MPowered x Jenny Nuccio: Building Community Across Cultures

Hi Sunshine! 

Welcome to part 1 of 2 of our episode with Jenny Nuccio! 

Episode Summary:Jenny Nuccio shares her journey from Texas to Kenya, where she founded Imani Collective, a social enterprise focused on empowering artisans and creating sustainable impact. She talks about the challenges of starting and running a business in the e-commerce industry, emphasizing the importance of being realistic, prepared, and adaptable. Jenny also reflects on her personal experiences of brokenness that led her to Kenya, where she met her husband and now raises their three children in a cross-cultural environment.

Jenny discusses the unique challenges and joys of raising children in a multicultural setting, stressing the importance of open dialogue, curiosity, and healthy confrontation in fostering understanding and acceptance. She also highlights how her children's global upbringing has shaped their worldview, enabling them to ask questions without judgment. Jenny touches on the value of education, advocating for a more individualized approach that supports children's passions and talents beyond traditional academic paths.

As the CEO of Imani Collective, Jenny talks about her approach to empowering artisans by providing holistic support, consistent income, and a strong sense of community. Her leadership style, rooted in empathy, trust, and servant leadership, is truly inspiring.

Call to Action: If Jenny's story resonates with you, consider supporting Imani Collective by exploring their handmade products created by artisans in Kenya. From banners and plush pillows to leather bags and jewelry, every purchase contributes to creating sustainable impact and empowering artisans. Visit ⁠Imani Collective⁠ to learn more and shop their collection.

Additional Links:

⁠Imani + Kids⁠

⁠Sukwa Saddle Blankets⁠

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Transcript

Britt (00:00)
All right, Sunshines we have Miss Jenny here on MPowered, which we're so excited. Jenny, thank you so much for being with us. We have been very eager to get you here. And finally, we made it happen. But honestly, I just want to start off with you just telling everyone who are you, where are you, because I think that's a huge piece.

and kind of just tell us your story in your way that you would like to.

Jenny Nuccio (00:28)
Yeah, awesome. I am thrilled to be here. This has been in the making for a while. I was trying to think the first time we chatted was.

months and months and months ago. But my name is Jenny. So I am actually coming from Mombasa, Kenya. This is where I live. It is home. It's where I reside. I've been here for the last 13 years. I'm originally from Texas, but Kenya is home. It's where all my babies are born and my family is being raised. And I'm best known for being the founder and CEO of Imani Collective, which is a social enterprise here in Mombasa, Kenya, where we started many years ago.

11, 12 years ago as just a sewing training program where I sold everything, moved to the village to women that I had built beautiful relationships with over those years. And we started together and we built this training program and that's all it was supposed to be. And then it grew into...

multiple businesses. we have, many, many artisans, well over a hundred artisans that we've poured into that we employ full time from sewing, leather work, weaving, basket weaving, cotton weaving, all the things. and we have, a workshop here, in Mombasa also in Northern Kenya. And so if you're ever in Kenya, as I was telling you guys, and our door is always open and you're welcome to, to pop on in. But, so I would say most people know me as that.

But really, you know, I'm also, we're all multifaceted. So I am a mother and I'm a wife. I'm an author. I also teach on the side. I'm a professor of social work. So I do that on the side. But I really, really just love to love people well. And so I think that is a lot of people ask me why I'm in Kenya. It is a joy for me to know that my team is well built, that I don't need to necessarily be here. It is a well -oiled machine and we have amazing Kenyan leaders.

that run Imani Collective. I just get the joy of walking alongside them and raising our family here and just loving well. And then my husband, I think I mentioned this too, my husband runs a street boys ministry. So he helps boys off the street, does drug rehabilitation, discipleship, mentorship. So I'm also a mom to, I don't know, 40, 50 boys who've gone through our program. We currently have 19 in our home. So yes, very multifaceted, but love everything that I get to be a part of.

Britt (02:54)
That is so incredible. I always think about your story and I'm like, I just don't know if it could get any better than that. So that's amazing. And one, just, you did something that not a lot of people just kind of up and do. And I think that you should walk around with like a sense of pride of like, wow, like I'm

Mandy (02:57)
Goosebumps.

