Meet Jenna D’annunzio

We recently connected with Jenna D’annunzio and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jenna, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?

Picture an 11 year old girl coming to her father asking if she can live with him because life at home with mom is THAT bad. She is surrounded by drugs and alcohol, often left alone to cook her own meals and take care of herself.

I was that girl. At 11, I had had enough. I knew that the environment I was being raised in wasn’t a healthy one. I had reached that point in my life where I could witness my friends homes and how their parents were treating them, how their families interacted with one another, creating both physical and psychological safety for one another.

Everyone has ‘their story,’ each unique, each important, each leaving lasting impacts on how we show up in the world. Up until recently, I’ve always felt pretty desensitized by my own. When most people hear details of my childhood, I get sad puppy dog eyes staring back at me, sometimes even tears, and oddly enough, I end up comforting the listener. It always felt weird, either like pity or I was asking for sympathy. I didn’t want pity. I didn’t want people to feel bad for me. I didn’t need their sympathy. I recognized that my mother was doing the best she could with what she had, and also recognized that I had a choice to either continue being in that space, or request a different one.

It wasn’t until some deep dive soul work and great coaching came into my life that I began to see and understand the stories I’d been telling myself. There is a duality between having a crappy childhood and still being strong. There is duality in the truly awful, traumatic events that happen to us and the happy, go-lucky moments the innocence of childhood can bring. Our personalities are created through a series of taught belief systems and good old-fashioned genetics, nature, AND nurture. What I have come to learn is that there are two types of people in this world: those who become products of their learned beliefs, taking them as whole truths in how to be in the world, and those who take those experiences and memories and lean into how not to be.

I guess I’m the latter.

The teenage years brought about their challenges; as my father built his business and new family, I leaned heavily into friends and their families, which made me feel at home. I rarely saw either of my parents and put all my time and energy into building a social tribe through school activities and sports, all the while paying close attention to my father lean into his unique entrepreneurial journey.

They say there’s something special about your relationship with you your firstborn. You grew up alongside them. When it comes to my dad, we have a very special and unique bond. I remember the days where he bounced from job to job, selling basements, or delivering pizzas. I experienced his days as a ‘starving musician’ playing gigs here and there to put food on the table. From his devotion and dedication to make sure that his family was taken care of, I learned to do the same. From his dedication and declaration to his own personal development and achievements, I strived to uncover the same within myself. I watched him pour himself into books, journals and experiences that would support his transformational shift from the mentality of “this isn’t happening to me, this is happening for me” and was left in awe. Having witnessed his ability to overcome adversity and build a thriving, successful coaching business, I decided I was ready to take the leap of faith and do the same. I felt emotionally ready to transform and transfer my clinical skills into the coaching arena, to start the journey of what it looks like to be the greatest expression of ME and who I want to be and help others to do the same. This was when I asked if he had a place for me within the company. The universe works in amazing ways, and the timing couldn’t have been any more perfect.

I dedicate my foundational core belief of a strong, creative and determined work ethic to him. I dedicate my desire and strive to navigating what it looks like to build a business and a life that I love, to his modeling of doing the same.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I am a holistic business and mindset coach and best-selling author, helping entrepreneurs and busy parents (like myself!) build a life and business they love. I am is the proud co-owner of Mission Driven Advisor and Soul Purpose Institute – two coaching companies founded by my father, that help align clients with achieving their goals, maximizing their potential, and navigating what it looks like to lean into the happiest, healthiest and wealthiest versions of themselves.

I started out in the academia world, working as a teacher for at risk youth in a non-secure detention through Rochester City School District’s Youth and Justice Program. After several years supporting each student in their school lessons, my deep rooted empathic sense, masterful communication skills and person-centered approach to each individual student was recognized and I was recruited to work in the case management side of the organization. It was there I learned and understood the importance and impact each individual story has on what it looks like to truly build a life YOU want. During this part of my professional journey, I received a Masters in Clinical Psychology with a specialization in counseling.

