By Jennifer Iamele Savage

Awkwardness, mood swings, selfies & hashtags—today’s adolescent culture is one that many do not understand. In fact, adolescence has long been a misunderstood stage of development. Bridging the period from childhood to adulthood, adolescents undergo so much physical growth that many assume they have experienced mental and emotional growth as well; however, their brains have not kept pace with their big bodies. Children have not seen this much growth since their first year of life, and in many ways, their actions and reactions can be equated with those of toddlers. Ask any parent of a teen, what seems like a meltdown or a tantrum very much exists at this stage. They are testing boundaries, and while they crave their independence, they also desire others in their lives to help them form their identity.

Secondary Montessori Philosophy

Dr. Maria Montessori compared the onset of adolescence to a sort of rebirth. Even though they are experiencing large growth like toddlers, they should never be infantilized. She said, “The adolescent must never be treated as a child, for that is a stage of life that he has surpassed. It is better to treat an adolescent as if he had greater value than he actually shows than as if he had less and let him feel that his merits and self-respect are disregarded.” Montessori’s words from the early 20th century could not be truer today. In this technology-crazed, selfie-obsessed society, adolescents need a place where they can develop their souls while not crushing their spirits.

Soul Centered Education

Soul, spirit, peace, and love are not words that are typically associated with secondary schools, and yet, arguably, now more than ever, these words should not be absent from any organization, especially education. Montessori schools seem to attract what author Chick Moormon refers to as “spirit whisperers” and help develop what the late founder of the Passage Works Institute, Rachael Kessler, called “the soul of education”. Montessorians believe in developing the whole child and respecting their physical, emotional, and spiritual needs. This type of environment empowers children and fosters autonomy.

Montessori Middle School Model

Many Americans believe that Montessori schools are just for early childhood. Nowadays, it is more common to see Montessori schools run through 6th grade, but the middle school model is still fairly new. Although she had developed the theory behind secondary schools, Maria Montessori never lived to see them exist. Dr. Betsy Coe, the late and great director of the Houston Montessori Center and Principal of School of the Woods in Houston, has devoted a major part of her life to studying this period and creating a program that is developmentally appropriate for today’s adolescents while maintaining the integrity of Dr. Montessori’s philosophy. The middle school Montessori model builds off of the previous Montessori years but

allows for the significance of their developmental transition. Students are organized into

multi-aged cohorts (7th and 8th) that function as a community, and Montessori schools promote peace through mindfulness training, opportunities for personal reflection, and service learning. Dr. Montessori envisioned schools as places where students learn practical life skills, and at the secondary level, truly become “children of the earth” (“Erd Kinder”). Consequently, Montessori middle schools include an environmental component in which students learn about sustainability, stewardship, and the transcendental power of nature. All curricular work is organized thematically and in an interdisciplinary way to mirror the interconnectedness of real life.

Students are given long blocks of time to complete work in an order of their choosing, and they have leadership opportunities through school-wide or community-based internships and the chance to lead meetings for their peers. Some of the main aims of the Montessori middle school are to simulate real life, to celebrate a student’s growth, to help them realize their place in the world, and to empower their individualism.

Supporting Adolescent Development: Understanding is Key

Whether or not a child has access or a desire to attend a Montessori school, there are still many ways to support adolescent development. Adolescents cannot be truly supported until they are understood. Dr. Maurice Elias, a professor of Psychology and the Director of the

Social-Emotional and Character Development Lab at Rutgers University has many suggestions in this area. Adapting Rachael Kessler’s work, he believes that anyone who interacts with adolescents should understand their basic needs for a positive sense of belonging; silence, solitude & time for reflection; joyful play & creative expression; a sense of how they fit into the larger world and society; and a chance to process and celebrate their rites of passage. Specific ways to honor these needs include providing teens with a space to be themselves and opening a dialogue with them. Helping them understand the significance of their rites of passage, creating opportunities for them to reflect, and respecting their desire for “alone time” are other ways you can support this impressionable period of development. Ultimately, they need strong mentors and allies who believe in them and encourage them to believe in themselves.

Article featured in Natural Awakenings of The Lowcountry

Biography

Jen Iamele Savage is a writer, educator, and empowerment coach whose work bridges the worlds of teaching, motherhood, and personal transformation. Her path has been shaped by a deep commitment to authentic living and a calling to help others—particularly women and mothers—reclaim their voice, worth, and purpose.

