(12:16):
you know, the inner tribe andthe working of what was your
life? Like, while you're tryingto start this business?
Jennifer Malcolm (12:21):
Sure. So, um, definitely, my mom was there,
she has, you know, bookkeepingbackground, so she really jumped
in on the, I'm gonna take careof the books and help with the
financial pieces. And, you know,I always be entered with my mom
that you can, you're going toobviously see all my, you know,
financials. And if you ever tellme how to spend my money, you're
(12:43):
going to get fired? Like, howdoes that I might know, if I'm
going to make decisions that arepoor, or it's going to put the
bet the company in a badposition, obviously, you know,
heads up, but, um, with being avirtual business, we dine out a
lot, we meet our clients out alot pre COVID, not as much the
last several months, but, youknow, we're out and then the
(13:05):
community. And that was the onepiece I always said to her,
like, you can't tell me how tospend my money. And but you can
have the power of invoicing andbookkeeping and all that. But
then I also had, honestly,neighbors, friends, anyone that
could help. Um, becauseinitially, the work was enough
for me. And then I startedgetting asked questions such as,
(13:28):
Oh, do you do graphics? Do youdo do web? And I was like, Yes,
I do. And I know enough to bedangerous. I know enough to get
into the back end, piddlearound, get into graphics, but
I'm not a graphic designer byany means. I have a good eye for
(13:50):
things, but I don't know how tocreate them. And so in that,
that space, I remember tryingand trying really hard and being
laborious on this one trifoldgraphic, and I took it to the
client and they were like, yeah,that's that's not gonna work.
That's how I got like, what Ican get from that. Yeah, well,
the concepts you have, and I waslike, that's it. I have nothing
(14:13):
left. And so at that point, Iwas in working women connection,
networking group for women, herein Northeast Ohio. And there was
graphic designers and webdesigners in there. And so I
started learning the art ofselling projects project,
managing them, being therelationship builder with the
(14:33):
client, and then having thesewomen Julie and Xu do the work.
And, and so that really was ablethen to take on more work,
diversify our offerings. Andthen as we progress, it was
being at the right place at theright time. I was at a chamber
of commerce meeting I sat nextto woman, Terry, and she was
(14:57):
asking just what I did and We'veseen her in, she's like, I've
been looking for a VA forever.
And I was like, Oh, she's like,What do you mean, she's like, at
that point, she was working forthe Plain Dealer and doing
interviews. And she had allthese recordings, and she just
needed them transcribed. And Iwas like, yeah, that's
absolutely something we coulddo. As simple as it is, people
don't like to transcribe you,and I don't like to transcribe
our own notes. And so pull thatin, gave it to someone else on
(15:21):
the team, and then ended upinterviewing me and featuring
myself and the business andplane in the plane dealer,
January 1, on a Sunday paper of2012. So we weren't even really
one year under our belt. Andhere we are on the front page of
the business section of thenewspaper. And so it's just
things like that, where thatjust really opened doors to new
(15:43):
clients. People started callingin asking to get together
asking, How do I be on yourteam, and I was like, Whoa, I
don't even like I'm used tomanaging, like teenagers. So
like I said, it taught highschool science. And so in that
it's just a dictatorship. Youtell them what to do. And they
have to do it. But I wasn't, Ididn't have experiencing
experience managing adults. Andso really trying to learn how to
(16:06):
be a leader in that regard. Thathas was a challenge. And still,
at times, I don't likeconfrontation. I'm not a
combative person at all. And sothat piece of managing people
was a new skill that I had tolearn. And from there, we just
kind of went down the rabbithole, and here we are today.
Kelly Waite (16:32):
So what was the hardest thing in those first
couple of years? when you'restarting out? What was? What was
it? How was it on your family? Imean, you went from, you know,
being a mom and having a normaljob, right? to being an
entrepreneur, and how did thatsets your kids
Jennifer Malcolm (16:49):
or so I always said that I created a business
for them to have work lifebalance, and to spend the time
with them. So not having toleave the house being there for
them Valentine's Days beingthere to get them on the bus off
the bus. And it was probablythree years in that Remember,
(17:10):
you know, hey, we're gonna havefamily time, the four of us
gonna sit down and watch amovie. And one of my kids was
like, my, you always have yourlaptop on your lap, you're
always in front of yourcomputer. And I was in that and
it hit me like, I've createdthis business to be with them.
And to me, I was like, Well, I'mwith you. Like I can knock out
some emails and watch you know,Disney, I can do I can do that.
(17:32):
But for them, the reality was Iwasn't present. And that they
always saw me on the phoneworking on something on my
computer, and it was an eyeopener, it was one of those that
kind of like, you know, thebusts that just hit me and and
it made me pivot to say okay,and you have to have boundaries.
