“There is one skill I value the most and that is asking for help.”
Q: What are you passionate about?
A: I am passionate about helping others by providing motivation, inspiration, and emotional support. I’ve always said that my purpose found me when I was a sophomore in college in 2012 when my grandmother was killed by a car.
My line of work involves helping individuals by providing direct care services and providing counseling.
I am currently working on planning my Self-Love Tour and building up a Sisterhood Community dedicated to self-love and self-care resources. I help women on a self-love and healing journey by providing coaching services, self-love brunches, retreats, and training sessions.
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: I have been through a lot growing up. I’ve always felt feelings of abandonment and rejection due to not having an active father in my life.
I’ve always been self-driven to accomplish my goals. I have been able to complete undergrad at Mercy College in 2015 with a psychology degree and grad school at St. John’s University in 2017 with a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling.
After my grandmother was killed in a car accident, I went through anxiety issues, times of hyperventilating, and felt guilty for not seeing her as much as I could’ve.
I had to learn how to regulate my emotions, and I learned early on to ask for support. I felt like I was always viewed as being the strong one and to finally allow myself to lean on support helped me through it all. Also, I felt led to go into the social science field after a few months after the accident. I finally made the decision even though I wasn’t sure, and now here I am ten years later operating with my gifts.
Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?
A: I want others to know that it’s okay to not be okay. It’s important to process emotions and thoughts and learn the necessary skills to overcome them. Also, I would encourage others to stay encouraged and make use of asking for help. There is one skill I value the most and that is asking for help.
Q: What does feminism mean to you? A: Great question. It means being able to be empowered and overcome the challenges society places on women.
MORE ABOUT KEKE: My favorite color is purple, and I love to sing.
“To fail simply means, to me, first attempt in learning.”
Q: What are you passionate about?
A: I have found myself with a great passion for the beauty industry and making others feel more confident in themselves. Especially with semipermanent makeup for the ladies who have lost their eyebrows over time; some of the reactions after treatment truly are amazing and make it worth while.
During the pandemic and my business being hit drastically, I then started a few other projects to keep myself busy, but to also connect with other women. I started a Facebook group for women wanting to grow in their careers or run their own business to connect and network. There are a few groups online already; however, I found them filled with a lot of spam and very hard to find value in most of the posts. So, I set out to fill the group with educational posts.
My aim was to inspire, motivate, and educate. Around this same idea, I have also cowritten a book. Me and my team want to release a series of books aimed toward women in business. This first one is to help women grow their leadership skills.
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: Growing up, I was always fairly good at school; I tested well and I never failed any class, but I knew I lacked the motivation to continue with academic education.
I always knew deep down I needed to work for myself, but the ’system’ always wanted the student to go to university/college and aim toward an academic education.
I went back to education a little later in life, around 23 years old. I did open university, which is online based, to pursue a psychology degree; however, I again dropped out after the first year knowing it wasn’t for me.
I couldn’t see a future in working for anyone else. Which then whilst working part-time in a job I hated, I stumbled into beauty treatments, which made me money fast, and I loved my clients. I’m lucky to call many of them friends now. I found a passion in making them feel great. Which makes me feel valued.
Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?
A: After speaking to many many women, one of the main topics was they are scared of failure. Which really upsets me!
As children, we are always finding our way and never get it right the first time! Why is it we’re expected now as adults to be perfect [the] first time. We never stop learning, which means we will never stop making mistakes!
Some of my biggest breakthroughs were learning from mistakes! We throw around the saying “learn from your mistakes,” but I don’t think people truly resonate with this. To fail simply means, to me, first attempt in learning.
Q:What does feminism mean to you?
A: I want equality for women in business. Only 7% of CEOs are women. Only 17% of the new businesses set up in 2019 were by women.
Now, a lot of this can be reasoned to the inequality and subconscious biased that still exists against women, but it is also the consequences from the years of inequality women have had to face; most of us have lost the confidence.
So, I want to bring back that confidence for women. I think the pandemic has been profound for women who work full-time office-based jobs, since they were able to prove they can work effectively from home.
Which I think is incredible that now, finally, women are able to maybe manage that work/family life more and keep their careers instead of having to step down from their positions to start a family.
MORE FROM JEMMA: I love collaborating with other women and do believe that we need to work together if anyone resonates with this also, you can find me on:
“[Change] can mean no longer fitting in where you fit in before. [Change] can mean judgment from friends and family, and [change] can mean it may get really hard before it gets simple.”
Q: What are you passionate about?
A: My name is Jenn Fasano Holgerson. I am the owner of JFC, a business consulting firm for female entrepreneurs. I own and operate Babes in Business Long Island, a networking organization that hosts events, workshops, retreats, and more for women in business. My passion is simple; it’s to show women that anything is possible in their lives.
