What happens when you stop shrinking to fit the room and start bringing your full self instead? In this vibrant and deeply honest episode, Sarah Jordan-Ross sits down with Jennie López — engineer, author, Zumba instructor, podcast host, speaker, and leadership voice — to talk about authenticity, identity, ambition, and the courage to stop hiding parts of yourself just to be taken seriously. From navigating male-dominated spaces as a Latina engineer to embracing her creativity, culture, energy, and voice, Jennie shares what it looks like to live intentionally, lead authentically, and build a life that feels aligned instead of performative.
Jennie López
Author of Intentional Unicorn
Co-host of Very Caliente podcast
Sarah Jordan-Ross (00:00) Hey everybody, welcome back to Tabby Talk with Sarah, the podcast that breaks the silence, fosters hope and talks about the tough stuff so you never feel alone. If you're new here, I'm Sarah. I'm a mum of three, I'm a wellness advocate and I'm really interested in what happens when we stop shrinking and start integrating the parts of ourselves that we were once told didn't belong. This season we're exploring what happens when we notice something we can't then unsee.
and what we choose to do with that awareness. And today's conversation feels like it'll be vibrant and layered. I'm joined by Jenny Lopez, author of Intentional Unicorn, engineer by training, leadership voice, Zumba instructor, co-host of a very cool podcast called Very Caliente, which I love because it's bilingual, and someone who somehow manages to hold serious credibility and huge energy at the same time.
We crossed paths through the LA Tribune Network and she recently co-hosted a live event in Miami with Michael Silvers. Well, I joined from Australia on a panel and what struck me is how she stays grounded in high visibility, very high energy spaces.
somehow carries it all off with a smile. Jenny, welcome. I am so, glad you're here.
JENNIE LOPEZ (01:20)
You
⁓ I am so happy that you invited me. And honestly, thank you. Looking forward to the discussion.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (01:31)
Now, before we go any further, we probably need to acknowledge the obvious. Your name is Jennifer Lopez, but you're not the JLo most people will be thinking of when they see that name. So what's it been like building your own credibility and your own identity with that name?
JENNIE LOPEZ (01:39)
Hahaha
That's a very interesting question, Sarah. And by the way, congratulations. You know, I've done so many podcasts and this is the first time somebody asked me that kind of question. So that's pretty good. Honestly, I didn't even know how big of a deal was Jennifer Lopez until I moved here to the U.S. So, and now I just, have adopted, like my friends call me Jenny or J-Lo and even Jenny from the blog. And the funny thing has been so many, many years, Sarah, that I don't even think of the other.
right? The famous or the most famous, Jenny from the blog or Jennifer Lopez. I'm still authentic to me. If you think about it, Jennifer was such a popular name back in the 70s where I was born and I'm already dating myself. And Lopez is a very popular Latino name, Puerto Rican last name. So there's so many Jennifer Lopez's. Now, has it been funny? Amazing. Yes. I have, I remember when I first moved here, Sarah, I couldn't even order pizza.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (02:33)
Yes.
JENNIE LOPEZ (02:48)
from college because they thought I was joking. I remember I had to change my name to Maria Martinez. So that way they will actually believe that it's a real person. And I now joke that I'm in the disappointing business because when I go to a restaurant and I say, reservation under Jennifer Lopez, they're like, They're expecting the other one, but it's so good. I'm still authentic to me. I go by Jenny. If you call me Jennifer, I think I'm in trouble. So it's all good. People remember the name. That's a blessing.
I don't even think about the other Jennifer Lopez whenever they call me J-Lo.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (03:24)
Yeah, and that's the big blessing and curse of having a really popular name. Mine, for example, it was on the top 10 most popular girls names.
JENNIE LOPEZ (03:31)
True, true, true.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (03:42)
for more than 20 years. There's an awful lot of Sarahs in the world. There is even a couple of other Sarah Jordans. So yeah, I don't recommend people Googling their names and finding out the other ones, cause you might get a bit of a shock.
JENNIE LOPEZ (03:44)
Sarah.
Uh-oh. But you're right. I remember going to school with always at least five Jennifers, right? And we had to use different nicknames or the last names or something to really recognize each other. I don't know if you know, but I was an NFL cheerleader for seven years. even through my whole journey, there were always at least five or six Jennifers. So we all had different names. I trucked.
I was JLo, the other one was Pocket because she was the shortest of all of us. So it's fun. Make it fun.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (04:31)
and you've gotta make the fun out of it.
So my first question, and I'm starting every interview this season with this same question, what is it that you've noticed in the world that now that you've noticed it, you can't unsee it? And what does it make you want to do about it?