Being a at that point, I wasdoing a lot of the work myself
(17:53):
for our clients and being in thebusiness and working on the
business it's a it's more than afull time job, you know, you're
working 60 7080 hour weeks,weekends, evenings, anywhere you
can squeeze in time and thatreally that work life balance
became off kilter. And so thatbecame a little bit of an
advocacy for them to putboundaries on and for me at that
(18:18):
point shared custody with theirdad I you know, really look
worked long days on Tuesdays andThursdays because that's when
they were with their dad shorterdays on Mondays and Wednesdays
because they came home and youknow was home by to 230 from
from school so shutting it downnot doing out of office meetings
those days. So it's just atransition but really putting
(18:39):
those boundaries around tryingnot to work weekends or doing it
early when they're before theywake up or the weekends with
their dad so it it I think theythey're proud of me I think
there's so at times like it wasthree years ago Reagan was like
so what do you do again? Likelike oh my gosh, I've been doing
this for eight years and they'relike she's like but you just
(19:00):
always have like, pictures andwords and papers everywhere.
Marketing you know, like, wesell words pictures, ideas to
people and just like people buythat like theybase right?
Like Yeah, they pay for that andshe's like, that's dumb. So you
(19:24):
know that today, each of my kidshave worked for me throughout
the years for a little bit ofthis a little bit that filing
notes. Kanda now is going isediting our videos for the
podcast and so they are involvedand I think they're proud I am
you know, it's always that youdon't always hear the accolades
from your kids, but it's been agreat journey with them and it
(19:48):
has given me the opportunity tobe around them. Way more than
you know I would have I would beat a at a traditional downtown
type of job.
Kelly Waite (20:00):
What piece of advice? Could you give Jennifer
back then? Or some of ourlisteners from that bet? That
beginning part of your personaljourney and Jennasis as an
organization? You know, what,what kind of advice would you
wish you would have heard orlearned back then.
Jennifer Malcolm (20:20):
Don't do it.
Don't do it, that's not what Iwas expecting. I don't know. Um,
I think it's that piece ofcourage. If you have a dream in
your heart, you're only on thisearth one to one time. And for
you to have the courage. Now, Ithink there's wisdom in that.
(20:41):
When I started, I was actually Ipicked up a side gig and I was
working at a brewery doingserving tables. And so I knew I
had money coming in there. Andthen I supplemented it with the
work I was coming in forJennasis. And then the more as
more work came in from Jennasis,I cut back more of my hours. And
finally, I cut you know how tocut the rope of being a server.
(21:03):
But I think it's just that thepace of proceed with wisdom. But
also proceed with courage andmake good choices, you always
have to pay your bills. So justdon't jump out and be like, I'm
gonna start my business and quitmy job and, and now you're
broke, or, you know, makeyourself make sure you're
setting yourself up for success.
(21:25):
Long term, and not just a quickterm, not a quick fix to jump
into something, but live yourdreams, I was talking to someone
who's been on this team, you'll,you'll recognize the story that
works for a law firm, and sheworked with us for a year or so.
And she's now through COVID,learned the art of working from
(21:47):
home and is loving it, and she'sstill still doing it in the
legal legal world. And, youknow, we were talking a couple
of weeks ago, and she was like,I'm really enjoying this type of
work. And, and I said, so putout to the network, there has to
be there has to be other soloattorneys that have their own
(22:08):
solo practice, who have overflowwork, or things that they do
nights and weekends, that thatwould be a huge resource for
them, you know, for for in thelegal community. And she was
such a brilliant idea. And I waslike, as simple as it was, and I
and she's stepping forward withmaking that request and trying
to pull in some additional work,you know, in the legal field.
And, and so I think it's thatpiece of stronger people,
(22:31):
surround yourself with peoplewho are going to encourage you,
who's going to give you goodadvice. Often maybe not what you
want to hear, but some safetyprotocol there and, and live
your dreams. So just go for it.
Kelly Waite (22:47):
So you talked about the transition from a dog walker
right here. And and I'm watchingDisney movies, while you're
while you're working inanswering emails, how did you,
you obviously have this influx,right, so all of these kinds of
things came in how, and youtalked about the difficulty of
(23:10):
managing adults, you never hadthat experience before? What did
that feel like?
Jennifer Malcolm (23:17):
Like, I would say overwhelmed is probably an
honest word overwhelming.
Feeling the weight andresponsibility of caring for my
kids and jumping into somethingunknown. Not created. So I'd say
there, there was uncertainty,there was excitement. I think
(23:38):
anyone who knows me from youknow, elementary school through
now, I tend to be aperfectionist in what I do. And
it has to be, you know, madewith excellence, but pretty,
pretty darn near perfect aswell. And so that piece of
courage and pride and joy tocreate something out of nothing.