After 6 years in the nonprofit space, I felt called to the entrepreneurial journey by making an even bigger impact on generations to come. In 2015 she took a leap of faith and joined my dad in the family coaching business where I became an ICF Certified Professional Coach, using my backgrounds in Education, Clinical Psychology and Counseling to facilitate others in integrating all the roles they play into becoming the best versions of themselves, both in business and in life.

With my 15 years of experience as a counselor and coach, in combination with my expertise in holistic business management, I really strive to empower her clients to harness their unique abilities, lean into the greatest expression of who they truly want to be and identify and overcome any barriers to success. I love people, so with my keen empathetic sense, masterful communication skills, and overall love for others and their success, I really focus on the whole person; who we are anywhere is who we are everywhere.

I am beyond thrilled to announce that I am a featured co-author on the International Best-Selling Book Series by success coach Jim Britt, Cracking The Rich Code, coming out in November 2024! Endorsed by Tony Robbins himself, with a foreword by Brian Tracy, I am joined by 20 other thought leaders from around the world who share their profound experiences in what it truly means to ‘crack the rich code.’

Outside of running my business, I love spending time with my amazingly supportive husband and our three wild and crazy kids. We sing, we dance and love to have fun together. I am an avid reader, and a diehard Buffalo Bills fan and when I’m not coaching/running the business, you can catch me on the lacrosse fields and/or dance studio with stars in my eyes, watching and cheering on my sweet kiddos do what they love.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Grit & Resiliency – as I’ve shared, these innate qualities and skills that I strive to harness on a daily basis have been a foundational turning point in my life and in my career. It is a choice to not fall prey to the fixed mindset and energizing all of the reasons something can’t or won’t work out but rather choosing to lean into a growth mindset, a resilience that allows us to stay focused and determined to bounce back from failures, setbacks and/or barriers to happiness and success. Out of survival, I held on to a state of resilience, however by choice I choose every day to stay as focused as possible on being the very best version of myself by creating favorable conditions for success in ALL areas of my life, integrating all the roles I play; mother, wife, friend, colleague, business owner, coach, doula, etc.! The entrepreneurial journey, though it can often feel lonely, doesn’t have to be. Find your tribe and hold on tight. Setbacks are inevitable AND lean into seeing the opportunities rather than obstacles. This journey is one of constant learning, evaluating and assessing what’s working and what’s not, while keeping the purpose of your business close to our heart, driving you forward!

Stay Curious – being a business owner, we take risks. It’s vital for our success, yet I never said that was easy. We don’t know what we don’t know, however, by being able to shift our discontent to curiosity, we give ourselves the ability to stay in the creative stream of consciousness where the possibilities are endless. It’s EASY to get bogged down by the shoulda, woulda, couldas. It’s hard to lean into the curious, creative side of this isn’t happening TO me this is happening FOR me, therefore…how can I create favorable conditions for success?

Adaptability – like I previously mentioned, the fourth limit to knowledge is that we don’t know what we don’t know. Due to emerging technology and AI, the world is changing faster than ever before. As a business owner, what got you to where you are today, won’t get you to where you want to go. This takes a consistent new level of skills and adaptability to the every changing external factors around us. We can either accept or reject the reality of what is, and I strongly invite all of my clients to lean into acceptance, it’s much more useful in their growth and evolution!

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?

One challenge, though as exciting as it is, is identifying strategies to scale and what it looks like to transition into my own identity of power within the company. I am now a proud co-owner, however our initial lead generation business model did not involve social media marketing/networking. In this age of technology, I am currently in the process of building out a business marketing plan that includes myself as a face of the company, creating evolving content that allows for me to carry out the legacy of our impactful company, while also growing it to new lengths!

I have hired a coach to support the evolution of my growth mindset and also engaging with a branding and digital marketing company to help create a strategic marketing plan moving into the new year!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://missiondrivenadvisor.com
• Instagram: jenna_dannunzio3
• Facebook: Jenna D’Annunzio
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/ jenna-d-annunzio
• Twitter: @jennadkerber

Image Credits

Katie Cassera Photography
Barnum Films
Lisa Whalen Photography