22 | Aging Backwards & Rising Forward – Part 2: Don’t You Dare Go Back to Playing Small

The conversation continues… and this is where PURPOSE becomes ACTION. In Part 1, Jennifer Kaufman shared the courageous decision to sell her home, leave her career as a school principal, and go ALL IN on the calling she could no longer ignore. No Plan B. In Part 2 of this special Rise & Roar with the B.A.D.D.A.S.S. Lioness conversation, we go deeper into the mission behind the leap—autism advocacy, family, education, and Jennifer's work helping grandparents become an informed and powerful part of a child's support system. We also dive deeper into her book, Grandparenting on the Spectrum, and the bigger movement she is building around understanding, connection, and advocacy. Because saying YES to your calling is one thing. Living the YES is another. Jennifer's story is a reminder that you don't have to know exactly how the next chapter will unfold before you begin writing it. Sometimes you simply know: I can't go back to who I was.I know who I'm here to serve.And I'm ALL IN. 🎙️ Part 2: Turning Advocacy Into a Movement If you haven't heard Part 1 yet, start there—and then come back for the rest of this extraordinary conversation. If you know there is more inside you—a story, message, mission, book, stage, business, or movement waiting to emerge—what are you waiting for? Come into our world. Contact mehttps://joinginineemily.com/contact 🎤 Explore Story to Stage™ and discover how to turn what you've lived and learned into a message people remember. Chat or book a call- https://joinginineemily.com/contact And if this podcast has touched you, challenged you, or awakened something inside you, please pass along to another brilliant lady who needs this. Subscribe and leave us a 5 star review. And consider buying us a coffee. ☕ https://www.buymeacoffee.com/ginineemily Your support helps us continue creating conversations and experiences that reach women who need the reminder:

What if one of the greatest gifts we can give a child isn't trying to change them—but taking the time to truly see them, understand them, and meet them where they are? And what happens when you know you're being called to something bigger—but saying YES means walking away from everything that feels safe? Jennifer Kaufman didn't just talk about following her calling. She sold her home.Left her career as a school principal.And went ALL IN. No comfortable Plan B. Her mission? Becoming a full-time advocate for autism and helping families—especially grandparents—better understand, support, and love children on the spectrum. In this powerful episode of Rise & Roar with the B.A.D.D.A.S.S. Lioness, Jennifer shares the story behind her courageous leap, her advocacy work, and her book, Grandparenting on the Spectrum. We talk about what happens when purpose becomes louder than fear, why grandparents can play such an important role in a neurodivergent child's world, and what it takes to stop waiting for the “perfect time” to do the work you know you're here to do. Because sometimes your next chapter doesn't come with guarantees. Sometimes it comes with a choice: Comfort—or calling?Certainty—or courage?Plan B—or YES? Jennifer chose YES. And this conversation is for anyone who's ever felt that quiet tug saying: There's something more I'm supposed to do. 🎙️ Listen to this one if you're ready to stop asking “What if it doesn't work?” and start asking: “What if this is exactly what I'm here for?” 🦁 This is where the Quiet Warrior becomes the unstoppable Lioness. If you know there is more inside you—a story, message, mission, book, stage, business, or movement waiting to emerge—what are you waiting for? Come into our world. Contact mehttps://joinginineemily.com/contact 🎤 Explore Story to Stage™ and discover how to turn what you've lived and learned into a message people remember. Chat or book a call- https://joinginineemily.com/contact And if this podcast has touched you, challenged you, or awakened something inside you, please pass along to another brilliant lady who needs this. Subscribe and leave us a 5 star review. And consider buying us a coffee. ☕ https://www.buymeacoffee.com/ginineemily Your support helps us continue creating conversations and experiences that reach women who need the reminder:

There was a time I truly wondered if I had become invisible. COVID had shut the world down—and it felt like my life had shut down with it. I had been laid off and dismissed by a company I thought I would retire with. I was building my own business, but I’d kept that corporate training career as my Plan B. My safety net. Then the safety net disappeared. My dog died. I was injured after slipping off my roof and a 10-foot ladder. I got long-term COVID. The stages went dark. Performances stopped. Even the women’s ministry work I loved came to a halt. So I did what I’ve learned to do when life changes the script: I learned. I built. I created. I taught myself music production and DAW technology. We built a recording studio. I developed skills I never would have had time to learn before. But underneath all that productivity? There was grief, sadness, confusion, fear and depression. I remember being on my knees praying, feeling so forgotten, irrelevant and invisible. And then…words came. Then a melody... from this ache. Soon after, I had the joy of connecting on Zoom with an incredible rockstar in Australia. Two people on opposite sides of the world discovered we were walking through so many of the same emotions. And something clicked for me: The world is much smaller than we think. Your voice can reach someone you may never have imagined meeting. Your story can cross oceans. Your pain can become connection. Together, we wrote a song that began in sadness… but grew into hope, relationship and possibility. And then something neither of us expected happened. That little song born during one of the loneliest seasons of my life began getting attention—including taking us all the way to Australian prime-time television. Think about that. I felt invisible, yet my voice was traveling around the world. That season helped awaken the B.A.D.D.A.S.S. Lioness in me. And that’s why I’m bringing back one of the episodes that means so much to me: 🎙️ Episode 46: Quiet Warrior Rising — How to Reclaim Your Fierce Voice If you’ve ever felt forgotten… If life has knocked the wind out of you… If you’ve wondered whether your voice, your dream, or even you still matter… Please listen. Because sometimes the season that feels like it is silencing you is actually teaching you how to ROAR. And sometimes what begins as heartbreak becomes a ripple you could never have planned. There is always hope. 🎵 Listen to the song that came out of this extraordinary chapter of my life: https://open.spotify.com/track/0runMYbU7ScOtiyp5UFz41?si=1e1ae315da99435a From Quiet Warrior to ROARING Lioness. 🦁 Your voice still matters. Your story still matters. And you have no idea how far one ripple can travel. If you know there is more inside you—a story, message, mission, book, stage, business, or movement waiting to emerge—what are you waiting for? Come into our world. Contact mehttps://joinginineemily.com/contact 🎤 Explore Story to Stage™ and discover how to turn what you've lived and learned into a message people remember. Chat or book a call- https://joinginineemily.com/contact And if this podcast has touched you, challenged you, or awakened something inside you, please pass along to another brilliant lady who needs this. Subscribe and leave us a 5 star review. And consider buying us a coffee. ☕ https://www.buymeacoffee.com/ginineemily Your support helps us continue creating conversations and experiences that reach women who need the reminder:

What if the story you’ve been afraid to tell is the very story someone else needs to hear?

What if the story you’ve been afraid to tell is the very story someone else needs to hear?