Her Story
About Janey
I'm a recent graduate of Augustana College where I double majored in psychology and Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies with a creative writing minor. During my junior year of undergrad, I created Hey Janey and Co, a nonprofit organization dedicated to sexual health and harm reduction education for young people. I started this because I noticed a gap on my campus where students weren't feeling comfortable going to older adults or campus resources to get the things they needed, and I was already providing supplies to many of my friends. What began as just me has grown into a team of close to 20 volunteers distributed across 5 different subcommittees, including distribution, tabling, talks, and Greek chapter representatives. Our peer-to-peer distribution model allows students to request supplies like condoms, Narcan, Plan B, and other healthcare resources through an encrypted service, and we meet people where they're at in a judgment-free space. I've been able to give over a thousand supplies to people in the community and have condom dispensers out in local businesses. My work is guided by the concept of radical love, which I learned from my mentor Laura at Iowa Harm Reduction Coalition, and it means meeting people where they're at with love and compassion no matter what. I've expanded my focus from primarily sexual health to include substance use harm reduction, offering Narcan and fentanyl testing strips. I've worked at the Sexual Health Prevention Education Office at Augustana for 2 years, served as an Advocates for Youth regional co-lead where I flew to DC to learn about policy and the reproductive justice landscape, and recently completed a 6-month certification training with Rouge Doulas focused on reproductive justice and abortion care. I received an advocacy award for my efforts last spring at my senior women gender studies banquet. My first love has always been poetry and creative writing, and I've worked with the Midwest Writing Center since I was young, which has helped me build confidence in public speaking and advocacy.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Janey
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my successes to not only my own hard work, but the women who believed in me to get to this point. From my mother who brought me into the world and taught me to advocate for myself, to the professors and peers within Augustana College who inspired me to think bigger, and the others who have given me the truth no matter how painful. My ability to pivot and adapt doesn't matter if not for having the support around me.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Trust yourself and trust the process. You have to give yourself more credit than you believe you have within you.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Trust yourself and don't be afraid to take the risk. Throughout this journey, there are people that are going to want to help you, but I would urge people to be careful, especially if you're young, because for every person that says they want to help you, there's several that are not going to follow through. There will be rejection, there will be people who promise you the world, and while there are good people out there for sure, you just have to be mindful of not letting other people try to squash on your brand. Trust the process. It will work out, even if it doesn't feel like it will. I'm to the point now where things are almost official, which I didn't think would happen so quickly, so it's been very rewarding. It's difficult to get there, but ultimately it'll work out if you're willing to put the effort in.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
This field is not the easiest one to enter. There is a lot of competition, even within the nature of collaboration. There are so many organizations out there doing great work, that are dealing with staffing issues, funding cuts, and often a fight for grants and aid to grow their organizations. For most of these people involved with these organizations, it's not about the money, it's about the communities they serve. Even so, everything has a cost. Whether it be time or monetary. Despite that, I have found that through all my endeavors leading up to the creation of HJC, have been some of the most meaningful and personally rewarding adventures of my life. The connections and bonds I have made, the events I've created, and even the information I have been able to bring to the community...That's my "Why". I have never felt more sure that this is what I was meant for. If you have a drive for others, aren't afraid to problem solve and are willing to put passion over profit at times... This could be for you!
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
The concept of radical love is central to everything I do, which means meeting people where they're at in a judgment-free space and showing love and compassion to everyone, no matter what. This has really shaped what Hey Janey and Co has become for me. I believe strongly in providing a stigma-free environment and making sure people feel comfortable and safe. I'm all about providing lived experience and having people with perspectives different to my own on my team, because Hey Janey and Co is very much a collaborative space. My name is in the title, but it doesn't mean that I know everything about everything. We're very open to what people want to see and work with us on. I've also learned the importance of doing the real work on the ground, not just the corporate promotional side. There are big organizations that are primarily about money and big events, and then there are people like Iowa Harm Reduction that are on the streets doing the work that the bigger orgs don't always do. I've been able to maintain a good middle where I'm not super corporate but I do have a media presence, so it's not unapproachable to certain audiences.
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