About

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; returned once more to sunny California.

As a designer, Jennie values clarity and simplicity in beautiful work that serves both the needs of the user and business goals of the client. She enjoys helping companies and small businesses manifest their brand and tell their story to the world. She likes to work with nice people :)

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 Freelance Designer & ____?____

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

Dedicated yoga/meditation practitioner and certified teacher
Has a well-traveled passport and passion for exploring foreign lands and cultures
A not-so-serious ukulele player
Student of life and cares about personal development
Appreciator of animals, the great outdoors and environment

Recently on Instagram

Hi friends, I haven’t told many people about this– but in light of Bourdain and Spade’s deaths this week, I want to share and reduce the stigma. There were periods in my life when I seriously contemplated giving up on life, on everything, when life seemed bleak and anxiety literally sucked every ounce of energy I had. Loneliness felt like the only friend I had, besides my therapists at times maybe.
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Most of my teenage years and 20s were basically fighting and hiding this— ridden with self destructive thoughts and tendencies, struggling alone in silence and shame. High functioning depression; striving and doing all of the “normal” life things but deeply unfulfilled and troubled inside.
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I had to leave everything that defined me to liberate myself from it, to release my attachment to it. Learning how to unlearn being this character I’ve constructed for myself my entire life, learning how to simply be.
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I’m grateful to come out the other end of the tunnel now I think, seeing the light. It’s not always sunshine and easy, but learning about emotional intelligence and how to take care of my mental/spiritual needs have literally changed everything.
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If you’re currently going through some deep and hard stuff, please don’t hesitate to come talk to me, or someone, anyone. We’re here to help each other get through the darkness. Love and light to all 🙏🕉💗

“From a purified heart proceeds the right comprehension of things; and from the right comprehension of things proceeds the life that is peaceful, freed from bitterness and suffering, calm and wise.” –James Allen, Above Life’s Turmoil
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Highly recommend the writings of James Allen, British philosopher and mystic from the late 1800s. He wasn’t a yogi but he wrote some epic stuff that parallel many practices and philosophies in the traditional yoga/spiritual texts.
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It’s been nearly four months since I’ve returned to the states. I’m not actively traveling anymore, but my inner journey continues everyday– through daily practice, self studying, self awareness, self reflection. Mundane situations in everyday moments become opportunities to move beyond the limitations of my lower self, the ego, the mind. No matter the external condition, I rest in that part of me that is eternally at peace.

Eyes speak the language of the soul. One of my favorite photos from India, featuring these two beautiful women I met one afternoon. We tried to communicate in words even though we didn’t speak the same language, and that’s okay.

The yogic path is not traveled without any resistance. While the fruits and benefits of its practice has improved my personal growth, overall wellbeing and life in a multitude ways, I am not immune to the challenges that inevitably come with life in the “real” physical world. Each obstacle is a learning opportunity.
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Yoga can’t change or control what happens to us in life, but it can change how we respond to everything that do happen.

My tan from a year in SE Asia is starting to fade, but the mark it has left on my heart remains.
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While my everyday life, duties and surroundings currently in San Francisco is a complete 180° from that of Bali or India, that is only the external conditions. The internal stays the same (or at least is the goal), no matter where I am —whether in a peaceful ashram or the chaos of the city. My personal practice everyday reminds me of the reasons for why I turned to practice in the first place and grounds me. It reminds me to approach every situation as an opportunity to show up in the world as my highest and best self, to let go of the ego, to have an open heart. It’s easy to practice this when on holiday and life’s a beach, but here’s the real deal, here is where the true yogi within is called to step forth. I’m so grateful for the teachers in my life who has inspired me along the way on this path 🙏✨

☮️💟🕉 “When the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world will know peace.” —Jimi Hendrix

It's the mind that needs all the yoga practices and discipline, not You– the true nature of the soul does not need anything.
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Through the practice of disciplining the mind and senses with tapas (or austerity), we purify the ego and can then direct our energy single-pointedly towards more conscious action.

“There is a candle in your heart, ready to be kindled. There is a void in your soul, ready to be filled. You feel it, don’t you?” —Rumi
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It’s hard to believe this photo was taken nearly a year ago, last March in Myanmar. Around this point was when I was 3 months into my travels and voices from the heart grew louder and louder to go look within, to experience deeper meanings and realms, to become a seeker of truth.

ॐ