Meet Jessica Zenteno

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

Hi Jessica , thank you so much for joining us today. There are so many topics we could discuss, but perhaps one of the most relevant is empathy because it’s at the core of great leadership and so we’d love to hear about how you developed your empathy?
Some conditions that allowed me to develop empathy include my upbringing as well as emancipating myself at the young age of 16. Through those experiences, as challenging as they were , I developed a bigger heart and awareness as the empath that I am. Those life lessons could turn anyone sour but they did the opposite for me. I learned gratitude and appreciation for what I did have. I also feel being the oldest sibling of 3 and now a mother has also shaped me into the person I am today.

As child I always recall having “BIG” feelings. I always felt a sense of compassion toward animals and others early on. I felt very empathetic and intuitive to what I felt but what’s others felt too.

Some thing that allowed me to develop an even deeper sense of empathy would definitely have to include my upbringing as an eldest sibling of three as well as emancipating myself at the young age of 16. Through those experiences, as challenging as they were , I developed a bigger heart and awareness to the world around me, more profound and purposeful than when I was a child . I saw first hand what it was like growing up In a society where your just another statistic as a child to a single mother , Fighting through broken social service, health and educational systems. It was hard but it taught me a lot and how to have more empathy for those that had it even worse than me. I new it needed change. That’s how I knew helping people was always IT for me.

Those life lessons could turn anyone bitter or afraid but they did the opposite for me. I believe you aren’t your circumstances and your circumstances don’t have define you or who your becoming. I learned deeper sense of gratitude as well as strengthening in my faith and appreciation for what I did have and felt comfort in helping others when I could how I knew how to best.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

Last year in 2023, I decided I wanted to put less focus and effort into my entrepreneurial journey. I wanted to go back to school after 10 years. Since I had been in the nursing field previously to becoming a self employed entrepreneur, I thought following my gut to achieve my degree in kinesiology to become a life long dream of a chiropractor to be best fit, I’m not necessarily giving up on that dream but I have a new more soul called mission and vision.

Quickly into my first few semesters back into college, I felt called to pivot within my major and the work I felt called to do. It wasn’t my gut this time, it was my heart. I changed my majors to Social and Behavioral sciences focusing on our community, social activism and Holistic mental health and wellness advocacy.

I’m currently apart of a Wonderful internship program Cohort #3, at Riverside City college called Community Action Leadership Academy lead by Dr. Parissa Clark whom I have am truly blessed to have met and cross paths with.

There students can make various impacts through different non profit organizations helping the community around them while earning an income and it not feeling that they can’t give back due to thinking it could highly interfere personal life and school.

I was raised in riverside and came back as an adult and plan to stay to help the less fortunate, underserved and marginalized communities.

While my dream in 2023 was to grow with my community and network l, this year 2024, I plan to be apart of a bigger project that will lead to more resources for those in need here in the city. Along with that, I am welcoming my last child in May and looking forward to slowing a down a bit this summer from all my hard work while loving on my family.

I look forward to hit the ground running in the fall as that is my anticipated graduation time. After that, I look forward to transferring to a UC/UC for my undergrad.

When I’m not with my family , or working at the counseling office at RCC or my internship, I also dedicate time to making non toxic candles as well as sell ethically sourced crystals.

Ocassionally , I will see a few clients 1:1 to work on energy healing through various healing modalities as well as with somatic practices to help restore emotions and energy. I enjoy going on hikes with my family and I’m a sucker for good music.

I look forward to meeting some amazing people this year as well as connecting with new non profit organizations and growing in my educational journey.

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 would say that my quality in being resilient , my skill of being a people person and my expertise and knowledge in allopathic holistic medicine have allowed me to have the most impactful journey thus far.

For those early into this beautiful journey we call life, I’d recommend to never loose sight of your WHY. Remember everyday why your doing what your doing and who your doing it for and the impacts of how that will be in the future. Keep on empowering yourself though education, show up authentically and be who you say you are. Ways to develop and improve on self empowerment skills would be to practice them, get in the mirror if you need to and recite some affirmations and remember your progress lies in your daily habits and routine. If you aren’t genuinely happy with where your at, start there. Also, enjoy the ups and downs of the journey , nothing is perfect , you get yo choose how you show up for yourself and the world around you. Don’t give up! Love on your people as much as possible and give back when you can.

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?

This year I am looking forward on collaborating with more non profit Businesses that are centered around housing, food insecurity and spreading education and awareness of it all.

I want to be connected with people who recognize the big heart I have and what I plan to do with it, as well as having big visions and aspirations of their own. look forward to building my personal website this year as well, as I’d like to highlight all that I do and how i do it and adding a discovery call or chat option to be able to speak with prospective Clients, Businesses , Colleges and Organizations.

Contact Info:

Suggest a Story: BoldJourney is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
Resilience
Where do you get your resilience from?

Resilience is often the x-factor that differentiates between mild and wild success. The stories of

Productivity
Beating Burnout

Often the key to having massive impact is the ability to keep going when others

Leadership Development
Finding Your Why

Not knowing why you are going wherever it is that you are going sounds silly,