Meet Jennifer Murcin

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

Jennifer , we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.

In the heart of my home sits an heirloom vintage trunk with a patina that has stories to tell. It’s filled with love notes, decorated with my colorful tiny handwriting and red hearts on every page. Since I was little, I have always been rooted in the brilliance of relationships, of hope, and the belief that all of us are infinite in our capacity to love. As a reminder, I wear the word “love” in ink on my right ring finger. Even in the face of life’s challenges, I remain a rebellious optimist, but those who know me well see the gritty advocate side, too. Growing up, the humanitarian part of me struggled to see so much suffering in the world and asked the universal question, “What could one do about it?”

In other words, how could I actually be the change I wished to see in the world? With my desire to optimize my skill set and do a bit of trailblazing, I chose Social Work as my career path and completed my MSW at the University of Denver. Although I planned to practice medical Social Work long-term, my plans quickly changed after receiving my own novel medical news. Lupus would change the trajectory of my life, but I knew that refining my lifestyle holistically would be part of the antidote. It gave me agency over how well I could feel and also connected me to a collective of people that valued health like I did. This was 2011, and I had already lived a nontoxic lifestyle for a decade, improving my health in real time. So as I navigated this new health challenge and took a career hiatus, I tailored my nontoxic living habits even more to optimize my health.

I knew based on environmental medicine and strong science that the evidence was irrefutable—I knew that my health and my environment were connected. Over the next several years, I continued to practice what I call the fourth pillar of health, or the health of the home. This pillar sits right next to exercise, sleep, and nutrition. It is a bespoke practice of reducing exposures to chemicals, heavy metals, and EMF’s in order to improve health outcomes.

At 37, I became a mother, and everything changed once more. It was here that my practice of nontoxic living was transformed into a new palpable purpose. All along, I had been reducing my exposure to toxins as preventative medicine for myself, but now while nesting and preparing for the arrival of my son I realized there was a breadth of nontoxic lack of regulation that I had not known about. Not only had I invested my energy into how nontoxic choices affect our health and our communities directly, but becoming a mother opened my eyes to the fact that our children are not protected either. I knew that my son deserved the best from me and from the world around him, so in the few and far between hours that he slept, I researched the safest products that would protect us both.

I came to understand that in all that we do, consume, and buy we are still exposing ourselves and our children to harmful toxins. And we are doing so with the most trusted staple items to raise our babies. The time with my infant son was the most exquisitely beautiful time and also a time that challenged me and my knowledge of the nontoxic industry. This shift in my identity paved the trailblazing path for Artisan Home Health to be born with its mission of helping people discover safer options to use at home. If the regulatory agencies are not protecting us then it was clear that I needed to become that guide for others, showing how to protect and prioritize health for ourselves and our loved ones at home.

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?

As the founder of Artisan Home Health (AHH) I see my role as an artisan of integrative nontoxic living. I look at the home as a blueprint for health by assessing all that we do, consume, and buy. I believe that clean living is possible with the right approach, mindset, and roadmap. People often ask me, “Well, what toxins do you focus on?” And what I tell them is that there are 3 main categories of toxicants to focus on at home and that AHH prioritizes—chemicals (such as pesticides), heavy metals (such as lead), and EMF’s (or radiation). By reducing exposure to these in our home and lifestyle, we can optimize our health and the health of our loved ones.

In designing Blueprints for Nontoxic Living, I use a system that distills each client’s goals for their home into an actionable plan. These Blueprints can include up to 5 main detox areas in the home—the kitchen, personal care products, nursery & children’s items, textiles and clothing, and the complete home interior. You can think of this practice as preventative interior medicine, which is why I refer to it holistically as the fourth pillar of health. In creating this business, I believed there was a gap in the marketplace for health and for modern nontoxic living. I didn’t understand why more people weren’t talking about this lifestyle in an integrative way.
If you focus on your nutrition but it’s not from a clean source, then the risk of exposure to toxins is higher. If you prioritize exercise but aren’t aware of the toxins you’re surrounding yourself with, then this is also a lost opportunity for your health. If you’re challenged by chronic illness but your environment is compounding your symptoms and outcomes, then there’s a pivotal change that needs to be made.

What I have come to understand is that there are not sufficient regulatory agencies protecting us from the things we bring into our homes. There is a false sense of safety for consumers and so my wish is to collectively demand better guardrails and make safer options accessible to everyone. I believe that having choices for nontoxic living is a birthright and can be offered in small but impactful ways because everyone should have the right to clean air, clean water, and a safe home.