(24:04):
But there's you know, definitelyself doubt when, especially when
checks aren't coming in, and youneed to pay your bills and
you're waiting and waiting andwaiting. And now you're in the
collections of your, of yourorganization because clients
aren't paying on time or forwhatever reasons is delayed. So
the feelings are I mean, it's ait's a bag of emotions of
excitement and joy and freedom.
(24:29):
You know, that free heart but alot of uncertainty worry,
staying up way past, you know,time I put my head on the pillow
and, you know, just my mindracing of how am I going to do
this and how many do this andhow am I going to accomplish,
you know, deadlines and bepresent with my kids. So there's
I think it's a bag of mixedemotions from being honest.
Kelly Waite (24:51):
I hear a lot of courage in your story. Not that
word keeps coming up and You'reyou're talking, where does your
courage come from? How do youfind courage? How do you how do
you build courage? How do you gofrom? You know, being a science
teacher to being a divorcedsingle mom, you know, like, I
(25:13):
get it, I was a single mom tofor quite some time and, you
know, you it was constantly onyour mind is like, you know, how
am I gonna feed my kid? How am Igonna have a house for my kid,
you know, like, you know,clothes, you know those kinds of
things. So I can't imagine youhaving that. And then you're
talking about Genesis as yourfourth child, all of those
things, it's going to be a neverending hamster wheel. So how do
(25:33):
you find inspiration? How do youfind courage? How do you? How do
you say, okay, client, I'm good.
I need you to pay me so I canpay my mortgage. You know, like,
how, where did? Where does thatgumption come from?
Jennifer Malcolm (25:45):
I think, I think part of it is, is it it's
an innate characteristic of mylife. There is, I would say,
what's a banner word over mylife is courage. Not that my
knees aren't knocking, not thatI don't have butterflies in my
stomach. Not that I don't havefear. But it's walking through
(26:07):
that fear. I do listen to a lotof podcasts and women and men
that I listen to, that areinspirational to me that it's
feeding my soul with positiveenergy and positive words and an
overcoming spirit. And for me,I'm not a big risk taker. So you
know, the courage, I have beenlabeled courageous by people on
(26:29):
our executive team and friends.
I don't see myself as a big risktaker, I just make calculated
decisions. So I do a lot ofresearch, I do a lot of
educating myself on what's thepros and cons of things. And
then I make the best choice Ican make. And some of it hasn't
led the right you know, down theright path, but really, just
(26:51):
really taking a baby step. But Iam Yeah, it's something that is
just a fire in my belly of, ofstepping through the impossible.
And part of that's my faith, Igrew up in a Christian home. And
part of that is I have faith Ihave I surround myself with
positive people who encouragedme who helped me who, when
(27:14):
you're one of those when I falldown, and my knees are all
dusty, and scratched up, youknow, that cheer me on and say
can do it and leave theimpossible and, and I think that
that gift of faith and desire tocreate something fuels the
courage to walk through and tomake those choices for the, for
(27:36):
the business and for myself.
Kelly Waite (27:40):
Is there a specific example that you know, you
really had to dig deep to findthe courage to walk through? is
there is there? Is there anexample that sticks out to you
that you you're comfortablesharing with our listeners that
really kind of you had it testedyou and you really had to pull
pull the courage up?
Jennifer Malcolm (27:59):
Yeah, I would say, we've only been threatened
with a lawsuit, I think, once in10 years, and that was about
five years ago. And for me, I'mlike, What do you mean, I'm
getting threatened with thelawsuit, you know, like, we did
the work and, and the clientwasn't happy. And then the
client got really aggressivethrough text messages, emails,
(28:20):
phone calls, and I was like, Iknew this client wanted a full
refund. And I was like, I don'tknow, like, I want and I at that
point, I didn't even have themoney to reimburse them in
fullness, I would have to makeinstallment plans. Be I had paid
the team out for the work done.
And see it just it was unjust,it was unfair, and that that
that fire in me was like No,like it's wrong. And I've I
(28:44):
talked to numerous people'speople about the situation and
my parents and Chad, who's nowmy husband and you and other
colleagues and I had advice allover the gamut of this person's
a bully and don't give it tobullies to reimburse the money
it's only money just you know,cut the ties and let it go and
(29:08):
and both are valid, both arevery valid, you know, advice
given in the situation and whatbecause it was just causing so
much turmoil in my in my mindand my heart and but the word
kept coming in cases of bullyingthis person's a bully and you
knocked down the bully once youhit them in the chin one time
(29:29):
and they don't they're not abully anymore and you overcome
that fear and and so I hired anattorney and told him the
situation and all it took wasone email and one phone call
from my attorney and it alldisappeared like it just went
away and and so for me, it waslike, was a guarantee that was
going to come out that way?
