Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennifer Bravo.
Jennifer, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
For as long as I can remember I’ve had a strong curiosity for cooking – in fact I had an entire cookbook collection (with notes and post-it tabs) before I was 12. However, it took me well into my 20s before I realized my passion wasn’t just a hobby.
It started to click senior year of college when I found myself with an internship in ad sales at Food Network Magazine. I had spent my entire senior year with an incredible group of people working in business and driven by food. I truly loved every second of it.
From there, I had the opportunity to apply to Hearst’s highly competitive fast-track associate exec. program for college graduates. At the same time (and without telling my family at first), I applied to the culinary program at the Natural Gourmet Institute for Health and Culinary Arts (NGI), you know “just to see”.
It was when I found out that I was on the short list of candidates being pursued for the associate exec. program that I really thought I would take the job if I got it. I vividly remember feeling sad and yet relieved when I found out I was number six on a list of only five accepted candidates from across the nation. Yup, it was a photo finish, and I placed second. About three days later, I received my acceptance package from NGI.
While I know its cliché, reflecting back, I can really say that everything happens for a reason. And honestly, I’m pretty thankful I didn’t have to make that decision for myself. I spent the next year pursuing certifications in culinary arts and nutritional education. I started to really grow into my passion and felt convinced I was on the right track. I thrived in culinary school, found my confidence in cheffing, and began my externship as a personal chef. I received my certification in health coaching and joined the American Association for Drugless Practitioners, and jumped into my new career eager and doe-eyed.
Fast forward a year or so later and I was totally and utterly burnt out. After spending 99% of my days and nights devoted to cooking, I started to despise it and didn’t even want to talk about food, let alone prepare it.
I now know that my passion for wellness and food exists in my ability to help educate others, and the work I was doing as a personal chef just wasn’t that. In my previous role, I acted merely as a crutch on my clients’ wellness journeys and they were no better off after I left. This really bothered me. I didn’t like preparing food without the opportunity to share my message. Actually, the best I felt during that time was when I was teaching hands-on cooking classes to children, and conducting wellness discussions with their parents. Otherwise I was so close to a nervous breakdown that my now husband decided it was time we move back home to New England (I’m from Swampscott, MA and he’s from Wolfeboro, NH). We joke that we pretty much threw a dart at a map and landed on Portland.
That summer we moved to our new home and I kept my knives packed away for what would end up being almost five years. I spent those years pouring myself into my practice, Portland Health Coaching at the Integrative Health Center of Maine. I learned some incredibly valuable lessons about myself, my approach and my practice over those years – but it wasn’t until I was able to build a really strong community in Portland that I finally was able to hear how much people could use my help around cooking at home that I started recipe development again.
I began documenting them for my online recipe catalogue Bravo! Jenny and immersed myself fully as a student of food photography. I’ve spent the last year developing easy-to-make recipes, sharing lifestyle wellness tips on my social media page (Instagram.com/jennifahbravo), and regularly meeting with health coaching clients. I’ve since grown in ways I could only dream of, and have continued to build my brand as a wellness expert and recipe developer. I’ve worked with internationally recognized brands such as Whole Foods Market, to regional brands and local small businesses. I am so excited about the future of my work and it’s been fun to tell my story with you today and reflect on how far I’ve come.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I think I missed that exit! It’s funny, my career might appear very linear to someone at first glance. You know, a + b = c (business degree + culinary training / nutrition certification = my current career). But the truth is, I’ve almost always been on this winding road with limited visibility and of course, no road map. Life inevitably throws obstacles our way, but I often find my biggest struggles have something to do with overcoming the roadblocks I lay down for myself. You know, the ones we enforce with great might in an attempt to preserve the self (and the ego). I find that the fear of that winding road is far worse than the road itself. But the truth is it’s scary to start a business, it’s even scarier to do it in a field very much in its infancy, and it’s ridiculously scary to be vulnerable and put yourself out there as the face of that brand. Something I’m still struggling with today is how to really find my voice, and not just find it, but to make it heard and eventually, to use it to help our world become a better place.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
I always say, do you want the long or the short? Well, the short is that I am a practicing health coach, recipe developer, and food photographer. I work with people to help them reach their wellness goals. I produce easy-to-make recipes with relatable food imagery for my social media audience where I also share my real life struggles and successes in life and work and mothering. Additionally, I work with companies to produce content in food, wellness and lifestyle.
The long is this… Most people have a general idea of what a Health Coach is, but many people ask exactly what my work looks like. Well, I see my clients at my office twice a month over the course of six months (and beyond). My role is to help each client identify tweaks to their lifestyle that will enable them to reach their long-term wellness goals. I provide education, accountability, and support (and often in that order). My experience has been that almost every client, if not completely unsure about what to eat, has created some sort of rulebook that they follow. It’s usually rooted in fear of the unknown (and rightfully so, there’s so much information out there!) and built with cherry-picked information haphazardly provided by different media. This almost always results in completely unsatisfying, chronic yo-yo dieting. My passion is to help people break free from the restrictive nature of the modern diet-culture, and empower them to find the freedom that exists in every day food and wellness. This really sets me apart from others because everything I do is highly customized and relatable. I’m proud to say that I do not “prescribe” calories/restriction of calories, I do not share recipes for “super food health”, and I do not suggest rules/guidelines that are as strict and ultimately unattainable. Everything I share is practical for real life, long term success.
I am so proud of my practice for a number of reasons, but mostly that my clients usually come in looking to lose weight, and leave having reached a new goal of living a healthy, more fulfilled life, free of guilt or worry about food. My second proudest? How many emails I’ve received from very happy doctors excited that my work with their patients has been so successful.
What were you like growing up?
I’ve always been extremely curious and independent. I’ve never been satisfied that things must be done a certain way, and have always been a student to new creative outlets. It makes sense now that I’m so determined to debunk diet-culture and help people reevaluate what wellness looks like. Another thing I remember about myself as a child was how sensitive I was to other people’s experiences. Just one example is how emotional I’d become when I saw an elderly person eating alone. I could only imagine how lonely it must feel to eat alone after a lifetime full of experiences and relationships (although, now that I’m a mother to a two year old, eating by myself sounds mighty nice!). I guess you could say it was early proof that I’ll always be inspired to help other people feel good at their core, both physically and emotionally. That I’ll always need to make sure people are truly well and good.
Contact Info:
- Address: Jennifer Bravo, CHC
Integrative Health Center of Maine
222 Auburn Street, Portland, Maine 04102 - Website: www.bravojenny.com
- Phone: 617-285-2165
- Email: hello@bravojenny.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/jennifahbravo
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/bravojenny_food
- Other: www.maineintegrative.com
Image Credit:
Mix of photos by myself, Jennifer Bravo and by Greta Tucker Photography.
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