66. Resilience, Identity, and Redefining Success with Mountaineer Jenn Drummond
What if the life you’re waiting to live is already within reach, if you just stopped playing by everyone else’s rules? After a near-fatal accident, Jenn Drummond decided to stop postponing her dreams and start living fully. A mom of seven and the first woman to climb the Second Seven Summits—the second-highest peaks on each continent—Jenn shares how she redefined ambition, challenged her own limitations, and pursued bold goals while staying deeply connected to her family and her purpose.
We explore how she overcame a fear of heights, embraced intentional rest, and brought a sense of play into even the most demanding pursuits. Her approach to goal-setting is rooted in presence, curiosity, and alignment with her values, showing that audacious dreams don’t require burnout, just intentional choices and a willingness to do things differently.
Through her story of transformation, Jenn illustrates that doing it all is possible when we’re strategic with our energy, clear on our “why,” and committed to showing up authentically. She reminds us that success isn’t about sacrificing ourselves, it’s about creating a life that reflects who we truly are.
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What You’ll Learn from this Episode:
How to transform limiting beliefs by viewing life's challenges through a lens of play and possibility.
Why sustainable success requires protecting your rest as fiercely as your goals.
The way to balance masculine and feminine energy in high-achieving spaces.
Understanding how to pursue ambitious dreams while staying present as a parent.
How to build resilience by maintaining a healthy relationship with both mind and body.
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Breakproof by Jenn Drummond
The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron
Full Episode Transcript:
Nina Lynch: You know those people who set wild goals and actually follow through? You know, the ones who make you ask yourself, “Wait, what am I doing with my life?” That’s Jenn Drummond. She’s a world record-holding mountaineer, mom of seven, and a woman who turned a near-death experience into a wake-up call to stop waiting and really start living.
In this episode, Jenn shared how climbing the world’s highest peaks taught her about resilience, identity, and redefining success on your own terms. We talk about what it actually takes to go after something audacious, how to quiet the self-doubt, handle fear, and keep going when it gets hard, and have some fun along the way. And spoiler alert, it’s not about being fearless, it’s about being intentional.
Whether you’re staring down your own metaphorical mountain or just trying to make it through a tough week, you’ll want to hear this one. Jenn’s story will light a fire in you. Alright, let’s get going. This is Ambitious-ish.
Burnout? Check. Daily overwhelm? Check. Resentment rash, stress, and a complete lack of well-being? Check, check, check! You’re not alone. We’re your hosts, Kelle & Nina, and we are here to help you feel calm, balanced, and empowered so you can redefine success, make choices that feel authentic, and ACTUALLY enjoy the life you work so hard to create. You ready? Let’s go.
Nina: Okay, today's guest is a literal world record breaker, holder, a mother of seven, and a woman who redefined what it means to chase big, bold goals after a near-fatal accident. Jenn Drummond is a local Park City friend and the first woman to climb the Second Seven Summits. That's the second-highest mountain on every continent. And that's just what she looks like on paper. Jenn's a powerhouse and a local friend again, she shows us all how to manage challenge and setbacks with grit, grace, and a fierce sense of purpose.
But she's not just about conquering peaks. She's about rewriting the narrative of what's possible when women choose to live fully, audaciously, and on their own terms. Jenn, welcome to Ambitious-Ish.
Kelle Cobble: Welcome! Woohoo!
Nina: Welcome to Ambitious-Ish. We're so excited to dive in.
Jenn Drummond: Yeah, I'm excited to be here. Thank you.
Kelle: Yeah.
Nina: Yeah, totally. So, it's so cool to have you on today because you are sort of someone we've seen around town for years. I've texted you for ski gear. We see you in the pickup line, we grab coffee, all the things. And so, it's just great to see you and have you on Ambitious-Ish.
Jenn: Yay, I'm grateful to be here. So fun to share the story.
Nina: Yeah, totally. So, let's just go back to when you set out to climb these seven second summits, right after this accident. I remember being in town after that accident. So, how did that experience shift your relationship even with ambition? What woke up for you there?
Jenn: Yeah, the accident was a line in the sand for me for sure. There was the life before the accident, the life after the accident. Before the accident, I had told myself, this is the season I'm in of motherhood, and this is what it looks like and I just need to get through it. And when my kids go to college, then I'll be able to get back to me and you know, I just, I was doing life, I wasn't thriving in life.
And then after the accident, I realized, if my life just ended, there's a whole bunch in me that didn't get to be experienced. And so I need to lean into what that is, because if I'm showing my daughters what it means to be a mom, am I showing them how I want them to show up for themselves? And I didn't want them to self-sacrifice like I was, and have mothering be a sentencing.
And so I just changed my perspective on it and it was like, hey, Mom's going to do some things that get her excited. It's going to shift things around here a little bit. If it feels awkward or uncomfortable, let's have some conversations, but we're doing things a little different than we were before. And my kids are like, “Okay, whatever. Sure, Mom.”
Nina: Yeah, totally.
Kelle: Awesome. That's so cute.
Nina: Oh my gosh. And so you have five boys and then two girls, right?
Jenn: Yep. Yeah.
Nina: And your two girls are my son Toby's age-ish, right? So we know Julie and Jenna, we love those girls. And so yeah, how lucky are they to see this right in front of them? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Jenn: And why mountaineering? I've no idea. It's still funny how that all comes together…
Nina: Why not swimming?
Jenn: …because I was not a camper, right? I'd never slept in a tent before. I was just a hotel person. And so, I'm like, well, I'm going to climb a mountain for my 40th birthday. And then that mountain got bumped to Everest from a challenge from my son. And then my coach bumped it to a world record. And I just kept saying yes, because I had that, yeah, let's do this. Let's see what happens. And here we are.
Kelle: I just love that you didn't choose to do the conventional route, right? And just do the normal Seven Summits. You were like, I'm going to take it a step further and do the Second Seven Summits, which is way harder, right?
Jenn: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which, and I didn't know, right? I didn't have a bare.. I didn't know what's harder because I had no concept. I'm like, we'll just figure it out. But the interesting thing about the Second Summits is some mountains you ice climb, some mountains you rock climb, some mountains you ski, some mountains you hike. And so I just had to learn a whole bunch of different skills that I didn't have, which was super fun because I could take my kids ice climbing. I could take my kids rock climbing. We could all learn this together. I was just going to do it for a longer period of time in higher environments, but it was just a super fun project because we took it as a beginners for all of us.
Nina: So was there ever like a shakiness? Did you wobble at all here? Was there any self-doubt? I mean, this is quite an undertaking.
Jenn: Oh, self-doubt was like constant, right? I mean, it was a constant thing because I had a fear of heights that I had no idea I had a fear of heights. And until I went rock climbing and I was like 10 feet off the ground, I started shaking and sweating, and I wanted to vomi,t and I turned white. And my coach was like, I think you need to come down. So I came down, he's like, I'm like, what was that?
He's like, that's a fear of heights. I'm like, what do you mean that's a fear of heights? That can't be an option. I have to climb these mountains.
And so we literally would go like one hand hold higher and then climb down the wall. And then I would go one hand hold higher and climb down the wall. And it was so stressful that I would climb for like two hours and I would go home and take a nap for four. Because my body was just like, this is too much. We're taking on a lot or whatever.
And I just thought it was so funny. I'm like, I cannot believe I need a nap from this, but I did. And eventually just exposure therapy worked it out of me. But it's a constant. Like if I have not been up high for a while, I have to train at a gym for about a month before I'm going to go high so that I don't panic.
