Hello there.
I'm glad you've stopped by to visit the BRAND-NEW, ABSOLUTELY GORGEOUS website for Jendo Creative, my freelance writing business. My best friend since high school and graphic design wizard, Laine Carlsness of Broadsheet Design, made this site the beauty that it is. Thank you, Laine. Your skills are mad and your guidance, as always, is spot-on. I am grateful beyond measure.
As this site will tell you, I am a story teller. So, I thought I'd launch this puppy with my own story.
My writing career began at Arizona State University as a public relations major in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. Between my college graduation in 2003 and September 2012, I held three full-time marketing and communications positions throughout the Phoenix area. All three of my jobs were for nonprofits, and my last position as a senior communications manager for the ASU Foundation was heavily focused on development and fundraising writing. During this time I married the love of my life and had two beautiful children. Life as a full-time working mom successfully climbing the career ladder was busy. It was too busy for me. I was stressed, exhausted and missing my kids.
In the summer of 2012, my husband had a huge opportunity to apply for a software engineering position in Seattle, a city more than 1,400 miles away from all of our family and friends (my husband and I are both ASU grads and Arizona natives). The thought of raising two young children without our entire support system nearby was terrifying. But it also meant that I would be able to stay home with my kiddos, which was something I had longed for ever since my first child was born. This move would finally make that dream feasible. So I took a deep breath and told my husband to go for it.
Three months later we packed up and moved.
It was massive change. We embraced it, and we thrived.
I always knew I would return to writing, and in 2014 I started Jendo Creative. Here's a little note on the name. Jendo is a combination of my first name (Jen), my middle initial (d) and the first initial of my maiden name (o). I first came up with it in college as a computer accounts username. Someone I worked with at the time commented that it sounded like it meant "the way of Jen." That wasn't my original intent but I loved it, and it seemed just right for my freelance business. This is the way of me. This is how I blend my family with my creativity. This is that life balance I spent so many years searching for in Arizona. It's how I have the flexibility to be at an assembly at my daughter's school at 10:30 a.m. on a Tuesday, come home to do a phone interview with an amazingly interesting university professor that I get to write about, and then at 3 p.m. be the one who gets to hear my son's first excited recollections about his school day.
My way is to put my heart into everything I do. This business allows me to do that. I am present for my family, and I am privileged to work for truly amazing clients to tell the stories they need told. (I'm also a seasoned editor with opinions on many glorious things like the serial comma, which I'll save for some other time!)
If you are looking for freelance communications and development writing, or if you know someone who is, please drop me a line. I'd love to chat.