Breaking Barriers and Rebuilding Lives: Spreading Hope Through Affordable Housing (with Jenna Ghisolfo)
In this episode of the Knoodle Founders Hour, host Rosaria Cain sits down with Jenna Ghisolfo, the founder and president of Housing Consultants of America, to talk about housing stability, compliance, and her personal mission to end homelessness.
Jenna’s journey into the housing sector is deeply personal. Once a competitive figure skater dreaming of performing on Disney on Ice, her life took a drastic turn when she had to flee an abusive relationship in the middle of the night with nothing but her infant son, a trash bag of belongings, and a Section 8 voucher. That voucher became her second chance, inspiring a 20-year career in affordable housing. Encouraged by a mentor, she took the leap to open her own business nine years ago. Today, she leads a nationwide team of over 80 members, helping secure stable housing and manage compliance services for approximately 2,000 families every single month.
In this episode, you’ll discover:
- Demystifying Affordable Housing and Compliance: How Section 8 and public housing programs verify that participating families actually income-qualify to keep the system fair. Jenna explains how Section 8 adjusts rent so families pay only 30% of their adjusted income, and why those with zero income pay nothing at all.
- The Real Faces of Homelessness: Why the common assumption that homelessness is strictly driven by drug use or mental illness is incorrect. Jenna reveals how economic realities put everyday families and single mothers just one paycheck away from eviction, and explains why veteran homelessness has led to a greater number of men’s shelters than family shelters across the country.
- The Devastating Impact on Children: Why experiencing homelessness can severely damage a child’s mental status and growth, and how Housing Consultants of America works to restore a sense of belonging and community.
- Overcoming “NIMBYism” with Creativity: How to challenge the “Not In My Backyard” mindset by showing that affordable housing strengthens communities rather than diminishing property values. Jenna also highlights the need for creative, cost-effective solutions—like converting old hotels, schools, and shipping containers—to bypass traditional construction bottlenecks.
- Shattering Stigmas in High Heels: How Jenna uses her platform as Mrs. Arizona—and her top-five finish at the national pageant—to advocate for domestic violence survivors and end homelessness.
- Still Standing in Heels: A look at Jenna’s newly launched book, “Still Standing in Heels: What Love Didn’t Take and Trauma Didn’t Break,” which serves as an empowering roadmap and resource guide for survivors ready to reclaim their lives.
For anyone passionate about community advocacy, nonprofit leadership, or finding the strength to turn personal trauma into a national movement, Jenna’s story is an empowering masterclass in resilience.
Listen to the full episode of the Knoodle Founders Hour podcast to hear Jenna’s inspiring story of survival, growth, and her relentless drive to make a difference.
Full Transcript
Announcer 0:02
Welcome to the Knoodle Founder’s Hour, where we go founder to founder with host Rosaria Cain. Today, our special guest is Jenna Ghisolfo, founder and president of Housing Consultants of America. She’s a leading voice for housing stability, domestic violence survivors, and endeavors to end homelessness across America.
Rosaria Cain 0:21
Welcome, Jenna Ghisolfo. It’s always put an extra L in there! Of the Housing Consultants of America.
Jenna Ghisolfo 0:31
Yes.
Rosaria Cain 0:31
And you are helping people avoid homelessness.
Jenna Ghisolfo 0:34
Absolutely.
Rosaria Cain 0:35
So, give me an elevator speech on what that looks like.
Jenna Ghisolfo 0:39
Well, we really partner with a lot of nonprofits and charities within different cities across America, and what we do is we take their clients and we help give them safe, stable housing, and that can look like putting them to shelters, Section 8 housing, public housing, whatever’s available to us, we partner them with those solutions and give them some of their basic needs and a second chance.
Rosaria Cain 1:02
And you work, because I’ve been on your website. You work with compliance.
Jenna Ghisolfo 1:05
We do.
Rosaria Cain 1:06
Okay,
Jenna Ghisolfo 1:07
Absolutely. All that paperwork.
Rosaria Cain 1:08
That’s a big ticket word. What is compliance for us normal types?
Jenna Ghisolfo 1:13
So compliancing in affordable housing is really just ensuring that the families that are going into low income housing actually income qualify, and they’re not millionaires trying to scam the system. So we do verifications. We’ll do paycheck stub checks. We’re going to do little things to ensure that they are financially capable of living there and paying a portion of the rent to ensure that they’re going to contribute to their overall success.
Rosaria Cain 1:39
Well, what is affordable housing? So, is there a an income or is there a rental amount?