Jenny Nuccio (03:05)
Thanks.

Britt (03:19)
I should be proud of myself because that is something that's something so big and you do it so well. I think you, you know, you say that your goal is to just love people so well and I think even through a video screen you provide a sense of peace and love and you have such a gentle energy that like in my, in my world you're doing it at 100 % so you should be proud of yourself just to put that out there. You're welcome.

Jenny Nuccio (03:44)
Thanks. Thanks. We're already going to, I'm already going to be crying. It's like the first three minutes and I'm like.

Mandy (03:46)
Yeah, it definitely comes right through. What are we three minutes in and we have tears. That's great new goal. We'll check it off. Yeah, it like it pours out from you like the warmth and the love and like just like such a blissful loving energy and that's so sweet. And you can tell like it's I love that you said like I'm multifaceted right? Like I'm not just this one piece but it's so interesting to see that like the love is the core of all of that. Like you can tell there's a core of like

Britt (03:55)
This

Mandy (04:15)
love and kindness pouring out into all of these different facets. it's, it's like chef's kiss for someone like what some of our like core values are kindness, right? Like, that's something we're so serious about. So to hear that like come through so strongly and in every aspect is really beautiful. So I think when like people hear Kenya, they're like, Okay, what the heck? did you get from Texas to Kenya? So like my mind immediately is like, why Kenya like what

Britt (04:17)
Okay.

Mandy (04:43)
You're in Texas, bring us to Texas. Like, what are you doing in Texas? Are you doing social work? And then do you suddenly say like, I need, have a bigger purpose? Like what's, what gets you there?

Jenny Nuccio (04:56)
Yeah, so I had the joy of putting out a book called Let It Be Wild last year, which actually started as journal entries back in 2021 to remind me of my wife, because I was really burnt out during that year. And so I started writing down all these stories of what got me to Kenya.

But the reality of what got me there is brokenness. I came from a very beautiful family. My upbringing was I was really privileged in that sense that I did have a loving mom and dad and was raised in a home that was, I guess you could say, put together from the outside looking in. And then one day I woke up and my parents were getting divorced. And I think a lot of us come from broken families.

And for me, it was a shock because my parents weren't the ones that yelled at each other. They just stopped talking to each other. And I was so immersed in my own world at 15 years old that I didn't even see it. I didn't even see it. And so I think that utter shock of, wow, OK. So at 16, my mom left and my parents split. And then I had this choice of.

What does this world look like and all I ever knew was together? I'm a believer. So it really questioned my faith. I walked away from the church for a bit Because I was ups. I was really upset and angry of why what is this? so how I ended up to Kenya is because

Young Life, if you guys have ever heard of Young Life, my Young Life leader, I give her the biggest shout out. She was my mom when my mom couldn't be. And the biggest healing process was a couple years ago when my mom actually pulled her aside. Her name's Lindsey and called her and said, thank you for being a mom when I couldn't be a mom. Yeah, I never knew she realized that. It was really powerful. My mom and I have come through a really big healing circle. I will be 34 soon. so it was anyways, it's really beautiful.

Britt (06:41)
Wow.

Jenny Nuccio (06:55)
So if you're in that, I just want to say that for anybody who's in that, even if they have some difficult relationships with their parents.

My mom has now been sober for almost a year. Alcohol was a big deterrent and big, just a lot of stuff there. So when I walked away from the church and walked away from my faith in that sense when I was 16, my mom was going to the bottle and she's very open about that now in her healing process. But Lindsay stepped in and she just pursued me and so did God, so did Jesus. He pursued me and pursued me. I snuck into the back of a

Britt (07:12)
Mm -hmm.

Jenny Nuccio (07:33)
mega church because I didn't want to be recognized when I was in my last year of high school about to go into college and I don't know what it was because when you go into any setting like that you know they have a bulletin or a program or something there was tons of information there and there was this one line that says if you want to go to Mombasa call Chris more so that's how I ended up to Kenya I called this random guy Chris after church and I was like I think I need to come to Kenya I don't know what this looks like and I always say that the first trip was definitely a

Britt (07:35)
Okay.