Nina: Wow. That is so interesting. I can relate to kind of the relief or like exposure, you know, up high. I mean, that's part of it. I don't know. I mean, it's all in there. It's all baked in.
Jenn: It's all baked in. It's all baked in. And when you're climbing, the thing about climbing is that every step is a choice. You don't roll uphill, right? Every one of them is intentional, and you have to make that choice like 29,000 times when you're climbing, you know, Everest, right? Every step you have to be like, no, I'm going to continue. No, I'm going to continue because every step, your brain's like, you know, we made it here. We're far enough. This is good. You're fine.
You went to Everest. That's, that's cool. And it's just funny because I think when we set these big goals, we think that it's not a constant decision, and it is a constant decision every single day with everything we're doing.
Kelle: I'm so glad you said that. And I am wondering when we were doing research on having you on, what I really love about some of the things that I saw and heard were that you really love to incorporate play into what you're doing. And I don't know if you know this, but play is like our word of the year, Nina and my word of the year, because I had cancer last year, and Nina was going through divorce, and we just had like a year of all years last year. And now we're all about play. So I want to hear all about how you incorporate play.
Jenn: Yeah, no, you have to incorporate play because it just gives you a different energy source, right? So, for example, we were climbing on Mount Logan. When you climb on Mount Logan, you set up a tent, and then you have to build an igloo.
Okay? So I mean, I have saws and I'm cutting out ice blocks and I'm stacking the ice blocks because the igloo protects the tent from the wind. Otherwise, it will rip in the wind.
And so, at the beginning, it's exhausting, right? Like I'm building this igloo, we just set up this tent, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then I thought to myself, I'm like, if I was five, I would be on cloud nine right now that my job is to build an igloo outside. Like, how cool would that be?
And so when I tapped into my five-year-old self and just thought of like how fun that is to build an igloo out in the middle of nowhere, it was a different energy than it was like as an adult cutting out ice bricks and stacking them on top of each other, right? And it just allowed you to have fun. And when you have fun, that energy source can carry you so much further.
And we were climbing another time too, to let people know, when we were on this section of Everest is called the Lhotse Face. And the Lhotse Face is like a 3,700 foot outdoor stair master, for lack of any better words, okay? And you're in the elements exposed. So if it's windy, you're getting beat by the wind. If it's sunny, there's nowhere to hide. And it's just this really treacherous side of Everest.
Well, we were going through it and it was cloudy. So I put on my pink glasses to do depth perception. And after like hiking for about 30 minutes, my brain is, feels like I'm in a cotton candy machine because everything around me is pink and glowing. And so I'm thinking of cotton candy and the circus and having fun and playing Candyland with my kids. And then I'm looking at the rope I'm tied to, and it looks like a watermelon rind. So I'm singing like, “watermelon sugar high.” And I'm having a blast.
And then our alarms go off on our phones because you forget to eat at altitude. So the alarm goes off, reminds you to eat and fuel so that you have enough energy to continue. So the alarms go off, we pull out our backpacks. I bump my glasses or my goggles and I instantly am cold, I'm miserable, everything's gray and I'm looking at my teammates like, what just happened? Like, why are we traveling in this?
And my teammates could tell my energy had shifted entirely and they're like, what just happened to you? Like you were, like you changed.
Nina: So interesting. Yeah.
Jenn: And I'm like, I changed because two seconds ago I was in cotton candy land singing songs and being happy. And right now, I'm cold and miserable because my perception changed.
Kelle: Mm. Oh, so key. Yeah.
Jenn: Yeah, literally like from pink cotton candy land to like col,d miserable gray. And for the two hours, I was having fun and like was warm and skipping and happy. And my friends were just like, check, check, check, check, check, right?
And so for us, when we commit to goals, your energy is not being used to like negotiate yourself, right? You're doing the section. Like I'm not talking myself out of it. So if now I have that energy to say, yes, I'm doing this, now my energy gets to be deployed on how do I make it fun?
Nina: The F word.
Kelle: The best F word.
Nina: It's our favorite F word. There are other ones.
Kelle: I have thought about because I, you know, I read your book, loved your book, Break Proof. And you have so many compelling stories in there. And it was one of those books where I like just, I stayed up at night because I kept reading it. And I was just like, oh my god, I got to go to bed. And then I'd like, was just like, I can't. I just got to know what happens, you know?
Jenn: I know. I mean, who would have thought, right? Like I mean seriously, like the experiences I had on those mountains or the things that happened, like you just laugh about. I mean, when I was climbing in Russia, I was wearing Scooby-Doo underwear because they lost all my gear and I had to go to a rental store and like buy things and they had like grandma underwear or Scooby-Doos, and the Scooby-Doos were going to fit, and the grandma wasn't. And I'm like, I am climbing a mountain in Russia right now in Scooby-Doo underwear. Like this is my life. Like this is what's happening. This is awesome.
Nina: This is cool. And I think you echoed this when we talked a couple weeks ago, just that there really is, and this isn't anti-male, but there's a lot of masculine energy in what you do in mountaineering, right? Even in business, Jenn. I mean, you are a very successful entrepreneur, too. And so, balancing some of that masculine energy in high-achieving spaces, you know, with your play, right? With your humor, with your fun, with your Scooby-Doos. How else have you learned to like balance, just even rest, Jenn, or intuition into some of this?
Jenn: Yeah, so I used to wear burnout like a badge, right? Like I was so proud of myself and like, look what I accomplished or whatever. And then I realized, well, that's not a sustainable rhythm. And so for me, I started redefining success as sustainability. And so then that allowed me to be like, oh, I need a break or I need to recover or I need to integrate after this experience before I take on another one. And that allowing of that rhythm of push, recover, go, like changed everything for me from a standpoint of I had more energy to do the thing I was doing, right? Which when you have energy, you feel good, you do good, you have fun. I wasn't running on empty. And I just got better at identifying. Like I can't climb the mountain exhausted.
It's funny, like even when you climb Everest, like you're at camp four, you nap at camp four, which is in the death zone before you go to the summit push, because you need to collect all that energy again for that last little push. It's not like you go from base camp all the way to the top. Like there's rests built in that climb. And I think being an athlete, you just learn how important rest is for performance. And if we can incorporate that into our regular life, like everything changes.
Kelle: I was just going to ask you that because when we had like our discovery call with you, you were running one of your kids to school, or multiple kids to school, and I was thinking like, okay, how do you balance it all? I mean, you do, you have to do it on the mountain, but how do you do it in regular life too?
Jenn: Yeah. I'm very strategic with my calendar, and I have like rest time built in that I guard. I used to not guard it, and it'd be like, oh, that's where I'll just pinch from and pull from. And now I don't do that. And so for me, it's very much if I have Zoom meetings that I can do on a treadmill, I'll do the Zoom meeting on a treadmill, and I'll just get some steps in at an angle so that I'm getting vertical in.
When my kids have soccer games, I'm the mom on the edge with a 12-inch step. And I'm doing step ups the entire soccer game instead of just sitting in the chair. So there's just like little things that you're doing to get the exercise in and be present where you need to be.
Kelle: Mm, I love that.
Nina: From there, I mean, you're a mom of seven and climbing summits, record-breaking, all the things. What's like one myth that you want to like bust here about like having it all or doing it all? You know, what…?
