Today we’d like to introduce you to Jill Reed

Hi Jill, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.

I’m from a very small town where pine forests stretch for days, peanuts grow like weeds, and hams cure the old fashioned way, in vintage smokehouses. There’s a paper mill that employs half the county and on any given day you can smell all the smells associated with these things. I had a fairly typical small town experience growing up, lots of fun, little supervision. There have been several moments that have changed my course.
1. Leave your comfort zone. While in undergrad, I lived in Australia for a semester, met a Scotsman who would become my best friend, and committed to global travel after graduation. I dropped the script and spent a year traveling with him, mostly Asia and South Pacific – lived and worked in New Zealand a bit and then moved back to Virginia.
2. Find and keep mentors. While working in admissions and higher education administration, I took a masters in education and met an awesome professor who gave me a job on her federal grant and paid for my doctorate.
3. Be your true self. I repeatedly told my mom that I didn’t want to get married, but I found myself engaged and she encouraged me to give my dying father a wedding. It lasted less than a year because I was in love with a woman, my absolute soulmate.
4. Always do what feels right. Believe it or not, there were people that tried to talk me out of it, but when our friends started looking for a surrogate, I volunteered to carry. You have no idea the good you can do and the strength you have, until you try.
5. Take chances, life is short. My father died rather unexpectedly when I was 31 and my mother died very unexpectedly when I was 38 and a mom of two very small children. One of the last things I remember hearing my father say was “I should have done this, I should have done that.” I swore I wouldn’t let that be me. So, with two boys and four dogs, we sold our farm and moved to Costa Rica. Don’t be afraid to reinvent.

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?

There’s been a lot of loss in my life. The hardest for me, because we were such adversaries, was when my mother fell terminally ill unexpectedly. At first, my brother and I traded nights in her hospital room freezing our asses off for two months. My wife’s mother came to help with our toddlers. Someone needed to be with my mom at all times. We just didn’t know what was going on. We were dealing with radiology oncology, surgical oncology, thoracic surgery, nutrition consultants, occupational therapy. It was beyond intense.
After a brief stay in palliative, I took the reins. We transported her by ambulance to my farm. Professional nurses covered 12 hours and her friends and I covered the other 12. Day in and day out. She couldn’t breathe, she couldn’t eat, she was so confused. She was there, but just didn’t know what to do with herself. Caring for her in this time required immense focus and the ability to filter out the noise. I needed to be a mom to my littles, a wife to my wife, a caregiver on our farm, a small business owner and I was doing a training certification.
Time with terminally ill patients has no definition. It’s like being in a casino. And time on the outside is still normal. It was a weird balance. After they’re gone, you will question absolutely everything you did, every moment, every decision. If I’m honest, I am still processing that time in my life.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?

I live in Costa Rica and am a licensed full time realtor with expertise in marketing, social media, and international properties. I love helping clients buy and sell in paradise. With a background in research and education, I seek to provide value above and beyond by guiding my clients through the Costa Rica real estate process, arming them with the tools and intelligence required to make smart decisions and get to the finish line. Locally, my focus is on developing relationships throughout my network in order to provide my sphere with the most comprehensive coverage that doesn’t end at close. As a certified personal trainer and coach, my side hustle employs my passion for wellness and education. I recently co-authored a children’s book on breathwork and created a mindfulness course that will open for enrollment on The Family Enrichment Hub in the coming months. I’m very excited about helping busy families learn how to incorporate mindfulness into their daily lives.

What makes you happy?

The ocean makes me happy.
1. Salt water cures everything, whether it’s tears or ocean water.
2. Just float. Lying there, in the sea, relaxed, rolling, feeling the embrace. You feel accepted unconditionally and you realize your smallness.
3. Underwater. All the noise goes away. It’s just you, your thoughts and a world that looks different every single time.
4. Cyclical. Everywhere you look by the ocean you can see evidence of cycles. Ebbs and flows. The water moves, the sand moves, the rocks move. It’s endless and it doesn’t care if you’

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jillreedgroup.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/beachcombinghomes/
• Twitter: https://x.com/jclaireva
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCIf_Hij-YTvqUjvXJ43Q_Ow