JENNIE LOPEZ (04:38)
Yes.
Woo!
goodness. And I have to go back to my whole theme of authenticity. I think now more than ever, I always known that in social media, everybody puts their best face, right? ⁓ And I even talk about it, the good thing, I guess, if you ever follow me, even in LinkedIn, I tell the good, the bad, and the ugly, because for me it's refreshing. And not everybody's perfect, everybody has the ups and downs. But I think...
Even the people that you admire, sometimes you think, ⁓ my goodness, they have it all, right? And they're perfect. And I wish I had that journey. But I now have had the blessing of meeting many of those people that I admire. And I say, wait a second, no, they are just people like you and I. And I can now see it now. Like whenever I see a picture perfect story or picture in social media from them, I understand that that's a highlight.
but they also have their ups and downs and I cannot unsee it. And it's a good thing, right? It just makes everybody human. that doesn't, nobody's perfect. It's always good to admire somebody from that thing that you can learn from them, but that doesn't mean that they have it all already figured out. So now that I have, you know, I don't know, I had the opportunity to work and learn more from biggest coaches. I don't know, you'll see the things that are behind the scene and makes everybody more human.
And the cool thing is that, if it was possible for them, it's also possible for any of us. So I like that aspect of it.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (06:28)
And it's very, very true what goes up on social media. It's the highlight reel. You want to, you want to put the good stuff out there. You don't necessarily want to have the whole world knowing that actually I had a really bad day or what I'm going through away from that. So yeah. And it's nice that you've noticed that.
JENNIE LOPEZ (06:31)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Right.
Right, right!
Sarah Jordan-Ross (06:55)
Even those people who look like they've got it all together, they have their moments where, nah, they've had their juggling 99 balls and somebody's just thrown the hundredth at them and they drop them all too.
JENNIE LOPEZ (07:10)
Yeah, exactly. Great question. I love that.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (07:16)
Okay, so next one. Now, possibly not everybody knows, but you're an engineer.
JENNIE LOPEZ (07:24)
I am chemical engineer.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (07:26)
Yeah,
so very male dominated spaces. Very, very serious. But you're also a dancer and a Zumba instructor. So that expressive embodied part. Now, being in the serious science space. I know you've mentioned it to me before that there was time when you had to hide that
JENNIE LOPEZ (07:31)
Yes, yes.
You
Sarah Jordan-Ross (07:55)
dancer side of yourself or felt like you had to be taken seriously in the scientific world and being a chemical engineer for a woman's not easy anyway. So what did that split the I can't be my full self in this space? What did that feel like?
JENNIE LOPEZ (08:07)
Yeah.
Actually, you that you can never connect the dots forward, but you can connect them backwards. And even that rocky first, I don't know, six, seven years here in the United States that taught me so much, looking back, it was a blessing because I had to go through that to realize, you know what, authenticity used it intentionally. That is really the secret formula. And that's what has been.
has helped me really have the career that I have had in different industries like you mentioned. However, how it was those first five, seven years, it was difficult because not only it was a Latina, but also a female. And then I also aspired to be a mom at some point. I mean, there were so many firsts, especially in that field where I was. I was not only a chemical engineer, but I was a chemical engineer in the manufacturing world, which is even more dominated by men.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (09:11)
Yep.
JENNIE LOPEZ (09:13)
And when you, first of all, you get the combination of you don't see other people like you in every aspect, right? Woman, having kids in a family ⁓ in higher positions, or Latina. I didn't see any of that. And then combined with the feedback I was getting about, hey, Jenny, you need to dress like an engineer. Jenny, you have to tone it down. You have too much fun at work. I don't know if I can trust you. I had a scientist one time in front of people who told me, hey, you just have to be careful about first impressions because you don't look smart.
keep going on. mean, was constant feedback, constant feedback. And I said, goodness, if I really want a chance to be successful in this company, I have to change, right? And I just started studying people. And I say, OK, I'm going to change from colors to black and white. ⁓ I'm going to try to work on my accent, which it didn't work, as you can tell. ⁓ And then I really, thank you. ⁓ I tried to behave a different way. But it's all of that energy that you put into, OK,
Sarah Jordan-Ross (10:04)
I like your accent.