Mandy (07:36)
you

Jenny Nuccio (08:03)
selfish ambition. was a selfish trip to really clear my head. I wanted to see the world, but I wanted to do something a little bit bigger than myself. And I knew I wasn't going to help. I really came in with a posture to learn and to grow. And the first time I went to Kenya, I was 18. And I walked in for those two weeks. My dad called me when I was on the plane, and he asked if I was still going. And I was like, yes, I'm still going across the world.

Mandy (08:27)
I'm kind of committed now. We're in it.

Jenny Nuccio (08:30)
Yeah, my parents were a little bit in shock. I worked really, really hard in high school. I had a couple of jobs. So I paid for all my own things. And then I told them I was going. So I didn't, you know, that was a shock for them to be like, wow, you've never been anywhere outside the United States. And I.

Britt (08:39)
Wow.

Mandy (08:46)
That's really impressive that you were able to be like, I'm going to pay for this and go and do that. Like hats off.

Jenny Nuccio (08:54)
Yeah, thanks. I, so I went and the first, I left Kenya and I said, I will never come back.

Now I said I would never come back because not for the sake of what I felt because the culture here is amazing. The people are warm. My experience was one of a kind. But I also had this like this disparity of being out in the village and sitting with new friends over a hot cup of chai and then being in this five star hotel at night with a buffet in front of me and wondering why do I get this and I just left from that and I didn't like that feeling and I didn't know how to at that age.

Britt (09:02)
you

Yeah.

Jenny Nuccio (09:32)
how to handle those feelings. And I questioned a lot of, what was the purpose of that? were the conversations I even had fruitful? the children's camp we did even worth it, right? And we could have a whole nother podcast about short -term missions and how I feel about all of those things. Because at the end of the day, even though I might have some...

Britt (09:53)
Yeah.

Jenny Nuccio (10:00)
funky feelings about those things and a way to do them better and opinions about that. It is what got me to my life today because that next year I wrestled with everything that I did in my life. I wrestled with the surplus that America has. I wrestled with new friendships I was making in college. I wrestled with this incomplete, like I felt like I wasn't exactly at peace. I was happy but not fully content. And it's as if kind of God put that there, that little like

you know, that what you know, when you have like a tag on your shirt and you can't find it and it's, yes, it's annoying. It was like there all the time. And so guess what? I went back the following year for a month and I went by myself and I served with the same organization, but by myself for that month. And that's when I really started to ask, okay, what is my purpose? Why, why am I here? Now the beautiful part of college, I think for anybody in that experience is we're placed

Britt (10:32)
A chip. Yeah.

Jenny Nuccio (10:58)
in a setting away from our family where we get to be, where we get to kind of reinvent ourselves if we want. We get to be in new relationships. We get to be tested in different ways, right? And I also got to travel a lot. although Kenya was the first place I went to outside of the United States, I studied abroad a lot of different places. I backpacked through Peru. I went to Costa Rica. I just decided I would save everything I could, and I would go on like,

Britt (11:05)
Thank

Jenny Nuccio (11:26)
week trips when I could, all throughout college. I experienced a lot of different cultures, but Kenya always had my heart, not because of the country, but because of the relationships. It was always these women that I was building relationships with. And I think when I think about the day that I decided, so my mom will always say she knew I was going to live in Kenya far longer than I did. I was like holding onto this American dream a little bit, and she knew.

Mandy (11:54)
The American dream, yeah.

Jenny Nuccio (11:55)
Yes, and she knew. that, yeah.

Britt (11:56)
Thank God you didn't hold on to it for too long because...

Jenny Nuccio (12:01)
I know. so the reality is I had a beautiful life I kind of set up, which I think God did this on purpose. But I had a beautiful life. I was finishing out grad school at this time. I was also a CrossFit coach, which I loved that part of my life. I was making already six figures at a time in a company car, like got into a very fluke, weird, awesome job doing marketing, which was not even my background, but did it.

Just all this really beautiful stuff that at the end of the day is what we would hope for, right? It's like job security. It's what we have. And I just felt that every time I was in Kenya, there was this peace that resonated in my body. And I had no idea why. And I really had no idea what was next.

