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

Hi Jazmin, thanks for joining us today. Can you share an important lesson you learned in a prior job that’s helped you in your career afterwards?

I worked in youth development for most of my career and at the time, I was running a leadership program for middle school, Black and Latinx youth on the south and west sides of Chicago. The goal was to incorporate youth voice in the decisions that elected officials and school leaders make that impact young people, particularly as it pertained to issues of safety and violence in their neighborhoods.

My role was to help students develop and present policy recommendations, based on research and on their lived experiences, to their alderman. We would meet after school, and one day, I had a session planned out to the “T” and pretty packed too because we were getting ready for a big meeting coming up that the students would lead. That day, it was clear that the students were fatigued from school and had low energy. Being from the same neighborhood as them, I could relate to many of their lived experiences and so I also held them to a high standard because they really were such incredible leaders in the community. Being on what felt like a tight schedule, I encouraged them to push through so that we could work on their presentations. At the end of the day, there was little progress made. After some deep reflection, and coaching from my supervisor, I realized how much students just really needed breaks and space to do some self care. The whole program was about addressing issues in our communities, which many times requires mental health and community care conversations, yet I got so caught up in the work, that I lost sight of the opportunity to take this as a teaching moment. So for the next session, I created a workshop for students to learn about mental health and set up different stations that explore strategies to navigate stress. After 2 weeks this whole experience actually became part of the policy recommendations that they presented to the alderman, focused on the importance of SEL skill development as a way to address issues of violence in the community.

I learned a lot about myself in that experience. I can become very driven and dedicated to the work, and lose sight of the importance of slowing down, listening to your body, and giving it what it needs in that moment. That’s something that I still work on each day and one of the big reasons why I am a health and wellness content creator and coach. We can get carried away with the day to day, sometimes in survival mode, so when we have a plan, we may feel like we need to stick to precisely that. For me, I’m comfortable with a plan because it’s predictable and gives me a sense of security. But because we’re human, and life is life, the plans we create may not actually be what we need in that moment and so it’s important that we practice letting go, getting comfortable with the uncomfortable, being curious of the opportunities that are present, and trusting in a new vision even if it was unplanned or even if the outcomes are unknown because ultimately, there is always a lesson we may need to learn in that moment and something great that will come out of it.

Jazmin, 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?

I value mobilizing others to embrace their holistic selves & take action towards more aligned and empowering changes. My name is pronounced in Spanish as “Yahsz-meen”, but I’m happy with “Jaz” or “Yaz.”

As First-Gen, daughter to Mexican immigrant parents, my experience growing up in Gage Park, on the southwest side of Chicago, exposed me to the importance of community and working hard. I was always pretty keen and sensitive to the socio-economic issues around me, but felt pretty helpless in feeling like I could help solve these big problems. Getting involved in school helped me get out of my shell. The more I got involved in the community, I felt like my voice mattered. After studying sociology in college, I worked in youth development so that I can support students in feeling that sense of empowerment and in taking action to impact their schools and communities in meaningful ways. While I’m still passionate about supporting youth, my work now focuses on data and evaluations in the nonprofit capacity building space, particularly prioritizing small Black and Latine -led organizations. I have a deep commitment to social, economic, & racial justice for BIPOC communities, and at the heart, I love mobilizing others to embrace their holistic selves & take action towards more aligned and empowering changes. I love all things health & wellness, and inspiring others to explore their version of that for themselves.

I am a student of self-love, and an empathy-driven leader. I practice and preach showing up authentically and being more intentional in how we show up for ourselves and others. I believe that authentic and reciprocal relationships surface our power within, so I love bringing people together and exploring ideas on how to take concrete steps towards what they envision for themselves & their communities. I create social media content about my health and wellness journey, which currently includes yoga, caretaking my 75+ plants, strength training, salsa dancing, getting out of my comfort zone, meeting new people, testing out simple and healthy food recipes, and connecting with other community-centered content creators in the city. I’m most proud of consistently showing up for myself, staying curious, and taking action even when I don’t know what the outcomes might be, and I want to continue supporting others in exploring what that looks like for them.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

After my parents split up, my dad and I had a gradual falling out. He was going through his own journey and bumps on the road, and ultimately we didn’t have a relationship for a few years. As years went by, I often wondered if we would ever speak again. At some point I realized I wasn’t living a life that was aligned to me. I was partying in ways that was starting to get pretty risky and after a bad car accident, I knew I had to make some shifts. I sought spiritual guidance and the guidance I received was that I needed to reconnect with my dad. I sought therapy to support me in the process because I knew I had years of suppressed emotions around the situation and would have to work up my way to be able to withstand the overwhelm I knew I would experience seeing my dad again. Ultimately, therapy prepared me to reach out to him and we reconnected. Since then I actually continue therapy because I see it as a form of general maintenance for my wellbeing, and it has helped me practice better communication and learn how to make decisions that are more aligned with me, in addition to helping my overall generational trauma and inner child healing journey. I want to say that I’m not afraid to share my emotions and have difficult conversations with others anymore, but the truth is, that it still feels scary. The key difference is that I do it scared and I have all the confidence in knowing that it will turn out okay.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I have always been very involved in community and movement building. I am still so deeply passionate about working towards a more equitable and human-centered world, each day, but I no longer put all of that weight on my shoulders. I’ve had to learn to set healthy boundaries because while the valid emotions of anger, grief, and concern for our world and the people in it is important, I’ve had to learn where my boundaries are with that so that I can still live a life that is fulfilling and that allows me to pour into others after my cup is full.

I’ve had to unlearn that the world around me or my environment needs to be a certain way in order for me to be happy. I’ve had practice unapologetically leaning into joy and truly knowing that everyone has a different role to play and that it’s okay for mine to be what it is, and that it’s okay for it to shift as well.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yazzy_yayy
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jazminocampo11/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@yazzy_yayy
• TikTok: @yazzy_yayy

Image Credits

Karla Montiel Photography