Intelligent. Funny. Creative. Inspiring. Refreshingly authentic. These words don’t even begin to do justice to the incredible beauty that is Jennifer Nordine. A tech employee by day and entrepreneur/influencer by night, Jen is the creative genius behind one of our favorite accounts to follow: Freckles on Fillmore. Jen’s passion for life is contagious, and her creative approach to telling her story each day makes her one of our most favorite lady influencers to observe (and girl crush on!) from afar. We recently caught up with Jen to learn how she got her start in this industry and how she manages to seemingly “do it all” with such grace and poise.
AdvisHer: Tell us about you – who is Jen Nordine?
Jen: A 28-year-old, fifth-generation San Franciscan, soon-to-be wife, daughter, sister, and aunt with a passion for life, style, design, and wellness. No published author – just a freckled gal who loves coming home and having a creative outlet to share her passions with the world. An introverted extrovert and the type of person who doodles my notes and still gets warm fuzzies by the smell of a fresh box of crayons. I’m borderline obsessed with making lists, always have and likely always will be. I’m one of those people that “woohoo”s at almost everything in life. I don’t have it together but that’s okay. I believe there is never a reason to hide how you feel, just because society made it so. I never feel ashamed of how I express how I genuinely feel. I like and gravitate towards people who aren’t quick to judge. Who understand. End of the day, everyone sees who you appear to be but few experience who you really are. Life is too short to judge others. Freckles on Fillmore is a version of myself, it’s where I share my heart, my passion, my journey. Pursuing a more intentional, happy and inspired life has always been top of mind, and Freckles on Fillmore has allowed me to do that.
AdvisHer: What was your inspiration for starting Freckles on Fillmore?
J: Living in one of the most quintessential and iconic cities in America, my years in San Francisco have been so great. Living in a city like San Francisco is, for the most part, so wonderful – it’s filled with such intrigue and history. Fillmore Street has long been a destination for savvy San Franciscans, and the city itself a pioneer in the world of health and wellness, putting most trends on the map before it goes mainstream. I started this venture because we live in a world where so much inspiration is to be shared, and I knew I wanted to create and showcase my favorite little details of living, style and wellness on the west coast so then was born Freckles on Fillmore.
AdvisHer: Take us through a day in the life!
J: People are always surprised to hear I work in technology full time in addition to running Freckles on Fillmore. It’s no easy feat, but working in this industry gives me the opportunity to constantly be challenged, and running the Freckles brand gives me the opportunity to squeeze my creative juices daily. Most of the work done on Freckles on Fillmore is pre-scheduled a month or two out. Although I’m a creative Leo, I’m also a planner, and Planoly and Google Documents keep my sanity, and brand in check. I typically partner, plan, and shoot 8-10 stylings once or twice a month to sustain working full time, and draft, schedule and queue up all posts on Sunday’s. As for my work week here is a snippet of a day in the life:
5:00 am – Wake Up & Check Work Email & Freckles Schedule
5:30 am – Morning Run – one of my favorite parts of my day. It helps me center and set my intentions
8:00 am – 5:00 pm IT Work (During lunch I’ll dabble in brand work)
5:30 pm – Freckles on Fillmore Work (Pending schedule)
6:30 pm – Dinner with Keith (my fiance)
7:30 pm – Downtime (Pending mood, Read, or Netflix & Chill)
9:00 pm – 10:00 pm – Bedtime
AdvisHer: Can you share a bit more about your career path?
J: In early fall of 2012, after graduating college, I’d settled back into San Francisco. Growing up, I was immersed in my parents IT startup, and naturally, that cultivated a passion for working with technology, so going into business in tech was a natural next step. I took on an internship at a startup called ToutApp as employee number three, this was the first stepping stone in my career. After five long years working at ToutApp, we were acquired by a company called Marketo and recently acquired by Adobe but at that time I had decided to squeeze my creative juices and balance being a lifestylist as well. Today, I continue to work in technology, while growing my brand and business aiming to take it to the next level.
AdvisHer: How do you stay inspired?
J: I get inspired by everyday little moments, my morning runs, a good book, and exploring a new place for the first time.
AdvisHer: If you could give your younger self some advice, what would it be?
J: Two pieces of advice, stay true to yourself and learn to be okay with failure.
What I’ve learned over the past five years is that if I’m myself, genuinely care for others and am open to making mistakes, learning and growing, I am going to be okay. The most important truths I’ve carried with me in my career is knowing that “people will forget what you said, and people will forget what you did but they will never forget how you made them feel.” That’s what life’s all about.
I’ve failed. I’ve stumbled, I’ve sucked, but without it, I wouldn’t be where I am today. Your strengths and weakness are what makes you – you. Know them, understand them and ask yourself: “Do these stand in the way of what I want?” And just remember, “Dude, sucking at something is the first step to being sorta good at something.”
AdvisHer: What has been your favorite thing you’ve worked on? What is your favorite type of project to work on/work to do?
J: Some of my favorite work is creative styling. Working with brands, business to curate a beautiful tablescape or a elegant experience. I love when I get to work with other creatives and learn from their art. There is something so beautiful about the little idiosyncrasies of an individual’s work that I admire and appreciate so dearly.
AdvisHer: How do you prioritize your financial health?
J: I’m a big proponent of financial applications and automation that help you stay financial savvy without investing too much time or energy thinking about it. Mint budgeting from a big-picture perspective helps keep me in check with day to day, month to month, year over year spending. In addition to Mint, here is my current line up:
- TD Ameritrade: My Stocks (I was lucky enough to have a dad who educated me on financial health and investing out of college, so I was able to invest early on in my career)
- Fidelity: 401k (because, duh!)
We would like to thank Jennifer Nordine for sharing her story and for her time in helping create this post! For more on Jennifer and her creative musings, check out Freckles on Fillmore or follow along on Instagram at @jennifernordine!
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