Jenna Ghisolfo 1:47
Yeah. See, that’s a great question. So, the the term is used kind of multi diverse in our world. There’s different types of affordable housing. The most common ones, I’m sure, you heard of Section 8 and public housing are the two we’ve all heard of, right? But there are so many different variations out there, and each one kind of has its own program requirements, so to say. So one program might say you only pay 30% of your income as rent, and the government is going to pay the rest of it.
Rosaria Cain 2:13
Okay.
Jenna Ghisolfo 2:13
It’s a fantastic– that’s your Section 8 program.
Rosaria Cain 2:16
So okay, so on a program like that, what dollar amount does that mean? Just so I can get my arms around it. So if I make if I make 30,000 if I make 30,000 a year, which is below the poverty line, right?
Jenna Ghisolfo 2:27
It is absolutely below the poverty level. So then you would break that down into what your monthly adjusted income is,
Rosaria Cain 2:32
Okay.
Jenna Ghisolfo 2:32
And then only 30% of that would be your rental portion. And then if the apartment charged $2,000, the difference would then be paid by the government.
Rosaria Cain 2:43
So that’s actually like what the suggested rent anyone should pay, or what used to be
Jenna Ghisolfo 2:48
Correct. That’s the best way to remember it.
Rosaria Cain 2:50
25% it used to be when you bought a house.
Jenna Ghisolfo 2:52
Yes, now it’s 30%. Keep in mind, if you have no income, you pay nothing in rent.
Rosaria Cain 2:57
Oh, okay, okay.
Jenna Ghisolfo 2:58
Somebody who’s walking in off the street homeless who has absolutely no income doesn’t have to worry about how is this rental rate or this rent going to be paid every month. The government will step in and pay 100% of their rent until the point where they have income, whether it’s social security, a job, whatever it might be, and then they’ll adjust it once they do have that income.
Rosaria Cain 3:17
Okay. Well, how hard is it to qualify for something like this?
Jenna Ghisolfo 3:20
You know, qualifying is not difficult. It’s getting in and finding the housing. There’s their difficult part right now. I know we were talking about this, but the wait is almost two years. So it’s not that there’s this heavily available list of housing that we have where I can send somebody tomorrow and I’m guaranteed that they’re going to get in. It’s it it’s typically going to take two years unless it’s some sort of emergency type of situation.
Rosaria Cain 3:46
Why is that? Why do we not have enough affordable housing?
Jenna Ghisolfo 3:51
We can’t build it quick enough, unfortunately. And then government policy prohibits us from developing quick enough. Finding the funding is another issue. You know, with all these budget cutbacks, it’s it’s taken a cut into what we can develop each year, and so each year the number of apartments we’re allowed to build goes down and down and down and down. So until we have more money to do that, or donations of land, or what I like to call being creative in our housing, I’m sure you’ve heard of the shipping containers that we’re converting into housing. Yep, we need to be creative in our solutions. It doesn’t have to be an apartment complex built from the ground up. We can take lands that’s already a hotel, a school, shipping containers. We can do anything with housing. We just got to get a little more creative with our our funding structures to prohibit or to enhance that.
Rosaria Cain 4:42
Well, it’s not like tent cities are so attractive.
Jenna Ghisolfo 4:44
No.
Rosaria Cain 4:45
So I mean, these are our–
Jenna Ghisolfo 4:46
We learned our lesson from that, didn’t we?
Rosaria Cain 4:49
Well, you know, they have to do something.
Jenna Ghisolfo 4:51
Correct.
Rosaria Cain 4:51
So they’re they’re going to do what they have to do to keep themselves and their families safe.
Jenna Ghisolfo 4:55
Absolutely, absolutely. It’s survival.
Rosaria Cain 4:58
Well, what do people don’t know about. So there’s a lot of people that have opinions on what we call the homeless.
Jenna Ghisolfo 5:05
Absolutely, misconceptions, as I like to put it. Yes, one of the biggest misconceptions that we hear for individuals that are homeless is that they’ve got some sort of mental health or they’re on drugs, abusing the system, and that is not the case, especially nowadays. It’s families, it’s single moms, it’s your next door neighbor could be one paycheck away of having an eviction on their record. It’s not the people that you think are living on the streets, and so I like to remind everybody that yes, there are individuals that are abusing the system, but that’s not the big population that we’re serving. There are actual success stories that we see in here on a day-to-day basis.
Rosaria Cain 5:48
What percentage of people are families that are in the system? Is there any kind of statistic on that?
Jenna Ghisolfo 5:54
So there’s no statistic on that. What’s interesting, though, is we have more men’s shelters across the United States, than we do family or women.
Rosaria Cain 6:02
Why is that?
Jenna Ghisolfo 6:03
Men tend to be homeless, especially our veterans tend to be homeless, and so that bumps up the statistic and the need and then the funding for men shelters versus families and women, which is incredible because everybody needs housing, everybody needs support. Doesn’t matter whether you’re in a family situation or not.
