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

Jasmine, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

The most rewarding thing about working in the mental health space is that every speech has the potential to change someone’s life – and I take that really seriously. When you’re on stage, sometimes you make eye contact with a person in the audience and get to see it click for them in real-time… those moments are sacred to me.

In 2022, I spoke at one of my favorite community college conferences in Washington, DC. I remember walking off stage feeling pretty good about how all three of my sessions landed with the students. A few months later, one of those students reached out for permission to use a quote from my speech. What for? To write on his cap for graduation.

It meant so much to me. What a reminder of the impact, but also the responsibility, that comes with holding that mic.

Jasmine, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

You’ll most likely find me on stage speaking to thousands of college students, advocating for mental health, or tackling strategic communications for some of the largest organizations in the public and private sectors.

A lot of my work is focused on helping students and employees support each other as they navigate difficult life experiences. I also get to tap into my journalism and communications background to help other women break up with their fear of public speaking so their voices can be heard.

The work that I do can be sensitive and I’m proud that I’ve been trusted by audiences from Harvard, MIT, and the University of Alabama to Stanford Health and federal agencies. I’ve spoken in 28 states to more than 15,000 people, so I rack up frequent flier miles with the best of them!

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

When I was a freshman in college, I went through a really unexpected loss in my immediate family. I had just turned 18 years old and it was a lot to navigate on my own, especially being hundreds of miles away from home. Grief and mental health weren’t talked about then in the way that they are now, so I beat myself up a lot for how long it took me to “get back on track.”

It was hard to come to terms with the fact that I will never be back on the track I was on before. My life changed in a permanent, devastating way and I shouldn’t want to go back to who I was before that. It should change me.

There was no guidebook on how to deal with this; I woke up every day and built the plane as I was flying it because I didn’t have any other choice.

Now I’ve been able to work with audiences to help normalize grief and to change the way we talk about and approach mental health, especially for college students. It’s one of those rare moments where you almost get to go back in time – like I’m speaking to my college self in the audience and telling her what she didn’t know then.

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

I have to remind myself that it’s okay not to be the loudest voice in the room. I’ve never really been shy or at a loss for words, so holding the mic in any situation comes naturally to me.

I’m proud that I am always willing to speak up about things that aren’t right and drive change. But sometimes the most impactful way to do that is to empower someone else to use their voice instead of using my own. To step back and help create space where other people feel safe enough to step forward.

At this stage of my life and career, I’m really trying to lean more into that; be humble enough to lower your hand.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.JasmineCWilliams.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/MsJasmineCWilliams
• Linkedin: https://www.LinkedIn.com/in/JasmineCWilliams