Jen, please tell us a bit about yourself
I’m the managing director of Process Design Consultants, Inc, which is a training, development and coaching organization based in Toronto. I help organizations and individuals with critical thinking, change management, and people development.
I have a bit of a unique spin – I have a trauma informed lens. Even though I have all of the business critical thinking methodology behind me, I find that often addressing that trauma up front helps get the brain in a position where it can start making some really great business decisions.
Can you tell us what one achievement is, or an achievement that you feel particularly proud of?
I recently did some pro bono work with some Syrian refugees. They’re located in Turkey, and they’re looking at getting back into the job market. Traditionally, a job discussion would include how to do a resume and how to network and how to build a LinkedIn profile.
But in the case of folks who’ve been traumatized, by taking a trauma informed approach, it helps people get into that part of their brain where their nervous system is feeling calm. We don’t always acknowledge that we are really humans first, that we have to tackle, “this is making me feel really nervous”, or “this is triggering”, or fear.
The Syrian refugees, they’ve been displaced, they’re starting over, they’re having to learn new languages. And so that really needs to be a primary focus.
I also work with a lot of entrepreneurs. When they can tackle some of those fears and traumas and whatever else is holding them back, then they can get into that business headspace much more easily.
What’s one piece of advice you could offer others who would like to follow on your path?
Follow what you’re good at and let what is happening in your life inform your work.
The first time I was in training and development – when I was young, like in my 20s – I very much followed the book – “here’s how you’re a training person”, “here’s how you’re an organizational development person”.
Now I’m in my 50s. Now, I went through a divorce over COVID and said to myself, well, I’m getting through this, let’s start helping some other people through this. So I actually started doing some high net worth divorce coaching.
And I learned – like how I coach my clients – that as a business owner I can heal my own trauma through helping divorce clients heal their trauma.
Consider the most holistic an approach you can take, including some of those hard things that you’ve had happen to you. If you integrate that into your business, it will help you serve your clients in a much more wholehearted way, because you’re bringing your entire self and your entire lived experience to work.
So I would say, as women in business, don’t listen to that old patriarchal messaging, “Oh, you shouldn’t bring your whole self to this, don’t show emotion.” I think it’s actually the opposite. That can help make you really good in business and serve your clients well, and give you a competitive edge.
What’s kept you feeling really driven and motivated during the harder parts of your entrepreneurship?
Focusing on clients, and really getting back to, what is your why?
As an entrepreneur, there’s been a lot of accounting, dealing with the actual legal structure of the business, and that’s not really my wheelhouse. And so you can start feeling overwhelmed by some of those tasks that you don’t love.
I’ve outsourced as much of that as possible. For instance, I have an amazing heart-centered accountant who gets me and works with women entrepreneurs. Then for the pieces that I actually have to do myself, I try to always remember the why.
If I’m creating a piece for social media, it’s not about being in Canva. Doing graphic design, it’s about this is a way that allows me to connect with people who might need my services, whether that’s just it’s a motivational quote that helps them in their day, or they end up hiring me.
If you have that service-first mentality, I think that can help you through the hard part. I know it’s worked for me.
Was there a pivotal point?
For me, it’s been a little bit about serendipity.
I’ve been a travel agent, I’ve been an investment banker, I was a co-host on TV. I’ve done a lot of jobs but they all build to a certain point.
All of those – like divorce coaching – helps me really understand how trauma impacts the brain. I was dealing with these super-smart women making some financial choices around settlements. They needed to get that trauma piece addressed, people’s brains were just not there.
I find that I can draw from all of the work I’ve done earlier and I think that’s one of the beauties of being a midlife entrepreneur, is you just have all of these tools to draw on.
I used to do Myers Briggs work and Personality Typing work back when I was in my late 20s. I use that now to help teams make decisions. And so I find that going back over my resume, and thinking, “Oh, I can take this piece from this job and this piece from this job and this piece from my personal life”, and it allows you to build something that really serves other people.
Is there a message you’d like to share with other women entrepreneurs?
I think really recognizing your strengths again, you know, I’m Gen X, you know, I’m in my 50s,
I grew up at a time when we were really told that, to succeed in the business world, you had to be like a white man. And I’ve done a lot of my own work about internalized misogyny, and what the patriarchy does.
And, more and more, I’m convinced that we can bring a feminist leadership style that is very needed, empathy-first. It just seems like we’re going to look back at that business model one day and say, wow, you know, no wonder companies only had a 15-20 year life cycle.
I think women can really provide a leadership role around that. It’s not limited just simply to women or women-identifying, but non-patriarchal leadership.
I think a lot of women entrepreneurs can play a very active role, not only in their own businesses, but in bringing that same kind of thinking to other organizations.
I’ve certainly heard a lot of toxic tales.
Absolutely. I mean, working in investment banking in the 90s…. it was Wolf of Wall Street toxicity. It drove me out in the business world. It’s why I worked as a freelance writer while I pursued entrepreneurship.
But I’m actually feeling hopeful, and I think COVID has been a bit of a tipping point. There’s quiet quitting and the great resignation, there’s union activity, and there are more and more rumblings that – particularly among gen-Xers and millennials – they’re just not going to put up with it.
And so I think we’re at a point now where we can actually start to change organizations because they can’t find people who want to work for them. I think it’s a powerful time to say, “there is a new way of business!”
What made you join the Canadian Women’s Chamber of Commerce?
As an entrepreneur, it can be lonely.
I was joining all these entrepreneur organizations, but I was really missing that focus on women. A lot were that tech-bro culture, for lack of a better word.
I went to my first CanWCC meeting, and it just felt like a breath of fresh air. It was like all the books on my bookshelf and all the ideas in my head are being spoken by other people! I felt like I was home.
That really made me want to join and get involved. And every time there’s a meeting or a town hall, I just feel more and more hopeful about the state of the business world.
You know, not everyone is into extractive capitalism. There are people looking to have more of a regenerative model, a model where we can feel nurtured and supported.
I really find that mindset at the Canadian Women’s Chamber of Commerce. It doesn’t mean we don’t want to make money. I’m all for healthy profits. But you can do it in a way that isn’t so harmful.
There’s a way to have a great business, make money, give back, support people, and enrich the planet, and I really feel that that’s what most of the members in the Women’s Chamber of Commerce are trying to do.
How people can reach out to you, and who should?
I share lots of free content. I’m always researching new things and putting whatever I learn online.
If you are interested in people development, building out your team, if you’re struggling with strategic planning, or if you want to do it in a slightly different way, that’s where I come in.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length
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