Jen began her professional journey as a high school English teacher, has worked in a variety of educational capacities, and is currently pursuing a doctorate in Montessori studies, deepening her commitment to whole-child, whole-person education. Her classroom has always been more than a place of academic learning; it’s where she nurtures reflection, voice, and connection. Drawing from her Montessori foundation and trauma-informed teaching background, she approaches education with compassion and curiosity, encouraging students to ask big questions about identity, purpose, and the world around them.

Jen’s writing, featured on platforms like Her View From Home. Motherly, and Charleston Moms, explores motherhood with both tenderness and fierce honesty. In her books—The Language of Mom Rage: From Injustice to Transformation and The Language of Transformation—she unpacks the emotional undercurrents of modern womanhood, offering readers language and frameworks to make sense of their inner experiences.

Whether she’s speaking to fellow educators about supporting the whole child or guiding a group of mothers through personal transformation, Jen’s work is rooted in a single truth: our hardest moments can become our greatest invitations. Her story is one of surrender, reclamation, and the radical idea that healing can start right where we are—in the classroom, in the kitchen, in the middle of a tantrum or a heartbreak.

Now living in Charleston, South Carolina, Jen is raising two children, continuing to teach, write, and lead with integrity and intention. Through every role she inhabits, she models what it means to be a mindful, purposeful woman in a world that often demands we disconnect from our inner voice.

 

By Jennifer Iamele Savage  

“Breaking up with your phone means giving yourself the space, freedom, and tools necessary to create a new, long-term relationship with it, one that keeps what you love about your phone and gets rid of what you don’t.” Catherine Price, How to Break Up with Your Phone, Revised Edition: The 30-Day Digital Detox Plan

Over the past month I have been exploring the concept of screentime stewardship as a social change initiative, and the journey has been eye-opening. Like most of us, I have had a complicated relationship with screens throughout the years. As a member of Generation Y, I remember a time without the internet, technology, screens, and the like, and yet at this moment, I cannot imagine them not being a part of our daily lives. I have ridden all the waves of technology including getting excited about the potential and possibility of these advancements to getting disgusted by the statistics of the time being wasted and those who profit from our distractions.  I have quit social media for extended periods of time and done digital detoxes. My mindset was always “disconnect to reconnect”.  In recent years, however, I feel like completely disconnecting is no longer an option–and with the growing popularity of AI and other technological advances, that option will only become less available, in my opinion. Therefore, I am turning my attention to a different way of interacting with technology which I refer to as Screen Time Stewardship. 

What is Screen Time Stewardship? 

“Screen time stewardship” is a thoughtful, values-based approach to managing digital device use—especially in homes, schools, and communities. Rather than simply limiting screen time, stewardship emphasizes intentionality, balance, and responsibility in how we engage with screens.

It’s about asking:

• What purpose does this screen time serve?
• Is it enriching, connecting, or numbing?
• How does it align with our values, goals, and well-being?
• How does cultivating this practice apply to other technologies as well? 

In practice, screen time stewardship might look like:

• Co-creating family or classroom media plans that prioritize quality over quantity.
• Modeling mindful tech use—pausing to reflect before picking up a device.
• Encouraging digital citizenship and critical thinking about online content.
• Making space for offline experiences that nurture creativity, movement, and connection.

How do I Build my own Capacity for Screen time Stewardship? 

As part of this exploration, I have been running a screen time stewardship pilot program and have heard feedback from participants such as “it [technology use] feels like a familiar pattern with clear signals: craving, dopamine hit, let down, renewed craving” and “I would like to model responsible phone behavior and use my phone as a tool not as a mindless addiction”.  Participants reflect on their screen time use and set goals regarding what they hope to get out of the study. Based on participant feedback and personal reflection, I have identified a pathway with practical steps for cultivating digital stewardship. 

Awareness 

Audit your current screen time use. Reflect and notice when you use your devices and what needs you are trying to fill. Consider your goals. Become conscious of the statistics and their implications for yourself and those you care about. Consider the things that you do not have time to do that you want to spend more time doing. 

