Meet Jasmine Whisonant

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jasmine Whisonant. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jasmine below.

Jasmine, so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.

Growing up, especially having undiagnosed autism, my self esteem was buried deep in the ground. I could never put my finger on why my internal echo was set to a replay of, “Jasmine you’re not like everyone else, try to fit in. It wasn’t until what I call my “post college adulthood” that my confidence began to materialize. I was still so young and under supported after graduating that my adulthood then was actually codependent in nature. However, a few years after, I finally stopped playing the role to fit in the box and instead believed that I could actually thrive more genuinely outside of the box! The action needed after that revelation was to actually get out of that box and let me tell you, it was a challenge but once I did; my self esteem was through the roof! By the age of 29 I made a desperate return to my truest, most unmasked self and it gave me wings I didn’t think I could grow! I now trust my intellect, physical ability, my lived experiences and acquired knowledge to be all I need to become my most actualized self.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I’ve been in hospitality for almost 8 years! There have been days I didn’t think I’d make it through my shift, as well as days I couldn’t imagine I’d be doing anything else with my life! However, there is more for me outside of customer service. After discovering my autism spectrum disorder diagnosis in early 2024 my heart for helping people grew 10,000 times stronger. Helping people has always been my superpower but wanting to help “all people” was too broad. I realized my voice, my services, my time and energy will be best spent helping bipoc women living with autism and ADHD. Those are my people. They are my clients that make labor rewarding! So while I’m still working in hospitality leadership, I’m gathering my community to provide resources, support and encouragement to launch my coaching program in 2025!

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Time management, endurance and
research are three key skills I will always need to become my best self and they are skills that can help anyone. These skills usually come with more challenges for neurodivergent individuals. I’m about to give you free basic life coaching for each skill (it works for both neurodivergent people and neurotypical)

1. Time Management:
Instead of having this soft schedule you allow to float in your mind to reference throughout the day, you need to write your schedule down. Using the hour block works well. After you prioritize your daily tasks, assign them to the free hour slots in your day. If tasks take longer than an hour, you can account for that! This is budgeting your day down to the moment you lay your head on your pillow. Take this schedule and put it in multiple places: frequently visited places and places that are BAM right in your face.
2. Endurance:
(Not hyper focus on a special interest) Doing things we don’t like to do is often the bridge to the thing we actually want to do. For someone who has autism this can seem impossible. However in order to be successful we will absolutely have to expose ourselves to stimuli that’s difficult to process. Start self guided exposure therapy, it is a great way to build endurance. Practice the art of not giving up no matter what it feels like, sounds like or looks like because your success is in the consistency!

3. Research:
It takes quite a bit of mental fortitude to research however for my neurobaddies that have learning disabilities ie: dyslexia, you don’t have to read thousands of articles to research. There are so many certified professionals on YouTube! Look them up. The key to research is layering and building. Don’t take the first layer of information you engage with and run, instead, layer more information on top of the information you collected until you have enough to build a complete framework. Once you have that frame work, you can began to take action on what you learned!

You can start a business, learn how to style your own hair, paint, dance, you name it! Whatever we are willing to take time on, endure and research are areas of full possibility to master!

Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?

Can I say, “my man my man my man” in this interview? My boyfriend has given me the full reset that I needed to carry out my destiny. Even before knowing I had autism, he single handedly loved me in a way that I could show up 100% myself and not be judged. The whole world is who I try to give my best to day in and day out and he is included in that, but at the end of my day when I don’t have any energy to give to anyone; he’s here to pour back into me what I poured out. When you have a partner that doesn’t need your best self 100% of the time just YOU, it means you’ve found your soul mate. He takes on things so that I can actually relax my mind and when my mind is relaxed, I become the most creative! He gives me space to live out my passion of helping others and it takes a next level measure of selflessness to do that!

Contact Info:

• Other: TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@jasmine.m.whisona

Image Credits

Jasmine Whisonant