Roni Jenkins

I would say it's this journey I'm on right now - stepping out and doing something to solve a problem. I'm someone who enjoys helping people and solving problems, and really stepping outside to do something takes a lot of courage, especially when you're trying to become a founder or entrepreneur. For me, someone who is very much kind of like an ambivert and leans a little bit more towards the introversion side, stepping out and doing something very different, very new for me, very unfamiliar - I've asked myself so many times, why am I doing this? But I didn't stop, and I don't want to stop, and so this has been a challenge for me. It's huge for me to do this. What I love most about this journey is just the number of women I've been able to talk to who have been excited about this journey, who've been wanting to be a part of it, whether at an advisory board level or another space. Just the doors that it's opened for me to share more about the work that we're doing. One person who has been very influential in how far I've gotten with Navelle is my friend Rhonda. She's been kind of like this support system - she jumped in and helped out and offered her expertise as an advisory board member. She really has been very influential in supporting me along this journey, stepping in and helping out where I couldn't fill in because I was busy traveling or having meetings. I also make sure to create balance for myself - I enjoy working out, moving my body, taking walks during lunch, and I created a bucket list for myself. I've always wanted to try golf, so I'll be starting golf lessons soon. I'm challenging myself to check off things from my bucket list, making sure it's not all work and no play.

I would say my advice would be, especially if you're building something, listen to the women that you're building it for. A lot of times we get it, and then we put our - of course, you know, it's us, because we're trying to solve a problem, and sometimes we are the ones who have been impacted by a problem we're trying to solve. But make sure that you take yourself out of it a little bit, and connect with other women, and listen to what their needs are. Because their needs might be the same as yours, but also a little bit differently, and they'll tell you what they want. And then not only that, but also make sure that you, you know, as you're going through this journey of women's health, make sure that you're really an advocate for women, because even though we're starting to bring a little bit more light to women's health, there's still a lot of work that needs to be done. There's a lot of gaps that need to be filled, and women, we need that support in that community, and we need to know that there are others out there who are advocating for the changes that we need. So make sure, like, you're really listening in, and you're really tuned in to other women and our needs.