JENNIE LOPEZ (10:13)
Instead of putting that energy into being the best of you, the whole time you're preoccupied about, if I say that, how would that land? Am I saying it right? Or am I raising my hand at the right moment? I don't want to make a fool of myself. All of that math is draining your energy. And then I lost my spark. I lost what made me me and what made me connect the best with people. And I said, you know what? When I first started, perhaps I was naive, but I was rocking it. And then I lost it due to all this feedback that they were, think,
they were trying to really help me, but in fact, it really played against me. It diminished my confidence. My performance started to also get impacted. And I said, you know what? I'm going to be the best me. And if I don't have a role model, so be it. Maybe I can be that role model for others. And as we talked about just a couple of minutes ago, nobody's perfect. But I can show that you can be a female, a Latina, a dancer, a mom, and still rocking it out there. And I was very intentional. I had a deep, bigger mission and why.
And I think that really helped me unlock a lot of things. And I decided to be very intentional and very authentic. And that helped me grow really fast, actually, because then I was not diluting any energy. And I was just focusing on my employees, the organizations I was transforming, the clients, the problems to be solved. And I always say, plus intentionality equals impact.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (11:36)
And that's it, when you're being fully who you are and bringing that to everything that you offer, it makes a difference. I know I've heard lots of stories ⁓ of women in male-dominated fields that always have that feeling like they have to do everything twice as well to get half the recognition. And as you said,
JENNIE LOPEZ (11:45)
100 %
Mm-hmm.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (12:05)
In some fields, you don't have those role models that look like you or speak like you or have those different challenges of trying to find where you fit. then you start, as you said, to fit in, to belong, to get the recognition, I've got to change. And that comes with a big cost.
JENNIE LOPEZ (12:32)
Yeah.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (12:36)
But then you came to that conclusion that, it's costing too much and everything is starting to be affected by that. So I love that you, you mentioned that because that was the next question I was going to ask you was at what point did those survival strategies start to feel like you were in a cage when you realized that it's costing too much?
JENNIE LOPEZ (12:42)
Yes.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah. I actually want to mention something about what you just said, because I heard that so many times, Sarah, especially at the beginning of my career, you're a woman, you're a Latina, you have to work three times as hard to get the recognition. And it's almost that we hear it so much that we started getting programmed that that's the way it is and you have to work harder. And now I a little bit cringe with that feedback, especially with younger generations, because perhaps at some point there was a generation that had to do that.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (13:07)
So.
JENNIE LOPEZ (13:36)
But there's more of us now. And I think one gift that you and I, like we have is that creativity and resourcefulness. And not because a thing was done a certain way by males, as say for example, before, you have to do it that way. I still remember, I I had kids and I was an executive leader in Fortune 500. I remember I was leading a manufacturing site and I got pregnant.
And I'm not going to repeat here what my supervisor told me at that point, because it's politically incorrect. You have no idea. Like he was just shocked. And I'm not going to use the words that he used because you can't even put the thoughts. And then he's like, but what am I going to do whenever you're on leave? And I said, well, what if I was a male and something happened to me medical wise and I needed to take a leave? What you have done, what would you have done? And he said, right. ⁓
Sarah Jordan-Ross (14:07)
can imagine.
JENNIE LOPEZ (14:31)
is incredible. You just have to say it and use your connections, make sure that you are resourceful, and be creative on how to make it happen to do it in a way that is according to the priorities in your life. Another thing that I, Sarah, and I'm saying this because I think it will resonate with your audience, I remember I didn't see a lot of females with kids, you know, and high positions when I started. One person.
And then I was so excited and I talked to her and I said, how do you do it? And you know what she said? She said, well, Jenny, my daughter knows that mommy works and because mommy works, work is gonna come first. And because of that, she's not gonna be at the daughter's things at school. And I was so disappointed. I said, well, I don't wanna be a leader then. Anyway, long story short, I learned that, hey, you just do it in a way that reflects your priorities.
And the thing is that sometimes we have a preconception that because it was done a certain way before us, it has to be done that way. And then we're like, that's impossible, right? But just be creative. And I always say, you can give the company or whatever that you're working at 100 % or 110%, and you do it in a way that is costing your health, your passions, your mental health, your...
fitness, your relationships with your family, et cetera. And the company will say, well, how do you job, Sarah? But Sarah, you can also give it 100%, but you do it in a way that you integrate the things with your priorities, setting your boundaries. And the company is also going to say, way to go, Sarah. So don't put that standard that doesn't exist out there. Just set a new standard. There you go.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (16:16)
And it can be done, but you can be a great mum and have a great career. So, and I'm very grateful to the example that my mum gave me. She was a full-time working mum, but somehow she managed to always be at any race I was running in and any performance I was singing in.
JENNIE LOPEZ (16:18)
Yes.