Rosaria Cain 6:23
It seems like kids need the most support of all.
Jenna Ghisolfo 6:26
Oh, on the impact on a child experiencing homelessness, that’s just what breaks my heart. Is hearing these stories of these children coming into shelters that were so used to having a stable roof over their heads, all of a sudden being in an unfamiliar place with lots of people around them, no stability, it affects a child’s mental status and their growth. And so, what we truly try and help with these families is showing them a sense of of home, of belonging, even when they’re in a shelter, and transitioning then into a Section 8 property or permanent supportive housing that we can provide them. Just that little sense of community and family can go such a long way.
Rosaria Cain 7:08
Wow, isn’t that incredible?
Jenna Ghisolfo 7:10
Yeah.
Rosaria Cain 7:11
What has to change before we can start attacking– I mean, I’m sure we’ve started chipping away at the problem.
Jenna Ghisolfo 7:18
We have.
Rosaria Cain 7:18
I mean organizations like yours.
Jenna Ghisolfo 7:19
Absolutely. Absolutely.
Rosaria Cain 7:21
I also want to know what you’re doing because you have all sorts of things that you do that really help the situation.
Jenna Ghisolfo 7:27
Absolutely.
Rosaria Cain 7:27
But what do we have to change to to avoid this, or start attacking it?
Jenna Ghisolfo 7:31
You know, it’s a ripple effect. So we have to start with changing people’s mindset on affordable housing. That begins the ripple, and then it then progresses into getting into politicians’ ears, changing government laws, but it’s changing that mindset that affordable housing, if it comes into your community, as we were talking earlier, it’s called NIMBYism, “Not In My Backyard”. It’s changing that mentality that lower income housing is going to diminish your property values or alter your sense of community, and that’s not the case. It actually amplifies it. You’re supporting all types of income levels in your community versus just saying, “Oh no, only higher end income levels can live here.
Rosaria Cain 8:13
Well, low income is probably not the best way to put it.
Jenna Ghisolfo 8:16
And we try and say affordable housing, it gives it a better connotation than than low income housing, but it’s one of those again misnomers and misconceptions that people have.
Rosaria Cain 8:28
So tell me about the types of services that you offer, and when when and how you’ve come to be.
Jenna Ghisolfo 8:34
Well, I can tell you, I did not plan on getting into Section 8 housing. I guarantee none of us grew up and said we wanted to get into Section 8 housing. You either wanted to be a doctor and astronaut, especially going to Xavier, right? We had high aspirations.
Rosaria Cain 8:46
Journalism, that’s what I wanted.
Jenna Ghisolfo 8:48
Yeah, see! I was a competitive figure skater, and I wanted to be on Disney on Ice. That was my aspirations. You know,
Rosaria Cain 8:54
That’s very cool.
Jenna Ghisolfo 8:55
Isn’t that interesting?
Rosaria Cain 8:56
Yes.
Jenna Ghisolfo 8:56
Didn’t end up going down that route, but was a competitive figure skater all the way through high school, and ended up in an abusive relationship. And my only way out was to leave in the middle of the night with nothing but an infant on my hip. I had my infant son and a trash bag on my belongings and a Section 8 voucher. And that Section 8 voucher gave me a second chance at life, and that began my love and appreciation for the Section 8 program, so I immediately knew that my career had to involve some sort of component of helping people get housed. I fell in love with Section 8 and affordable housing and have never left the industry. And that was that’s been 20 years.
Rosaria Cain 9:36
That is amazing.
Jenna Ghisolfo 9:37
20 years.
Rosaria Cain 9:39
So you took a negative, obviously a rough time.
Jenna Ghisolfo 9:42
Absolutely.
Rosaria Cain 9:43
And created something big.
Jenna Ghisolfo 9:45
And I had no intention. I have to tell you, I thought I was just going to be a career, and it was a great career helping people every day, hearing the stories. And then nine years ago, I had the opportunity of opening up my own business because I had a mentor of mine who believed in me so much that she encouraged me to open my own business, and it blew up quicker than I could have imagined. So now we are nationwide. I have over 80 team members that are available to me whenever I need them that can be dispatched across the United States whenever there’s support needed in any city. It’s kind of taken on a life of its own, and it’s beautiful to see.
Rosaria Cain 10:27
So you’re not just Phoenix.
Jenna Ghisolfo 10:28
Oh no.
Rosaria Cain 10:29
Tell me how broad this goes.
Jenna Ghisolfo 10:31
Oh we are all across the United States. So our heavy markets are East Coast and California. Don’t ask me why. Our marketing seems very well.
Rosaria Cain 10:38
If anybody has lived in California, they know why.