But so I ended up selling everything I owned, left a box in my mom's house, and moved to Kenya to just go for it. And I will say, the first month I cried almost every day. So it's not easy when you make a decision like that, because you're like, I'm crazy. Like, I'm actually crazy. I did all of that. And now I'm here. Yeah, like I remember.

Britt (13:03)
you

Mandy (13:07)
Yeah, I'm choosing this.

Britt (13:10)
Wow.

Jenny Nuccio (13:12)
Being in the village and I didn't have anything. I had a cement square box of a home that I found which didn't have a front door. I at least bought a mattress and put it on the ground with a mosquito net hanging off the window, know, and just ants crawling on me all night. And I was like, I chose this. I chose to live like this.

Mandy (13:33)
doing this to myself, yeah.

Jenny Nuccio (13:35)
Doing this but I knew I knew what we were starting and at that time we we had developed with these women that we were gonna start this program I started our nonprofit in 2011 the program started in 2013 at this time. I was 22 years old when I moved And I just knew it's exactly where I was supposed to be and that's how I got there, but I would say it started with Brokenness so it's always interesting when I talk to my parents because they are now they were remarried and

are both very, very happy now. But I always wonder where I'd be because although we have this power of choice and different things that are in our life, things always happen for a reason. And I would have never met Chris. And I probably would have never made it to Kenya if our family wasn't split. And it always makes me wonder and question the reality of that if I would have ever ended up overseas because of it. But yeah, so that's how I ended up there.

Britt (14:34)
was actually, it's funny that you mentioned Chris and I just want to make sure that is your husband correct.

Jenny Nuccio (14:40)
Sean is my husband, Chris is the guy who I, he was my mentor that, yes, yes, yes.

Britt (14:42)
Okay. Chris is the one that you called. Okay, so back to what I was gonna say was I was of course stalking you and doing all the research and the Instagram stalking and all of that. But something that I love so much is on your Instagram you did put about how you always vowed to your husband about the traveling.

and you know exploring and all of that. So tell me did you meet your husband in Kenya, in Texas, back in college? Like how did that piece come in?

Mandy (15:22)
How do you also like, if you met him in college or Texas and you're just like, hey, we're going to go to Kenya now. Give it of all your belongings. are really cozy.

Jenny Nuccio (15:27)
No, no. So this is...

No, that would have been a crazy story too. But no, I saw the whole crying for a month. The one reason I was also upset about moving was I literally was in the middle. The closest city was a little over an hour. I was in the middle of nowhere and I was upset with God because coming from Texas, and I don't know if you guys too with being from the South, everyone gets married young. All my friends were already getting married, having kids at 22. That's kind of what still the generation

generation I was in and so I just saw that happen coming. So there's parts of me that envied that and there's other parts that I was like, I know this is where I need to be. So there was a lot of crying because I was mad that I, one, I was not trusting what the future had in front of me. I wanted, obviously was.

leaning on my own understanding what was now in my plans, but I needed to get to a place where I was content with me. And it took me that whole first month of being, I was that piece of being in the location. I was not piece with myself that I was going to be by myself. I am a very committed, loyal person in my relationships. I never had short relationships. They were all one, at least a year or more. And I've had very significant ones back to back to back.

Britt (16:51)
Mm -hmm.

Jenny Nuccio (16:52)
And then all of a sudden, I find myself being single for the last six months and then moving and being like, what? This is a new version of myself. Because I dated throughout, know, throughout, gosh, as long as 13, I guess, when my parents said, OK, you can do that. And so I always remembered having some significant person there. And so I finally got to a place where I was like, I'm OK.

I'm okay. Now this is a crazy story because I had a dinner I had to go to that night and I wasn't going to go to this dinner and our friends had invited us to this dinner or invited me to this dinner of the singles in Mombasa. Within there is not a lot of now there might be there were not a lot of singles back then in Mombasa. So I wasn't going to go. I was really upset again having this deep conversation.

Britt (17:35)
You

Mandy (17:36)
you

Jenny Nuccio (17:44)
Again, with myself and God and being like, I am so mad. And I finally got to a place where I was like, OK, I think I'm OK. So I pulled myself up. I was like 30 minutes late to this dinner. And I hop in, I get into this restaurant. And there's two people there. There's Sean. And there's this girl, Carly. We are the singles of Mabasa. Sean always says he has two choices. He did not have two choices. So I get there and.

