Her Story
About Jacqueline
Jacqueline Renjifo is an Operations Training Senior Specialist at The Wendy’s Company, bringing more than 20 years of progressive leadership in restaurant operations, training, and multi-unit management. Her career reflects a deep commitment to people development, operational excellence, and building strong, sustainable teams across high-volume markets in the United States.
Her journey with Wendy’s began in June 2004 while seven months pregnant, following a seven-year tenure with Burger King. Seeking a fresh start, she intentionally accepted a pay cut to restart at the ground level with a clear long-term vision. A defining early moment came when an HR representative told her that pregnancy should never be viewed as a limitation, a message that shaped her loyalty to the organization for over two decades. Within months, she was entrusted with leadership of one of the highest-volume restaurants in Long Island, New York, where she operated a late-night location with intense operational demands. She quickly advanced into a certified training manager role, where her greatest fulfillment came from developing others and watching her teams grow and succeed.
Jacqueline’s career path includes serving as a District Manager, rebuilding underperforming markets, and leading complex multi-state responsibilities while balancing the demands of family life as a mother of two. She spent years commuting between New York and Pennsylvania in leadership roles before relocating to Florida, where she strengthened multiple districts across the Clearwater market and focused heavily on staffing and talent development. In 2025, she transitioned to Michigan as an Operations Training Senior Specialist, where she now supports multiple district managers, an area director, and dozens of restaurant locations through franchise-to-corporate transitions and training certification. She also led the Women in Wendy’s resource group in Tampa for five years, mentoring emerging leaders and facilitating development sessions centered on confidence, growth, and leadership empowerment.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Jacqueline
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to self-confidence and maintaining a positive mindset no matter what challenges I face. I was very confident in what I could bring to the table, even when sitting across from people with degrees and certificates that I didn't have. I never let anyone tell me I couldn't do something - it had to be myself saying I can't. I push myself every day to be 1% better and stay positive with my mindset. Even when I was going through hard situations in my personal life, my team never knew I was going through a rough patch because I kept my mindset positive. When you stay positive, people want to follow you and they want to know what you're doing to stay that way. I believe your mindset tells a story, and I've learned that you have the choice to stay in negativity or keep moving forward. I also credit my success to my willingness to learn from the bottom up - I took a huge pay cut when I started at Wendy's because I knew my end goal and wanted to learn the company from the ground up. My passion has always been developing my people and watching them grow even faster than I did - that was my real payday.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I ever received came from my area director and mentor, Luke Sweeney, who challenged me the most throughout my career. He believed in me and told me that anything in my path, I could accomplish. To this day, even though he's no longer with Wendy's, we stay connected and he always reminds me: don't let the rocks in your way block your path. Whatever you put your mind to, that's what you're going to accomplish. That advice has stayed with me and helped me push through every obstacle in my career. I also received powerful encouragement early on when I was 7 months pregnant and interviewing at Wendy's. The HR representative told me, 'being pregnant is not being sick, so don't let people make you feel like you can't work. It's a blessing.' That moment created a loyalty in me that has lasted over 20 years and taught me never to let circumstances define what I'm capable of achieving.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
My main advice is to have self-confidence, no matter who you have in front of you. There could be people with degrees and certificates who might look at their credentials more than they look at you, but you need to be confident in what you can bring to the table. I never backed down, and nobody could tell me I couldn't do something - it had to be myself saying I can't. Build up your self-confidence and push yourself every day to be 1% better. Keep your mindset positive, even when you're going through hard situations. My team never knew when I was going through a rough patch because I always stayed positive. When you stay positive, people want to follow you and they want to know what you're doing to maintain that mindset. We all go through stuff in life - that's part of life - but your mindset tells your story. You have the choice to stay in negativity or keep moving forward. Don't let people make you feel like you can't do something because of your circumstances. Focus on developing others and helping them grow - that will be your real payday.
Keep Exploring
More Influential Women · Ohio
Join Influential Women and start making an impact. Register now.