Jenn: We can do it all. Like I think it's a story that we can't, right? Like that's, you can subscribe to that if you want, but we can do it all. You just have to be very strategic and intentional about it. So, for example, these last two weekends I had events in different states. I took a kid with me to each one of them, right? So then I got bonding time with them one-on-one, and I had an event for an hour, and the rest of the time we got to hang out and visit a city and look at colleges and things like that. So it's just being very intentional with your time because balance comes in presence.
So if you can be present with what you're doing and know like, oh, I have enough time in for work, I have enough time in for my kids, I have enough time in for me, then whatever you're doing, you can be present.
Nina: We might even call that like alignment, right? You're so intentional and present, and you like your why. You like why you're doing what you're doing and where you're putting everything. All your energy.
Jenn: Yeah, 100%. And then it just allows you to commit to what you're doing and yeah.
Kelle: So that being said, I'm curious what your relationship is with your mind and your body.
Jenn: That's a relationship I'm constantly developing. You know, and because it's learning to listen to both, right? Like, my brain is very rational. My body doesn't care about rational. My body's just like, here's where we're at. And so it's learning how to respect both and knowing, okay, if I push here, can I recover there, and is there space to do both?
And I think it's just always about creating that space of balance and saying, here's what I need right now. I thought my workout was going to look like this today. It didn't. Someone got sick or forgot a lunch or whatever else. So now that gets cut into there. And where can I like borrow from other places? And a lot of times it's just readjusting.
Nina: I'm guessing, as you say this and we talk about mind-body, I'm guessing you have been on the receiving end of some opinions about the way you run your life and parent, and the kind of the way you show up to your family. I'm just guessing because everyone has opinions. How do you manage that?
Jenn: Yeah, you know, it's interesting because I think a lot of people look at my life from their lens. And so they don't get to see it from my lens or what's going on behind the scenes. And so anytime people are judging me, I'm just like, they get like a thin slice and they're looking at it from their perspective of their life, so it doesn't make sense for them, which it shouldn't, because they don't know the behind the scenes of what goes on here.
I actually keep a therapist on speed dial for our family because I need to have somebody check in on me. So she'll come to the house and like follow around after school sometimes or check in with the kids just to make sure that I'm not buying my own stories, and making sure I have somebody checking in and being like, yes, the kids are good or you're doing this or pay attention to this a little bit more or here's something else I'd okay. So it's kind of like a parenting coach.
And so because I have a parenting coach that's involved with our family and has been for over a decade, the other things that people say don't stick because I'm confident in what I'm doing and I know I have people that are looking out for me to make sure I'm not missing blind spots.
Nina: Cool. Yeah, because some people, and again, I'm just guessing, so many of our clients, especially our higher profile clients, they're on social media, they're getting so many, there are just so many haters. They have to deal constantly with the pushback about everything they do, all of the opinions they have. It's really hard for some of them to stay unfiltered, right? To not be careful, you know, to use their voice even when they feel shaky, you know?
Jenn: Yeah, definitely.
Nina: And the opinions, it takes a strong human to appreciate a strong woman. I'm going to go there, right? Like it takes someone who has their shit together to really respect and honor like a badass, empowered, authentic woman. And so, have there been like flops or moments when you've just been like almost thrown in the towel?
Jenn: Oh, of course, right? I mean, you get picked on for everything, right? Like my teeth are too white. My teeth aren't white enough. I'm too skinny. I'm too fat. My hair is like, why are you doing your hair at base camp? Like all the different things, okay? And it's just like, hey, this is who I am. And once you kind of like yourself, you understand that you're not going to be for everybody, and that's kind of cool.
Right? Like when my social media team told me, you need as many haters as you do lovers, then you know you're making a difference. If you're only saying things that get you to be liked, then you're not really helping people. And so for us, it's always like, okay, well, if I'm coming in 50/50, I'm winning. Where, for some people, like when that comes in, that's hard.
And it's, like I just have to laugh because I'm like, wow, that's not something I would look at in somebody and pick out, right? Like it's just, that's interesting that's the thing you pick on me. Okay, but okay, cool.
Kelle: Y'all have to go check out her pics. Like all of her pictures. Jenn, where is a best place to find like pictures and more information about you?
Jenn: Yeah, so probably Instagram @thejenndrummond or on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is probably my favorite platform to be honest.
Kelle: Mm. Mm-hmm. What do you love about that?
Jenn: LinkedIn, I love it because it is information and education. Does that make sense? Like you're giving more of a lesson of what I've learned here and here's how it applied, or here's what happened. I just feel like the conversation on LinkedIn is more professional. And so it's more entertaining for me than the other platforms.
Nina: Yeah. And so just out of curiosity, like when it comes to, I think a lot of the people who listen to this podcast and a lot of the clients we work with, you know, in a nutshell, what we practice with them as coaches is resilience. We identify kind of their stuck places, we try to figure out what's holding them back, and then we try and show up in a new way that's more empowering, kind of from the inside out.
So, we all kind of fall off the rails when we're making transformation, when we're trying something new. And so it's how we get back on, right? That's so critical in a change process, right? And in you creating this shift in your life from before the accident to after. You know, what are like a couple, a handful of like lessons or takeaways about resilience that you might share with our listeners?
Jenn: Yeah. I think of it as like a dance, right? So for me, when I'm learning a new skill, like I was climbing and I was not good at it, and I had to like practice a ton and a ton and a ton. I only could do that a couple times a week. If I did it more than that, then I started feeling down on myself because I would get frustrated that I wasn't making progress faster. So I'm very aware of how I feel after an activity and if I'm feeling like, man, I just got my butt kicked, what can I do to build that self up again?
Right? Like, I'm really good at skiing. So maybe I'll go do a couple laps at the ski hill, and then I feel good about myself again because that's something I'm good at. So when you're doing new things that are challenging your edges, like be aware of how much time you're committing to that because when you get out of, for me, when I'm out of my zone of genius like 30% of the time, that's kind of my magic number. When I start getting out of my zone of genius 40% of the time, then I can start feeling that. So just knowing like, okay, here's what's going on in my life. How do I balance that to not push myself so much that I'm frustrated with myself? Because we need to be our best cheerleaders. Like we truly do.
Nina: Could you imagine if you were like bullying yourself on the Lhotse Face? I mean…
Jenn: Well, and here's like a crazy thing about me. So when you are on the mountain and you're brushing your teeth, you get to look out at the world. And you're like, oh my gosh, this mountain's beautiful, everything's pretty, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. When you come home from a climb and you brush your teeth and you're in the bathroom, I'm like, I look tired. I need this, like, I need Botox done or like whatever, right? And I'm like, I caught it because it was such a contrast to the conversation I was having two days before on the mountain brushing my teeth versus in my bathroom.
And then I asked my kids, I'm like, guys, what do you talk about when you brush your teeth? You know? And we had this whole thing of like, okay, we're going to have a toothbrush talk at our house. So when you brush your teeth in the morning and at night, you're only allowed to say positive things about yourself. And if you need help, like we'll put a little sticker on the mirror of what you're going to say while you're brushing your teeth for those two minutes. But it sounds like the silliest thing, but those teeny tiny things add up.
Nina: Yeah, we should all high-five ourselves when we're brushing our teeth.
Jenn: Totally. Like, bring it, girl. We're here.