(29:50):
Absolutely not. But for thissituation that courage of like,
Alright, I'm at least going tobe an advocate for myself
because it's unjust and and whathe's asking for is is not right.
And, and having advocacy throughpeople. And you know, I chose
the legal route to at leastrepresent and stand between me
(30:13):
and the situation. That for mewas one of the hardest
situations I've worked throughin business and I know
listeners, you're gonna listento like, as I did, that's really
not that big of a deal. But forme, like, again, remember, I did
not have a background inbusiness, I was self taught, I
avid learner, I got businesscoaches, I read, I studied, I
(30:34):
took online, you know, minicourses. Recently, I finished my
MBA and get some, you know, bookknowledge to go with my
experience knowledge. But forme, like that was a big deal.
And now it's that muscle that'sgrown in me that other
colleagues of mine who have hadit like, Ah, no, like, at least
I have advice, it may not be theright advice, but at least I
(30:56):
encouraged to breathe into themas well to, you know, stand up
for themselves and, and toprotect themselves and what they
built and grown, and not toallow bullies to take that away
from you.
Kelly Waite (31:10):
So you talked about, you know, surrounding
yourself with with great people,you know, sharing, filling your
mind with, with good thoughtsand good things, books and
education, stuff like that. Howdid that translate down in to
just from you to a team? BecauseI know Genesis today just
(31:30):
associate stays a little bit alittle bit different than just
Jen, doing some dog walking,knocking on the neighbor's say,
Do you need any help? Okay, alot different.
Jennifer Malcolm (31:40):
So how it sounds so far? No, I don't know
where that came from. But itworked. It worked back then.
Kelly Waite (31:47):
Hey, man, everybody started somewhere. I mean, look
at look at all the companiesthat are multi billion dollar
companies that were started in agarage, right? You're, you're
starting from the kitchen table.
So maybe, who knows? Right?
That's exciting part ofencouragement to other women out
there too, that it is possibleand you and you can, you know,
(32:08):
make your own path however yousee fit. So how do you translate
that down to a team? How do yourecruit people? How do you find
people because you talked aboutyou're in a networking group,
and you sell projects and thingslike that? So what types of
people have you? Have you gonethrough? Let's say, yeah,
Jennifer Malcolm (32:28):
So um, yeah, initially, if you had a pulse,
through the gamut.
and you had time, you were onthe team, like, I just needed
Kelly Waite (32:35):
You know, I remember that evolution of even,
extra hands on deck, andrealizing that a lot of those
choices were great. They theyserved clients, well, they, they
exceeded some of the things thatI could do my skill level. And
I've made some really horriblehires as well. So we've gone the
gamut of hiring all across theboard. And as, as we grew the
(32:56):
executive team, and we saying,okay, I loving where we're
going. But I really don't wantto be in on every account, I
don't want to be on everystrategy session. And our
multiplication like you, inorder to grow, I have to let go.
And, you know, reading bookswith the team, you helped
spearhead some of that with EOSand traction and that
(33:19):
methodology of you have todelegate to elevate, letting go
the VI I remember having thatconversation with you letting go
of the vine The first time yougot it, you're like, oh, you're
like freaking out in sweats.
You're like, How can I do that?
How can I let go? I remember theinsoles.
(33:41):
you know, witnessing you goingthrough the evolution of letting
go the vine, Tell, tell thelisteners a little bit more what
you wentthrough with that?
Jennifer Malcolm (33:48):
Yeah, part of it is control, like fear of
trusting someone else to do thework as good or the quality of
work with my name, myreputation, my clients might
connections and colleagues. Andso there was that control factor
of, well, if I do it, I knowit's gonna be done well, and
it's gonna be done withexcellence. And so how can I
(34:10):
trust someone else to do thatsame caliber and, and so for me,
it was 2014 15 that I was like,Alright, if I'm going to do
this, I have to start hiringpeople who are better, faster,
stronger than me in lots ofdifferent areas. And whether
that's finance, whether that'sobviously we already talked
about graphic design and webdesign, but I'm marketing and
(34:32):
marketing strategy or writingand editing. I think I'm a good
writer. I'm probably not a greatwriter, for you know, certain
pieces. And so I had enoughskill to be dangerous, and a
hard worker and I'm a hardlearner, but for me, it was just
letting go have control. Andagain, it's that that courage
and a breakthrough of right.