Jenna Ghisolfo 10:42
Exactly, there it is. There it is. The need is great.
Rosaria Cain 10:47
We are their affordable housing program.
Jenna Ghisolfo 10:47
We are, aren’t we? Exactly.
Rosaria Cain 10:52
It’s tough over there.
Jenna Ghisolfo 10:53
It is. It’s expensive. It is absolutely expensive. It’s like living in Hawaii. You you can’t do it.
Rosaria Cain 10:59
No, it’s absolutely true.
Jenna Ghisolfo 11:01
There’s nothing about affordability there, unfortunately.
Rosaria Cain 11:03
What happens to a community that it heads that way? So, for instance, in Phoenix, where your home base is, you’ve really seen it. I think we were affordable right until we hit COVID, or maybe a little before.
Jenna Ghisolfo 11:03
Correct. Correct. That would be a good time frame.
Rosaria Cain 11:07
Like in the in the 2008 to 2018 period, I think we were still relatively affordable for big metropolitan area.
Jenna Ghisolfo 11:29
Yep, I would agree.
Rosaria Cain 11:30
And then I think the bottom fell out when demand rose through the roof during and after COVID.
Jenna Ghisolfo 11:35
And then the cost of supply.
Rosaria Cain 11:37
Yep, supply chain shortage.
Jenna Ghisolfo 11:38
That those two things hit so hard that it just affected not even the affordable component, but our market rates, our entire housing industry.
Rosaria Cain 11:46
Interest rates.
Jenna Ghisolfo 11:47
See, it all got affected. Everything real estate got affected.
Rosaria Cain 11:51
Really crazy, in a short period of time.
Jenna Ghisolfo 11:54
Very quickly, very very quickly. And now, unfortunately, we’re seeing that people can’t afford the units that are quote unquote affordable.
Rosaria Cain 12:03
Well, what is affordable? What’s an affordable unit look like?
Jenna Ghisolfo 12:06
To give you an idea, a studio in in let’s say Phoenix, the Phoenix vicinity, right around anywhere between $850 to $950 a month. That’s just a studio.
Rosaria Cain 12:16
That’s a one. No, that’s not a one bedroom. So that’s a one room.
Jenna Ghisolfo 12:21
Think of like a hotel room, basically.
Rosaria Cain 12:24
With a little bit of a kitchen.
Jenna Ghisolfo 12:25
Uh huh. That’s all you’re getting. That’s all you’re getting, and that’s not affordable. A one bedroom. You’re probably looking around anywhere between 1200 to 1400.
Rosaria Cain 12:34
Gosh.
Jenna Ghisolfo 12:35
And that’s what we’re considering affordable.
Rosaria Cain 12:37
What was your first price of an apartment? I know what mine was.
Jenna Ghisolfo 12:41
So I remember because I moved into a Section 8 property, I was paying $400 a month in rent.
Rosaria Cain 12:46
Well, I’m older than you, but my first apartment-it wasn’t affordable housing. Okay, I lived in Durango, Colorado.
Jenna Ghisolfo 12:52
Oh.
Rosaria Cain 12:54
My first apartment was 175 a month. What? Now it was the size of this room.
Jenna Ghisolfo 13:00
No!
Rosaria Cain 13:00
It was so small.
Jenna Ghisolfo 13:01
So you had a studio then, yes.
Rosaria Cain 13:04
The studio was so small. The table was glued to the wall, so you would unpeg the pegs, and your table would come down.
Jenna Ghisolfo 13:12
Latch up and down.
Rosaria Cain 13:13
Yes, yes. Not so small, my apartment was.
Jenna Ghisolfo 13:15
Oh no.
Rosaria Cain 13:15
Yes, yes.
Jenna Ghisolfo 13:17
But see, you take you can get.
Rosaria Cain 13:19
Hey 175 a month.
Jenna Ghisolfo 13:21
I would pay that.
Rosaria Cain 13:22
It had a bathroom. It could be worse.
Jenna Ghisolfo 13:24
It absolutely could be. Could have had a shared bathroom.
Rosaria Cain 13:27
Yeah, it was. It was, but but that’s how it was. But you could find places back then.
Jenna Ghisolfo 13:32
Correct.
Rosaria Cain 13:32
If if you needed to.
Jenna Ghisolfo 13:33
Absolutely. Now?
Rosaria Cain 13:35
I was a student. I didn’t care. But now they those places have disappeared, or have they?
Jenna Ghisolfo 13:41
They have…
Rosaria Cain 13:42
Or they’re 950 a month.
Jenna Ghisolfo 13:44
Yeah, that’s exactly it. That’s exactly it.