Nina: Yeah, totally. I'm guessing all of this. And again, I just bring in sort of the opinionated haters, right? I'm guessing so much of this makes you a better parent, makes you a better human, right? Instead of this being seen as escapism or something, right? Instead of taking all those judgments in and internalizing all of this. I mean, it really does, it rounds you out. That's an understatement, right? It completes you, it uplevels you, all of it.
Jenn: Yeah. Well, and it just gives you so much time away to reflect, right? And I will tell you, the hardest mountain is the one in my head. It's not out there physically. So when I'm out there moving up a mountain, I'm moving up like different limitations that are showing up in my own mind and challenging those. And for me, my emotions need motion. So when I'm moving, it just helps me process through them and get through different pieces.
Nina: I was driving Toby to school this morning, and I told him that I was going to talk to you this morning. I'm going to talk to Julia and Jenna's mom. It's going to be really cool. And he's like, so where is she climbing now? Like, where is she? And I said, I think she's in Park City. And he was like, what? He's like, what's next for her? And I was like, I will ask. So what's, what's next? What's happening?
Jenn: Yeah, yeah. So I'm actually climbing Denali in May. So I'm super excited about that. And then I have one more mountain in Russia, and I'll have climbed all the highest and the second-highest. And so then that's I guess, another world record. So I'm like, oh, I have two mountains left. I'll have two world records. And then I'm done. Like I'm done with the mountains. I've kind of had my playground there, and it's time to adventure into different things.
Nina: Oh, interesting. Cool. Cool. Yeah, he was asking me, you know, Mom, is there a mountain you want to climb? And I'm like, that's so interesting. You know, I've climbed a couple mountains, nothing like Jenn Drummond. But I'm like, I think just experiencing the world is where I am, you know, like taking my kids to Machu Picchu or like, that would be rad, or just, you know, Toby's obsessed with Hawaii right now, that kind of thing. But yeah.
Jenn: Yeah, no, I took the boys, I took my older kids to Kilimanjaro, and we climbed that together. So that was a super cool experience. In fact, they hated it until they loved it. And then now they said that's their favorite vacation. So I'm like, oh really? That's interesting.
Kelle: How old are, how old are your oldest?
Jenn: So Jack and Jacob and Joe, so 17, 15 and 14. I took those three. Yep, and they each brought a friend and we had a blast.
Nina: Cool. Wow. Yeah, it's hard until it's easy, right? All of this stuff.
Jenn: All of it. All of it. All of life is hard till it's easy.
Nina: Yeah. Yeah.
Kelle: What a great lesson for them too of like hating something in the moment, right? And then loving it later. What do you think that is for them?
Jenn: Well, all their friends were going to Mexico for spring break, so they were bummed that they weren't going to Mexico. And they're like, my mom's making us climb a mountain. Your mom lets you go to the beach. And so it was hard, like, you know, the first day was the hardest day. And then they, you know, they make progress, which I think progress and momentum give you a lot of encouragement. They really, really, really liked the guides in Africa, like the energy and the enthusiasm of those guys. They were the youngest ones on the mountain, so they felt kind of cool there.
Our last day was a hard day, and I just drove them hard so they wouldn't think. I'm like, no, moving, moving, moving, moving, let's go, let's go, let's go. And then when they got to the top, you know, I mean, it's just such a satisfying feeling. And so they came down, and they're like, we climbed to the roof of Africa. And that's a cool story for them. And that builds confidence because you can't BS your way up the mountain. You have to do the work.
Kelle: Oh, I literally got shivers when you were saying that.
Nina: Me too. I'm just like picturing it.
Kelle: What an amazing experience for your kids. Really cool.
Jenn: Yeah. It was fun.
Kelle: Yeah. Okay, so what's one piece of advice you could give our high achievers that think they don't have time to go after their dreams. You had a car accident, kind of a catalyst that brought you to make changes. Same with Nina and I. Nina and I both have diseases that we're like, okay, we need to change something right now. So, what can you give as far as advice to our listeners to make that move now before you have to.
Jenn: For me, if I look back, I needed to look at my life from the perspective of my daughters. And I needed to ask myself, would I want them to have my life right now? And if the answer is no, it's your responsibility, it's your duty, it's your obligation to lean into what would be a yes.
Because I feel like if we don't demonstrate this exciting, vibrant life that we want to wake up to every day, they don't know what that looks like for themselves. And so for me, it was just very much having my kids be my accountability partners and say like, do I want them to have my life? And if I can say yes, whatever that looks like for them, then I'm doing things right. And if I say no, then it's like, okay, what do I need to shift to show them what it means to be happy and own your happiness and be responsible for your goals and say like, I have this vision and I have it because I'm here to carry it out.
Kelle: Love that.
Nina: Yeah. Kelle and I always say that ambition doesn't have to burn you out. Love how you kind of showed us all of that, right? You're such a powerful example of what it looks like to pursue big dreams and stay grounded in your why. And so before we wrap, is there one piece of advice you'd give to the woman listening who's wildly capable, but maybe a little scared?
Jenn: I think just give yourself some grace and lean in. Like, just lean in. For me, I did this book called The Artist's Way. Have you ever come across this? Oh my god. Game changer for me. And so every week I had to go on a date by myself, right? Because that's part of the program. And I didn't even know what to do.
But like all of a sudden you're like, okay, well, I get to do this one date. Like one of my dates was driving down the highway singing to songs with like the radio full blast, right? Because I've just never done that. I'm like, this is fun. Let's go do this. But just giving yourself permission to get curious and explore that curiosity.
Nina: Yeah. We love curiosity.
Jenn: Yes.
Nina: Yeah. Oh, Jenn, awesome. Thank you for sharing your story and your beautiful soul, and all your summits with us. We're seriously honored. We'd love to have you back soon.
Kelle: Is there something that you wanted to cover that we didn't cover?
Jenn: My biggest thing for people is we are all here to do something. And it looks different for every one of us, which is so cool and so exciting. So if you are the PTA mom that loves to make gorgeous brownies, like do it. If you're the mom that likes to hike, do it. If you're the mom that needs to drop brownies off that the grocery store made, do it. And let's just celebrate everybody's unique gifts and encourage each other to show up as authentically as possible because that's where real happiness comes from.
Kelle: Mm. What a great spot to leave on. Thank you.
Jenn: Thank you.
Nina: Okay, Jenn, so we're just going to do a quick like hot seat, fire out some questions here. Don't overthink these, okay?
Jenn: Okay, perfect.
Nina: Okay, cool. Here we go. Just answer these questions or complete the sentence: “Don't hate me if…”
Jenn: I'm late.
Nina: Okay, your most irrational fear.
Jenn: Spiders.
Nina: Oh my gosh. Okay, unusual skills or just one unusual skill you have.
Jenn: Oh, I'm really good at like setting the phone screens. The kids' phones.
Nina: That's awesome. Okay, one thing you'll never do again.
Jenn: Oh, one thing I'll never do again. Do a road trip with seven children. We're not road trip friendly.
Nina: Oh my gosh. Something you learned the hard way.
Jenn: I think I learned everything the hard way if I had to be honest.
Nina: Everything. There's no shortcuts over here.
Jenn: There's no shortcuts in this world. I swear. Okay. Um, the hard way. Get your kids ski boots fitted so that every time you go skiing, they're not grouchy.
Nina: Totally. Okay. Last, do you have a nickname, or what's your favorite nickname?
Jenn: Oh. They call me Jenn Way because if it doesn't go Jenn's way, it doesn't happen.