Mandy (18:04)
That's just the three of you.

That was it.

Jenny Nuccio (18:11)
It will I and I talk about this moment in my book because it was very very significant for me because I had all of those conversations and I guess if you're not someone who has a strong faith this might sound weird but for me this was really significant because as I walked in and I sat there Sean is a man of very few words I always say when he talks listen because he's extremely wise but he's we're very different in that I'm a chatterbox and very outgoing and extroverted and he's like to himself but he has this

And like his energy is so peaceful and calm and when you like sit by him, you just feel relaxed. So I'm sitting in front of him. I meet Carly. She's amazing where she's still one of our bestest friends today. And then Sean is sitting across from me and it was the only time in my life that I audibly heard like, this is what I had for you. So before he ever knew that I was gonna like, I was even interested in him, like I knew, like I was like.

Britt (18:49)
Very good.

Mandy (18:50)
you

Britt (19:05)
Something.

Jenny Nuccio (19:06)
Wow, this is what you had for me. So from the time we made eye contact there, all he said that dinner was, hi, I'm Sean. Literally, that's all he said.

And three weeks later, we climbed Mount Kenya. We love hiking and exploring. He had already had this trip planned to climb Mount Kenya. It's the second largest peak in Africa. I joined the trip. It was me and five other guys and climbed to And he always says, I went up a mountain single and came down with a girlfriend. And so from the time we met to got married, that was six months, because we just knew after that. So it was like,

I guess dated for three weeks, maybe engaged three months, and then got married. But it was really fast. So my husband's actually from Alaska. I'm from Texas, but we met in Kenya. Yes. Yes. And I think it's even more wild, because I think God has a sense of humor. Because in Texas, we always say everything's bigger in Texas. But you can actually fit three Texas's in Alaska. And trust me, my husband reminds me of that every day. So every day.

Britt (19:48)
That's wild!

Mandy (19:52)
Whoa. That is, wow.

Britt (20:09)
every day.

Mandy (20:09)
So one thing he is going to say, like he's not saying a lot, but he will tell you, like, don't forget we fit through Texas's here. my gosh.

Jenny Nuccio (20:15)
He will tell me. Yes, he has a good sense of humor. Mm -hmm, exactly.

Britt (20:17)
Yeah.

So now y 'all have had three babies, right? that's so wonderful. So of course on MPowered, we always like to appreciate, know, we're very big into whether it's corporate America, you're climbing the corporate ladder, know, entrepreneurship, your mother, all those things. Women are so powerful and powerful in a sense of...

Jenny Nuccio (20:24)
Yes, we have three babies.

Britt (20:44)
our hands can be in several different buckets and somehow or another we still make sure to get it all taken care of. And so, you you have a Monte Collective, you are a wife, you are a mother, you do all of these things, but yet you do it with so much love and I think you're very poised in your work. And so I want you to tell us like, how has it been juggling three children who are, you know,

They're not like baby babies anymore and so they're growing, they're in school, they're doing activities. But also too, you grew up in Texas of that very much so American dynamic of this is the way and this is the path. How is that kind of differentiated with your three children in a complete different place and raising them and kind of also the learning experience that you've had to go through as well?

Jenny Nuccio (21:41)
Yeah, I love that. think pre -kids, before Sean and I had kids, always thought, man, we did think of that. They're not going to get the experience we got, or will they lose their Americanness, whatever that is. And as we started to have kids, I was like, man, they have such a cool life. Jaden, he's now eight. But in his first year of life, went to four different countries.

that they just they were all you know they travel with me especially him and when I would have trade shows like he traveled with me to New York when he was four months old to do a trade show like he just came everywhere I went so was in Israel and Kenya and Uganda and just like he I mean he obviously doesn't remember that his passport does but they just like got to and they still get to explore and I think you know what's been so cool we were just in the States for six months and they're now eight six and four

Mandy (22:28)
Yeah.

Jenny Nuccio (22:39)
And one, they have the cutest little accents because they have Kenyan British accents. And they're these white blond blue eyed kids. So people are like, these are your children? I'm like, yes, these are my children. So they say like this, know, like girl is gal and bird is bad. And they just have funny accents and I love it. And they're the cutest. But I think.