Rosaria Cain 13:46
So back in the day, they would say if you had a place that was 950 a month, you would need to make about just under four grand a month in income.
Jenna Ghisolfo 13:54
Correct. It was the whole mindset of two to two and a half, sometimes even three times the amount of rent that you needed to make.
Rosaria Cain 13:59
Like in a week, you should be able to pay your rent.
Jenna Ghisolfo 14:02
Correct. That’s that’s the mindset. That is absolutely the mindset.
Rosaria Cain 14:05
But now that whole thing has disappeared because rent has gone up so high.
Jenna Ghisolfo 14:10
Absolutely.
Rosaria Cain 14:10
The equation isn’t isn’t the same.
Jenna Ghisolfo 14:13
No, no, no, no, no. They’re still asking for anywhere between. You typically get right around three times the amount of rent that they want to make sure that you can make each month.
Rosaria Cain 14:21
It’s so hard. And you think of all the people affected, and a lot of these people live with their families. So, you think about how it used to be. Well, I can think about how it used to be when I was a kid. I won’t pull you into this, but you can feel free to share.
Jenna Ghisolfo 14:35
Absolutely.
Rosaria Cain 14:36
I wanted to get out of my family’s house, of my overprotective Italian parents so bad.
Jenna Ghisolfo 14:42
Didn’t we all?
Rosaria Cain 14:42
Even though I was in my early 20s, I still had a curfew. It was not happening. Oh yes, true story. So I was moving out. So I was not picky. And I was okay with that. You can find places for 175 a month. What are people doing now? They’re staying home.
Jenna Ghisolfo 15:00
Absolutely, they’re staying at home. They’re living with their family members. They’re giving them rent. We see a lot of what’s that’s called generational housing is what we’re seeing because they can’t afford to move out. They have no other choice. So to live with your parents and pay your parents maybe five, $600 a month in rent versus going out and paying 800, $900 in rent, and that doesn’t even include utilities.
Rosaria Cain 15:22
And mom does the laundry,
Jenna Ghisolfo 15:24
And probably provides food.
Rosaria Cain 15:25
Probably.
Jenna Ghisolfo 15:26
Yeah. You know, you know, you get a few meals out of that at least each week. Yes, that’s got a good setup.
Rosaria Cain 15:31
That’s pretty good. So this is why it’s affecting mostly families.
Jenna Ghisolfo 15:34
Yes.
Rosaria Cain 15:35
And maybe not your young singles trying to get out of the out of the house because that’s kind of shifted and changed.
Jenna Ghisolfo 15:41
Correct, correct. We’re seeing that generation typically staying at home, or they’re going into dormitory housing due to college and things like that. Right. So that’s what we’re primarily seeing.
Rosaria Cain 15:49
Okay. So how? So a lot of families. I shouldn’t say families because you help people that aren’t families, as well.
Jenna Ghisolfo 15:56
Correct, absolutely.
Rosaria Cain 15:57
How many people have you helped since you started this 20 years ago?
Jenna Ghisolfo 16:02
So I don’t know the total. I can tell you what we average in 2026.
Rosaria Cain 16:05
Okay.
Jenna Ghisolfo 16:05
So each month we help, and we don’t do we we count a family could be a single person or it could be an actual family of one or more person. But we help on average about 2000 families a month. That’s what we’re averaging, and that we’re ensuring that we provide them with safe, stable, long-term housing. They could be in an apartment. They could be in a condo. We are managing their day-to-day compliance and ensuring that they still qualify for that unit year over year, and we’re providing a safe, stable place for them.
Rosaria Cain 16:36
So, what you really supply is peace of mind.
Jenna Ghisolfo 16:40
It’s a second chance.
Rosaria Cain 16:41
Yeah.
Jenna Ghisolfo 16:41
It’s a second chance for everybody. I’m telling you, when you see families receive those set of keys, they could have been on the street for one day or one year. The joy that they have in their faces, just the hope. It’s worth all the paperwork we go through, and all the headaches. Yeah.
Rosaria Cain 17:01
Wow, that’s something. What are some of the challenges you’ve encountered? So you’ve seen a lot in 20 years.
Jenna Ghisolfo 17:07
Oh my goodness!
Rosaria Cain 17:08
So you’ve seen you’ve seen stock market crash.
Jenna Ghisolfo 17:13
Yep.
Rosaria Cain 17:13
You’ve seen the 10 year recession.
Jenna Ghisolfo 17:15
COVID.
Rosaria Cain 17:16
COVID.