Kelle: Okay, I love that.
Nina: Okay, I'm changing you in my phone to Jenn Way.
Kelle: Yes. That's amazing.
Nina: Awesome.
Nina: Hey everyone, if you want more live access to me and Kelle, you have to join our email list.
Kelle: Yes, we’ll come to your email box every Tuesday and Thursday.
Nina: You can ask us questions, get clarity, and get coached.
Kelle: We offer monthly free email coaching when you’re on our list and you’re the first to know about trainings, events, and other free coaching opportunities.
Nina: Just go to KelleAndNina.com to sign up.
Kelle: Thank you so much for listening to today’s episode of Ambitious-Ish.
Nina: If you’re ready to align your ambitions with your heart and feel more calm, balanced, and connected, visit KelleAndNina.com for more information about how to work with us and make sure you get on our list.
Kelle: See you in the next episode!
In this episode, Jenn shared how climbing the world’s highest peaks taught her about resilience, identity, and redefining success on your own terms. We talk about what it actually takes to go after something audacious, how to quiet the self-doubt, handle fear, and keep going when it gets hard, and have some fun along the way. And spoiler alert, it’s not about being fearless, it’s about being intentional.
Whether you’re staring down your own metaphorical mountain or just trying to make it through a tough week, you’ll want to hear this one. Jenn’s story will light a fire in you. Alright, let’s get going. This is Ambitious-ish.
Burnout? Check. Daily overwhelm? Check. Resentment rash, stress, and a complete lack of well-being? Check, check, check! You’re not alone. We’re your hosts, Kelle & Nina, and we are here to help you feel calm, balanced, and empowered so you can redefine success, make choices that feel authentic, and ACTUALLY enjoy the life you work so hard to create. You ready? Let’s go.
Nina: Okay, today's guest is a literal world record breaker, holder, a mother of seven, and a woman who redefined what it means to chase big, bold goals after a near-fatal accident. Jenn Drummond is a local Park City friend and the first woman to climb the Second Seven Summits. That's the second-highest mountain on every continent. And that's just what she looks like on paper. Jenn's a powerhouse and a local friend again, she shows us all how to manage challenge and setbacks with grit, grace, and a fierce sense of purpose.
But she's not just about conquering peaks. She's about rewriting the narrative of what's possible when women choose to live fully, audaciously, and on their own terms. Jenn, welcome to Ambitious-Ish.
Kelle Cobble: Welcome! Woohoo!
Nina: Welcome to Ambitious-Ish. We're so excited to dive in.
Jenn Drummond: Yeah, I'm excited to be here. Thank you.
Kelle: Yeah.
Nina: Yeah, totally. So, it's so cool to have you on today because you are sort of someone we've seen around town for years. I've texted you for ski gear. We see you in the pickup line, we grab coffee, all the things. And so, it's just great to see you and have you on Ambitious-Ish.
Jenn: Yay, I'm grateful to be here. So fun to share the story.
Nina: Yeah, totally. So, let's just go back to when you set out to climb these seven second summits, right after this accident. I remember being in town after that accident. So, how did that experience shift your relationship even with ambition? What woke up for you there?
Jenn: Yeah, the accident was a line in the sand for me for sure. There was the life before the accident, the life after the accident. Before the accident, I had told myself, this is the season I'm in of motherhood, and this is what it looks like and I just need to get through it. And when my kids go to college, then I'll be able to get back to me and you know, I just, I was doing life, I wasn't thriving in life.
And then after the accident, I realized, if my life just ended, there's a whole bunch in me that didn't get to be experienced. And so I need to lean into what that is, because if I'm showing my daughters what it means to be a mom, am I showing them how I want them to show up for themselves? And I didn't want them to self-sacrifice like I was, and have mothering be a sentencing.
And so I just changed my perspective on it and it was like, hey, Mom's going to do some things that get her excited. It's going to shift things around here a little bit. If it feels awkward or uncomfortable, let's have some conversations, but we're doing things a little different than we were before. And my kids are like, “Okay, whatever. Sure, Mom.”
Nina: Yeah, totally.
Kelle: Awesome. That's so cute.
Nina: Oh my gosh. And so you have five boys and then two girls, right?
Jenn: Yep. Yeah.
Nina: And your two girls are my son Toby's age-ish, right? So we know Julie and Jenna, we love those girls. And so yeah, how lucky are they to see this right in front of them? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Jenn: And why mountaineering? I've no idea. It's still funny how that all comes together…
Nina: Why not swimming?
Jenn: …because I was not a camper, right? I'd never slept in a tent before. I was just a hotel person. And so, I'm like, well, I'm going to climb a mountain for my 40th birthday. And then that mountain got bumped to Everest from a challenge from my son. And then my coach bumped it to a world record. And I just kept saying yes, because I had that, yeah, let's do this. Let's see what happens. And here we are.
Kelle: I just love that you didn't choose to do the conventional route, right? And just do the normal Seven Summits. You were like, I'm going to take it a step further and do the Second Seven Summits, which is way harder, right?
Jenn: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Which, and I didn't know, right? I didn't have a bare.. I didn't know what's harder because I had no concept. I'm like, we'll just figure it out. But the interesting thing about the Second Summits is some mountains you ice climb, some mountains you rock climb, some mountains you ski, some mountains you hike. And so I just had to learn a whole bunch of different skills that I didn't have, which was super fun because I could take my kids ice climbing. I could take my kids rock climbing. We could all learn this together. I was just going to do it for a longer period of time in higher environments, but it was just a super fun project because we took it as a beginners for all of us.
Nina: So was there ever like a shakiness? Did you wobble at all here? Was there any self-doubt? I mean, this is quite an undertaking.
Jenn: Oh, self-doubt was like constant, right? I mean, it was a constant thing because I had a fear of heights that I had no idea I had a fear of heights. And until I went rock climbing and I was like 10 feet off the ground, I started shaking and sweating, and I wanted to vomi,t and I turned white. And my coach was like, I think you need to come down. So I came down, he's like, I'm like, what was that?
He's like, that's a fear of heights. I'm like, what do you mean that's a fear of heights? That can't be an option. I have to climb these mountains.
And so we literally would go like one hand hold higher and then climb down the wall. And then I would go one hand hold higher and climb down the wall. And it was so stressful that I would climb for like two hours and I would go home and take a nap for four. Because my body was just like, this is too much. We're taking on a lot or whatever.
And I just thought it was so funny. I'm like, I cannot believe I need a nap from this, but I did. And eventually just exposure therapy worked it out of me. But it's a constant. Like if I have not been up high for a while, I have to train at a gym for about a month before I'm going to go high so that I don't panic.
Nina: Wow. That is so interesting. I can relate to kind of the relief or like exposure, you know, up high. I mean, that's part of it. I don't know. I mean, it's all in there. It's all baked in.
Jenn: It's all baked in. It's all baked in. And when you're climbing, the thing about climbing is that every step is a choice. You don't roll uphill, right? Every one of them is intentional, and you have to make that choice like 29,000 times when you're climbing, you know, Everest, right? Every step you have to be like, no, I'm going to continue. No, I'm going to continue because every step, your brain's like, you know, we made it here. We're far enough. This is good. You're fine.
You went to Everest. That's, that's cool. And it's just funny because I think when we set these big goals, we think that it's not a constant decision, and it is a constant decision every single day with everything we're doing.
