When you meet Jenna the first thing you would notice is, how driven and self-assured she is. These are traits that have helped her to dominate in sports all her life and led to her success in professional soccer. It was at a crossing of the roads, where Jenna wasn’t quite sure about the direction that she wanted to take in life she had found success in soccer but wanted to build a career. That brought her to Coast. She was able to quickly pick up the day-to-day tasks, bringing her personal confidence and tenacity to her role and driving her career forward at Coast. Read more about her experience at Coast by reading her conversation with Abbi, from Coast Inc’s HR team.
Q: How did you hear about Coast Inc?
A: I came home from playing soccer professionally in Costa Rica and I was kind of deciding between if I wanted to go get a job or go play again. And I’ve always had a lot of playing opportunities, even since I've been here at Coast, or offers reached out to me, but I was just looking online for jobs and I wanted to get out of Cincinnati and try something new.
I was looking online and then I just was like, okay, well I'll just apply to random jobs and that’s when I found Coast.
Q: Did you have any hesitations before you decided to join the Coast Inc. team?
A: I think that a lot of it was soccer based; Do I keep playing soccer or do I get a job? I knew that if I was going to go for a job, I would be giving my 100% effort. I wasn't going to be half in and half in soccer. I think that's really allowed me to excel and move fast with the company because I'm fully committed and dedicated to this, because I've made an intentional choice to pursue this instead of soccer. So, I was like, well, whatever I do, I'm going to give my full effort and good things will happen to good people.
Q: What is it like to work with Coast Inc?
A: I would say it's fun. It's very challenging and I think that you can be pushed to the level that you allow. I think there are some people that aren't pushed, but I feel like that's self-insinuated. If you don't want to be pushed, you're not going to be pushed. And I think that's good to see. There's like different types of people and different types of progress levels and learning levels. I think it's a place where you're challenged. But I think our culture is super cool. It’s something that I have enjoyed, and I would not have expected.
Q: How has Coast Inc. helped you achieve your goals?
A: I developed personal goals that I never even were aware of or could think of. I think a lot of personal development that I've had in the past is soccer based or like, yeah, you got to push fitness, you got to push this. But like, I think it's more looking at me as an entire person, not just one aspect of life, whether that be athletics or my brain or whatever. I would say that I'm developed as a person and that my personal development is super important here and that I've really been able to channel that or see what that even means and what that could mean for me.
Q: What are the most significant improvements that have resulted from your work?
A: I would say time management and speaking to different types of people. The way you say something to one person can't be the same to another. I like learning and being coachable.
Q: What are the most significant improvements that have resulted from your work?
A: I think that my personality is highlighted. It's not like downplayed and I think that's cool. I think that I'm able to express myself freely and not be worried about it at all. Then there's several different personalities. Obviously, everybody has a different personality, but I think everybody's strengths are highlighted. That places us to our advantage instead of trying to get people better at the stuff that they're not necessarily good at. We don't harp on the negatives. I feel like we're very positive. Whatever every person brings, that's what we highlight.
Q: Who in the company inspires you most?
A: I would say Luis because he is my idol, because I'm just so obsessed with Luis because the first day I was like, okay, I don't know about this guy. And then I was like he's just the kindest person. And I think it shows in like the relationships that he has with his family and his girlfriend and just like how he treats people and talks to people, um, he doesn't ever get mad or talk crap or anything, like he's just like a genuinely kind person. And I think that that's, Super, super cool. I think that it gives me a different perspective on how to approach things and how to treat people. Yeah. Luis is the nicest human ever.
Jenna is from Cincinnati, OH where she grew up and attended Xavier University and played Division One soccer. After graduating, she moved on to play professionally in Portugal and then on to Costa Rica. She not only played soccer competitively but was also involved in basketball and swimming at a high level, competing with Olympic and world champion athletes. Knowing that her work ethic is unbeatable, Jenna brings high intensity into everything she pursues, yielding major successes personally and professionally.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity. You can learn more about Coast Inc. here.