Britt (22:48)
my gosh.

Mandy (22:49)
my gosh.

Yes.

Britt (23:03)
Gosh, I want to meet them right now.

Jenny Nuccio (23:05)
I know. think what was so cool, now that they're that age and traveling through the United States with them, is seeing life through their eyes. When you live overseas and you see kind of the perspective of how people see America too, and also being a professor of social work, I teach a lot of institutional racism and all these different things, like hard topics. The world in general is very divisive. It's tense.

Britt (23:33)
Thank

Jenny Nuccio (23:34)
not see that because of their cross -cultural upbringing. believe, my... It's just really beautiful. I, you know, I... I can think of times where...

like being raised where maybe I felt uncomfortable or things, but that's just because of the nature of how I was raised. When I moved overseas, I started to be open and curious and have this dialogue. And as an Enneagram eight, I love confrontation, like healthy confrontation. love.

Talking through that I do not shy away from a hard conversation because I think it's it's important for us to work through that dialogue and so I think even moving to Mombasa where not only is it different ethnicity It's also different like religious scope to you, right? There's Hindu and Islam and all these different things and to be have this open dialogue with our neighbors of share with me You know what you celebrate or why is it this and to not come against each other but come to the table together?

Britt (24:20)
Mm -hmm.

Jenny Nuccio (24:32)
and talk about it. So my kids are asking questions that I did not start asking until I was 21, 22. And at four, six, and eight, they're asking all different questions about culture and religion and why do they dress that way and why do we dress this way? But doing it in such an innocence of just learning. I think I wish as adults we could do that, where we don't take

Britt (24:50)
Yeah.

Jenny Nuccio (24:56)
an adult asking a question that might sound really offensive to heart, but maybe someone is just trying to learn, right? So I think that that's been really, I think I am really excited about the global citizens they will be, what they'll bring to those types of conversations. I also like coming from America like that, again, you do this, this, and this. And coming from someone who has a doctorate, like I

do not have any care in the world if they go to college or not. think for me, was always a big education was always a big thing. Academia is always a big thing. seeing the way our world is and seeing trade schools and seeing just seeing my daughter's imaginations and stuff, I'm like, man, I just want to support you and what you want to do. And I don't know if I would have been so open to that if also just for the sake of how I was raised, if I wasn't pulled out.

Britt (25:35)
Mm -hmm.

Mm -hmm.

Jenny Nuccio (25:55)
and got to experience other cultures, upbringings and things. And there should be no shame to that. Like I think, man, America's really, it's just interesting that we have to have this paper to be accepted or we're put to shame or we have to spend all this money and go into debt to even be able to climb the corporate ladder when there are so many people that have this innate talent inside of them that if you just gave them the opportunity, man, man, they would be so much better than anyone with their masters.

Britt (26:09)
Yep.

Exactly.

Jenny Nuccio (26:25)
I think that type of scope of being curious and creative and open and innovative, my kids already have that and I'm really excited to see how that gets to be nurtured because they're asking all those questions at such young age.

Britt (26:41)
That's beautiful and I think too, like you said, it's nice to be able to live through their eyes and see the world that they're seeing it because at that age and also too of their upbringing in a completely different world, I could only imagine truly how beautiful it is. Like there, I always get so intrigued with different cultures and, you know, different ways of life, but

Mandy (26:42)
is yeah.

Jenny Nuccio (26:49)
Mm

Britt (27:09)
I'm 25 and so I can only imagine being that young and just feeling like, what is this and what is that and what is this? Because you can ask those things in such an innocent way, whereas in America now a grown individual, they're like, what are you judging? And I'm like, no, I wanna know. I wanna be that innocent child just to be so curious and intrigued with everything. But you're right, now for I think people in America to ask, it's like.

Jenny Nuccio (27:32)
Mm

Britt (27:38)
you know, what piece of or where of judgment is it coming from, you know? So that's really beautiful that your children are being able to experience and be curious and be so intrigued with so many different things. And what a wonderful childhood. Like, they definitely.

Jenny Nuccio (27:42)
Mm -hmm. Yeah.

