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

Jennifer, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. How did you come up with the idea for your business?

I spent 15 years as a TV reporter and honestly, I never imagined a career beyond that. Reporting was my dream. But around 2016, I realized I was ready for a new challenge. My favorite part of reporting was the storytelling and in a world with non-stop live shots, there were fewer and fewer assignments that allowed me to find and tell great stories. The negativity of news was starting to take a toll and the job’s scheduling requirements didn’t allow me to live the kind of life I wanted as a mother of two. I knew I needed a change, but I had to start from scratch to figure out what that would look like.

A dear friend who had already made the leap to the corporate world referred me to her company when they were looking for storytellers to help with blogs, articles, and speeches and that’s when I discovered just how important storytelling is in the business world and how much I could bring to the table. That was a turning point in my career – because I not only realized I had a very valuable skill to offer; it’s also when I realized that while I was ready to walk away from news, there was a way to continue doing the storytelling that I love. I founded my company, Jennifer Davis Media Group, and haven’t looked back.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I specialize in strategic communications, thought leadership and storytelling. My business started with people giving me story ideas and asking for help writing memorable written content or producing engaging videos and podcasts. As I got to know my clients, I’d offer suggestions and ideas for content and approaches and soon people started bringing me into the process earlier to help drive strategy and ideas. I really love that part of the process and my business has grown in lots of new and exciting ways from that.

Today I do executive communication coaching and help clients craft their internal and external communication strategies, prep for media interviews and build executive presence. I provide content – blogs, social media, podcasts, and videos. I also help leaders translate their skills and communicate their own leadership story as they’re making a pivot, looking for a new job, starting their own business or wanting a new challenge or promotion. I work with a great variety of smart and talented people, and I love what I do.

Now, share some insights with us on what brings people to you, who you help and how.

Most people come to me when they hit a frustration point – they’re not connecting in the way they want to with colleagues, clients, media and more. They’re excelling at all parts of their job – except how they communicate. Many are told to increase their executive presence, showcase more confidence, or better communicate their organization’s story or their own leadership story and they don’t know how to best do that. Or they want and need to be putting content into the world and don’t have the time or interest to do it on their own. Together we work on all of that – focusing on practical, real-world strategies and tools to evolve skills, mindsets, and habits.

Through the years I’ve also discovered that most people have an especially hard time telling their own leadership stories – they don’t want to seem like they’re bragging and they’re not sure how to share what they’ve done or define its impact beyond listing titles and a few bullet points. Your leadership story is so incredibly important though. It’s not about feeding your ego. It’s about sharing thought leadership, building strong networks, inspiring trust in your teams and talent, fueling your own career trajectory and driving clear, productive business. So, I started offering what I call ‘Digital Makeovers.’ I interview clients and use that information to create or overhaul LinkedIn profiles, corporate and board bios, CVs and more. It’s another form of storytelling that makes a big difference in leaders’ lives.

I love the a-ha moment clients have when they stop criticizing themselves for falling short with their communication and realize they just need to learn tools and strategies and practice them. It’s incredibly rewarding to help people find their confidence, connect better with others, be more concise, share their stories, nail media interviews and more. The surprising thing to me is – I’m having as much fun – if not more – in this second chapter of my career as I did in the first and it’s definitely more rewarding and fulfilling.

Do you have multiple revenue streams – if so, can you talk to us about those streams and how your developed them?

My business does have more than one revenue stream because in addition to running my own company, I am COO, Director of Strategy and Executive Writer at Laura Evans Media (LEM), a progressive PR agency based in Washington, D.C. Like many entrepreneurs, I find the joy of owning my own business comes in the flexibility to create my own daily schedule, take off when I want and need to for mom duties or vacation and for the ability to say YES to a variety of interesting and fulfilling work.
At LEM, my duties involve helping the incredibly talented founder, Laura Evans, drive strategy and content for clients, lead media trainings, write content, conduct digital makeovers and more. LEM is a remote company. We have people working all over the country and it’s a collaborative and collective model of work so everyone has their own business in one form or another AND works together through LEM. It’s a modern approach to work and I’m so grateful to be a part of it. I get to collaborate with other incredibly talented communication professionals on a daily and weekly basis and having those connections is wonderful. The publicity work we do at LEM is also solely focused on change makers and it’s a joy to focus on telling positive stories after having to tell negative ones so much in my news career.

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

So many! I constantly share books, podcasts, TEDTalks and more with clients to build on concepts and strategies we talk about together and I’ve always got a ton I’m working through myself. Here are some of my favorites:
‘What Got You Here Won’t Get You There’ by Marshall Goldsmith and the follow up book on women’s leadership – by Goldsmith and Sally Helgesen – ‘How Women Rise.’ These books are an excellent way to pinpoint and understand not only ‘what’ you’re doing as a leader and communicator but ‘why,’ which is a very important first step to successfully create new habits that will advance your career, impact, and connections.

I’m a big fan of anything by author Adam Grant and his book – ‘Think Again – is a very important one for any leader who wants to better understand imposter syndrome and reframe it to find the positives for themselves and their talent.

I love what body language expert Vanessa Van Edwards at Science of People puts out in the world. I consistently find her newsletter spot on with its communication advice and both of her books – ‘Captivate’ and ‘Cues’ – break down a lot of concepts with real-world advice backed by research that my clients find especially helpful.
Finally – The Mel Robbins Podcast is a great resource to broaden your perspective, build new and better habits and challenge yourself to grow. I rarely miss an episode and every client I’ve sent an episode to becomes an instant fan.

Contact Info:

• Website: jenniferdavismedia.com
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/jenniferdavisdc/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/JenniferDavisDC