It's like when you you leaveyour child at home for the first
(34:55):
time with a babysitter and yougo and you're like constantly
looking at your phone. They'regoing to call it is everything
okay? And, you know, does thatworry and it's practicing, the
more you practice those musclesgrow of trust and rapport. And
again, I don't think in 10 yearsI've ever yelled at anyone on
this team for any work that wasnot done or late or I was
(35:17):
disappointed, I think theharshest ever say is, alright,
that's not acceptable. And Ithink people know when I say,
okay, that's not acceptable. Tome, like, Oh, yes, this has to
be fixed and fixed now. But I'vebeen on the receiving end. So
those conversations, no, this isnot what I was like, Okay, I'm
(35:37):
sorry about that. Like, for me,the other piece was, I got out
of my own way on hiring. And Iremember having this
conversation with you, and acouple people, probably three,
four years ago, they're like,okay, you are just the worst
interviewer ever, because youlove people, like you love
people, and you get snatched upwith their story and their need,
(36:00):
and you're like, Oh, we have tohire them. And you would go
like, Where are you putting themon the bench, like, we don't
have, we don't need that, thatskill. And I'm like, they're
fine. And so getting out of myown way, and realizing those
certain things I just am notgood at and we we set
established our core values ofpassion, innovation, and
(36:20):
collaboration, right. I waslike, the See, that's all there
was like communication nowcollaboration, and, and really
hiring against those corevalues, you know, and, and doing
reviews against those corevalues, and setting up some of
that, that the quality of peopleon our team now has exceeded,
(36:40):
you know, we're where we were567 years ago. And, and then for
me, it's just breathing intolife into, you know, we have
mostly women, it's women onwomen lead, we have men in the
team, we're not anti men, we'renot bra burning, you know,
feminists, or by any means welove, we love the guys in our
lives. But we love being anadvocate for women. And this
(37:04):
podcast and the Genesis speaksmovement is being birthed out of
that same advocacy for women tofind their voice have passion,
in what they're doing, haveflexibility, have opportunity,
have great pay, and to reallysucceed in the world. That can
be it can be tough at times forwhatever circumstances.
(37:29):
So we kind of went through thisevolution. So just give me the
the the 32nd, you know, answerof how did you go through from,
you know, being a VA and justdoing all that you talked about
marketing strategist, and youtalk about websites. Now, what
did that evolve to? How did youget to how did you go from VA to
to where you are today?
(37:50):
I think it was just the the thequestions our clients were
asking, of, you know, can youdo? You know, social media
became a large part of ourorganization strategy over the
last decade and being educatedin those those resources. And so
I think it was more evolvingwith the times evolving with our
(38:11):
clients growing them asking forthings that maybe we didn't
offer, but I knew that we couldoffer was just kind of a one off
from what we were offering. Andso I think it was just growing
up and getting into the next,you know, bigger pair of shoes,
and growing through those shoesand getting the next bigger pair
of shoes. And I think it's justgrowing with the times growing
with our clients and growingwith the way marketing was, is
(38:35):
you know, continues to evolve.
And I'm sure team in five yearsis going to be very different
from what it is now and thatwe're going to grow into
wherever the marketing trends,you know, lie and hire into
those positions. So I thinkthat's probably the biggest way
that we grew.
Kelly Waite (38:51):
Okay, so you did when you sat down and decided
you are going to work from homeand be able to be you know, with
their kids when they got off thebus and go to people's houses
and do their filing or or, youknow, transcribing. Did you have
a business plan when you did allthat?
Jennifer Malcolm (39:10):
back? No. No, in a business.
Kelly Waite (39:13):
You didn't even see this path coming, huh?
Jennifer Malcolm (39:15):
No, no, I did not. I didn't even know what a
business plan was probably like.
I remember like I was inacademia and academia world and
the business world are twoparallel universes that don't
cross over very often and thelanguage and who you're with, so
I was like, business plan. Idon't know what that is, or
what's a SWOT analysis or thingslike that, like, and you know,
(39:37):
it's like business 101 liketruly like freshman class 101 of
some of them. I was like, Idon't know what that is. But
again, like, I got straight A'sin high school and in college,
like, I'm smart. And so I justknew like if I if I learned
stuff, and studied it, I coulddo it and I was very confident
that and you Again, I hadcoaches through the years I had
(40:02):
people in my life who I wouldjust take the luncheon and ask
questions and be a sponge and,and really try to be humbled
through the process of I don'tknow what I don't know. And I
need to learn really fast someof this stuff and, and that's
how a lot of this evolved. And Ithat piece I'm really proud of
going from, you know, thekitchen table, and a condo that
(40:23):
I bought after my divorce and tonow you know, having a team of
35 plus people all across thenation, our clients are in
Cleveland throughout the USinternational as well. And and
that's really, really gives megreat pride.
Kelly Waite (40:41):
I got to ask him we I mean, come on. Oh, you are
such Suzy sunshine and makingthis sound like yeah, the worst
thing you said was don't do it.
