ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: JENNY PHILLIPS

Studio IX:

First things first, tell us who you are and what it is you do.

Jenny:

That's the hardest question for me to answer, which I think is probably true of most people who recognize their creative being first. We’re always trying to pull eight different threads into a cohesive elevator pitch.

So, my name is Jenny Phillips. By day, I'm an executive coach and a writer, and by night I'm a poet and a reader. I finished my second year of hospital chaplain training in May of last year, and I'm busy weaving that into my coaching approach. I'm not doing spiritual work with clients per se, but a holistic approach towards work and life is grounding for my practice. I also am a parent—a mom of three, which has been important this year--and a wife.

Studio IX:

What do you love most about what you do?

Jenny:

I love creative expression, so anything I'm doing where I'm writing or coming up with ideas is super exciting to me. I also really love digging into what it means to be human. I think that's why I've been so interested in how people work, why they work, what makes work meaningful, and how they can be supported. That brought me into coaching eventually—and chaplaincy. It doesn't really get more raw and human than what you see in a hospital from day to day. So that experience really drove things home for me. That is something that is motivating and exciting because it's just very real.

Studio IX:

And how did you arrive where you are now? What’s the backstory?

Jenny:

I have an educational background in religious studies and ethics, and a professional background in business, but more recently, coming out of August 12th and processing that experience led me to apply for hospital chaplaincy because I learned that I am someone who is able to be calm and show up in really difficult situations. I wanted to explore a path and gain some skills for doing that in a meaningful and responsible way. Chaplain training was a whole process of learning and spiritual formation—and more change. It’s like trying to move towards a center that was always there, but that got covered up by a bunch of muck and grit and grime of culture and experience and difficulty and what not.

Jenny:

The combination of the Trump presidency and the events around August 12th made me more aware of problems that had been right in front of my nose for a long time. it was a call into awareness and participation. There is a partisan element, but I don't feel called to run for office or campaign for people. I don't really want to have partisan arguments. I want to be able to influence people towards humanity and human rights and love and kindness and justice.

Studio IX:

So those were very pivotal moments, light switch kind of moments for you.

Jenny:

Yes, and my experiences in the hospital. All of those were moments where I came into awareness of the depth of suffering that's everywhere. That sounds so bleak, but it is, I think, an awakening.

Studio IX:

How has the pandemic impacted that?

Jenny:

The most direct impact was that I was finishing up my second year of chaplain training when COVID began to limit what I could do. Because I was a student chaplain, I was sent home. I didn't get to finish in the normal way and had to process through the ending of that in the absence of a space where I could serve and in the absence of my cohort. I was invited to apply for a residency, but I couldn't really consider it because my kids were going to school in our house. I wasn't willing to leave my husband alone with that responsibility.

Studio IX:

Good call.

Jenny:

Yeah, it was the right call. Also, because I'm agnostic, there's always this tension about whether “the ministry” is the right place for someone without a traditional faith community. COVID gave me the space to explore what else that might look like and push some boundaries. That's been good, and I've enjoyed it. It hasn't all been bad for me, which I know is a lucky thing to say.

Studio IX:

Do you have a sense of where you're headed, generally speaking? Do you have a sense of how the work evolves or is that something that's more intuitive and responsive for you?

Jenny:

I am a super intuitive person. That's kind of my superpower and my Achilles' heel. That being said, I've gotten better at paying attention to what I like doing, and I really love creating. To a degree that has been wonderful and surprising. I love to be by myself with ideas and kind of work them through—synthesize them and then bring them out to the world.

Jenny:

So I think where I'm headed—I hope where I'm headed—is to a place where I have space and time to do more of that with intention. I have a small group of interested folks who appreciate what I do, and I’d like to grow that audience. My main vehicle for that right now is a newsletter.

Studio IX:

Is there any particular moment, memory or story that stands out to you?

Jenny:

Again, August 12th and summer 2017 were pivotal.

Studio IX:

What was it about those events?

Jenny:

What I experienced on August 12th was a little bit different than the dominant narrative around it. I organized with Congregate Charlottesville and was responsible for helping to create a sanctuary space at First United Methodist Church. So, what I experienced that day was sanctuary in the middle of the violence and chaos and conflict and hatred that were swirling all around. Right in the middle of that hell, there was a space where people were taking care of each other. People across all kinds of difference were taking care of one another in the ways that they needed and that was responsive. It was spacious and inclusive and real.

That was a moment that changed me forever because I realized that such spaces are possible, and I  want to be a person who's creating that kind of space. I say that with deep gratitude and appreciation for the folks who showed up to counter protest white supremacy in the streets, people who were resisting in the swirl. The sanctuary part of the story doesn’t get a lot of air time, and I understand why. There is a danger in only seeing the squishy, nice parts of things. We have to be real about all of it. But that was a pivotal moment for me.

It was also a rare moment of clarity in my life where I thought, “I don't know how I ended up here, but this is where I'm supposed to be. I know what to do. I know how to be. I don't feel conflicted. I am just here.” And it was hard. It was very difficult, but also it was really beautiful in an important way.