Staggering Statistics:

U.S. adults spend an average of 7 hours and 3 minutes per day on internet-connected devices.  (Backlinko, 2025)

47.5% of children aged 2–5 exceed 2 hours of recreational screen time on weekdays; this jumps to 65.5%for ages 6–11. (CDC, 2020)

50.4% of teens aged 12–17 report 4+ hours of daily screen time, excluding schoolwork. (NHIS–Teen, 2024)

Action

 After you audit the time that you spend online, consider how you could reduce the wasted time and replace that time with things that you want to prioritize.In reducing your time, try different actions (adapted from Catherine Price’s 30 Day Break Up Plan) that could help you break your addiction and make those mindful changes. 

Accountability

Find an accountability tool or person to support you in your goals. Maybe it’s setting screen time limits. Maybe it’s joining an accountability group or finding an accountability partner to check in with regarding your screen time usage. 

Engage Family

Part of Screen Time Stewardship involves acting as a role model for your families and/or future generations. Try building your own family commitments based off of Andy Crouch’s work in Tech-Wise Family. Build a family contract. Play Family Wellness Bingo. 

Application to Other Technologies

Stewardship doesn’t stop at screens: it extends to emerging technologies like AI, which are rapidly changing our lives before our eyes.  At this moment I am inviting people to consider how they want to interact with AI. I recently read an article that said “You’re not going to lose your job to an A.I., but you’re going to lose your job to someone who uses A.I.” Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia and that truly encapsulated the mindset that I believe we need to adopt.  AI is here to stay so we need to apply some of the same principles that we are applying to other technologies and screens to AI. We must find a way to stay in integrity with our intellectual capital while utilizing this technology and maintaining an awareness of the environmental implications–which are all parts of stewardship. Stewardship also includes understanding the unseen costs of technology use, specifically its environmental footprint.

A single ChatGPT request uses about 10 times more electricity than a standard Google search.

Data centers powering AI models consumed 4.4% of all U.S. electricity in 2023, and that figure is projected to rise to 6.7–12% by 2028.

Some AI prompts can generate up to 50 times more CO₂ emissions than others, depending on complexity and model size. (Shan, 2025). 

Consider Power Dynamics Behind the Screen

Part of this is in the awareness category and yet I believe that this deserves its own space for big picture, structural consideration. There are cultural currents shaping our attention and part of being a good steward is taking the intentional time that is necessary to understand if being complicit in these systems is serving us and our society. 

For example, Bo Burnham, an American comedian, musician, filmmaker, and former YouTube sensation, has been outspoken about the psychological toll of social media, describing it as a form of “attention colonization.” In interviews and panels, he’s warned that tech companies are no longer just selling products—they’re “coming for every second of your life,” monetizing human attention and shaping behavior through algorithmic design.  

More Perfect Union,an Emmy-winning nonprofit media organization focused on building power for the working class, blends investigative journalism with advocacy, spotlighting corporate abuses and amplifying the voices of everyday Americans. While on a recent road trip, I saw some of their billboards, got interested, and did some research. Recently, the group launched a billboard campaign targeting Big Tech, calling out companies like Meta and TikTok for exploiting user attention and contributing to mental health crises. These billboards are part of a broader push to hold tech giants accountable for their role in digital overconsumption, especially among youth. 

What Other Resources are Available to Support this Social Change? 

There are resources and movements like The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt, the Screenagers documentary series, and campaigns like Wait Til 8th that advocate for limiting screen use for children and teenagers. In Tech Wise Parenting by Andy and Amy Crouch, the authors offer 10 tech-wise commitments and Catherine Price in How to Break Up with Your Phone offers a 30 day break up plan. All of these resources can be invaluable in creating your own screen time stewardship plan. However, the key to creating this successful balance and personalized pathway depends on the individual and is ultimately a personalized journey. In my work I have created a visual companion to assist myself and others who are on this quest to a more intentional relationship with current and emerging technologies that can be found below.

Conclusion

Regardless of the tools that you use to get there, Screen Time Stewardship is a social change effort that I believe should be on our minds and hearts before it is too late. There is no right way to do this and vilifying technology is not the goal–cultivating a responsible and intentional relationship and finding the balance and harmony that exists at the center of this movement is instead what I believe will sustain us in the future. Screens are not going away and if anything, there will be increasing opportunities to engage with them sooner than we may even realize, so the question is not if we want to engage with digital platforms but instead how–and I believe that if we do not set these parameters others who do not have our best interests at heart will. 

