Jodie Rogers has a message.
It’s one she’s so determined to share that last year she left behind her ladder-climbing, corporate marketing job in London, England to make a career of liberating the masses.
The Jasperite is an empowerment coach and speaker who’s spoken all over the world, including in Spain last June, where she presented her talk, “The Stories We Tell Ourselves” at TEDx BerkleeValencia. (The video is available on YouTube.).
She’s also coached people as far-flung as Boston, Barcelona, London, Belfast, Mumbai and New Zealand, all from the comfort of her own home.
And when she’s not in Jasper, she spends her days travelling the world, spreading the message that you can learn to think differently; you can turn off your negative “mind chatter” and you can become your own cheerleader.
“Everybody needs to know this stuff, and I’m just going to keep telling people,” said Rogers.
“Nobody teaches you about your own mind. Nobody teaches you how to navigate your thoughts; how to demystify the crap that goes on in there; how to be your best friend instead of your worst enemy.
“I want to empower people and say, ‘look, it doesn’t have to be this way, the things in your head you’ve picked up through your life because you’ve been exposed to experiences, to people, but it’s not a given: we have the ability to shape and change the circuitry in our minds.’”
Although she speaks her message with confidence and infectious enthusiasm, Rogers is quick to admit she didn’t set out to be a motivational speaker. In fact, she resisted the idea for years.
She had the background: a degree in behavioural psychology, years of experience working for global marketing companies and a knack for giving good advice. But she also had a good job, an impending promotion and a comfortable life.
But then an administrative error forced her to make a tough decision.
She was living and working in Brazil, when an HR slip up left her with only two days to leave the country before her VISA expired.
“It just seemed and felt like a massive disaster and I remember lying on my balcony listening to Radiohead, thinking what am I going to do with my life. I was smoking cigarettes—I don’t even smoke cigarettes, it was just the drama of it all.”
She had a choice. She could move back to England until she could get a new VISA and return to Brazil, or she could pick up and leave and start a brand new adventure.
She chose the latter, buying a one-way ticket to Mexico and handing in her resignation the very next day. But, despite her conviction, her company wasn’t ready to let her go, and offered her six months unpaid leave with a guaranteed job in any country that she wanted. So, she tied up her loose ends in Brazil and took off for six months, with the intention of returning to work.
It was while she was in Nicaragua that she finally decided to consider coaching as a viable option.
She was helping her friend Dave with a problem. They were standing next to the sink, brushing their teeth and working through his conundrum.
“I remember it clear as day,” said Rogers. “All of a sudden Dave just took his toothbrush out of his mouth, pointed it and went, ‘you need to do this as a job.’ I just laughed. But, then I thought, ‘why do I keep saying no?’”
In that moment, Rogers made herself a promise: when she returned to London, she would at the very least explore life coaching and all that it entails.
Shortly after, she accepted a new position with her employer, but gave herself a condition: she had to sign up for a coaching course.
So she did, and two years later she completed a coaching diploma, as well as a course in neurolinguistics programming.
Then came the toughest decision of Rogers life. She had to choose whether to continue down her current path—the path of comfort and security—or to stray into the unknown and start again.
But it wasn’t even that simple.
Her decision was further complicated by her love life. Her boyfriend, a man she had met during her travels, was living in a small Canadian town in the middle of the Rocky Mountains.
“He was the one that inspired me,” she said. “He said, ‘Look, what you could do is you could quit your job and you could come to Jasper; I’m paying this mortgage if you’re here or not, I’m paying these bills if you’re here or not, you could come here and not have to worry about that and put all of your energy into your business idea, into coaching, into speaking and it’s zero risk.’”
So, after a lengthy internal struggle with her ego, Rogers packed her bags and hopped across the pond to start her new adventure in Jasper, and in 10 short months, it has taken her around the world.
Rogers will be presenting her brand new talk “Raising Resilience” in Jasper next month. It will cover everything from how to deal with adversity to building your emotional capabilities.
The location is to be determined. Rogers encourages anyone who’s interested to check out her website for more information in the coming weeks: www.jodierogers.com.
Nicole Veerman
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