But But you've got to have some,okay, talking about the one hard
time How did this affect thisbusiness? You know, and growing
the business from from a one manband to you know, 30 people?
(41:01):
roster, right, you got a bench abench for you?
How did that affect yourpersonal life?
Jennifer Malcolm (41:10):
Because I don't think it's not just about
your kids, I think it's aboutyou know, how did it affect your
personal life, or, um, I thinkthere's, there's, you know,
there's healthy stress, andthere's unhealthy stress. And,
you know, for me, there's timeswhere I know that I'm out of
balance, out of integrity withmy friends, as far as time or
(41:32):
follow up or conversation oreven being present, you know,
always having this 18 thingsgoing on my mind instead of
really listening and beingthere. So, there's a lot of
stressors, you know, overeating,over, drinking, staying up too
late, you know, trying to numbsome of the stress or pain
(41:55):
through, you know, exercise, TV,alcohol, food, all those things,
you know, all those come intoour lives, at different points
in time. And to really find thatbalance of an A far from perfect
a name, you know, it's comingacross as Susie sunshine. But as
we continue to go deeper into mystory, like, I'm a broken hot
(42:15):
mess at times, and I'm justreally taking one step at a
time, to the best of my abilityto live in integrity, to live a
life that I'm proud of first,that my husband's proud of, of
me, and my kids are proud of meand, and so that piece of I've
gone through really dark times,you know, through through the
(42:38):
years and dealing with issuesfrom childhood coming into, you
know, into my life years gone byof trauma or pain and loons that
that come out sideways, becausenot dealing with them. And, and
so for me, it's you know, I, Ido surround myself with great
people who encouraged me whogive me hope, who give me
(43:01):
encouragement. But there has tobe that self activation to to
heal to journal to you know, I,the one gift I asked for
Christmas, especially, was apunching bag. Because when I'm
angry, I went to go punchsomething and be punching a
punching bag is a very healthyoutlet versus me keeping all
that negative energy inside. Andso it's, it's finding things
(43:24):
like I really want to hitsomething. And so I just beg
Chad, I'm like, and it's onlywhen for Christmas, it's a
punching bag and gloves. Andit's funny, because now that
it's up, like it's almost like asymbolic representation, because
I use it initially that firstmonth after Christmas, and they
haven't been using it as much,but it just allows that energy
to flow. So you're like, I'mhuman, I, you know, I argue with
(43:47):
my kids, I argue with myhusband, far from perfect, you
and I have had tension andstuff, but I choose to get up
and be gentle with myself and toshare the story with a friend.
About six years ago, I got atattoo on my foot that says
unconditional love in Hebrew.
And for me it was that was gonnabe my foundation on my life is
(44:10):
that I was going to deal withself forgiveness issues for
making poor choices. And I wasgoing to mark it in
unconditional love. And that wasmy foundation of my body soul
spirit. And if I could do thatfor myself, then I would be in a
place to give that to otherpeople. And so that passion of
gathering women's stories,listening to them. None. We live
(44:31):
in a world that is so judgingand hard on people and to show
compassion and deep empathy forfor where people are. We're all
just, you know, struggling inthis world. We make bad choices.
Sometimes we make themunintentionally sometimes we
make them purposely but toreally be gentle on ourselves
(44:52):
and to love and to forgivequickly is apparent Mine?
How do you share that with yourteam? Um, I think you don't beat
you being the foundation and Ican be on the receiving end of
it, I can definitely say that.
There are times where I'm in adark place and you you don't
(45:15):
bring out this, like, you do thesame thing that you said I do
for you, you do for the rest ofus. If I'm speaking for the
team, you do that for us andsaying, like, yeah, you can do
this, and he brings out theSuperwoman kind of bracelet, and
you kind of show that out. Ihope what you're wanting you
want for your team?
(45:39):
Yeah, um, I guess it's thatpiece of walking in that perfect
calling. And for that, my life,my mission is to build this
organization to make it thrive,to make houses sustainable, and,
and money flowing in through thework that we do. And, and so
want that for other other women,I want women to walk in that
(46:01):
freedom. And so there's a lot oftimes where someone on the team
is going through some roughstuff, whether it's, I'm getting
kicked out of my house, I'mgoing through a divorce. I'm
dealing with a kid that ishappy, you know, doing drugs, I
just lost a baby, I had amiscarriage, my adoption fell
(46:21):
through, we've all we've had somany things happen, cancer
through through the last 10years. And to really just be
empathetic of I understand takethe time you need your jobs
here, when you come back. If youwe just need to make
adjustments. And so I want thatadvocacy for me. And I want to
create that community for me.