Kelle: I'm so glad you said that. And I am wondering when we were doing research on having you on, what I really love about some of the things that I saw and heard were that you really love to incorporate play into what you're doing. And I don't know if you know this, but play is like our word of the year, Nina and my word of the year, because I had cancer last year, and Nina was going through divorce, and we just had like a year of all years last year. And now we're all about play. So I want to hear all about how you incorporate play.
Jenn: Yeah, no, you have to incorporate play because it just gives you a different energy source, right? So, for example, we were climbing on Mount Logan. When you climb on Mount Logan, you set up a tent, and then you have to build an igloo.
Okay? So I mean, I have saws and I'm cutting out ice blocks and I'm stacking the ice blocks because the igloo protects the tent from the wind. Otherwise, it will rip in the wind.
And so, at the beginning, it's exhausting, right? Like I'm building this igloo, we just set up this tent, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then I thought to myself, I'm like, if I was five, I would be on cloud nine right now that my job is to build an igloo outside. Like, how cool would that be?
And so when I tapped into my five-year-old self and just thought of like how fun that is to build an igloo out in the middle of nowhere, it was a different energy than it was like as an adult cutting out ice bricks and stacking them on top of each other, right? And it just allowed you to have fun. And when you have fun, that energy source can carry you so much further.
And we were climbing another time too, to let people know, when we were on this section of Everest is called the Lhotse Face. And the Lhotse Face is like a 3,700 foot outdoor stair master, for lack of any better words, okay? And you're in the elements exposed. So if it's windy, you're getting beat by the wind. If it's sunny, there's nowhere to hide. And it's just this really treacherous side of Everest.
Well, we were going through it and it was cloudy. So I put on my pink glasses to do depth perception. And after like hiking for about 30 minutes, my brain is, feels like I'm in a cotton candy machine because everything around me is pink and glowing. And so I'm thinking of cotton candy and the circus and having fun and playing Candyland with my kids. And then I'm looking at the rope I'm tied to, and it looks like a watermelon rind. So I'm singing like, “watermelon sugar high.” And I'm having a blast.
And then our alarms go off on our phones because you forget to eat at altitude. So the alarm goes off, reminds you to eat and fuel so that you have enough energy to continue. So the alarms go off, we pull out our backpacks. I bump my glasses or my goggles and I instantly am cold, I'm miserable, everything's gray and I'm looking at my teammates like, what just happened? Like, why are we traveling in this?
And my teammates could tell my energy had shifted entirely and they're like, what just happened to you? Like you were, like you changed.
Nina: So interesting. Yeah.
Jenn: And I'm like, I changed because two seconds ago I was in cotton candy land singing songs and being happy. And right now, I'm cold and miserable because my perception changed.
Kelle: Mm. Oh, so key. Yeah.
Jenn: Yeah, literally like from pink cotton candy land to like col,d miserable gray. And for the two hours, I was having fun and like was warm and skipping and happy. And my friends were just like, check, check, check, check, check, right?
And so for us, when we commit to goals, your energy is not being used to like negotiate yourself, right? You're doing the section. Like I'm not talking myself out of it. So if now I have that energy to say, yes, I'm doing this, now my energy gets to be deployed on how do I make it fun?
Nina: The F word.
Kelle: The best F word.
Nina: It's our favorite F word. There are other ones.
Kelle: I have thought about because I, you know, I read your book, loved your book, Break Proof. And you have so many compelling stories in there. And it was one of those books where I like just, I stayed up at night because I kept reading it. And I was just like, oh my god, I got to go to bed. And then I'd like, was just like, I can't. I just got to know what happens, you know?
Jenn: I know. I mean, who would have thought, right? Like I mean seriously, like the experiences I had on those mountains or the things that happened, like you just laugh about. I mean, when I was climbing in Russia, I was wearing Scooby-Doo underwear because they lost all my gear and I had to go to a rental store and like buy things and they had like grandma underwear or Scooby-Doos, and the Scooby-Doos were going to fit, and the grandma wasn't. And I'm like, I am climbing a mountain in Russia right now in Scooby-Doo underwear. Like this is my life. Like this is what's happening. This is awesome.
Nina: This is cool. And I think you echoed this when we talked a couple weeks ago, just that there really is, and this isn't anti-male, but there's a lot of masculine energy in what you do in mountaineering, right? Even in business, Jenn. I mean, you are a very successful entrepreneur, too. And so, balancing some of that masculine energy in high-achieving spaces, you know, with your play, right? With your humor, with your fun, with your Scooby-Doos. How else have you learned to like balance, just even rest, Jenn, or intuition into some of this?
Jenn: Yeah, so I used to wear burnout like a badge, right? Like I was so proud of myself and like, look what I accomplished or whatever. And then I realized, well, that's not a sustainable rhythm. And so for me, I started redefining success as sustainability. And so then that allowed me to be like, oh, I need a break or I need to recover or I need to integrate after this experience before I take on another one. And that allowing of that rhythm of push, recover, go, like changed everything for me from a standpoint of I had more energy to do the thing I was doing, right? Which when you have energy, you feel good, you do good, you have fun. I wasn't running on empty. And I just got better at identifying. Like I can't climb the mountain exhausted.
It's funny, like even when you climb Everest, like you're at camp four, you nap at camp four, which is in the death zone before you go to the summit push, because you need to collect all that energy again for that last little push. It's not like you go from base camp all the way to the top. Like there's rests built in that climb. And I think being an athlete, you just learn how important rest is for performance. And if we can incorporate that into our regular life, like everything changes.
Kelle: I was just going to ask you that because when we had like our discovery call with you, you were running one of your kids to school, or multiple kids to school, and I was thinking like, okay, how do you balance it all? I mean, you do, you have to do it on the mountain, but how do you do it in regular life too?
Jenn: Yeah. I'm very strategic with my calendar, and I have like rest time built in that I guard. I used to not guard it, and it'd be like, oh, that's where I'll just pinch from and pull from. And now I don't do that. And so for me, it's very much if I have Zoom meetings that I can do on a treadmill, I'll do the Zoom meeting on a treadmill, and I'll just get some steps in at an angle so that I'm getting vertical in.
When my kids have soccer games, I'm the mom on the edge with a 12-inch step. And I'm doing step ups the entire soccer game instead of just sitting in the chair. So there's just like little things that you're doing to get the exercise in and be present where you need to be.
Kelle: Mm, I love that.
Nina: From there, I mean, you're a mom of seven and climbing summits, record-breaking, all the things. What's like one myth that you want to like bust here about like having it all or doing it all? You know, what…?
Jenn: We can do it all. Like I think it's a story that we can't, right? Like that's, you can subscribe to that if you want, but we can do it all. You just have to be very strategic and intentional about it. So, for example, these last two weekends I had events in different states. I took a kid with me to each one of them, right? So then I got bonding time with them one-on-one, and I had an event for an hour, and the rest of the time we got to hang out and visit a city and look at colleges and things like that. So it's just being very intentional with your time because balance comes in presence.
So if you can be present with what you're doing and know like, oh, I have enough time in for work, I have enough time in for my kids, I have enough time in for me, then whatever you're doing, you can be present.
Nina: We might even call that like alignment, right? You're so intentional and present, and you like your why. You like why you're doing what you're doing and where you're putting everything. All your energy.
Jenn: Yeah, 100%. And then it just allows you to commit to what you're doing and yeah.
Kelle: So that being said, I'm curious what your relationship is with your mind and your body.
