Meet Jen Fitzgerald

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jen Fitzgerald a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jen, so happy to have you on the platform and I think our readers are in for a treat because you’ve got such an interesting story and so much insight and wisdom. So, let’s start with a topic that is relevant to everyone, regardless of industry etc. What do you do for self-care and how has it impacted you?

I have a confession to make. I absolutely love self help books! I’ve listened to dozens of them on Audible, and I meticulously take notes as I read them. There is so much to learn and implement! Although these books are helpful (hence self “help”), the books I found to be very helpful were fantasy novels. The dramatized versions of “A Court of Thorns and Roses” by Sara J Maas and “Fourth Wing” by Rebecca Yarros introduced me to the world of fantasy and gave me so much JOY to read! Those books were the self help books I didn’t know I needed as I had true fun reading them.

Besides listening to dramatized books on Audible, I get a facial once per month. Sure it’s a splurge, but it’s such fun to visit with my esthetician. I like visiting with her just as much as I love the facials themselves.

Although it’s a great endeavor to learn about ourselves and evolve throughout our life experiences, it’s also important to acknowledge when we need a break from evolving! What’s the point of evolving if we don’t appreciate the person we became in the process of evolving? So yes, strive to evolve, but don’t forget to appreciate the person you’ve evolved into!

Taking actual breaks via self-care (listening to audiobooks and getting facials in my case) enables us to reset and refresh. They key prefix here is “re.” It’s hard to be creative and evolve if we are stuck in the same daily patterns of life. We need to evolve by taking those breaks and doing activities that are truly fun to get us out of the ruts that inevitably come with adulthood. The point is not to complete tasks for the sake of completing them (i.e. checking boxes), but to use our time more intentionally. When I allow time for self-care and genuinely enjoy that time without thinking about responsibilities around work, I return to work feeling refreshed and inspired. It’s like when you take a break to go on a walk, come back, and all of the ideas flow to you.

All in all, when I prioritize self-care (which in my case, in synonymous with self-help), I return to work feeling energized and motivated. They key is to actually forget about work when partaking in self-care since the work will be there when you return from your fun.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

If I was to sum up my career thus far, I would tell you I’m a former Admissions Counselor turned Professional Speaker. My areas of expertise are in building relationships and career development. I created the following speeches and programs:

– FACE Framework (Familiarity, Authenticity, Curiosity, and Elasticity), which focuses on how to build relationships by applying concepts of friendship to networking.
– LIKE Lineation (Learn, Inform, Kindle, and Evolve), which tells the story of my career path as I encourage others to create a career path based on what they LIKE to do.

As a child, I used to stutter. One of my earliest memories is having a difficult time speaking to a teacher in preschool because of my stuttering. I went to speech therapy and modeling/acting classes to overcome this speech impediment. Speaking is my passion because there was a time I could not speak.

My dream has always been to be a Professional Speaker, so I launched my speaking business in 2024. I decided to speak on building relationships because it’s what I’ve always been good at, and I knew I could make a positive impact on others through sharing my knowledge. I am an extrovert who loves people! In my personal life, I’m the person who gathers friends together for hang outs and hosts parties. In my professional life as an Admissions Counselor, I boosted enrollment by over 300% because of my dedication to building relationships. I also speak on career development since I’ve read thousands of college applications and essays where I learned the dreams of students and guided them to choose a college to pursue those dreams. One of my life-defining moments was when I was choosing a career path, so I like to share my story and wisdom to inspire others.

When I wrote my college essay as a high school student, my concluding sentence stated I wanted to make the world a better place. As cliche as it may sound, it comes from a place of wholesome intentions. As a Professional Speaker, I am dedicated to making a positive impact on others through the power of my voice and the wisdom I share. My biggest hope is that my authentic stories and personable nature inspire others to think from a different perspective and take action to make the world a better place.

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?

I broke up with my high school sweetheart the day I graduated from college. One month later, his cousin was getting married in Colorado. I made the audacious decision to go to this wedding for many reasons:
– I love attending weddings and wanted to get ideas for my future wedding.
– One of my life goals is to visit all 50 states, and I had never been to Colorado before.
– I have friends from college who live in Colorado that I could visit while in town.
– My ex was not attending the wedding, so it wouldn’t be awkward to attend.