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: From my very first job experience all the way through my corporate career, and now in entrepreneurship, I have assisted women in not only looking and feeling confident and beautiful but also encouraging them to chase their desires and follow their own passions. I never went to college, but from the moment I graduated high school, I found myself in a leadership role. I always knew I was meant to lead people, but at a young age, I wasn’t quite sure where my strong desire to lead would take me. After having my second child in 2013, that high-demand career with long hours, travel, and rigid schedules started to just not work for me. Simultaneously, I stumbled across the network marketing industry and quickly saw I could follow my passion for leadership, which is what I recognize now as my entrepreneurial spirit. I actually got fired from my corporate job while building my side hustle in NWM, and it was the best thing that ever happened to me! It allowed me to follow my passions and help more people, all while being home with my kids and ultimately led me to where I am now.
Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?
A: One thing I have learned is that change is good. Although it can be scary, we can never grow unless we change. And change can mean a lot of things. It can mean no longer fitting in where you fit in before. It can mean judgment from friends and family, and it can mean it may get really hard before it gets simple. But it’s all worth it if, in the end, you show up as the best version of yourself!
Q: What does feminism mean to you? A: Feminism, to me, means being proud to be a leader and a woman. It means knowing that, as women, we are told to wear many hats, and we do, but it doesn’t mean we have to do it in angst. We can do it with pride and confidence. And do it on our own terms.
A fun fact about me: I ran the New York City Marathon in 2017.
“The most valuable thing I’ve learned in life is to never lose the lesson life teaches.”
Q: What are you passionate about?
A: I am passionate about living my best life, which includes helping others overcome life challenges, find hope and purpose, and doing all I can to support the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Whether I’m speaking to a specific group or at a national conference, my passion and determination is to inspire audiences to step beyond their limitations and guide them to discover the power within and redefine what personal success truly means in this adventure called: LIFE.
The harder question is how I got to this point.
Like most people, I have had some tragically sad challenges. The worst was in 2006, when my daughter Jena lost her battle with cystic fibrosis. It was then that my whole world changed. For a long time following that terrible day, it was hard to call up the strength to take action, to move forward, to take a chance at life. I had been taught to look for and find gratitude in each moment, but when my little girl “moved up” to heaven at the age of thirteen, there was nothing I could see or find other than my grief and pain. I felt I had no choice. But in time, I learned that every day, I get to choose how to live.
I believe in hope, in embracing the beauty in the broken. Life always presents us gifts, yet sometimes those gifts are brutally disguised as pain and suffering. My daughter once told me that pain is not a valid reason for stopping, so I continued on. I’ve taken many steps to get to a place where I can take charge of my life to become an award-winning author of two books: Beyond Breathing and See You at Sunset, a professional speaker, and a national advocate for The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. I’ve taken steps to stay happily married for twenty-eight years to my handsome husband Marc, and I’ve been blessed to watch my son marry the love of his life, which was the best day of mine.
Crisis, fear, and the anxiety of crumbling under life’s challenges have crossed my path so many times, I’ve learned that if I could change my attitude, my health, and my mental well-being, my life would ultimately change as well. Each challenge I faced in life taught me something more about myself and the world around me. Every decision I made, whether I was presented with a multitude of options, or no choices at all, changed who I am today.
Here’s the thing, somewhere deep in my soul, every journey and every obstacle I faced helped bring me to a place where I can feel calm among the chaos. Every day, I give thanks for a grateful soul, a mind that’s confident, and an open heart that’s compassionate.
That’s what I’m passionate about and want to share that with as many people who want to hear it.
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: My childhood was like most everyone else, complicated with drama, trauma, and not easily summed up as good or bad. I was a chubby middle child, diagnosed with dyslexia in 2nd grade, and my parents divorced while I was in the 8th grade. I lived in Germany with my great aunt when I was fourteen for a ‘cultural experience.’ I graduated from high school a year early and that same year, at age 16, I permanently moved out of my childhood house after an argument with my mother. I was pregnant before I got married and had two children before I was twenty-five. Both my children were born with a fatal genetic disease, cystic fibrosis, which currently has no cure. I’ve dealt with abandonment issues, weight issues, depression, and anxiety. All of which made me who I am today.
All our lives, all our stories, make us who we are, it’s up to us how we decide that value.
Q: What would you like others to learn from your story?
The most valuable thing I’ve learned in life is to never lose the lesson life teaches.
For all of my life, I’ve had a love of learning, and I’m pretty sure that’s why God, with his or her infinite wisdom and sense of humor, decided to fill the first half of my life with one crisis after another. Through all the trials and many errors, I’ve come to see that life’s challenges, including reaching midlife, doesn’t have to be a crisis.
