We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jessica Thiefels. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jessica below.
Jessica, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
I get my resilience from both childhood traumas—and having to grow up at a very young age—and also all the work I’ve done in the last 10 years to heal from those traumas! Going through what I did made me strong, independent, confident, and determined. Healing from those experiences, on the other hand, helped me see that I can trust myself and that everything I’m going through is an experience to learn from, especially the hard stuff.
My mother also instilled in me from an early age the idea that I will always figure it out and land on my feet. Rather than getting stuck in what’s wrong or not working, I find myself focusing more on finding a solution and taking action.
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 have been doing content marketing for 13+ years—but in the Fall of 2023 I was no longer feeling fulfilled by the work. I realized that I loved doing content marketing, but I didn’t love the clients I was working with. I shifted my focus to supporting mental health and eating disorder recovery organizations and it’s been an incredible change for me.
I am deeply connected to the work as someone who’s been on my own mental health and eating disorder journey—and being able to “use my powers for good” as I like to say makes the work feel so rewarding.
I also rebranded my agency to Echeveria Organic in January of 2024, after owning my agency for 5.5 years, and everything feels so much more aligned and fulfilling.
In addition to my clients, I also provide pro bono services to two amazing eating disorder non-profits, SEA WAVES and Project HEAL.
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?
Intentionality: I had 6 jobs in 7 years before starting my business and I was doing that with purpose. In each new job, I was taking on new roles and responsibilities and learning new skills.
Variety: By moving to so many new jobs, I gained a massive and also very specific skillset that I now use to run a successful business. Of course, you don’t have to have a lot of jobs to do that, but putting yourself in situations to learn and grow is key.
Mental health and personal development: By working on my mental health and investing in coaching and therapy, I unlearned so many rules or norms that most people think they need to follow. That gives me the space to make my OWN path based on what I truly desire.
We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?
As a business owner, I think it’s so smart to go all in on your strengths but also what you truly enjoy. I believe a lot of my business success is because of how focused I am. I’m not a generalized digital marketing agency, I’m a content strategy agency for mental health champions. That focus is great for me and my clients. I understand them and this work 100%, which also leads to better results.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.echeveriaorganic.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jessicathiefels/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicathiefels
