Meet Jen Karetnick | Freelance writer, poet, and author

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jen Karetnick and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jen, as a parent, what have you done for your children that you feel has had the most significant impact?
Throughout my 30 years as a freelance writer, I’ve always done what I’ve had to do in order to make a living. For instance, when the Great Recession hit, I put my master’s degrees (one in poetry, one in fiction) to good use and started teaching full-time. I’d then come home and do my own work in the evening or get up early the next day. During the pandemic, when publications started going out of business and cutting back again, I switched focus from writing about food, restaurants, and travel to writing about health, medicine, and pets. I think this has shown them a few things. For starters, watching me work two jobs and multitask teaching with writing articles and books has given my kids a great work ethic of their own. They always finish what they start. They also understand that it’s important to be flexible in order to achieve your goals, but also to never give up. And they’re beginning to learn that we’re all subject to downswings; that we all fall victim to worldwide events that we can’t control and their consequences; and that these situations in the grand scheme of things are temporary.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
It’s always been challenging juggling two creative careers that seemed to run side by side but never merge. To some people, I’m a dining critic, food-travel writer, and author of cookbooks and guidebooks. To another segment of Miami’s population, I’m a poet, creative writer, educator, and the co-founder of SWWIM (Supporting Women Writers in Miami), a literary organization that raises the voices of women poets by offering them residencies and readings at The Betsy-South Beach, with thanks to Deborah Briggs. In many ways, I feel like I haven’t achieved as much as I would have liked along either of those paths, even though I’ve won awards and published 20 books and received recognition via some fellowships, grants, and residencies over the years. Don’t get me wrong. I’m so proud of those accomplishments and so incredibly grateful for any and all opportunities that have come my way. But I always feel that there’s more I could be doing–another step up I could be taking on both of these ladders.

I don’t know if that’s my upbringing, my ambition, or my imposter syndrome talking. But I still strive to achieve more as both a journalist and a creative writer. It’s never been easy on either path as a woman who is not located in New York City or some other metropolitan publishing center. That’s one of the reasons my friend Catherine and I started SWWIM. We grew tired of being invited to read with a bunch of male poets as token females. We knew we needed to make our own space in the world as poets because no one was making it for us. Launching SWWIM in 2016 and its publishing arm SWWIM Every Day in 2017 remains one of the things I’m most proud of. We just filed as a 501(c)(3) and look forward to applying for grants and growing this organization in the future to help even more women be heard.

The same was true in journalism. Back when I started in 1992, there were far fewer women in newsrooms. In fact, I was the first person to get pregnant and ask for maternity leave at Miami New Times in 1998 when I had my daughter. I clearly remember my editor having to look up the policy. I was given two weeks, and because she arrived early, I actually still had assignments due. So technically, I had one week of maternity leave. The same was true when my son was born a couple of years later. Still, I wouldn’t trade the experience I gained working there as a dining critic in the last glorious days of print.

Nor would I trade the 20 years I spent picking mangos from the working grove we lived on in Miami Shores, which we sold right before the pandemic. We were pretty naive about how much fruit 14 trees will give you from May through October, and we spent the hottest part of the year being farmers. My poor kids would gag at the smell of mango jam that was constantly cooking on the stove, ready to be jarred. But processing all that fruit for six months out of the year taught me a lot about food pathways and how dismissive our attitudes toward food production are. I never take such labor for granted. And boy, do I have a lot of mango recipes, many of which were made into my cookbook, called Mango (of course).

If I learned anything over the years, it’s that people WILL say no to you, or be outright dismissive because of gender or some other perceived shortcoming, and the old “never take no for an answer” doesn’t really apply. The way to get around it is to build yourself a different path, one that you’re comfortable walking, and find people like yourself who will walk it with you. I’m really lucky to have found a lot of those people.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Well, first of all, I’d whip out my guidebook, The 500 Hidden Secrets of Miami, whose third edition just launched this past October. Then we’d check out some of my favorite listings: El Primo Red Tacos for birria tacos, Via Emilia 9 for homemade pasta, and Captain Jim’s for stone crabs. Then we’d visit some rooftops for drinks and views, like Astra in Wynwood and Rosa Sky downtown. We’d clearly have to do some shopping for local artisanal goods at The Citadel, fedoras at Hats & Hats, and fashionable duds at Krel Tropical Knitwear and Ramona La Rue, two of my favorite designers. And we absolutely couldn’t neglect the consignment shops like Fly Boutique and Consignment Bar for vintage shoes and purses.

Then we’d be ready to drape ourselves on a beach or two. I prefer North Beach, which has the least amount of traffic and the most neighborly feels, but I also love those beautiful Crandon Park beaches. And, of course, we’d have to make the trip to Everglades National Park–maybe to Shark Valley for biking around the fat, lazy alligators. After all, we’d have to burn off some of that food and drink.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My husband, Jon, has been an amazing support system for me. We met as undergrads when we were 19. That’s when I first started writing. He read everything I wrote back then, which was horrid stuff, and he still reads almost everything I write now. He’s my biggest fan and my best critic–if he says something doesn’t work, I know I can trust his eye. My parents and my sister Betsy, who I started writing with during the pandemic–a great partnership, and one I cherish deeply–also have always been there for me. And I write with a group of female poets, the PoetAs, whose voices I trust more than my own. When I’m struggling with a creative problem, they’re the first place I turn. At least a few of those talented women–Catherine Esposito Prescott, Caridad Moro-Gronlier, Alexandra Regalado, and Mary Block–also edit SWWIM Every Day with me. That’s our daily online literary journal that publishes poems by women-identifying artists.

Website: https://jkaretnick.com/

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