About — Jennie Li

Bali, 2017

OVERVIEW

Raised in the San Francisco Bay Area; spent three long winters in Chicago; returned to sunny California; traveled and lived nomadically around SE Asia for a year; returned once more to sunny California.

Adaptability, grit, curiosity and killing the ego are some of the things she learned after years of professional work in fast-growing startups, a global advertising agency, and boutique design studios. As a designer, Jennie values clarity and simplicity in beautiful work that serves both the needs of the user and the business goals of the client.

In addition, Jennie is an avid photographer and teaches yoga in underserved communities. She maintains a personal daily yoga and meditation practice, and highly values balance above all in life.

2009 B.S. Biology, San Francisco State University
2011 Design, Chicago Portfolio School
2012 Intern, various Chicago design studios
2012 Visual Designer, SapientNitro
2014 Senior Brand Designer, Intercom
2017 Sabbatical/Traveler
2018 Senior Brand Designer, Copper Inc

AREAS OF EXPERTISE

Web Design – Responsive, Desktop, Mobile
UX/IA
Brand/Identity Design
Print Design
Online Advertising
Social Media
Event Design
Photography – Portrait, Product, Event, etc

INDUSTRY EXPERIENCE

Startups
Software/Technology
Yoga
Holistic & Alternative Health
Automobile
Consumer Packaged Goods
Food & Beverage

PERSONAL INTERESTS & VALUES

Dedicated yoga/meditation practitioner and certified teacher
Has a well-traveled passport and passion for exploring foreign lands and cultures
A budding casual ukulele player
Student of life and cares about personal development
Lover of animals, the great outdoors and environment <3

Recently on Instagram

So grateful to be back here in Rishikesh right now. The past week I’ve been tuning back in to the rhythm of Mother India and spending time with my Guruji. It’s a wonder that a place can be like a whole another world yet at the same time feel so much like home.
One year ago on this day, I left India to return home to the states after being away traveling for over a year. I cried for 3 hours all the way to the Delhi airport that day, I knew I’d be back. This sacred land in the Himalayas has a way of changing you in ways you’d never imagine. Om 🙏

During these remaining days of 2018, a year of so much integration and quiet contemplation.. I was doing my EOY reflections and then realized the beautiful and magical alignment of everything, how life unfolds in its own divine way, a universal order guiding all that’s supposed to be. We just need to align and tune ourselves in to that flow.
I checked my yantra calculations today again and was reminded this year is a cycle year 9 for me - the final year of a cycle (each is 9 years); a chapter closing, a time for reflection, assimilation and preparation for a new cycle. I had forgotten about this whole thing for awhile, but now reflecting on this and everything that’s happened the past few years, it all lines up so perfectly. How wild. The ancient Vedic rishis really knew what they were talking about.

2019 will be the beginning of a new cycle for me – the first year, where new seeds are planted, to be nourished, grown and brought to fruition over the next nine years. I’ve been feeling a lot of inspiration to end this year with clarity, for full closure on what I want to let go of and what I will take with me into the next year. This is the most intentional I’ve ever been (so far) with welcoming a new year, and it makes so much sense! I’m consciously planting these new seeds, the ones that speak to my heart and truly lights me up. I can feel the new energy already rising inside, the next few years will be a period of bringing forth and expressing my truth, to allow myself to fully be seen as I am, and to share my gifts with the world. 🙏💗 Wishing everyone a beautiful new year.

