Every story has a beginning, middle, and end; I believe mine started in the middle.
CW: Motor-vehicle accident
My Beginning
I was 18 and on my way home from school when I tried to get on the bus with my friends and there wasn’t enough room. I started to back off when I was shoved by someone on my left and simultaneously, the doors closed… on my one leg. To me, life started after I was dragged and run over by a bus; I even refer to the date as my Second Birthday!
This accident was the catalyst for my spiritual journey toward an intentional lifestyle. Left bed-ridden with a broken femur + tibia and severe road burn (with a hematoma the size of a soccer ball), I became the Girl Who Got Run Over By The Bus. I remember making eye contact with a few people on the bus as a hopped and banged on the door for my life. The whole school had to have counseling as they witnessed the accident. I can’t imagine their perspective, but it was at that moment that I stopped being who I thought I was and literally propelled myself forward into a new chapter of my identity.
Who Jillian was, only Spirit//Source//Universe// God(s)// Goddess(es)// and my Soul knew. Trapped in my bed, unable to bathe or go to the bathroom by myself, it was as if I was reborn- I’m sure my mom felt it was something of that nature. Confined to the bed and a little room that used to be our dining room, I was forced to really look at my life and my inner landscape. As I recovered from this trauma, I began to recover my true essence.
I’ll be forever indebted to my therapist who introduced me to John Kabat-Zinn and mindfulness. It is her who helped inspire my adventure through wellbeing, alternative medicine, and non-traditional practices. After I learned to walk again, I spent almost a decade exploring ways of living outside of Western culture. I traveled the world while I invested in holistic health training like Yoga, Meditation, Energy Healing, Nutrition, Permaculture, Aromatherapy, and so on. Along this path, I got even more clear about who I was and who I wanted to be. However, there was one thing that was crystal clear: It’s time to evolve beyond the extractive, transactional, non-relational way of be-ing that’s become the cultural norm.
After working for a local mental health charity in my hometown of Hamilton ON Canada, I received a concussion that left me living with a chronic condition called Post Concussion Syndrome. In learning to live with a disability -paired with my passion for business, sustainability, social justice, and art- l continued my previous studies in design and integrated my other skills to start a business that created space for me to simply be me; a place to celebrate brands that are doing good things for people + planet.
And that’s what I want for you, too! You can find your own natural rhythm that honours alllll your intersections and abilities// gifts.
Through my creative services, my mission is to create a more inclusive narrative by helping to tell stories that matter, and sharing knowledge and resources to empower ethical brands and their community to reimagine the worlds we move through.
My remedy for the intensive yet profound journey toward entrepreneurship goes Beyond Branding
I forged this process to bridge the gap between coaching, activism, healing arts, and of course, brand and web design. In order to enact an effective strategy, the best brands are birthed from within: a purposeful holistic design process requires dedication and self-reflection to uncover limiting beliefs. BEYOND BRANDING equips you with skills and design elements to confidently communicate your core essence so that you can deeply connect to your audience.
After offering Beyond Branding for a few years, I noticed a theme: I spent A LOT of time offering this holistic coaching support inside of the design container. This made sense to me due to my motivation behind the creation of Beyond Branding, but intuitively, I knew there was more to this intentional, multidimensional process. In addition to and congruently with design services, I offer wellness practices called, Intuitive Support. Reflecting more upon this trend, I felt that my business and the conscious entrepreneurs it catered to, deserved more embodied support.
Through the unpredictable and rewarding nature of entrepreneurship, I learned even more about myself. Part of the cultural norm of Western society and other harmful systems like capitalism// colonialism + racism is the disconnection between body-mind-spirit. Even though I had cultivated many wellness practices I found that I still spent most of my time intellectualizing my life and business. Recognizing this, I somehow found the world of Somatics! This is what was missing from my life and my business. And if it could help me, then it could help my clients. EUREKA! Sweet, pleasure-full deep exhales.
Once I had explored various Somatic practices, neuroscience, and related embodiment workshops, Somatic Training was calling to every dang part of me. I said to my teacher yesterday, that the only other time I felt so sure of something is when I was traveling and was randomly drawn to a yoga shala on the beach where I ended up winning a yoga and surf retreat! Fast forward to now, I graduate from Somatic Soul Coach School! I have started to integrate this embodiment into my Beyond Branding process for Brand Identity and Website Design and already received such positive feedback from my design clients!
Accordingly, now Intuitive Support will also include Somatic programming. Curious? I’d love to connect with you- send me a DM on Insta, email me, or apply today!
Be it design or healing services that you seek, I strive to connect with every human with empathy, patience + curiosity, whilst actively listening and validating you to deliver timeless, practical guidance based on your unique needs + goals.
Love always,
Your human-first creative confidant, and (eco)Somatic Practitioner that has never before felt so safe to BE.
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