Yes.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (16:47)
I think it's the, there was days where she went in early and she stayed late and gave that time so that then she could bank up time off so that she could do those things. But there has to be a way to find that balance. And especially now with more and more women joining the workforce, thanks to previous generations who showed that it could be done.
JENNIE LOPEZ (17:16)
Exactly.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (17:17)
And now
we get to do it our way and say, I'm not going to sacrifice those things that are important to me when I can give the best of me to both those things because focusing on that and being who I am and being true to that allows me then to give more.
JENNIE LOPEZ (17:41)
Beautiful, beautiful you said, love it.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (17:46)
Now, I want to shift gears a little bit and ask you about your podcast.
JENNIE LOPEZ (17:51)
My podcast, we recently launched it and it's me and Pablo Alcina and it's called Vericaliente. And please, please go and watch it. For us, it was more about having a container where we could highlight incredible work, incredible lessons of our Latino and Hispanic community around the world. It's a place where we are very curious asking questions. We're having
Sarah Jordan-Ross (17:53)
Yeah.
JENNIE LOPEZ (18:19)
maybe too much fun, but we're having a lot of fun. It's in English, it's in Spanish, it's in Spanglish. And honestly, we have everything from ⁓ Grammy winners all the way to lawyers and psychologists. And then we have a singer and then we have an actress and a producer. We have a variety of ⁓ different guests and we absolutely love it. We're having a lot of fun.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (18:41)
And I think you even had the founder of Zumba on.
JENNIE LOPEZ (18:44)
I
did, I did. And that episode is beautiful. I'm trying to see, I don't think it has been released yet. It's gonna be released very soon. But the cool thing is that, mean, so I don't, well, you mentioned it before. I actually worked for the company Zumba for seven years. So I worked for him at some point and I didn't even know some of the things that he was sharing with me. He really went into the details about from Columbia to the United States, know, the relationship with the mom, all the struggles and.
It was a beautiful episode because normally again, you see the highlight. Oh, wow. He has it all. How lucky is Beto? And they don't know that it took him 40 years, 40, to actually get the recognition and get Zumba, you know, up and going globally. So anyway, don't miss it. Very caliente.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (19:20)
Yeah.
love that it's bilingual and that focus on celebrating the amazing parts of of your culture. And yes, I love that you're also highlighting that there is no such thing as an overnight success. And again, with that highlight reel of so many people say that having your own business or being self employed must be amazing. And anyone who says that
JENNIE LOPEZ (19:42)
Yes.
Ha
Sarah Jordan-Ross (20:04)
I would say they're doing one of two things. They've never done it so they only see the possible perks. Or they have done it and they're lying through their teeth because it isn't that easy.
JENNIE LOPEZ (20:12)
You
It's not, always say, it's funny, one of my clients, ⁓ she was starting with the idea of living corporate and starting a new business, thinking that, it's gonna be like wonderful and, you know, butterflies. And then after we went through the foundations, she's, my God, this is not easy. And I say, hey, choose your difficult. Everything in life has the pros and cons and it comes down to how do you make sure that something really, how do you say, like fills your heart and your passion. So you take the,
that comes with it, but you focus on how to continue to optimize the pros or the positive on it. But yeah, absolutely.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (20:59)
the thing we only see what we but we only see surface level unless we actually go and dig deeper.
JENNIE LOPEZ (21:09)
Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Well, the thing is that, especially with, I go back to social media, it's so easy to, without context, then getting in the trap of comparison. And I'm going to compare, like, I'm so behind and I'm too late to the game and I wish this and wish that. And the things that all of us have our own authentic journey. And yeah, as long as you continue to create something really amazing for the world, again, that is aligned with your values, with your passion.
⁓ you take the bad with it. mean, there's some things that are part of it. I mean, if everything, Sarah, will you be happy? Have you seen the movie Barbie? Have you seen the movie Barbie? All right, well, in the movie Barbie, I know it's so silly. It's so silly. I can't believe I even said that I have watched the movie. But the first of the part of the movie, everything is perfect. Like, and it's the same every day. Everything is absolutely perfect, expected.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (21:51)
I must confess I have not.
JENNIE LOPEZ (22:05)
Imagine if you wake up and everything goes according to your wanting every day, nothing goes wrong. mean, that's why this world needs the polarity. So you can really appreciate the good whenever it happens. And every little that we call it bad or whatever, it's just a little bit of a growing patch to continue to go up in your journey. anyway, I went on a tangent there, but I'm really passionate about that.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (22:31)
I love that. We learn more from our challenges than we do from smooth sailing, I think. even those really hard times, we learn something good out of them. There's always a good thing that comes out of any challenge. It's just that sometimes we have to look a little bit harder to find it and to find that joy within it.