References

Backlinko Team. (2025, January 30). Revealing average screen time statistics for 2025. https://backlinko.com/screen-time-statistics

Huang, J. (2025, May 28). You’re not going to lose your job to an A.I., but you’re going to lose your job to someone who uses A.I. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/28/nvidia-ceo-jensen-huang-youll-lose-your-job-to-somebody-who-uses-ai.html

Mic. (2022, November 10). Bo Burnham warned us about social media, now everyone is listening. https://www.mic.com/life/bo-burnham-social-media-twitter-elon-musk

Shah, S. (2025, June 18). The climate impact of different AI prompts. Time. https://time.com/7295844/climate-emissions-impact-ai-prompts/

Yahoo News. (2025, July 15). Big Tech billionaire backlash protest puts 50 billboards in Augusta and beyond. https://www.yahoo.com/news/big-tech-billionaire-backlash-protest-154155511.html

Zablotsky, B., Arockiaraj, B., Haile, G., & Ng, A. E. (2024, October). Daily screen time among teenagers: United States, July 2021–December 2023 (NCHS Data Brief No. 513). National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db513.htm

Biography

Jen Iamele Savage is a writer, educator, and empowerment coach whose work bridges the worlds of teaching, motherhood, and personal transformation. Her path has been shaped by a deep commitment to authentic living and a calling to help others—particularly women and mothers—reclaim their voice, worth, and purpose.

Jen began her professional journey as a high school English teacher, has worked in a variety of educational capacities, and is currently pursuing a doctorate in Montessori studies, deepening her commitment to whole-child, whole-person education. Her classroom has always been more than a place of academic learning; it’s where she nurtures reflection, voice, and connection. Drawing from her Montessori foundation and trauma-informed teaching background, she approaches education with compassion and curiosity, encouraging students to ask big questions about identity, purpose, and the world around them.

Jen’s writing, featured on platforms like Her View From Home. Motherly, and Charleston Moms, explores motherhood with both tenderness and fierce honesty. In her books—The Language of Mom Rage: From Injustice to Transformation and The Language of Transformation—she unpacks the emotional undercurrents of modern womanhood, offering readers language and frameworks to make sense of their inner experiences.

Whether she’s speaking to fellow educators about supporting the whole child or guiding a group of mothers through personal transformation, Jen’s work is rooted in a single truth: our hardest moments can become our greatest invitations. Her story is one of surrender, reclamation, and the radical idea that healing can start right where we are—in the classroom, in the kitchen, in the middle of a tantrum or a heartbreak.

Now living in Charleston, South Carolina, Jen is raising two children, continuing to teach, write, and lead with integrity and intention. Through every role she inhabits, she models what it means to be a mindful, purposeful woman in a world that often demands we disconnect from our inner voice.

“Breaking up with your phone means giving yourself the space, freedom, and tools necessary to create a new, long-term relationship with it, one that keeps what you love about your phone and gets rid of what you don’t.” Catherine Price, How to Break Up with Your Phone, Revised Edition: The 30-Day Digital Detox Plan

Over the past month I have been exploring the concept of screentime stewardship as a social change initiative, and the journey has been eye-opening. Like most of us, I have had a complicated relationship with screens throughout the years. As a member of Generation Y, I remember a time without the internet, technology, screens, and the like, and yet at this moment, I cannot imagine them not being a part of our daily lives. I have ridden all the waves of technology including getting excited about the potential and possibility of these advancements to getting disgusted by the statistics of the time being wasted and those who profit from our distractions.  I have quit social media for extended periods of time and done digital detoxes. My mindset was always “disconnect to reconnect”.  In recent years, however, I feel like completely disconnecting is no longer an option–and with the growing popularity of AI and other technological advances, that option will only become less available, in my opinion. Therefore, I am turning my attention to a different way of interacting with technology which I refer to as Screen Time Stewardship. 

What is Screen Time Stewardship? 

“Screen time stewardship” is a thoughtful, values-based approach to managing digital device use—especially in homes, schools, and communities. Rather than simply limiting screen time, stewardship emphasizes intentionality, balance, and responsibility in how we engage with screens.