Jenn: That's a relationship I'm constantly developing. You know, and because it's learning to listen to both, right? Like, my brain is very rational. My body doesn't care about rational. My body's just like, here's where we're at. And so it's learning how to respect both and knowing, okay, if I push here, can I recover there, and is there space to do both?
And I think it's just always about creating that space of balance and saying, here's what I need right now. I thought my workout was going to look like this today. It didn't. Someone got sick or forgot a lunch or whatever else. So now that gets cut into there. And where can I like borrow from other places? And a lot of times it's just readjusting.
Nina: I'm guessing, as you say this and we talk about mind-body, I'm guessing you have been on the receiving end of some opinions about the way you run your life and parent, and the kind of the way you show up to your family. I'm just guessing because everyone has opinions. How do you manage that?
Jenn: Yeah, you know, it's interesting because I think a lot of people look at my life from their lens. And so they don't get to see it from my lens or what's going on behind the scenes. And so anytime people are judging me, I'm just like, they get like a thin slice and they're looking at it from their perspective of their life, so it doesn't make sense for them, which it shouldn't, because they don't know the behind the scenes of what goes on here.
I actually keep a therapist on speed dial for our family because I need to have somebody check in on me. So she'll come to the house and like follow around after school sometimes or check in with the kids just to make sure that I'm not buying my own stories, and making sure I have somebody checking in and being like, yes, the kids are good or you're doing this or pay attention to this a little bit more or here's something else I'd okay. So it's kind of like a parenting coach.
And so because I have a parenting coach that's involved with our family and has been for over a decade, the other things that people say don't stick because I'm confident in what I'm doing and I know I have people that are looking out for me to make sure I'm not missing blind spots.
Nina: Cool. Yeah, because some people, and again, I'm just guessing, so many of our clients, especially our higher profile clients, they're on social media, they're getting so many, there are just so many haters. They have to deal constantly with the pushback about everything they do, all of the opinions they have. It's really hard for some of them to stay unfiltered, right? To not be careful, you know, to use their voice even when they feel shaky, you know?
Jenn: Yeah, definitely.
Nina: And the opinions, it takes a strong human to appreciate a strong woman. I'm going to go there, right? Like it takes someone who has their shit together to really respect and honor like a badass, empowered, authentic woman. And so, have there been like flops or moments when you've just been like almost thrown in the towel?
Jenn: Oh, of course, right? I mean, you get picked on for everything, right? Like my teeth are too white. My teeth aren't white enough. I'm too skinny. I'm too fat. My hair is like, why are you doing your hair at base camp? Like all the different things, okay? And it's just like, hey, this is who I am. And once you kind of like yourself, you understand that you're not going to be for everybody, and that's kind of cool.
Right? Like when my social media team told me, you need as many haters as you do lovers, then you know you're making a difference. If you're only saying things that get you to be liked, then you're not really helping people. And so for us, it's always like, okay, well, if I'm coming in 50/50, I'm winning. Where, for some people, like when that comes in, that's hard.
And it's, like I just have to laugh because I'm like, wow, that's not something I would look at in somebody and pick out, right? Like it's just, that's interesting that's the thing you pick on me. Okay, but okay, cool.
Kelle: Y'all have to go check out her pics. Like all of her pictures. Jenn, where is a best place to find like pictures and more information about you?
Jenn: Yeah, so probably Instagram @thejenndrummond or on LinkedIn. LinkedIn is probably my favorite platform to be honest.
Kelle: Mm. Mm-hmm. What do you love about that?
Jenn: LinkedIn, I love it because it is information and education. Does that make sense? Like you're giving more of a lesson of what I've learned here and here's how it applied, or here's what happened. I just feel like the conversation on LinkedIn is more professional. And so it's more entertaining for me than the other platforms.
Nina: Yeah. And so just out of curiosity, like when it comes to, I think a lot of the people who listen to this podcast and a lot of the clients we work with, you know, in a nutshell, what we practice with them as coaches is resilience. We identify kind of their stuck places, we try to figure out what's holding them back, and then we try and show up in a new way that's more empowering, kind of from the inside out.
So, we all kind of fall off the rails when we're making transformation, when we're trying something new. And so it's how we get back on, right? That's so critical in a change process, right? And in you creating this shift in your life from before the accident to after. You know, what are like a couple, a handful of like lessons or takeaways about resilience that you might share with our listeners?
Jenn: Yeah. I think of it as like a dance, right? So for me, when I'm learning a new skill, like I was climbing and I was not good at it, and I had to like practice a ton and a ton and a ton. I only could do that a couple times a week. If I did it more than that, then I started feeling down on myself because I would get frustrated that I wasn't making progress faster. So I'm very aware of how I feel after an activity and if I'm feeling like, man, I just got my butt kicked, what can I do to build that self up again?
Right? Like, I'm really good at skiing. So maybe I'll go do a couple laps at the ski hill, and then I feel good about myself again because that's something I'm good at. So when you're doing new things that are challenging your edges, like be aware of how much time you're committing to that because when you get out of, for me, when I'm out of my zone of genius like 30% of the time, that's kind of my magic number. When I start getting out of my zone of genius 40% of the time, then I can start feeling that. So just knowing like, okay, here's what's going on in my life. How do I balance that to not push myself so much that I'm frustrated with myself? Because we need to be our best cheerleaders. Like we truly do.
Nina: Could you imagine if you were like bullying yourself on the Lhotse Face? I mean…
Jenn: Well, and here's like a crazy thing about me. So when you are on the mountain and you're brushing your teeth, you get to look out at the world. And you're like, oh my gosh, this mountain's beautiful, everything's pretty, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. When you come home from a climb and you brush your teeth and you're in the bathroom, I'm like, I look tired. I need this, like, I need Botox done or like whatever, right? And I'm like, I caught it because it was such a contrast to the conversation I was having two days before on the mountain brushing my teeth versus in my bathroom.
And then I asked my kids, I'm like, guys, what do you talk about when you brush your teeth? You know? And we had this whole thing of like, okay, we're going to have a toothbrush talk at our house. So when you brush your teeth in the morning and at night, you're only allowed to say positive things about yourself. And if you need help, like we'll put a little sticker on the mirror of what you're going to say while you're brushing your teeth for those two minutes. But it sounds like the silliest thing, but those teeny tiny things add up.
Nina: Yeah, we should all high-five ourselves when we're brushing our teeth.
Jenn: Totally. Like, bring it, girl. We're here.
Nina: Yeah, totally. I'm guessing all of this. And again, I just bring in sort of the opinionated haters, right? I'm guessing so much of this makes you a better parent, makes you a better human, right? Instead of this being seen as escapism or something, right? Instead of taking all those judgments in and internalizing all of this. I mean, it really does, it rounds you out. That's an understatement, right? It completes you, it uplevels you, all of it.
Jenn: Yeah. Well, and it just gives you so much time away to reflect, right? And I will tell you, the hardest mountain is the one in my head. It's not out there physically. So when I'm out there moving up a mountain, I'm moving up like different limitations that are showing up in my own mind and challenging those. And for me, my emotions need motion. So when I'm moving, it just helps me process through them and get through different pieces.
Nina: I was driving Toby to school this morning, and I told him that I was going to talk to you this morning. I'm going to talk to Julia and Jenna's mom. It's going to be really cool. And he's like, so where is she climbing now? Like, where is she? And I said, I think she's in Park City. And he was like, what? He's like, what's next for her? And I was like, I will ask. So what's, what's next? What's happening?
