Jenna Morey

Nothing defines Jenna as well as her desk placard, which reads “My modus operandi is: Dial up the awesome and break the knob off." Thankfully, she’s committing all that awesome to amazing local causes.

What keeps you up at night?

I feel proud about the genuine care I have for others, the passion I have for my community and the values we collectively uphold, my ability to turn trauma into wisdom, and that I never take myself too seriously! I am unashamedly very often the grand marshal of the silly parade. I believe that working hard and having fun can and should happen in tandem.

What’s been the biggest obstacle in your life so far?

When I first moved back to Oklahoma, I experienced a trauma that shook me to my core. It decimated my confidence and left me feeling awfully alone, lost and unsure about how to move forward. Therapy, healthy, supportive relationships, purposeful work and the determination to keep writing my story helped me rebuild, brick by brick. It was hard work to restore my joy, but the experience of pain and healing helped me to develop the gifts of deeper empathy, increased vulnerability and greater wisdom that I can now share with others who may be hurting.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

The best advice I've ever gotten was to step outside of my comfort zone, which has resulted in me seeing amazing sights, having wonderfully weird experiences, landing amazing jobs that scared me at first and developing rich relationships with people I never would have known if I had stayed safely in my comfort zone.

“It was hard work to restore my joy, but the experience of pain and healing helped me to develop the gifts of deeper empathy, increased vulnerability and greater wisdom that I can now share with others who may be hurting.”

What’s the single biggest problem you’d like to solve in your community?

Understanding that we have intractable problems in our community that require systemic solutions and a zealous commitment to partnership. No one person, organization or ideology will solve our problems of poverty, incarceration, addiction, mental health, etcetera. We must commit to working together to create holistic solutions.