It’s about asking:

• What purpose does this screen time serve?
• Is it enriching, connecting, or numbing?
• How does it align with our values, goals, and well-being?
• How does cultivating this practice apply to other technologies as well? 

In practice, screen time stewardship might look like:

• Co-creating family or classroom media plans that prioritize quality over quantity.
• Modeling mindful tech use—pausing to reflect before picking up a device.
• Encouraging digital citizenship and critical thinking about online content.
• Making space for offline experiences that nurture creativity, movement, and connection.

How do I Build my own Capacity for Screen time Stewardship? 

As part of this exploration, I have been running a screen time stewardship pilot program and have heard feedback from participants such as “it [technology use] feels like a familiar pattern with clear signals: craving, dopamine hit, let down, renewed craving” and “I would like to model responsible phone behavior and use my phone as a tool not as a mindless addiction”.  Participants reflect on their screen time use and set goals regarding what they hope to get out of the study. Based on participant feedback and personal reflection, I have identified a pathway with practical steps for cultivating digital stewardship. 

Awareness 

Audit your current screen time use. Reflect and notice when you use your devices and what needs you are trying to fill. Consider your goals. Become conscious of the statistics and their implications for yourself and those you care about. Consider the things that you do not have time to do that you want to spend more time doing. 

Staggering Statistics:

U.S. adults spend an average of 7 hours and 3 minutes per day on internet-connected devices.  (Backlinko, 2025)

47.5% of children aged 2–5 exceed 2 hours of recreational screen time on weekdays; this jumps to 65.5%for ages 6–11. (CDC, 2020)

50.4% of teens aged 12–17 report 4+ hours of daily screen time, excluding schoolwork. (NHIS–Teen, 2024)

Action

 After you audit the time that you spend online, consider how you could reduce the wasted time and replace that time with things that you want to prioritize.In reducing your time, try different actions (adapted from Catherine Price’s 30 Day Break Up Plan) that could help you break your addiction and make those mindful changes. 

Accountability

Find an accountability tool or person to support you in your goals. Maybe it’s setting screen time limits. Maybe it’s joining an accountability group or finding an accountability partner to check in with regarding your screen time usage. 

Engage Family

Part of Screen Time Stewardship involves acting as a role model for your families and/or future generations. Try building your own family commitments based off of Andy Crouch’s work in Tech-Wise Family. Build a family contract. Play Family Wellness Bingo. 

Application to Other Technologies

Stewardship doesn’t stop at screens: it extends to emerging technologies like AI, which are rapidly changing our lives before our eyes.  At this moment I am inviting people to consider how they want to interact with AI. I recently read an article that said “You’re not going to lose your job to an A.I., but you’re going to lose your job to someone who uses A.I.” Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia and that truly encapsulated the mindset that I believe we need to adopt.  AI is here to stay so we need to apply some of the same principles that we are applying to other technologies and screens to AI. We must find a way to stay in integrity with our intellectual capital while utilizing this technology and maintaining an awareness of the environmental implications–which are all parts of stewardship. Stewardship also includes understanding the unseen costs of technology use, specifically its environmental footprint.

A single ChatGPT request uses about 10 times more electricity than a standard Google search.

Data centers powering AI models consumed 4.4% of all U.S. electricity in 2023, and that figure is projected to rise to 6.7–12% by 2028.

Some AI prompts can generate up to 50 times more CO₂ emissions than others, depending on complexity and model size. (Shan, 2025). 

Consider Power Dynamics Behind the Screen

Part of this is in the awareness category and yet I believe that this deserves its own space for big picture, structural consideration. There are cultural currents shaping our attention and part of being a good steward is taking the intentional time that is necessary to understand if being complicit in these systems is serving us and our society. 

For example, Bo Burnham, an American comedian, musician, filmmaker, and former YouTube sensation, has been outspoken about the psychological toll of social media, describing it as a form of “attention colonization.” In interviews and panels, he’s warned that tech companies are no longer just selling products—they’re “coming for every second of your life,” monetizing human attention and shaping behavior through algorithmic design.  