And so I want that for the teamas well. You need to you need to
(46:44):
take time take time. What can weget off your plate. And I see
that more now as a culture ofGenesis where other team members
are doing the same thing forothers, like Tommy, Tommy can
take off your plate, tell me howwe can help out. Because we've
all been there when we needed tohave that help. And so I think
that really has been a cultureand a in a, a core value, even
(47:06):
though it's not spoken out ofreally just lending a hand and
being empathetic in, in thesituations that we're walking
through.
Kelly Waite (47:18):
You know, you could be you could be pretty selfish,
right? And say, like, I want todo this for myself, why do you
choose to want to share it?
Jennifer Malcolm (47:27):
Oh, it's a great question.
Kelly Waite (47:28):
I mean, not just with your team, but I mean, even
with this, this, this, thiswhole podcast thing like you, I
know what the reason why youwant to do the podcast, but you
know, like, why do you want toshare this stuff I need to
accomplish?
Jennifer Malcolm (47:40):
I think for me, it's breaking off the lies
that are in our head and cominginto truth. If I can be a small
inspiration, a small spark insomeone's heart life, that they
then catch the spark, and theyhave a little bit of a flame.
And then they can repeat it andbe a spark in someone else's
(48:01):
life. It's just, I just, I feelI'm so passionate about
empowering women, giving themvoice. And there's been times
through my life where I felthelpless, I felt hopeless, I
felt I didn't have choices, Iwas robbed of my choices, I was
robbed of my voice. And when youcome out of that, and you and
you finally can catch thatbreath of fresh air, or you can
(48:24):
drink that first taste of waterafter being in the desert. You
You know what it feels like thatdesperation of coming out of
something of a dark place a darksituation, and healing through
that. And if I can be a catalystin any woman's life, to bring
that spark, and I don't carewhat the situation is, you know,
(48:48):
I've talked to you know, aswe're prepping for these
podcasts, you know, every womanis beautiful. Every woman has a
story and every story matters.
And that's why the essence ofthat we're being so in your face
about that, that it's everyperson and and it doesn't mean
that there's not boundaries,there's that, you know, people
are harming you or harming yourhouse or there's healthy
boundaries, but the advocacy forwomen to break off shame, break
(49:10):
off lies, we all have self worthissues. We all have things that
want to overcome. And we don'tknow how we get stuck and so we
create a community that hascompassion and empathy and
acceptance right where you're atfor who you are You don't have
to be better to be to be in thisgroup. You don't have to heal
(49:32):
first to be in this group likewe want you right where you are
healing journey because we allhave things that we're
continuing to heal from. I stilldeal with issues of shame, I
still deal with issues ofunworthiness, I still deal
issues with trust issues and andkeeping things centered. And so
if I surround myself with otherwomen on this path to heal and
(49:52):
to be better, then we're allencouraging each other along the
way and when one falls, we canyou know, pick them up Or, or
sit with them and cry with themor hug them. And we all know
what it feels like to receive agift of unconditional love when
we didn't deserve it, when wedidn't expect it. And that
surprise element is what I wantto continue to bring hope and
(50:16):
healing into other women.
Kelly Waite (50:20):
So if there was one thing, we're gonna wrap up,
we're getting to the end here.
So hang with me just got a fewmore minutes, right? Um, if you
could have listeners take justone thing away from this episode
from your story, what would itbe?
Jennifer Malcolm (50:35):
That you matter, and that you're enough.
I think that that I startedwriting this week, and the
phrase that I wrote over andover and over again, and it felt
like it was for me, but more as,as I'm writing and journaling
and podcasting that I haveenough, and I am enough, I am
enough who I am today is enough,I don't have to be better. We
(50:58):
all again, we all want to grow,we all want to heal, we want to
overcome, you know, the the crapis going on in our lives. But
the gift of I am enough, I havea voice, I am important. I am
beautiful, you know, just thosehealing aspects in that, and
(51:18):
when we're vulnerable with eachother, it opens up vulnerability
in other people. And so if I cancontinue and you know,
throughout this, you know,series, you know, elements of my
story will continue to come outand, and I'm looking forward to
as I'm interviewing other women,you know, some of them are
really going to hit home with meof issues that I've dealt with
(51:40):
in my in my life. And justreally like we're not far
enough. As a woman, I'm enoughas a mom, I'm enough as a wife,
I'm enough as a business owner.
And just being in that place ofrest of I am enough. Yes. Can I
be better? Or could I couldn'tmake better choices? Or, you
know, do I do I deal with otheryou know, issues of anger or
(52:02):
frustration or being short, youknow, tempered or? Yes, but
right today, like who Godcreated me to be who I am as a
woman is enough. And that's whatI want women to really hear.
Kelly Waite (52:16):
So how what do you What's your? Because you You're
such a great planner, you know,from Jennasis at your kitchen
table to Jennasis & Associatestoday, at what do you see your
path going next.