Jenna Ghisolfo 17:17
Absolutely, we’ve seen it all. I mean, the eviction memorium. That when that occurred during COVID, we would have never, never have expected that. That was that blew us out of the water. I’ve seen the programs change and fluctuate due to current circumstances, but what I can tell you is is really blown my mind is how even with all these changes and the economy fluctuating, politicians and housing authorities, government entities-they all still want to have the conversation about housing and homelessness. They just don’t know what the solution is. They are just-it’s almost like–
Rosaria Cain 17:55
Why do we pay these people, Jenna? What do you mean they don’t know what the solution is?
Jenna Ghisolfo 18:00
It’s almost as if they’re they’re okay to talk about it, but they’re not going to move the mountains. And so I always like to remind people: sometimes the solutions aren’t always monetary based. Well, if we could toss a couple billion at this, we could solve homelessness in a heartbeat. It’s a couple billion.
Rosaria Cain 18:17
Is it like immigration, where they don’t want to touch the issue because they don’t want to lose votes.
Jenna Ghisolfo 18:21
Oh, see, there’s there’s another way of thinking. Absolutely.
Rosaria Cain 18:26
I’m not very confident. Political situation.
Jenna Ghisolfo 18:30
I get it. I get it. But you know, there’s ways around it. Like we talked about the creative housing. We can get creative in the way we develop our housing and the way we structure grants and funds to allow us to develop and be a little bit different and think outside the box. But it’s also then partnering with organizations like you mentioned, Save the Family, UMom, nonprofits that have kind of that in that we can partner with and say, all right, let’s do this together because maybe we can’t do it on our own, but we can certainly support some of your clients and do this together and build something beautiful.
Rosaria Cain 19:04
So you work with organizations around the country.
Jenna Ghisolfo 19:07
All around the valley.
Rosaria Cain 19:07
And that must have its own challenges as well.
Jenna Ghisolfo 19:10
Lots of different personalities, lots of different CEOs.
Rosaria Cain 19:13
Well, the nonprofit arena certainly has its culture.
Jenna Ghisolfo 19:17
It does. It absolutely does. It most certainly does.
Rosaria Cain 19:20
And boards of directors.
Jenna Ghisolfo 19:22
With all different personalities. Just so much fun to manage and and listen to the drama. But I enjoy it. I enjoy it. I enjoy getting in front of boards, organizations, and really reminding them. Here’s what we can build together. Here’s how you can support our clients, and and we can actually accentuate some of your programs, help get you funding, and it can be everything from providing food services to even helping some of our residents find jobs and an employment-seeking services. We have one organization that actually has a pantry filled with clothes, and so if our residents don’t have clothing to go for an interview, they can almost shop in this little boutique.
Rosaria Cain 20:02
See, that’s awesome.
Jenna Ghisolfo 20:03
Isn’t it great? It’s coming up with these wraparound services to support the families, no matter what situation they’re in. We’re giving them not just housing; we’re giving them additional services to say, “Here you go. Now you can be successful.”
Rosaria Cain 20:16
So you do more than than your stated purpose.
Rosaria Cain 20:19
Oh, absolutely.
Jenna Ghisolfo 20:21
It’s you know I like to stay busy. My husband-
Rosaria Cain 20:23
It’s your company culture and your personal culture.
Jenna Ghisolfo 20:26
Absolutely, it is. That’s more of it. My husband knows we can never have a quiet moment. There’s, there’s, we’ve got–
Rosaria Cain 20:32
I wouldn’t know what it is to have a quiet moment.
Jenna Ghisolfo 20:34
Right? Maybe it’s the Italian in us, though
Rosaria Cain 20:36
I mean, what’s the point?
Jenna Ghisolfo 20:38
I got to be doing something.
Rosaria Cain 20:39
Exactly.
Jenna Ghisolfo 20:40
Life’s too short.
Rosaria Cain 20:41
It is too short.
Jenna Ghisolfo 20:41
I can watch TV later. I can do all that later.
Rosaria Cain 20:44
And we can always sleep when we’re dead.
Jenna Ghisolfo 20:45
Thank you!
Rosaria Cain 20:46
Right?
Jenna Ghisolfo 20:47
I agree.
Rosaria Cain 20:48
So, what challenges have you had that you didn’t expect? What has surprised you?
Jenna Ghisolfo 20:52
You know, I would say being a business owner wearing multiple hats didn’t expect that. That was a challenge that I wasn’t expecting because I just was used to dealing with housing entities and dealing with all those personalities was more than enough for me. But now being a business owner and having to be the HR department and the accounting department, I went. Wait a minute, this is not my area of expertise. And so I hired out individuals that specialize in those activities to allow me to be more successful and bring in more business, partner with more organizations, and be the face and the voice of the company, rather than trying to figure out HR issues.
Rosaria Cain 20:52
Tell me about being the well. I agree. So you’re more of the thinker behind it.
Jenna Ghisolfo 20:52
Yeah.
