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

Elise, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you come up with the idea for your business?

Ella’s House was born out of my own college experience. Finding out you’re unexpectedly pregnant always comes with big emotions, but as a 21-year-old Senior at Auburn University, I was absolutely terrified. Facing your final year of college pregnant isn’t easy and I didn’t know anyone who had previously navigated the journey of motherhood while pursuing a degree. While I had a great support system of family and friends, I longed for community and support from women in similar life circumstances. Five years after graduating from Auburn, Ella’s House was created! We are a residential nonprofit that offers housing, community and mental health and wellness support to the pregnant and parenting students in Nashville. My Co-Founder and Director of Operations, Susan, and I took six months to research what support was available to pregnant and parenting student moms both here in Nashville and Nation-wide. We found that while many colleges have great intentions, they aren’t structurally set up to support these women who total more than 30,000 moms. Few nonprofits in the nation are anything like Ella’s House so the past year has been a lot of adjusting, adapting, and learning what works best. What excited me most about this idea was having a place for women to come together and find non-judgmental support, lifelong friendships, and confidence in themselves. We love seeing women achieve their goals and follow their dreams.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Yes! My name is Elise Jenkins and I grew up here in Nashville, Tennessee. I grew up very close with my family. I have one older brother who now lives in New York and is an actor and I now work with my mom, Susan, who is our Director of Operations . I attended Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama, and originally went in with the intent of becoming a Psychologist, but quickly decided that it wasn’t a great fit for my skill set and changed my degree to Human Development and Family Studies. My senior year at Auburn I found out I was pregnant with my then long distance boyfriend, Zach. I was so overwhelmed and shocked, to be quite honest. As a young child, I was diagnosed with leukemia, and had been told from the age of 11 on that I would never be able to have biological children, so finding out I was pregnant, was truly the surprise of a lifetime. Both my family and Zach were so supportive and My daughter, Ella Rae, was born 10 days after I graduated. Zach and I ended up getting married a year and a half later and I am now the proud mom of two little ones, a Nonprofit Director, and very avid reader!

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

As a business owner, oftentimes there are tough conversations and it’s not possible to please everyone. Growing up as a people pleaser, I always prided myself on “keeping the peace” and “making others happy”. Stepping into the role of Executive Director was a huge opportunity for personal growth as I learned to shed some of my people pleasing tendencies. I have learned to rely on my board and staff for support and feedback as we make tricky calls and navigate what we call “crunchy conversations”. The nonprofit space feels especially tough some days because all of our staff is a part of Ella’s House because they love people and our mission–having these days where we have to set firm boundaries, navigate difficult conversations, and turn criticism and critiques into growth strategies often goes against our initial tendencies, but has been instrumental in continuing to grow our nonprofit.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

Our social media was built really organically and I’m so happy to see the growth we’ve had the past year. While we originally used a marketing firm to help us with our socials–we quickly felt our social media was impersonal and generic. After turning over the reins to a seasoned staff member, we’ve seen incredible growth in both our following and engagement. It’s been pivotal for us to keep an eye on trends and social media algorithms while continuing to push content that is authentic, raw, and shows our supporters an “inside glance” into daily happenings.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ellashouse.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ellashouseorg/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ellashouseorg

Image Credits
Heather Flokstra