JENNIE LOPEZ (22:36)
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (23:02)
Yeah. And joy always makes me think of, of music and dance and, that sort of thing. And one of the things I noticed about you, but, and it was probably because you were standing next to Michael, you're quite little really, but you have so much energy. You could, you could power a stadium or by yourself. So where does that come from? And what did dance teach you?
JENNIE LOPEZ (23:03)
Yeah, absolutely.
You
You
Sarah Jordan-Ross (23:30)
that engineering never could have.
JENNIE LOPEZ (23:33)
my gosh, I love that. How much time do we have? No, I'm kidding. Something I learned early in my journey, it was important to feeling your cup. And we have heard, especially females, we heard that, your cups because you cannot pour out of an empty cup. If you think about the cup being full of energy and things like that. But let me tell you.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (23:37)
As much as we need.
JENNIE LOPEZ (24:00)
I really wanted to be a Broadway star, right? When I grew up from, when I graduated from high school and my dad say, oh, that's cute girl, but no, you're to be an engineer like me. So that's pretty much how I ended up being an engineer. And I said, you know what? I'm still going to dance. I'm not going to quit. I'll be an engineer, but I'm going to dance anyway. my five, so Puerto Rico to your chemical engineering is actually five years. So those five years, I will go to university six in the morning to 2pm. And then I will drive to San Juan, Puerto Rico, which is about
three hours, ⁓ maybe a little bit more depending on the traffic, to work at a TV show and then rehearse to some artists that I was a backup dancer or working with different companies, commercials, et cetera. And I literally did that for almost five years. I had two different things and people said, esta loca, you're crazy. Why do you have so many jobs? And I said, huh, yes, it's a job. I'm getting paid, but I never saw dancing as, ⁓ I have to dance tonight, right? Or I have to dance today.
I actually look forward to it and it really helped me so much being very structured, organized, focused management. I don't call it time management anymore. And really the importance of having that thing that energizes you. So for me, it's dancing. For me, it's oil painting. For me, it's working out, going out for a walk, especially when the weather is nice. Even if it's raining, get, sometimes I go crazy and say, I'm gonna walk in the rain and feel nature. But that is really important, I think.
Many times we go on autopilot in this world and we wait for that week vacation during the year and it's too late because you're so exhausted by then. So I have learned that when I went to grad school, I forgot about that lesson and it was so hard that chapter going to a different culture, different language, not being accepted and trying to figure out how to survive those two years when I was working on my master's degree. And then I realized I was so focused on my grades and studying and studying and studying.
I was depleted and that's where I learned the fitness, the group fitness and dancing that I could incorporate dancing to group fitness. And that's how I became a group fitness instructor first and then Zumba instructor later. So that filled my cup. I was doing that in parallel to my job. So I still do that. I'm very choosy with what I say yes to and that really, that fills my energy. I'm afloat most of the time. I have my strategies on how to.
to be very protective of my energy. And yes, I sleep, Sarah. If I don't sleep, I will be so cranky because people think, you must not sleep. But I know I do sleep. You want to see me cranky? Give me like a night of four hours sleep.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (26:38)
Hey, you're a mom! Don't you mean you're used to functioning on very little sleep?
JENNIE LOPEZ (26:43)
When they were little, they're
teenagers now. I can sleep now.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (26:47)
because they sleep more than you do. And you can do that because you do those things that actively fill your cup. And I think that's the thing is finding what it is for you that fills your cup that then allows you to go and do that. Because I can't remember which very wise man it was who said, find a job you love and you never work a day, but it's true.
JENNIE LOPEZ (26:50)
Ha ha.
Yes.
Yes.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (27:16)
true when, because
JENNIE LOPEZ (27:17)
Yes.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (27:19)
as you said, the dance job, that didn't feel like a job, that didn't feel like work. That was fun. That was topping you up. And then that allowed you to be able to do your other job better. Whereas when you weren't doing that and you were running on autopilot and probably basically sleepwalking through your life.
JENNIE LOPEZ (27:31)
Yes.
Yeah.
True. How do you feel your cup, True, true. How do you feel your cup?
Sarah Jordan-Ross (27:44)
that you notice the difference when you're not doing those things.
I sing. You wanted to be a dancer when you were little?
JENNIE LOPEZ (27:54)
You what?
Yes?
Sarah Jordan-Ross (27:59)
Yeah.
JENNIE LOPEZ (28:01)
So you sing, you're all, sorry, you say I sing. that's amazing. I love that.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (28:05)
Yeah, I was
raised on old school movie musicals. But I also, my mum was a classically trained pianist as well. So I was raised on a very interesting mix of music. And she loved country music, but we always had music playing in our house all the time. So
JENNIE LOPEZ (28:12)
Love it.