Rosaria Cain 20:52
You’re more of the visionary.
Jenna Ghisolfo 20:52
Oh, absolutely.
Rosaria Cain 20:57
You’re not an operations person.
Jenna Ghisolfo 21:39
Nope.
Rosaria Cain 21:39
This is why we get along so well?
Jenna Ghisolfo 21:41
Oh, absolutely.
Rosaria Cain 21:41
Okay.
Jenna Ghisolfo 21:42
Support people are my favorite type of people because they’re they allow me to do my job and be successful, and not have to push the paperwork because there’s, I can’t do it.
Rosaria Cain 21:52
Tell me about your voice in the organization.
Jenna Ghisolfo 21:54
So right now I’m still the president and CEO, and really what I’m able to do is spread awareness about homelessness across the nation, and that can be everything from keynote speaking at conferences to I’ve been the MC for several galas. It’s been wonderful.
Rosaria Cain 22:11
That’s awesome.
Jenna Ghisolfo 22:11
Because people don’t think to talk about a story of someone being homeless or living in government housing. It’s not a story that you hear quite a bit, so when I share my story, everyone pauses for a minute and says, “Wait a minute…”
Rosaria Cain 22:26
Because it’s authentic.
Jenna Ghisolfo 22:27
We need to share her story. We need to remind people that this is a hot topic, and there’s important issues to discuss.
Rosaria Cain 22:33
Because normal everyday people can fall into a situation that takes a while to get out of.
Jenna Ghisolfo 22:42
Yep, could be one to two paychecks away from being homeless, living in your car, having no other options. And then what’s unfortunate is some don’t even know the resources, like we mentioned, save the family that are out there that can immediately step in and even do prevention to help you not have to go through that process of being homeless, just it’s knowing your resources.
Rosaria Cain 23:04
How do you let people know about your mission? So it does help so many people. And you talked about keynotes, and you’ve talked about being the voice. How else do you let people know what are you doing?
Jenna Ghisolfo 23:15
Social media. We use social media. I mean, come on, that’s that’s our main avenue for everything. But it’s spreading awareness about what Section 8 properties actually look like. So every time we go and do site visits or inspections or things like that, I always ask my team to film a little clip and show what an actual property looks like.
Rosaria Cain 23:35
Very smart.
Jenna Ghisolfo 23:35
It is. They’re not what you expect. You think of Section 8 housing or public housing is this dilapidated, diminished. You probably have that that kind of old school brick building composure that you’re thinking of, and it’s not.
Rosaria Cain 23:50
Like the tenements in New Jersey, right?
Jenna Ghisolfo 23:52
There you go.
Rosaria Cain 23:53
Yeah.
Jenna Ghisolfo 23:53
There you go. Perfect example.
Rosaria Cain 23:54
We have some on Seventh Avenue and Buckeye.
Jenna Ghisolfo 23:56
Okay.
Rosaria Cain 23:57
That are you know,
Jenna Ghisolfo 23:59
Yep, absolutely.
Rosaria Cain 23:59
The old school version and what’s in our mind when we think Section 8 housing.
Jenna Ghisolfo 24:04
Yes, but honestly, a lot of it is either being rehabbed and remodeled, so it’s kind of getting what I like to call a nice facelift, or it’s brand new, and you would never know that it’s an affordable complex that you’re passing by. It looks right just like any other complex.
Rosaria Cain 24:19
Well, take us through your your being what you are and what you’ve done for people. What your core values are.
Jenna Ghisolfo 24:27
So my core values always stick with, and I have three: empower, inspire, and uplift. Those are my core values that I believe in. Just because it’s all about empowering the next generation, empowering homeless domestic violence survivors, whomever I’m meeting with, it’s about empowering them with whatever situation they’re dealing with, and then inspiring to ensure that they know there is a bigger picture, and that, with support behind them, they can get out of that situation, whether it’s being a domestic violence victim living. On the streets, whatever the situation can be, they have the inspiration and the motivation then to get out of it, and then finally is uplifting them. And I think that’s pretty self explanatory.
Rosaria Cain 25:13
It is, and it’s very optimistic, and it’s light, absolutely in a world of heaviness.
Jenna Ghisolfo 25:18
Absolutely, absolutely, it’s a motto that a lot of my my sister queens and I will talk about that later. That they we really believe in and we we try and do that on a daily basis.
Rosaria Cain 25:28
Okay, sister queens.
Jenna Ghisolfo 25:30
Sister queens. That’s what we call them.
Rosaria Cain 25:32
Let’s let’s spill it.
Jenna Ghisolfo 25:34
Yep. So I am your United States of America’s, Mrs. Arizona. I got the opportunity to take the amazing title, and I went to nationals in March in Las Vegas.