Jennifer Malcolm (52:30):
So I really, my desire is this becomes a
movement across for obviously,you know, across the United
States, I hope it goes globally.
I envision women's conferences,how that looks like with COVID
and separation, all that I wantto surprise women, I bless
women, I want to be an advocatefor women. I want people to come
away feeling refreshed body,soul, mind, spirit, having
(52:53):
courage having voice and so forme, I think it's me podcast, I
think it'd be interviewed, Ithink it's going to be a women's
conference, I think there'sgoing to be breakout groups, I
think there's going to be alliedgroups, there's going to be
dream groups, there's gonna bedream teams, there's gonna be
all sorts of things that comeout of this and all of that it's
not going to be done by methrough me on my shoulders, but
(53:14):
is that building that team ofwomen who want to support women
and encouraging and it's notabout coaching people through to
get them to the other side, it'sjust about collaboration and
community and coming togetherand collective vulnerability
that that we heal along the way,these are the things that I want
to bring to women of joy ofmovement and dance and just
(53:38):
dreaming dreams. And you know,and and even that piece of you
and I had this conversationalmost a year ago, I said I want
I want to fulfill dreams on ourteam. I don't know those dreams
are I may not be able to fulfillevery one of them. But when we
have collective dreams, theremay be something in your life
connections path, you're like,ah, I can't fulfill my dream. I
(53:59):
don't have the resources tobuild my dream. But I have
something in my bucket that canfulfill your dream. And so that
piece of collective dreamsharing and and getting women
just that surprise aha in theirheart to bring them again the
body, the soul, the mind thespirit all together that says I
am enough.
Kelly Waite (54:21):
Who that was that?
Okay, so how does Jennasis tieit to all this? What What can
how often are people going to behearing from you on our podcast
and what types of stories youhave upcoming and how can other
people engage with you? Youknow, and and in this Jennasis
Movement worth?
Jennifer Malcolm (54:40):
So the Our goal is we're we're gonna be
dropping this podcast everyThursday morning. It'll be
buzzsprout I don't know all thelogistical pieces. That's what
the team is for. It's called thebig ideas and then I tell the
team Okay, now that no good, nogood, we'll make it happen every
every Thursday that a podcastwill be lunched, it'll be a lot
(55:02):
of just capturing women'sstories, we've already have a
few under our belt that we'vebeen recording over the last
several weeks. Some of it, ithas to do with dealing with
being biracial, and especiallyin today's times of the
sensitivity with the GeorgeFloyd and, and all that. So just
dealing with biracial issues,disrupted adoptions where people
(55:26):
adopt a child and then basicallysay, I don't have the skill set,
or I don't want this childanymore. And so they break up
the adoption. And so how peoplecome in for and be an advocate
for other adoptions in forinfertility. moms who have gone
and carried to and had astillborn baby cancer survivors,
(55:52):
but we want to also get into thenitty gritty of sexual
molestation and rape and daterape and suicide and attempted
suicide and eating disorders inimage orders, disorders. And so
we really just want to talk andinto into bring normalcy, that
we all have felt certain thingsthroughout our lifetime. And who
(56:12):
are we to judge through thatprocess. So we want to get, we
want to get into the nittygritty, and it's not to show
blame or shame it is to promotehealing and collective
vulnerability. We have othersthat are, you know, frontline
workers through COVID. And howdealing with that and balancing
(56:33):
life and some of it is justnormal life of who I am as a
woman. And but there, there'sgonna be that alignment that
women start really advocatingand coming together to support
other women.
Kelly Waite (56:47):
Love it.
They love it, too. Oh, okay,gentlemen, I think that wraps up
about wraps us up today, unlessthere's anything else you want
to talk about. And we can wecould sit here for a little
while longer.
Jennifer Malcolm (56:59):
Oh, this is great. I am super excited. I
cannot wait to get this goingand continue to interview women.
I've met some of the women I'vealready interviewed. They are
the text messages of like, thatwas so much fun. Or I didn't
know how much that would help melike that in of itself. If it
(57:21):
was just for that one personbeing interviewed, being seen
being heard, then that successfor me because it's one person
at a time. So I'm excited. Icannot wait for this to go live.
And we're excited to be a partof the journey. It'll be on our
website, our Genesis associateswebsite, the links will be
there. As we you know, buildthis out. Who knows what's down
(57:43):
the road, but we'll have clipson there. We'll have articles on
there. We'll be starting someFacebook groups on there,
through there. So check it out.
And we'll we'll see you soon.
Kelly Waite (57:53):
Have a great day Jenn.
Jennifer Malcolm (57:55):
Thanks. You too.
Kelly Waite (57:56):
Bye.
Unknown (57:57):
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women's voices and reclaim thepower over your own narrative.
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