Jenn: Yeah, yeah. So I'm actually climbing Denali in May. So I'm super excited about that. And then I have one more mountain in Russia, and I'll have climbed all the highest and the second-highest. And so then that's I guess, another world record. So I'm like, oh, I have two mountains left. I'll have two world records. And then I'm done. Like I'm done with the mountains. I've kind of had my playground there, and it's time to adventure into different things.
Nina: Oh, interesting. Cool. Cool. Yeah, he was asking me, you know, Mom, is there a mountain you want to climb? And I'm like, that's so interesting. You know, I've climbed a couple mountains, nothing like Jenn Drummond. But I'm like, I think just experiencing the world is where I am, you know, like taking my kids to Machu Picchu or like, that would be rad, or just, you know, Toby's obsessed with Hawaii right now, that kind of thing. But yeah.
Jenn: Yeah, no, I took the boys, I took my older kids to Kilimanjaro, and we climbed that together. So that was a super cool experience. In fact, they hated it until they loved it. And then now they said that's their favorite vacation. So I'm like, oh really? That's interesting.
Kelle: How old are, how old are your oldest?
Jenn: So Jack and Jacob and Joe, so 17, 15 and 14. I took those three. Yep, and they each brought a friend and we had a blast.
Nina: Cool. Wow. Yeah, it's hard until it's easy, right? All of this stuff.
Jenn: All of it. All of it. All of life is hard till it's easy.
Nina: Yeah. Yeah.
Kelle: What a great lesson for them too of like hating something in the moment, right? And then loving it later. What do you think that is for them?
Jenn: Well, all their friends were going to Mexico for spring break, so they were bummed that they weren't going to Mexico. And they're like, my mom's making us climb a mountain. Your mom lets you go to the beach. And so it was hard, like, you know, the first day was the hardest day. And then they, you know, they make progress, which I think progress and momentum give you a lot of encouragement. They really, really, really liked the guides in Africa, like the energy and the enthusiasm of those guys. They were the youngest ones on the mountain, so they felt kind of cool there.
Our last day was a hard day, and I just drove them hard so they wouldn't think. I'm like, no, moving, moving, moving, moving, let's go, let's go, let's go. And then when they got to the top, you know, I mean, it's just such a satisfying feeling. And so they came down, and they're like, we climbed to the roof of Africa. And that's a cool story for them. And that builds confidence because you can't BS your way up the mountain. You have to do the work.
Kelle: Oh, I literally got shivers when you were saying that.
Nina: Me too. I'm just like picturing it.
Kelle: What an amazing experience for your kids. Really cool.
Jenn: Yeah. It was fun.
Kelle: Yeah. Okay, so what's one piece of advice you could give our high achievers that think they don't have time to go after their dreams. You had a car accident, kind of a catalyst that brought you to make changes. Same with Nina and I. Nina and I both have diseases that we're like, okay, we need to change something right now. So, what can you give as far as advice to our listeners to make that move now before you have to.
Jenn: For me, if I look back, I needed to look at my life from the perspective of my daughters. And I needed to ask myself, would I want them to have my life right now? And if the answer is no, it's your responsibility, it's your duty, it's your obligation to lean into what would be a yes.
Because I feel like if we don't demonstrate this exciting, vibrant life that we want to wake up to every day, they don't know what that looks like for themselves. And so for me, it was just very much having my kids be my accountability partners and say like, do I want them to have my life? And if I can say yes, whatever that looks like for them, then I'm doing things right. And if I say no, then it's like, okay, what do I need to shift to show them what it means to be happy and own your happiness and be responsible for your goals and say like, I have this vision and I have it because I'm here to carry it out.
Kelle: Love that.
Nina: Yeah. Kelle and I always say that ambition doesn't have to burn you out. Love how you kind of showed us all of that, right? You're such a powerful example of what it looks like to pursue big dreams and stay grounded in your why. And so before we wrap, is there one piece of advice you'd give to the woman listening who's wildly capable, but maybe a little scared?
Jenn: I think just give yourself some grace and lean in. Like, just lean in. For me, I did this book called The Artist's Way. Have you ever come across this? Oh my god. Game changer for me. And so every week I had to go on a date by myself, right? Because that's part of the program. And I didn't even know what to do.
But like all of a sudden you're like, okay, well, I get to do this one date. Like one of my dates was driving down the highway singing to songs with like the radio full blast, right? Because I've just never done that. I'm like, this is fun. Let's go do this. But just giving yourself permission to get curious and explore that curiosity.
Nina: Yeah. We love curiosity.
Jenn: Yes.
Nina: Yeah. Oh, Jenn, awesome. Thank you for sharing your story and your beautiful soul, and all your summits with us. We're seriously honored. We'd love to have you back soon.
Kelle: Is there something that you wanted to cover that we didn't cover?
Jenn: My biggest thing for people is we are all here to do something. And it looks different for every one of us, which is so cool and so exciting. So if you are the PTA mom that loves to make gorgeous brownies, like do it. If you're the mom that likes to hike, do it. If you're the mom that needs to drop brownies off that the grocery store made, do it. And let's just celebrate everybody's unique gifts and encourage each other to show up as authentically as possible because that's where real happiness comes from.
Kelle: Mm. What a great spot to leave on. Thank you.
Jenn: Thank you.
Nina: Okay, Jenn, so we're just going to do a quick like hot seat, fire out some questions here. Don't overthink these, okay?
Jenn: Okay, perfect.
Nina: Okay, cool. Here we go. Just answer these questions or complete the sentence: “Don't hate me if…”
Jenn: I'm late.
Nina: Okay, your most irrational fear.
Jenn: Spiders.
Nina: Oh my gosh. Okay, unusual skills or just one unusual skill you have.
Jenn: Oh, I'm really good at like setting the phone screens. The kids' phones.
Nina: That's awesome. Okay, one thing you'll never do again.
Jenn: Oh, one thing I'll never do again. Do a road trip with seven children. We're not road trip friendly.
Nina: Oh my gosh. Something you learned the hard way.
Jenn: I think I learned everything the hard way if I had to be honest.
Nina: Everything. There's no shortcuts over here.
Jenn: There's no shortcuts in this world. I swear. Okay. Um, the hard way. Get your kids ski boots fitted so that every time you go skiing, they're not grouchy.
Nina: Totally. Okay. Last, do you have a nickname, or what's your favorite nickname?
Jenn: Oh. They call me Jenn Way because if it doesn't go Jenn's way, it doesn't happen.
Kelle: Okay, I love that.
Nina: Okay, I'm changing you in my phone to Jenn Way.
Kelle: Yes. That's amazing.
Nina: Awesome.
Nina: Hey everyone, if you want more live access to me and Kelle, you have to join our email list.
Kelle: Yes, we’ll come to your email box every Tuesday and Thursday.
Nina: You can ask us questions, get clarity, and get coached.
Kelle: We offer monthly free email coaching when you’re on our list and you’re the first to know about trainings, events, and other free coaching opportunities.
Nina: Just go to KelleAndNina.com to sign up.
Kelle: Thank you so much for listening to today’s episode of Ambitious-Ish.
Nina: If you’re ready to align your ambitions with your heart and feel more calm, balanced, and connected, visit KelleAndNina.com for more information about how to work with us and make sure you get on our list.
Kelle: See you in the next episode!
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