I think so, you know, we...

Mandy (27:56)
I think they're also like not yet hardened, right? Like there's something that happens when we get older where like we become wary of things we don't know and things that are unknown to us. And it's like, they've not yet gotten that. So like, imagine how many things like aren't gonna be unknown to them, right? Like they're gonna be so vast in like culture and awareness that I feel like even at 25, they're gonna approach things with like such a deep curiosity that you've like.

Jenny Nuccio (27:59)
Right.

Right.

Mandy (28:24)
rooted so deeply like from like seed point, is amazing, like profound.

Jenny Nuccio (28:28)
Yeah, and I hope they always have like open hearts, you know.

We live very differently than a lot of our colleagues or friends or even local friends. Most people live in a compound with a guard and different things like that. And although we have a gate, we don't have a guard. Our door is always open. Our neighbors know we have an open door policy. Our boys are always in and out of our house. The women always come for tea. And we do that purposely to live in community. And so we say, yes, we have an open door policy. Like we have a revolving door. So when I've seen

Other families live overseas and their children struggle a little bit more because they are so guarded behind these walls that this is our family and then this is them, you know, and then they go out into the community and that's not how so our life is a little different than Right, and we see that and sometimes, you know

Britt (29:10)
Mm

Yep.

Mandy (29:18)
We're not in the culture.

Jenny Nuccio (29:24)
Again, everyone to each its own. But I truly believe if you're going to grow and you're going to learn, both for the sake of making a place home, you have to be immersive. And you have to have the door open. And guess what? That means you're going to get hurt at times. And we work, again, with a lot of street youth. And that means things are going to get stolen from us. And they're things. They're little things. So I think for our kids to experience such a wide range of also demographics, like from people coming,

from living literally on the street into our home and having to really affluent affluent families because the international school they go to my my son went to one of his friends houses the other day I was like mom he lives in a mansion I like I know son I'm so I'm sorry we live in this house but but at the same time I want to change it you know

Britt (30:01)
Mm -hmm.

Mandy (30:11)
I'm like, sorry. We're working on it.

Jenny Nuccio (30:16)
Yeah, we live in a space and we purposely choose to live in an area of town that is just not as affluent because we again want to be immersed in our community. So and most of the time his friends want to come over there because it's such a fun environment. There's so many people at our home and you know it's this vibrancy and it's not cold and things like that. But I will say what's been so cool because our house is chaotic. I call it a

Britt (30:26)
Yeah.

Jenny Nuccio (30:41)
our beautiful mess of a house. Super chaotic. But every time someone walks into our home, this happens at least once a week, someone always says, wow, like your house just, there's this peace that I feel when I walk into your house. And I, that.

Britt (30:52)
Yeah.

Jenny Nuccio (30:56)
Again, because it is chaotic, there's shoes everywhere. There's video games being played. There's loud things happening, people in the kitchen cooking. The actual situation is really chaos, but they still feel that inner peace. And for that, I am just so grateful that we can be a representation for that. And people feel that. And they feel that no matter what, we can come over to the new Chios home. And we're going to feel safe. And we're going to know that we can rest there. We can get a bite to eat. And our kids get to be racing that.

that they have that generosity of kindness always as they continue on and grow up.

Mandy (31:32)
Can you just raise all of America's children? Can we just send them over to the new Tio's and then when they're 18, they can go off and change the world and make their impact. Like it might be virus. I'm like, I wish all children were raised with that, openness and love and kindness. Cause it's like that, the lack of that is taught unfortunately, like they see it, right? Like children aren't naturally.

Britt (31:35)
I was gonna say, yeah.

Jenny Nuccio (31:41)
Yes.

Mm

Mandy (31:57)
unkind or judgmental, like they pick it up through things that we share. So it's like to hear you be like, no, everyone is welcome. We have a safe space that's open for everyone. We show warmth and love to everybody. Like you're raising humans that are going to go out into the world and show warmth and love to everybody. And like the world needs more of that, right? Like we need so much of that right now. I love that.

Jenny Nuccio (32:02)
Yeah.

That's my hope. We're perfectly imperfect, perfectly imperfect, but I hope that they pull kindness from it. Yeah.

