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Jennifer Bardot is the Founder of the GRIT Community which helps women gain knowledge, learn, build relationships, advance career opportunities, make a difference while engaging in an inclusive community of women. G.R.I.T. (Growth, Resilience, Intention, Tenacity) brings leaders together by providing support, professional development and inspire its members to have growth, resilience, intention and tenacity.
She talks Cynthia about her early struggles in school, her brush with death as a child, and the multiple successes she’s had in different industries. She started a successful an entrepreneur in her teens, later became a therapist, transitioned to a senior executive in the banking industry, before ultimately focusing all of her efforts on the women of the GRIT Community. Her story is one built on G.R.I.T. and will inspire you into believing that you too can do anything.
1 – Intro 00:29
2 – What is the G.R.I.T. Community 01:21
3 – Why she left a successful career in banking 02:36
4 – Struggles you’ve faced 03:31
5 – How did you learn you were capable? 08:03
6 – Your acceptance into the Graduate program 10:45
7 – Learning how to advocate for yourself 15:35
8 – First in the family to graduate college 16:33
9 – Being a first generation college student 17:14
10 – Owning a cleaning business in the Ozarks 19:19
11 – Looking back would you change anything? 22:15
12 – How did you discover who you are? 24:16
13 – Where do you look for professional development resources 26:55
14 – Your thoughts on hard conversations 29:05
15 – Artificial sense of security 33:13
16 – Example of some dark times you experienced 34:09
17 – How did you manage all the kid stuff and work 40:26
18 – Mom guilt 42:18
19 – Contact 50:45
Content Notice
This podcast and all She Lift Project content represents the opinions of Cynthia Kirkpatrick and her guests. The content here is for informational purposes only, and should not be taken as professional advice – financial, legal, medical, or otherwise.
Views and opinions expressed in the podcast and across all She Lift Project media channels are our own and do not represent that of our places of work. While we make every effort to ensure that the information we are sharing is accurate, we welcome any comments, suggestions, or correction of errors.
“I got to a point in Frank’s office where I realized there was kind of a ceiling. People that I had come in after me, I was training, were now moving up. And my ego got to the best of me. This is the dream job. Like, what happens after Frank Gehry? What could possibly be next after that?”
We’re catalysts for better conversation. And we know at Filament that the teams that we work with are not looking for the right answer, because there’s no such thing as the right answer. There is the next best answer to the questions that we’re asking.
“Research actually shows when there’s this lack of trust in a relationship, this lack of connection, the same part of our brain that processes physical pain gets activated when there’s an emotional pain. Right? And so if I’m feeling rejected or I’m feeling like I’m not part of the team or I’m not valued in any way, that part of our brain activates and says, like, pain. And so if you think about it in that way, think about the number of people who are walking around your office every day in pain.”
“Women in their 40s start to disappear from photographs because they think that they’re not young enough, thin enough, pretty enough. But the truth is that when you are in your 40s, you are leading a company, you’ve had children, you have a family, you’re doing things in your community. This is when you should be photographed.”
“You have to be cautious and mindful of the board of directors you invite into your head. And we as women especially listen terribly to that board of directors. And if you have one bad seat on there, one bad teacher, one bad classmate, one whatever from your history that you are listening to, it can really sabotage you.”
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