I RSVP’d YES! It was at that wedding that I met a high school counselor who was brainstorming my career path with me. She asked me a simple yet profound question that sincerely changed my life.

“What do you LIKE to do?!”

I told her I enjoy:
– Public speaking
– Traveling
– Event planning
– Counseling
– Working with high school students
From these answers, she told me I should be an Admissions Counselor because it combines everything I LIKE to do into one job!

For those of you who are early in your journey, think about what you LIKE to do, and act on that! Especially when it comes to careers, we focus on what we are familiar with. Your dad is a doctor? You should become a doctor! You loved your third grade teacher? You should become a third grade teacher! You like watching Rom Coms? You should become a journalist! The reality is that there are thousands of jobs out there that people don’t realize exist. For me, being an Admissions Counselor was that job, and I found fulfillment in a career I didn’t know existed! Considering what you LIKE to do in a career will narrow down your career search and give you purpose in a career you didn’t necessarily expect to pursue!

Once you narrow down what you LIKE to do, search your network for professionals to have informational interviews with. In other words, learn about the career path! These people can be found in your personal or professional networks… maybe the vice president of a club you founded, your neighbor from your first year of college, or the cashier at your weekly Trader Joe’s run can introduce you to a person they know who is on the career path you want. An informational interview I had in 2014 led to me getting hired for a job by that same person in 2024, so you never know where these interviews can lead you!

Something else that helped me stand out was creating a video resume! I drove to each internship location and had a friend record me discussing the company I worked for and the skills I built in each internship. This was one reason I got the job as an Admissions Counselor at one of the schools I worked for. Search “Jennifer Boucher Video Resume” on YouTube for the sample.

The beauty of a career is that it can change. We commonly think of changing careers as changing jobs, but people also change fields and industries. I pivoted to pursue a career as a Professional Speaker because I didn’t want time to get the best of me. I don’t want to look back 30 years from now and wonder what could have happened if I tried. Becoming a Professional Speaker was a voice of curiosity in the back of my head that I wanted to act on! I wanted to try this career in the present moment and see what happened… see what I am capable of as I continue to narrow down what I LIKE to do. Focusing on what you LIKE to do in a career leads to living a life that you LOVE! You spend over 40 years in a career. Might as well choose one (or a few) that you enjoy!

Do you think it’s better to go all in on our strengths or to try to be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in?

When I was in high school, I was on the water polo team. I remember my teammates and I were “egg beatering” in the pool when my coach gave us a pep talk. He said, “Don’t become good at what you’re bad at. Become great at what you’re good at.” This moment greatly resonated with me as I thought about how what you’re good at ties into what you’re passionate about.

There are very few activities I do not enjoy doing, and one of them is building furniture. All of the parts of different shapes and sizes, scattered across the floor, labeled with different letters and numbers drives me crazy! Could I build enough furniture to become good at it? Of course! With that said, I don’t see myself becoming great at it because the passion is not there. Passion is what differentiates you from becoming good versus great at something. You can become good at anything, but you can only become great at what you’re passionate about. Part of the reason behind this is the time you need to put into become great at something. They say it takes 10,000 hours to master a craft. Do you really want to spend 10,000 hours doing something you don’t enjoy… something you don’t LIKE to do?! Why invest your time and energy into something you don’t LIKE to do when you can be investing it in something you LIKE to do?

With that said, I’m all about having variety and versatility in life. I stimulate my mind in trivia, my inner artist via improv, and my body in yoga. I enjoy doing all of these activities even though they are all very different. I’m not encouraging you to focus on one activity. Instead, I’m encouraging you to focus on the activities you’re good at… the activities you’re most passionate about… therefore giving you feelings of purpose and fulfillment. Having variety and versatility in your life enables you to become great at a variety of activities that you’re good at.

Thank you to that water polo coach! I don’t think he realized how much of a positive impact he made on me!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jenfitzgeraldspeaks.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jenfitzgeraldspeaks/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenfitzgeraldspeaks/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@jenfitzgeraldspeaks
• Other: Innovation Women: https://speaker.innovationwomen.com/users/17380

Image Credits

Podium Photos: Brandon Vannier