More Perfect Union,an Emmy-winning nonprofit media organization focused on building power for the working class, blends investigative journalism with advocacy, spotlighting corporate abuses and amplifying the voices of everyday Americans. While on a recent road trip, I saw some of their billboards, got interested, and did some research. Recently, the group launched a billboard campaign targeting Big Tech, calling out companies like Meta and TikTok for exploiting user attention and contributing to mental health crises. These billboards are part of a broader push to hold tech giants accountable for their role in digital overconsumption, especially among youth. 

What Other Resources are Available to Support this Social Change? 

There are resources and movements like The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt, the Screenagers documentary series, and campaigns like Wait Til 8th that advocate for limiting screen use for children and teenagers. In Tech Wise Parenting by Andy and Amy Crouch, the authors offer 10 tech-wise commitments and Catherine Price in How to Break Up with Your Phone offers a 30 day break up plan. All of these resources can be invaluable in creating your own screen time stewardship plan. However, the key to creating this successful balance and personalized pathway depends on the individual and is ultimately a personalized journey. In my work I have created a visual companion to assist myself and others who are on this quest to a more intentional relationship with current and emerging technologies that can be found below.

Conclusion

Regardless of the tools that you use to get there, Screen Time Stewardship is a social change effort that I believe should be on our minds and hearts before it is too late. There is no right way to do this and vilifying technology is not the goal–cultivating a responsible and intentional relationship and finding the balance and harmony that exists at the center of this movement is instead what I believe will sustain us in the future. Screens are not going away and if anything, there will be increasing opportunities to engage with them sooner than we may even realize, so the question is not if we want to engage with digital platforms but instead how–and I believe that if we do not set these parameters others who do not have our best interests at heart will. 

References

Backlinko Team. (2025, January 30). Revealing average screen time statistics for 2025. https://backlinko.com/screen-time-statistics

Huang, J. (2025, May 28). You’re not going to lose your job to an A.I., but you’re going to lose your job to someone who uses A.I. CNBC. https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/28/nvidia-ceo-jensen-huang-youll-lose-your-job-to-somebody-who-uses-ai.html

Mic. (2022, November 10). Bo Burnham warned us about social media, now everyone is listening. https://www.mic.com/life/bo-burnham-social-media-twitter-elon-musk

Shah, S. (2025, June 18). The climate impact of different AI prompts. Time. https://time.com/7295844/climate-emissions-impact-ai-prompts/

Yahoo News. (2025, July 15). Big Tech billionaire backlash protest puts 50 billboards in Augusta and beyond. https://www.yahoo.com/news/big-tech-billionaire-backlash-protest-154155511.html

Zablotsky, B., Arockiaraj, B., Haile, G., & Ng, A. E. (2024, October). Daily screen time among teenagers: United States, July 2021–December 2023 (NCHS Data Brief No. 513). National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db513.htm

Biography

Jen Iamele Savage is a writer, educator, and empowerment coach whose work bridges the worlds of teaching, motherhood, and personal transformation. Her path has been shaped by a deep commitment to authentic living and a calling to help others—particularly women and mothers—reclaim their voice, worth, and purpose.

Jen began her professional journey as a high school English teacher, has worked in a variety of educational capacities, and is currently pursuing a doctorate in Montessori studies, deepening her commitment to whole-child, whole-person education. Her classroom has always been more than a place of academic learning; it’s where she nurtures reflection, voice, and connection. Drawing from her Montessori foundation and trauma-informed teaching background, she approaches education with compassion and curiosity, encouraging students to ask big questions about identity, purpose, and the world around them.

Jen’s writing, featured on platforms like Her View From Home. Motherly, and Charleston Moms, explores motherhood with both tenderness and fierce honesty. In her books—The Language of Mom Rage: From Injustice to Transformation and The Language of Transformation—she unpacks the emotional undercurrents of modern womanhood, offering readers language and frameworks to make sense of their inner experiences.

Whether she’s speaking to fellow educators about supporting the whole child or guiding a group of mothers through personal transformation, Jen’s work is rooted in a single truth: our hardest moments can become our greatest invitations. Her story is one of surrender, reclamation, and the radical idea that healing can start right where we are—in the classroom, in the kitchen, in the middle of a tantrum or a heartbreak.

Now living in Charleston, South Carolina, Jen is raising two children, continuing to teach, write, and lead with integrity and intention. Through every role she inhabits, she models what it means to be a mindful, purposeful woman in a world that often demands we disconnect from our inner voice.