As a mother I know that giving the gift of health is especially important for our children. In this work it is my hope that we promote transparency in products, advocate for better public health, and create a kindred community together. Modern nontoxic living is about making simple and accessible changes every day. Any strides in this direction are celebrated ten-fold. Being curious about this pillar of health shows that you care about your quality of life, our planet, and what we leave for the generations who come after us. It is a lifestyle that serves as a mirror for what we value, and the power to lead full, purposeful, and healthy lives is in our hands. Whether you’re someone who is health-conscious, a new parent, or someone who is living with chronic illness, we can design a curated Blueprint for Nontoxic Living specific to where you are on your wellness journey. This work is a spark of hope in what can otherwise feel like an overwhelming process. Together, we can make one small change at a time, improve our health, and create a rallying cry for safer options in the marketplace. Small changes do matter, and I walk this path with rebellious hope for our future.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

Service: One core quality that has been integral to my personal and professional journey is service. Service is the primary ethical principle of Social Work, as it seeks to help people in need and address social problems. Over the years, I’ve had the privilege of being of service to people from all walks of life, from newborns to the elderly and in mental health settings to palliative care. In these settings, I witnessed the boundless capacity for human beings to show up authentically, to be present with one another, and to value health as one of the most precious commodities in the human experience. I continue to be drawn to the gritty and forgotten places that are in need, where resources are thin and people are being impacted by industry choices that poorly impact health. So, with Artisan Home Health, the act of service has been actualized for this purpose. The work of nontoxic living and how our environment impacts our health is circular. It is how social justice became part of the fabric of AHH because this work is not only in service to our individual health but in service to the collective health and safety of everyone around us.

Collaboration: Artisan Home Health places relationships as the foundation for all that follows. So, it’s no surprise that collaboration is the second key quality that guides all that I do. Since our collective health is at the forefront of all that I teach, it is important that people understand that working together is what creates the biggest impact. Just by making cleaner choices in what we bring into our homes and lifestyle we make a bigger difference than we may realize. By choosing products and habits that protect our own health we are also voting with our dollars, voting for cleaner products over harmful ones. This then lessens the demand for the production of products that directly impact the health of communities living with harmful industry practices. It promotes the development of safer options in the marketplace for everyone to access and preserves our communities. So, in collaborating with clients to curate a signature Blueprint for their homes, we are creating a ripple effect of change—clients choosing nontoxic living are inherently choosing sustainability and a bit of environmental and social justice. It is through collaboration that we can impact the most lives and I’m grateful to be able to live out that truth and share how nontoxic living and social justice are connected.

Resilience: It’s truly spectacular how resilient we are as human beings, both in relationships and in our capacity to heal. Our resiliency in health is shown by our ability to detox certain chemicals in a matter of hours! In this work, I get to be part of lessening peoples’ exposure to environmental toxins and, most importantly, seeding the outcomes for better health. Resiliency is a quality that defines Artisan Home Health through and through. Not only have I created a business around this tenant, but I have lived it. As someone who knows what it’s like to be on a healing path, I recognize that we must do so with compassion and kinship. Individuals who embark on this nontoxic journey may just be starting out or have already been reducing their body burden over many years. They may be fighting chronic illness or are a new parent and need to know that they are not alone but in community. This is a no-judgment practice and one in which we are working together so we can learn how to expand our collective health efforts in a way that benefits us all. Ultimately, this is a path that reinforces how resiliency is an inherent superpower of all of ours because, as humans, we are designed to heal.

Is there a particular challenge you are currently facing?

Shortly after launching Artisan Home Health, I was met with a surprise challenge. Based on where I do consultations location-wise, I assumed that many of my clients were already living a nontoxic lifestyle on some scale, and they knew about the benefits and what it could mean for their lives, but this was not the case. Naiveté had presented me with a golden opportunity—there was an opportunity to educate people about what nontoxic living can look like; that it can be practical and affordable; and that by practicing this fourth pillar of health, people could invest in their long-term health outcomes.

I believe integrative nontoxic living is a critical pillar of health that is often missing in the health and wellness sector. If we truly want to focus on human health, we must use a critical eye in looking at what is actually safe for ourselves, our loved ones, and our home; that is what I am educating and teaching my audience about now.

It’s my role, as a guide, to show the power that lies in investing in one’s health because it is the most important investment you can make. Our well-being is gold! As Artisan Home Health continues to grow, I hope I will continue to inspire more and more people to join me in this transformative approach to health and be a part of the change that they wish to see in the world. Together, we can and we will ask for safer nontoxic options to be more accessible to all, and we will celebrate our health together as a collective and as a community.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://artisanhome.co
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artisanhomehealth/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/artisanhomehealth
• Other: Pinterest:
  https://www.pinterest.com/jenniferslmurcin/