We recently connected with Briona Jenkins and have shared our conversation below.

Briona, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s start with the story of your mission. What should we know?

I started Briona Jenkins Consulting as a way to help those in need during a time when we were all unsure about what was next, in June 2020, at the height of the COVID Pandemic.

As a person who was encouraged to help others and take up space, my mission is all about helping others do the same.

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?

Briona Jenkins Consulting strives to help organizations and companies become more accessible, diverse, equitable, and inclusive, to help nonprofit organizations with their fundraising and marketing goals, and to share my story as a way of encouraging others to see the power in theirs.

My background in activism, social work, and public speaking has equipped me with the ability to teach and impact in a way that is inviting yet challenging.

Over the last two years, I have been able to help dozens of companies with their DEI initiatives from hosting bookclubs to facilitating workshops. I have been able to help several nonprofit organizations with their fundraising and marketing goals, helping them to collectively raise over $40,000. I have also had the opportunity to share stories not only on my podcast, The Tea with Bri, but also on BARE by Giddy as their Ausitn-based interviewer.

I think a major reason why I have seen so much success is because I treat every client with the utmost respect. My business flourishes by word of mouth and connection and so my clients are the ones who keep me in business. I make it a point to make myself as available as possible to my clients, to create a personal experience for them, and to welcome any and all feedback.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I am very fortunate to be connected to some amazing people whose values truly align with me. During June of 2020, I had a friend of mine reach out and ask if I would be on a virtual panel with her, her husband, and his co-star (from the television show, Supernatural). She told me that they were going to have a virtual event with three black activists and she was hoping that I would join because she had already suggested me and they wanted me on. So I did that first event and the recording now has over 403,000 views (between youtube and Instagram). I was also asked to do a #ShareTheMic with Austin Woman’s Magazine and my friend Gen let me take over her Instagram for a day and those two conversations now have over 113,000 views. I was also able to work with Planned Parenthood, that summer, teaching their high school students how to advocate for themselves at the doctor, and lastly, I was able to help a friend and her nonprofit with some fundraising help they needed. So all of this work led to people finding out who I am and then loving what I post on my feed.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I believe my whole life is a story of resilience. I developed an eating disorder when I was twelve, my mother passed when I was fifteen, and my dad and I stopped talking from the time I was eighteen until recently and I am thirty-two now. My journey has been all about, as my friend Charley’s dad says, “Surviving in advance.” I have worked many of side jobs to support my dream projects, worked full time jobs I didn’t like because I knew they would get me to the jobs I would, I have set strong boundaries with a lot of people. Also living in America as a Black, queer (meaning I date all genders), woman I have had to do with all of the -ism’s and -ogny’s imaginable.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.brionajenkins.com/consulting
• Instagram: @brionajenkins
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brionajjenkins/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brionajenkins/
• Twitter: @brionajenkins

Image Credits
Black and White – Cody Kinsfather – https://www.kinsfather.com/ Photos of me in the black shirt – Gaby Deimeke – https://www.gabydeimeke.com/ Photo of me with afro – Shelby Sorrel – https://www.shelbysorrel.com/