Please follow along as we travel the path taken by Jená to arrive at her life’s purpose of public service…
She began as all US citizens do: as a K-12 student (for how can one ever learn where they are to go until they get educated on what it is they can do and, thus, become?). She loved to learn. She empathized with everyone. And, she tended towards those activities that located solutions to others’ problems, furthering their capacity to help themselves.
So, postsecondary, she decided to pursue Public Policy, as it seemed to embody all she had grown to love. Though at one of the nation’s best colleges, she had not yet acquired the knowledge needed to fully escape her poverty – poverty is not just about money or resources, but is most importantly about knowledge (what you know). And at the time, she did not have the information needed to equip her to complete her college career. Foreign policy, and helping to solve the world’s problems, would instead have to wait. Her life’s 1st of many detours.
These detours took her from Ivy League college student, to a struggling then successful actress, to the housewife of a prominent Italian salesman for a major medical equipment supplier, to a scientific studies translator for Lega Tumori Napoli (Italy’s “American Cancer Society”) – gaining a fluency in Italian! From there, her detours included being a divorced legal secretary to becoming the Chief Operating Officer of a family nonprofit – Indiana Parenting Institute in Gary, IN.
The wisdom acquired as she lived each of these pit stops permitted her to reach the purpose she had uncovered so long ago, having through them acquired the knowledge and life experience needed to help her community (if not the world) resolve the societal and life challenges being experienced by families (society’s foundation) today.
Thus, why Jená found the work of the Project ReBuild Foundation (PRBF) to be a great fit for her and has been honored, all these years, to be able to contribute to PRBF’s mission and vision. From the appointments she holds to the boards and committees she serves on, the engagements she has keynoted, the radio programs she has hosted and guested on, and through the articles she has written, Jená works tirelessly to inform and influence the policies written and strategies undertaken to ensure that families thrive.