Yes.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (28:29)
I would just, I'd be singing from the moment I got up to the moment I went to sleep and that's still, I will have music on. I believe music is the language of the soul so it's important that we tap into that. So yeah, it's having music, it's singing, it's moving. I dance in my kitchen, much to my children's chagrin.
JENNIE LOPEZ (28:45)
Yes.
I love it.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (28:59)
that or stress management wise, I took up taekwondo a couple of years ago. I originally got my boys into it for the self-defense and discipline aspects of it. And then after a couple of years of them going, mom, it's so much fun. Come do it with us. I did. And it turns out it really is a whole lot of fun, but it's also a great stress management technique because where else can you punch and kick things and scream your head off and it'd be
JENNIE LOPEZ (29:06)
Nice! ⁓
Aww.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (29:28)
perfectly acceptable. And because I do tend to hold a lot of stuff in my body, that's my way of getting it out of my body. So then I can go, okay, I can regulate now and I figured out what it is I'm stressed or worried about and I can actually then go and do something about it as opposed to just getting all tight and tense and not even knowing what it is that's bothering me.
JENNIE LOPEZ (29:30)
I love that!
That
is so amazing. love it. Yeah. My son did Taekwondo. Gosh, until actually he just quit after he got his second degree black belt. And then he's like, mom, I want to be a drummer. I'm like, okay. We went from Taekwondo to drums. Okay. So he loves it. Just like you sing all the time. He's on the drums all the time. My neighbors probably don't appreciate it, but hey, he loves it.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (30:23)
It's
okay, our neighbors are about to hate us too.
JENNIE LOPEZ (30:26)
⁓ goodness, goodness, Yes.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (30:28)
three boys. Our oldest plays the bass guitar. Our
middle has just started piano.
And our little one, yeah, he signed up for drums.
JENNIE LOPEZ (30:44)
Okay, so best advice, make sure that you also have a pair of electronic drums so then he can just get all of that out in his room and he's not bothering a lot of people. I mean, you can still hear a little bit of the clack clack clack, but it's not like boom boom where the whole house is shaking. But that's so awesome.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (31:02)
the plan school
send him home with a a little practice pad so yeah and I think you can get them that you can plug headphones in as well so he can hear what he's doing but the rest of the world doesn't have to so that's my plan
JENNIE LOPEZ (31:08)
Yes, yes.
I love it. Well, that's amazing. think, like you mentioned, music is so important. And even just like learning how to read it and play with it, it is an incredible thing to have developed, especially for kids and our kids' age.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (31:36)
Yeah,
it helps us to to regulate our nervous systems. It helps us to. And I think we all need to find that that thing that does that for us, because our world's a bit crazy, busy, full of very dysregulated people.
JENNIE LOPEZ (31:42)
Mm-hmm.
Yes.
Yeah, absolutely.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (31:59)
Which brings me to my next thing. So recently you were traveling and got caught up in a little bit of drama in Mexico. Now, without sharing anything that you don't want to or anything that could get you in trouble, what did that experience feel like and what did it remind you about safety and
JENNIE LOPEZ (32:10)
Yeah.
Yeah. ⁓
Sarah Jordan-Ross (32:27)
What did you learn in that moment? Because I imagine you were feeling completely out of control.
JENNIE LOPEZ (32:33)
Yeah, and that's
one thing, right? Like, I think the biggest thing that I coach my clients, but I had to practice myself is all you can do is focus on what you can control. Otherwise your mind will spiral into all these worst case scenarios that really, the probability of them taking place is so, so minuscule. Gosh, so the irony, Sarah, of all of this is that I've been wanting to visit Mexico for 10 years and I've been...
saying to my husband, let's go. then my husband, he sees what is on the news and then he extrapolates and he said, well, Jenny's not safe. We're gonna go there. We're gonna get kidnapped. This is gonna happen, right? He just goes to the worst scenario. And I say, you are just exaggerating. Everybody's having a blast. Anyway, the time that I actually convinced him to go is when that happened where for those people who are not listening, what happened was that they killed the cartel main guy in.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (33:23)
Sorry.
JENNIE LOPEZ (33:31)
in Mexico and it caused a lot of violence and fires and most of it in Mexico was in the Jalisco, Puerto Vallarta area, which is the opposite of where we were at. However, because the United States play a little bit on the intel of the whole situation, they were attacking the tourism zones and we weren't one of those. So we pretty much were told Sarah.