Long post alert ✨ I had a good cry today, the cathartic kind. For the past month and half there’s been this heaviness I’ve experienced myself feeling. This heaviness that manifested into grief, loneliness, a sense of longing and deep sadness. The stage in one’s spiritual journey where your old self is slowly dying and you have yet to fully step into your liberated, awakened, and powerful Self— this in-between stage can be a weird and lonely place. It feels like darkness, frustration, helplessness, confusion, vulnerability and so on. Every tear I shed is a piece of my old self shedding, dying, being let go of. The armor, personality and habits I once held onto so closely to protect myself, I release and let them go. I will disarm myself, so I can be seen as I am. The grief felt is for the old self that is dying, the mind/psyche is freaking out as its forced to loosen its hold of what it identified with for so long. A part of me acknowledges that it’s a necessary part of the process, like a snake that sheds its skin in order to grow. I acknowledge and let myself feel into this loneliness, the pain of the soul not being seen, the silent shame that comes with it all. Realizing I had still been protecting myself, holding, not fully open. I had succumbed to the mind’s self created fear and doubt - causing me to contract, to close. To block feeling sadness is to also block love. Mentally I created this story of me vs them, me vs everybody. A friend/mentor recently reminded me, “You don’t have to do this all alone, you know.” So simple yet can feel like such a foreign concept when you’ve digged yourself into a deep hole all by yourself. I realized I’ve long been one of those people who want to help others but have a hard to receiving help or asking for help when I’m in need. There can be so much self judgement and editing, it’s exhausting and depletes all energy. I’m feeling raw and cracked open now, but it’s better to feel something than to not feel at all. Thank you for reading if you’ve made it this far, IRL & internet hugs are welcomed 🤗 and thank you to those who reach out to check up on me. 💗💗💗 Deep gratitude and love to you all. 🙏

Lotus art from Bali last month ~ I’ve felt deeply inspired by the symbolic nature of the lotus for awhile.
.
Without mud, there is no beautiful lotus flower. Without the challenges and shadow parts of life, there is no growth nor radiance. This is a reminder to myself for acceptance, for perseverance, and that only through darkness does beauty emerge.
.
Artwork & tattoo by @kimangeltattu // and thank you @tara_k_dixon & @em_lange for the lotus quote 💗

🌈 Still haven’t been able to get back to 100% since returning to SF. Messed up sleep schedules, very short/minimal morning practices, withdrawal, laziness, binge eating Hot Cheetos at 11pm - not the greatest behaviors or feelings. All the while trying to be easy on myself, saying it’s maybe the jetlag, the adjustment back to 8+ hours per day of screentime for work 😵, the coldness of San Francisco summers, the rawness of leaving Bali’s warm loving & supportive embrace and coming back into the “real” world. But I’ll be frank, these are all symptoms of something deeper happening I think - something I’m still trying to understand. .
.
I started listening to Brene Brown’s book “Daring Greatly” on audiobook, where she talks about vulnerability and overcoming shame, these topics all deeply resonate for me. One of my biggest areas of growth in 2017 was stepping into that vulnerability and sharing with the world the nakedness of my very being without the added layers of social constructs, identity/ego, fears of criticism or rejection. I just express - whether it was dancing, singing, making art or whatever. It was one of the most liberating experiences ever, it’s what the soul relishes in - pure expression. Some days are definitely harder but I hope to do my best to always live life carrying this essence. We just need to be brave and courageous.

The beauty of rain, I welcome her, I surrender to her. I let her wash away all the stains, the sorrow, the hurt from this human existence that remain encrusted around my heart - leaving a clean slate, pristine, untouched, pure; the way we arrived as. Like the tears that flow like rivers, cleansing my mind and body; the rain cleanses the land - leaving a sense of freshness and newness for all. 🌿✨.
.
.
#contemplation #yoga #keepthetraditionalive #yogaonandoffthemat #travelingyogi #practice #yogaeverydamnday #shiva #consciousness #spaciousawareness #canggu #cangguyoga #baliyoga

At the end of the day, we can read book after book and know all of the information, but it doesn’t become true wisdom and knowledge until we’ve put them into actual practice and/or experienced the lessons first hand.
.
This is one aspect of myself I continue to work on. The ego intellect is always hungry for new food for thought, to know more, but it’s at the superficial level and has little depth or substance. To show up as the most authentic version of myself, my actions - words - and thoughts must all be in alignment and harmonious. .
.
.
#contemplation #yoga #keepthetraditionalive #yogaonandoffthemat #travelingyogi #yogaeverydamnday #shiva #consciousness #spaciousawareness #canggu #cangguyoga #baliyoga #practice

ॐ