Wouldn’t you agree that sometimes life can come at you fast and a sucker punch can land without any warning? I’ve been there. I get it. In a split second, you’re in the middle of life-changing choices, insurmountable obstacles, and heartbreaking hardships. It’s what you do with the lesson just presented to you that can change the path you’re on. Chances are, someone has been down that path before and can help guide you out, if you let them.
If by me sharing my painful and crazy life journey can reach out and touch your heart in even the smallest way possible, and help you deal with and let go of the crises and pain in your life, then I’ll feel my words and stories have a purpose beyond what they already hold for me.
My advice to you is to share your story, it could make all the difference in someone else’s life.
Q: What does feminism mean to you?
A: Feminism, to me, is an emotionally charged word, placing a person as ‘a feminist’ if they are for feminism or they are ‘a non-feminist’ against feminism. To me, this is divisive, and I’m not about labels, division, or exclusion as much as I am for united, equal, and collective for the common good of all civilization.
It’s was such a powerful and resurfaced word that Feminism was Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year for 2017.
Feminism, by definition, is equality of both sexes, but its common understanding is the passionate responsibility of the equality of women in the workforce, home, and political front. Its wave of enthusiastic ideology and emotion can cause more opposition than necessary.
For me, I’d instead focus on the constructive influence of women helping women. The underlying power that comes from a place of growth, humanity, and the ability to rise together while helping one another achieve each individual’s best possible life. The alliance of women reaching back and helping those who are struggling is where the real strength lies. Women being brave in adversity, sharing their story to help others, and using their voice against injustice is what I support. We, as women, can do so much to change the landscape of our future when we rise up, lean in, and stand tall without having to put down, degrade, or alienate any opposition that confronts the process of growth.
“I see so many people scared to embrace creativity, playfulness, or spontaneity. They fear embarrassment, humiliation, rejection, or failure. It is my wish to help people unplug from those fears…”
Q: What are you passionate about?
A: I can tell you that I am so passionate about living each day of my life sprinkled with creativity.
Every single “today” is a good day to learn something new, try something new, and create something new.
I find it interesting as I reflect back on my 45 years of living this life that my interests in marketing, graphic design, theatre, music, coaching, spirituality, and personal development all intertwine with each other, although it may seem like they don’t go together at all.
Somehow these interests bring me a great deal of joy, gratitude, and balance.
I do experience struggles just like everyone else does, yet I tend to look at those as opportunities I get to experience, learn from, and grow from.
My mantra is “Everything that happens is for my benefit.”
Like many other entrepreneurs, I had to make a pivot in 2020, that is when I began working with some amazing mentors and digging deep to identify how I could make money doing something I love.
I began producing plays online, hosted Zoom sessions with the actors, and streamed the plays on Facebook and YouTube.
Last year, we finally got back on stage for a live production of the Broadway musical “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.”
We had six nominations with Broadway World Los Angeles and went on to win Best Special Event. When I am not working on plays, I help entrepreneurs create marketing content, pitch decks, graphics, social media posts, swag, and banners for live events, video editing, and book publishing.
I also teach people how to use PowerPoint and Canva.
Q: What were your younger years like?
A: I was born in Utah and had many cousins growing up to play with.
My family and I moved to Southern California when I was eight, and that is when I met my best friend, Scott.
We have been pretending ever since; he is my theatre partner and he is the actor as I am more behind the scenes.
We loved sketch comedy shows like SNL and MadTV and would often put on our own skits for our friends and family.
I became a teenage mom in high school and stayed in school till I graduated. I took some vocational classes in video production while working in a movie theater.
When I was 19, Scott and I went to work at Disneyland in the character department. I enjoyed portraying Mikey Mouse for several years before I got myself a grown-up job in mortgage. That was the best job I ever had. It just didn’t pay a livable wage.
Q: What is something valuable you’d like others to know?
A: I’ve been told that when you are creating something you are connected to divinity.
I see so many people scared to embrace creativity, playfulness, or spontaneity. They fear embarrassment, humiliation, rejection, or failure.
It is my wish to help people unplug from those fears and hold a safe space for them to have the experience and joy that comes with creating something, making art, making music, writing a book, or anything else creative.
Q: What does feminism mean to you?
A: I can see this from a few different perspectives. I would like to think of feminism as being unapologetically myself, as a woman.
Loving myself unconditionally. Embracing what makes me a woman. Celebrating my body, my hormones, my emotions, my choices, what brings me peace, and what completes me.
Building communities with loving, wise, caring, nurturing women to heal and grow with.
I don’t see feminism as a way to tear down or exclude men, but I can see how some may interpret feminism that way.