Absolutely do not leave that Airbnb. You have to stay there, focus on the news. Nothing, not even to go out to eat. so I told my husband, you manifested this. Anyway, it's okay. But you know, social media, I know, but yeah, you know, I'm laughing, but I'm not taking lightly what's happening in the country. Obviously it's much better now, even by the next day where we were at.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (34:11)
Sorry. Careful what you put out there.
JENNIE LOPEZ (34:25)
things were a little bit back to normal. Obviously, you'll see a lot of armed guys with machine guns, but they were protecting really the area. Yes, there were a lot of things set on fire, gas stations, cars, et cetera. So it was truly not safe to go out. ⁓ But honestly, the thing is that we could have been in social media. And you know how is social media. They are paid for attention. And now with AI, they were just exaggerating everything to the nth degree. sometimes, depending on what you were watching, you will think that
The whole Mexico was pretty much just a big explosion thing and it wasn't. ⁓ So what we decided was to watch a movie. Let's watch a movie. All we can do is focus on what we can control. We'll check the situation of the airport tomorrow. We were gonna leave the next day anyway. And then we'll play day by day. But really it helped us. I think we had the right mindset for it. And it made me practice what I teach.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (35:25)
And we sometimes discount how important that is of walking our own talk.
JENNIE LOPEZ (35:35)
Yes, yes.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (35:36)
So, so we've covered.
JENNIE LOPEZ (35:38)
Yeah, but I mean, like, that I mean, if
you think about that was actually, I was going to say several weeks ago, but really was last week. And now with the situation in the other opposite side of the world, right. There's there's always something. I my husband went to Jerusalem and Israel and he came back just about five days before the war erupted there. And I remember him asking the question, is this a place that is safe? And everybody said, this is the safest place. And
Even the airport where he flew out, he got hit ⁓ in the middle of the war situation. You know what? You either go under a rock and never leave and experience life if you get distracted by everything that is going wrong in this world, or you focus on what you can control and really do your best to live a life in alignment of doing good in the world. I know it's going to return back to you.
and one baby step at a time, right? And be that source of positivity out there because a lot of people need it in these days.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (36:40)
We need to put out into the world what we want to come back. We need to be that change that we want to see.
JENNIE LOPEZ (36:48)
Yes.
Yes.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (36:52)
We need to make sure that we're living in alignment and doing that ourselves. Now I know you move quite easily between different spaces and have created that balance and that integrated life. So if anyone's listening and they're in that struggle of
JENNIE LOPEZ (36:58)
Mm-hmm.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (37:19)
They're hiding parts of themselves to be taken seriously or they think they can't do all the things that they love to do, all those things that make up who they are.
What would you want them to know? How do they start integrating all those things instead of shrinking back and hiding who they are? How do they start controlling those things that they can control so that then when they're in situations like you were a couple of weeks ago or situations where they do feel out of their depth or out of control that they can center themselves and live from that alliance space?
JENNIE LOPEZ (37:45)
Yeah.
Yeah, that is a big compounded question, Sarah. We can do like five episodes if we break it down. But let me tell you, there's nothing good that comes from things that are stagnant and that includes our life. And it got to a point in my career where I felt kind of trapped, meaning that I needed to be this person that it really wasn't me. And on top of that, I felt that I had no control of my really journey and destination.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (38:06)
Sorry.
JENNIE LOPEZ (38:31)
and it was in the hands of other people. I felt like a little chip in a board game where people were moving me around and I had no say to it. I was just a chip there. Okay, where are we going next? Then it was very disempowering. And then I say, enough is enough. I'm gonna invest in myself. This was many, many years ago. And I think that was my big aha moment because I say, okay, if I continue to feel this way, not only I'm impacting me, but I'm impacting my husband and my kids and at what cost kind of what you were saying earlier before.
And maybe it's a little comfortable right now, but would it be five years from now if I continue to feel this way and not being in alignment? So I will say one of the first things that anybody can do is really invest on themselves and especially mindset because 80 % of success is mindset. we think is all the strategies and give me the one, two, three, four, five. Honestly, in these days you can ask your GPT or whatever AI tool that you use, give me the one, two, three, four, five. You'll have it and you still won't do it. So it's really the mindset piece.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (39:28)
we don't always do
what we know.
JENNIE LOPEZ (39:30)
Right,
right. So it's really that mindset piece. ⁓ And then after that, be clear into what you want to experience. Honestly, you can experience anything you want. And I'm not being hashtag motivational, Jenny, right now. That's been my experience, right? I've been also, by the way, you didn't know, but I was a singer too of a cover band here for many years. So we share a little bit of that. I've been a dancer. I've been an NFL cheerleader.
