Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Justine Triunfo. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Justine, appreciate you joining us today. Naming anything – including a business – is so hard. Right? What’s the story behind how you came up with the name of your brand?

The name of my business is a play on my own name! My name is Justine Triunfo and the first three letters of both names kinda sounds like a sentence: ‘Jus Tri” sounds like “just try” therefore, Jus Tri Help. I’ve played with my name in other words like, “Jus Write Tine” and “Jus Tri It”. Shortly after starting my business, I realized that running a business is nothing short of self-discovery and self-actualization. Everything about my business is an extension of who I am, from the business name to the brand colors to the logo (which I drew and on my social media posts, I often use my handwriting).

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I began my entrepreneurial journey almost by accident, but to understand how it all started, we need to rewind about a decade. In 2008, I hesitated to pursue a writing degree and ultimately chose education. My original plan was to become a teacher, yet I never had the opportunity to manage my own classroom. Between 2012 and 2021, I worked various roles, including a teacher’s aide, substitute teacher, assistant manager at a tutoring center, and a volunteer ESL teacher for adult students.

I also held positions as a service coordinator in New York City and an administrative assistant in Pennsylvania. I had a couple stints at a popular bookstore and a grocery store, as well as organizing weekend getaways for youth groups. Then, in 2020, I ventured into entrepreneurship as a virtual assistant because my friend suggested it . However, this was not the final evolution of my business. In July 2023, I decided to explore coaching, specifically focusing on creative expression coaching.

But what is creative expression coaching? Well, if you’ve ever uttered the words, “Oh, I could never do that,” in my presence, chances are I responded with, “Why not? And how can I assist you in achieving it?” As your creative expression coach, I serve as your senseless cheerleader, boosting your confidence to pursue all your aspirations.

You see, I spent a decade neglecting my passions and desires, avoiding risks because it worried my parents, and prioritizing everyone else’s time over my own because, sure, I technically had the time. For ten years, I battled feelings of shame and inadequacy. However, these emotions led me to grapple with and answer every existential question imaginable. Ultimately, I reached the conclusion that during all those times I believed I wasn’t being true to myself–as the writer, educator, and helper I aspired to be–I actually was. Now, I embrace my true self with confidence, courage, and conscientiousness, which naturally influences my friend and colleagues.

In my role as your creative expression coach, I guide you through the kind of personal development work that therapists typically don’t assign. While self-development is ultimately a journey you must undertake, it doesn’t have to be a solitary one. I personally experienced the transformative power of community during my own journey, and I couldn’t have discovered my true self or learned to love who I am today without the support of the people I’ve met over the years. I’m telling you, I’m gonna be your loudest cheerleader, happy to watch you shine from the sidelines.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

Perhaps because I am first a writer and therefore a reader but I believe that if you limit yourself to one genre of books, you’re not learning as much as you could. I’ve learned so much about business from books that aren’t about business. In fact, I read “Maid: Hard Work, Low Pay, and a Mother’s Will to Survive” at the same time I read “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”, and while the former was not explicitly about business, it did show me the consequences of what living out the latter is like on millions of everyday people.

With that said, here is my list of books across genres and what they helped me with:

(Non-Fiction – essay)
– Professional Troublemaker by Luvvie Ajayi Jones (self-confidence)
– Wait: A Love Letter to Those in Despair by Cuong Lu (moving through and with grief)
– Sorry I’m Late, I Didn’t Want to Come: An Introvert’s Year of Living Dangerously by Jessica Pan (purposefully stepping out of your comfort zone)
– Feminism is for Everybody by bell hooks (an overview of the values that undergird my business)
– The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters by Priya Parker (networking)
– Atomic Habits: An Easy & Proven Way to Build Good Habits & Break Bad Ones by James Clear (practical tips for personal progression)
– Breakup Bootcamp: The Science of Rewiring Your Heart by Amy Chan (practicing self-affirmation)
– The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (the legalities of transparency and the importance of intersectional feminisim)

Fiction
– Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng (family is complicated but they are still family)
– Poison for Breakfast by Lemony Snicket (thoughtful, melancholy, and funny)
– Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree (trusting in yourself and your community)
– The Stationery Shop by Marjan Kamali (the consequences of our actions carry through generations but everything seems to turn out all right in the end)

From Tidy Books’ blog, “For those who read fiction often, being compassionate and kind to others is a far easier task. That’s because reading fiction improves the parts of your brain associated with empathy and caring. This is because the act of reading fiction inherently puts you into someone else’s perspective and allows you to empathize with the feelings of another – even if it’s a fictional character! Practicing these kinds of skills make it more likely that you’ll behave compassionately and empathetically in your daily life.”

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

It took a while, but I’ve finally accepted that life is nonlinear.

Perhaps I watched too many movies as a child but I was under the impression that one went to school, graduated, got a job, started a family, got a house, and while I was not thrilled with the order, I was happy to try to achieve that dream. In that order.

This came to a head for me last year when I decided to move across the country from New Jersey to California. It was supposed to be a one month trial but September turned to December, turned into May, turned into today. I’m still here and nearly all of it has been a surprise. This move has revealed how much of myself I was holding back because I felt it was the appropriate punishment for not getting things done in order. In the last year, I’ve had to redefine success multiple times. I’ve had to interact with strangers if I wanted any friends. I had to reprioritize financial decisions so that each choice came from a place of abundance instead of scarcity.

The inability to adhere to a linear timeline did not mean I was unworthy of a nonlinear one and by sharing this revelation, I’ve met so many people whose lives were far from linear.

From my guest post on Embrace Change, “Letting go of expectations revealed that I was really hanging on too tight to what I was ‘supposed to do’.

“Being a teacher with my own classroom wouldn’t have been any more ‘secure’ than working as I do now as a virtual assistant. Working all the random jobs revealed to me sooner that no one else’s life is linear. We’re all insecure, and we will take every personality test available (here’s Embrace Change’s leadership styles quiz if you’re interested!).

“Believing in myself had been difficult because I believed I was meant to do one thing and pinned all my value and hope onto that. The moment (and there were several) I believed I could do anything so long as I tried and could face anything that came my way, my value became intrinsic, that is to say, I accepted external validation without depending on it. I trusted when people complimented me instead of being worried I was deceiving them. I wasn’t ashamed to share my story. I was happy to share all my mistakes and was always pleasantly surprised when someone resonated with my story.

“And now I’m able to keep telling everyone how great I am–how much I believed in myself–because I’ve seen how it encourages them to do the same: to believe in themselves.”

Contact Info:

• Website: https://justrihelp.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justrihelp