Britt (32:20)
Yeah. I think quite literally everything right. And this is not just to blow smoke, but it's

Mandy (32:24)
That is beautiful.

Okay.

Britt (32:31)
It's nice to be able to see a different way of living and you being so successful with it. And it's just a different approach that not a lot of people are like, I could never do that or, you know, things wouldn't be like that in my world or just, but you do it so well. And it's just nice to be able to be like, yeah, people can open their doors and have an open door policy and it'd be okay. I think it's.

Jenny Nuccio (32:39)
Thanks.

And this happens right where your feet are. This happens right where your feet are. I tell people all the time, you don't have this wild story. I titled the book Let It Be Wild because I truly believe we all are wild inside of us. We just might have not found it yet, or we have let the world define us in a way that's hidden that. But when you truly are in your passion, and you're truly in your talents, and you're truly doing what you are made to do, it's going to look wild to the world because it

Britt (33:04)
Right.

Mm

Jenny Nuccio (33:27)
that's so aligned with your values, your heart, and what you're supposed to be doing. And so be that right where your feet are.

Britt (33:31)
Yeah.

Jenny Nuccio (33:35)
Open your doors go talk to your neighbor find somewhere you can serve, you know down the street You know, even if we weren't overseas We would be doing the same sort of life in the states and find a way to do it in that way So yes, america has its challenges, right? every country has its challenges, but how can we do that because The truth be told living overseas is not all you know bright and shiny and we run out of water and we have cockroaches running through our house and there's wild things that we have to have

Mandy (34:03)
you

Jenny Nuccio (34:04)
resilience through and not everyone's made for that. Like that's it's intense sometimes. So do what you can right where your feet are in a place that you know you have longevity and sustainability of where you're at. Because at the end of the day we want the best versions of ourselves to go out and be able to serve and even with the worst versions of ourselves you know God is gonna use you in really cool ways. We just have to have the courage to take that first step and I think that's the hardest hardest part because we really might be afraid of what

Mandy (34:08)
Thank you.

Britt (34:09)
Yeah.

Jenny Nuccio (34:34)
people might think because again it's so out of the norm of maybe what we normally do but it's truly aligned with who you're supposed to

Mandy (34:42)
Tell us where everyone can find your book where they can purchase like I would love to and we'll include this in the show notes will include all of the links to any of the collective websites. So maybe we have an equestrian listening is like, you know what, I need to make a purchase. We'll include all of those links, but give us your book where they can find your book.

Jenny Nuccio (34:48)
Yeah.

Mandy (35:00)
some kind of overview of where they can shop and how they can support too. So if there are other things they could be doing to support, please tell our listeners,

Jenny Nuccio (35:09)
Yeah, so Imani, I -A -N -I is kind of our main brand, Imani Collective. So any social, Imani Collective is our impact social. Imani Kids is our kids brand. Sukwa is our question brand. But you can go to ImaniKids .com. You can go to ImaniCollective .com. Actually, ImaniCollective .com will.

That is a landing page that tells you all of our brands and it has all the little clicks. You can go to all of our different brands. Yeah. money collective dash our impact .org is where you would go to find out about all of our impact. And we'll also, again, I will give you guys the link specifically to the impact report that you can link in the show notes, but you can also find that in our impact and donate when you donate that goes to all of our holistic programs. that we, that is the extra support we give our artisans and my book, let it be.

Britt (35:34)
There you go.

Mandy (35:34)
Amazing.

Jenny Nuccio (35:59)
You can find that on Amazon actually we get more profit if you buy it on amani kids calm But feel free to buy it on Amazon to wherever you want to you know to make your purchase I would love for you to be encouraged by the story of let it be wild and I hope you find your wild as well And you know what? Something that I want to just make sure that I do is I will put on any site that you go to whether it's Suqua Amani kids dreamer and co is that our jewelry brand

over the next couple months, maybe to the end of the year. We'll figure out a date. But I'll put empowered 15 so you guys can get 15 % on any of your purchases on any of those websites. So I would love for you to go purchase, discover it. And I'll make sure I send you guys the discount code to include that. But it's been a joy to just share my story. And I hope people have been encouraged by it.

Mandy (36:36)
look at that.

Perfect.