I being an author, a speaker, an executive leader in HR, in the business, in manufacturing, business owner, there's so many different hats, but I always get excited about what's next. And it's not because of the goal and like if I'm gonna get a ⁓ trophy, but it's about the person I become on the other side. So for people who are hesitating, is it too late or like, my gosh, did I waste all these years? No, you live different chapters in your life.
and you were able to accomplish what you have accomplished right now, you're not starting from zero. And that's what I actually love. That's my passion, help people going through those transitions. And it's okay from now, what's the next chapter? And you're bringing, they're not starting from zero, you're bringing all of that experience with you and then go to your next chapter and make it better. And now you have more experiences. Not only you're more marketable, but then you have even bigger impact with the people that is around you.
So literally, I help them getting that clarity and that confidence on the system so they can do that. This life is short in the risk of things, and why not experience it? ⁓ And then when you do that, you serve as a role model for others, which is something that I never take for granted. And that's why I always share my journey in social media under Intentional Unicorn, which is my brand.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (41:18)
So that's where people can find you is on social media under Jenny Lopez or intentional unicorn, or they can tune into very Caliente, which for those of you who don't speak Spanish, Caliente is the word for hot.
JENNIE LOPEZ (41:21)
Yes.
Yes.
Very caliente!
hot. I
know. And we at the beginning was that, very hot people are going to have like a different connotation to it. But no, I mean, like, we are spicy. I mean, vibrant. just talk about spice. Spicy also has a different connotation, but we are a very vibrant culture. So why not celebrate it? So it's really through that lens.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (41:58)
Yes.
And it's having lots of fun and celebrating who and what you are, which is a wonderful thing. And we should all be encouraged to do that. And as you said, you're not starting from zero. You have all of these experiences that you've carried with you that you've learnt along the way. And I think
JENNIE LOPEZ (42:05)
Yes, absolutely.
Yes.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (42:26)
Each and every one of us is created for a specific purpose that only we can do. So the experiences that I've had have led me in a different way to the experiences that you've had, but we can both do our bit to make a difference to our world.
JENNIE LOPEZ (42:40)
Yes.
I know what you said, Sarah. And I think that's the calling, right? If we truly, truly stop living this war in autopilot, we start connecting to why are we here for? ⁓ One of them is to experience life, but all of us have our own experiences, our own unique superpowers. yeah, never ignore that little, you know, like, I don't know how to say this in English, but when you get that like, ⁓
I don't know how to say in English, like, you know, that little thing, like a little voice, a whisper or like, ooh, you know, idea or like this, I wanna do this, is there for a reason. So don't ignore it, listen, follow it and don't do it alone. Never do it alone. Nobody does it alone. Get into the community, get with the coach, get with the mentor, but never do it alone.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (43:15)
Whisper? Prompting?
Yeah, because we weren't made to do life alone. We were made to do life in community to have each other, help each other carry those loads and do things that we can go further together. We can get more stuff done when we all pitch in and do our little bit. if, if there was just
JENNIE LOPEZ (43:41)
Yes.
Yes.
beautifully said.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (44:04)
one insight you'd like people to take away from today, what would that be?
JENNIE LOPEZ (44:09)
Ooh, honestly, invest in yourself, but even more importantly, be yourself. And it's not you against the world, it's how do you bring the best of you to have the impact that you are meant to have in a way that is authentic, but in a way that you're always growing because again, you don't do it for the thing on the other side, but you do it because of the person you become on the other side and the greater impact you can have on the other side.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (44:39)
love that. Be who you are because by being who you really are, that's how you're to have the most impact on the world. Jenny, thank you, thank you so much for being here today. I've had way too much fun. I get to be one of those now. I've always been one who loves my job. I was a massage therapist for 25 years and now I'm a podcaster and it's like, hang on, it's way too much fun for me to call it a job.
JENNIE LOPEZ (44:48)
Yes.
I love it. Congratulations. Thank you for having me.
Sarah Jordan-Ross (45:08)
So thank you for coming and having fun with me.
Yeah. So to everyone listening, notice those places where you've been hiding and stop hiding. Notice those things that are going on around you that you can't, once you've noticed them, unsee them. And think about what it might look like to live your life as your whole authentic self instead of splitting off
pieces or hiding and shrinking from who you are. Walk into your life truly as who you are. You never know what amazing things doing that might bring to the world. So until next time, take care of yourselves, take care of each other and remember your story matters so share it because you never know your story might be the one that changes somebody else's life.