Meet Jennifer Zenner Clark

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jennifer Zenner Clark a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jennifer, we are so deeply grateful to you for opening up about your journey with mental health in the hops that it can help someone who might be going through something similar. Can you talk to us about your mental health journey and how you overcame or persisted despite any issues? For readers, please note this is not medical advice, we are not doctors, you should always consult professionals for advice and that this is merely one person sharing their story and experience.

I love this question, because when people meet me today, they see the positive things I have done with my life. The ones who were there two decades ago know what it used to be like.

I’m a childhood trauma survivor and have CPTSD. Because of this by the time I was done having my fourth child (I had my first at 15 years old), it was clear that I needed help with chronic depression as well as a 12 step program for the alcohol I was using to numb myself.

I got sober when I was 31 years old after spending 90 days in an in-patient treatment facility, and how my life was going to play out after that was entirely up to me.

That was 15 years ago and today I am still a grateful, recovering alcoholic.

I’ve never looked at myself as a victim, but I do realize why a lot of people take the easy way or feel defeated; healing from trauma is hard. Really hard.

The way I started (one day at a time as we say in recovery), was to listen. Listen to what I needed. Listen to what behaviors I needed to change and what boundaries I needed to set. I also needed to work every day to learn that I deserved to be happy.

For me, building self-worth and having a voice were two of the biggest holes I’ve had to dig out of, and today I get to reap the rewards for all of the blood, sweat and tears that go along with healing from such a place.

I always loved yoga because it was very parallel to the changes I was making in my life to stay sober, so I became a teacher. Then a few years later I opened my own yoga business. Over the ten years I ran my studio I made it my mission to help other people heal by using the tools that yoga gives us and I mentored many, many people who made a great life for themselves.

I realized I loved running a business so much that I opened a second one. This time a coffee shop! I realized that this was still a way to serve my community in the way that gives me purpose, but it is definitely easier to talk people into coffee than it is yoga!

My main goal today is to continue to grow and listen to what makes me happy, even if it involves making hard decisions. I’ve never done it alone. I always have my own mentors, sponsors, therapists, like-minded friends… whatever it takes, and I’m extremely grateful for every day.

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 spend most of my time staying on the creative side of my businesses while I prepare for my two youngest children to leave for college. My husband just retired after 26 years in the Army, and we’re entering a new season of our life together.

My focus will always be to water the grass we walk on, and so we appreciate all the support we get at Olde Town Coffee shop which is inclusive, and a champion for donating to the community.

We are open every single day from 6am-6pm, and have mobile ordering, delivery, drive-through, and of course a place to sit with your friends and loved ones as you nurture your own connections in your life.

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

Trusting my intuition has been key in my happiness. I don’t question it anymore and I’ve come to rely on it in every area of my life.

Listening to the small things that were easy helped me get comfortable in trusting this. Then the bigger things came easier.

I don’t have a fear of being judged anymore, and this is directly related to working on my self-worth. Daily affirmations, talking in the mirror, and rejecting the imposter syndrome voice knowing that it was lying.

Keeping my leadership skills fine-tuned is important for me. I finished college when I turned 40, because learning how to run a business the best way I could was important to me. Everything I’ve learned in my sobriety, therapy, and yoga has helped me manage people as a leader, sharing tools that may help with their own personal development, and also making sure they feel valued and safe to come to me.

Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?

Reading and learning about my traumas and how to overcome them has been critical to where I am today.

Some big ones that I still recommend to others are ‘Co-Dependant no more by Melody Beattie’, “Healing the child within by Charles L. Whitfield’, and “the great work or your life by Stephen cope”.

Learning about boundaries was my first step in separating who I was from who others wanted me to be, or what kind of baggage I would take on that wasn’t even mine to worry about. Once I learned who Jennifer really was, I was able to understand that my purpose in life could change. That my goals could change, what I wanted could change, and that I was/am brave enough to create a life that I can be content in.

Contact Info:

• Website: oldetowncoffeeshop@gmail.com
• Youtube: Zenner Yoga & Healing for free yoga videos
• Other: Coffee shop address:

  105 S. Santa Fe Avenue
  Fountain, CO 80817