Meet Jackie Schoemaker Holmes, PhD | Sociologist & Empowerment Specialist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jackie Schoemaker Holmes, PhD and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jackie, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
I’m from a small town in Ontario Canada. I wasn’t like other girls and I’ve always been proud of that. Not being like other girls had its downsides as well but I can now look back at all the ways I didn’t fit as expressions of my true nature. I think being smart, outspoken, high-achieving, and ambitious has always been a blessing a curse. Knowing what you want and making it happen has always been what I do – for better or worse. I’m proud of the girl and young woman I used to be – the one who shaved her head and wore combat boots with long, flowing dresses. She was a badass. She set the groundwork for my badassery. Resisting who I was supposed to be has always been my MO. I’m thankful for little Jackie and her disruption of girlness – she paved the way for who I am today.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
The part of my professional career that I am most proud of is not my academic career or my graduate degrees – it is my decision roughly three years ago to take all that I am and all that I’ve learned and turn it into a business that supports women and mothers. My life profoundly shifted after having my daughter in 2015 and experiencing severe postpartum depression and anxiety. I started speaking out online so that other women would know that they aren’t alone in the postpartum struggle. I created the Facebook community Mummy Voices because I needed a supportive, non-judgmental community of moms that I couldn’t find anywhere else. That community turned into a business that I am so proud of that I call Empowerment for Resilience. I’m here for mothers and women who want to move out of the backseat of their lives and back into the driver’s seat. I am here for women and mothers prioritizing themselves and their needs. I want women and mothers to recentre themselves in their lives. I don’t want anyone to struggle with the shame and fear that I did upon becoming a mother. Mothers are everything and that is why I have committed my life and business to supporting them.

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.
I haven’t been to Miami since I was young but I would take any friend – no matter where I was – to all my favourite restaurants because food is life and love and everything I want to be doing with my time and my loved ones.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My story is full of powerful woman who, one after the other, until today, have told me how to live on my own terms. From counselors to academics to favourite aunts and best friends, I surround myself with women who want me to succeed in the ways that I define success. I have left lots of friendships that were based on competitiveness and conniving only to find myself wrapped in the support of women who lift each other up. That is who I try to be – the supportive, non-judgmental friend who has no interest in anything but lifting other women up and helping them to define their identities and lives in ways that feel right for them.

Website: www.empowermentforresilience.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/empowermentforresilience/?hl=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/empowermentforresilience

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCO4lCeLzjV_6yKfUUZKQDxA