Today we’d like to introduce you to Jenni Grover

Hi Jenni, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?

I’ve always been a creative person… I believe we’re ALL born innately creative, but I was lucky enough to not have that impulse squashed in childhood.

As a kid, I lived in my imagination. I grew up with a tumultuous home life, and turned to creative expression to cope. I wrote my first novella around the age of 12, taught myself to embroider (I covered my clothes in cute animals), and excelled in all things crafty at school and in Girl Scouts.

In high school, I realized I wanted to use my love of writing to help others, and began studying journalism. I was co-editor of my school paper and frequently got in trouble for writing stories that told the truth about life as a teenager in Houston; I was passionate about helping people share their own stories.

I became a journalist, publishing hundreds of articles in numerous outlets. But fibromyalgia showed up when I was 25, severely limiting me physically and kicking off an ongoing experience of self-advocacy.

Eventually I started my own communications firm so I could have the flexibility to manage my health while still working, and the independence suited my rebellious nature; I’ve stayed self-employed since 2002.

My journalism evolved alongside my advocacy work; as my symptoms worsened, I learned many tricks and mindset shifts that helped, and I wanted to share them. In 2004, I created ChronicBabe, a website/social media/consulting/professional speaking venture that lasted 16 years. Through that work I touched the lives of tens of thousands of people with chronic pain and illness, and those who love them. I even published my first book, ChronicBabe 101: How to Craft an Incredible Life Beyond Illness.

But by 2019, I was burned out on advocacy work. It’s tough to live in a body that’s sick AND advocate for others. I decided I wanted to take my love of creativity and desire to help others and become a life coach.

In 2020, I started training as a wellness coach for makers, achieving multiple certifications. I’ve since worked with numerous clients; given many online and in-person lectures and workshops; and offered a handful of courses, all with a focus on using creativity to heal ourselves physically, emotionally, socially, creatively and spiritually.

Today, my coaching business is solid and I’m just starting new work as a coach trainer through Coach Training EDU.

Through it all, my creative work has provided an outlet and coping mechanism. I make quilts, zines, jewelry, and food. I garden, growing native perennials, vegetables and herbs to share with friends and neighbors. I embrace my weirdness and stay rebellious. It’s a good life.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?

I listed a few previously, but here are some again, with a little more detail:

Getting diagnosed with fibromyalgia at the age of 25 — in 1997 — was brutal. It took a string of doctors to confirm the diagnosis, and people didn’t know what to do with me; at that time, almost no one was diagnosing young people with the condition, which causes chronic pain, fatigue, brain fog, digestive issues, sensory problems, and many more symptoms. I felt so alone with my condition. I tried attending support groups, but was LITERALLY laughed out of one because, as one man there said, I was “too young and fit to be sick.” He didn’t know I looked fit because I had lost 30 pounds in 30 days with no apparent reason. He didn’t feel the pain that wracked my body. It was a horribly lonely, disempowering experience. Creating ChronicBabe was my way of coping with the diagnosis and the lifestyle I had to create for myself in order to keep working while tending to my needs.

Another bump in the road was discovering in 2018 that I had developed alcoholism. My family has a rich history of addiction, but I thought it had passed me by. It took my a year to seek help, and when I approached my therapist about it at first, she said I had “dodged a huge bullet” by getting sober before my alcoholism progressed further. As a Buddhist, I’m lucky to have found Recovery Dharma, a Buddhist recovery program that is in full alignment with my spiritual path. I’m now six years sober, and I believe my creativity has flourished because of that work.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?

I began quilting in 2014 with the help of a friend, and it took over my life. My passion is what I call “hyperscrappy maximalist” quilts, using alllllll the colors, patterns and textures. I love to sew by machine or by hand, to follow existing patterns and to create my own.

My passions for journalism and quilting have blended numerous times, mainly through freelance writing gigs with Quiltfolk and Quiltmaker magazines as well as a series of wellness articles for the mega-popular quilting site SuzyQuilts.com.

I love empowering my coaching clients to pursue their craft, and my own creative work generates tons of examples I can use to teach folks how to be healthier creatively.

It’s my quilting work that really spawned my interest in wellness coaching, in fact… I recognized that quilting was making me healthier in numerous ways:
– Lots of physical movement during pressing, cutting, and sewing together fabric
– Joy of working with every color, texture and pattern
– Intellectual challenges of designing my own quilts, interpreting others’ patterns, and figuring out complex “quilt math”
– Social benefits of being in a quilt guild (I was president of the Chicago Modern Quilt Guild 2020-2021, and am currently on its board)
– Professional opportunities to lecture and teach in the quilting world
– Emotional growth from using quilts to process my grief and anger about my upbringing
… and so many more!

I’ve had two quilts hang in shows, and my latest quilt, Alive #2, won two awards and will travel the country in 2024 to be seen by thousands of viewers.

If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?

Growing up, I was an exuberant, curious, justice-oriented kid. I loved to get wild and raucous, and involve other kids in my shenanigans. I loved meeting new people and learning things. And when I saw wrong in the world (like a kid picking on another kid with disabilities, for example), I always stepped in to stop it.

I got in trouble a good bit — ha! But I also had a lot of fun.

Living in an abusive family means there’s a lot of my childhood that’s blank in my memory. I’ve worked with a cognitive behavioral therapist for decades, and a trauma therapist for about 2.5 years, to heal some of the PTSD, anxiety and depression that I live with today.

And while the abuse and neglect I experienced were horrendous, I recognize that I had innate resilience that saved me, and I’ve worked hard to grow that resilience further… and teach others how to do the same.

Today, I keep a photo of myself, at around 4 years old, hanging in my home studio. Seeing her reminds me why I keep doing hard work, and why I teach others to heal their inner child. Seeing her cute face and rainbow outfit motivates me to keep going on my hardest days.

Pricing:

• $120/session for wellness coaching
• $39-$79 for my online courses
• $400+ for online and in-person lectures on creativity and wellness

Contact Info:

• Website: https://coachjennigrover.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coachjennigrover/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/coachjennigrover
• Other: https://podmatch.com/guestdetailpreview/coachjennigrover

Image Credits

Photos by Alix Kramer