Rosaria Cain 25:44
Congratulations!
Jenna Ghisolfo 25:45
Competed with all these women and placed fifth in the nation.
Rosaria Cain 25:48
Congratulations!
Jenna Ghisolfo 25:49
I know, isn’t that incredible?
Rosaria Cain 25:50
Inspiring.
Jenna Ghisolfo 25:51
And standing on a stage in a swimsuit with six-inch heels is not as easy as people think.
Rosaria Cain 25:55
I have to say that’s really great body confidence.
Jenna Ghisolfo 25:58
It certainly is. It certainly is. Let me tell you.
Rosaria Cain 26:02
But I can see that it works for you.
Jenna Ghisolfo 26:04
Look, I mean,
Rosaria Cain 26:05
Yeah,
Jenna Ghisolfo 26:05
They gave us a beautiful sash.
Rosaria Cain 26:06
I love it.
Jenna Ghisolfo 26:07
I get to keep. I mean, who doesn’t love this? And they give us a crown. It brings out the inner princess in all of us.
Rosaria Cain 26:14
And who doesn’t want to be a princess?
Jenna Ghisolfo 26:16
Right? I love it.
Rosaria Cain 26:17
Or a queen.
Jenna Ghisolfo 26:18
A queen.
Rosaria Cain 26:18
Or a queen.
Jenna Ghisolfo 26:19
Exactly.
Rosaria Cain 26:19
Or a queen.
Jenna Ghisolfo 26:20
A queen.
Rosaria Cain 26:21
That’s just awesome. And you’ve gotten to take your message with you, I imagine, when you when you did this.
Jenna Ghisolfo 26:27
Absolutely, absolutely. And so my what we like to call them as platforms. My platform is really spreading awareness on domestic violence as well as ending homelessness. So I kind of have twofold because my story ties together.
Rosaria Cain 26:39
That is the perfect answer for a pageant.
Jenna Ghisolfo 26:43
Isn’t it?
Rosaria Cain 26:44
Oh my gosh!
Jenna Ghisolfo 26:45
Kill two birds with one stone.
Rosaria Cain 26:46
You can, and it’s actually authentic in your case. And a lot of times, it’s maybe not quite so authentic, but in your case, it’s actually what you do.
Jenna Ghisolfo 26:52
It is, and I love sharing my story and my message with the judges. And you can see when I tell them my story, it’s this moment of of wow, this this woman sitting in front of me has a story to tell and is not just fluff.
Rosaria Cain 27:05
It’s not fabricated.
Jenna Ghisolfo 27:07
Yes.
Rosaria Cain 27:07
Or brought in by a consultant.
Jenna Ghisolfo 27:10
Yes, we see that way too much.
Rosaria Cain 27:11
That’s awesome.
Jenna Ghisolfo 27:12
Yeah.
Rosaria Cain 27:12
So, talking about what makes a good leader and entrepreneur, what makes a good leader?
Jenna Ghisolfo 27:18
You know, I’m going to say a good leader is somebody who’s willing to put in the hard work, because as we know, moving up in the world as a leader isn’t just something that happens overnight. It’s gaining the trust of your team members. It’s building a sense of community and building the vision of your company, and that all requires you to put in the time and the effort. And I think a lot of people are afraid to put in the work, but it is so rewarding at the end. I mean, you wouldn’t be here today if you didn’t put in the work.
Rosaria Cain 27:48
No, but don’t you find you can never take a break from it?
Jenna Ghisolfo 27:51
Okay, absolutely.
Rosaria Cain 27:53
Do you ever do you ever like leave it at the door?
Jenna Ghisolfo 27:55
No.
Rosaria Cain 27:56
Because I don’t leave it at the door. I take it wherever I go, and I work wherever I go,
Jenna Ghisolfo 28:00
that’s what makes it so easy nowadays with technology.
Rosaria Cain 28:03
Too easy.
Jenna Ghisolfo 28:03
As long as I have internet, I can work wherever I want.
Rosaria Cain 28:06
Well, was there a specific person that inspired you to do this? What’s your story on your why? Like, why did you do it? I mean, you have a great background. I do, and you lived it. But what was that? And you had a mentor.
Jenna Ghisolfo 28:20
I had a mentor, so I would attribute it to my mentor because she was a mentor in affordable housing, and she believed in me. And not to say that my family didn’t believe in me, because they certainly had this this love and support for me. But she saw something in me that said, “No, you can’t just remain as an employee of a company. I see more grand things for you. You need to open up your own business, and I had no business background whatsoever. So here I am googling, like, how do you open up a business? What is a business license? Do I need one? What type of insurance do I get? And through this learning process, it I grew, I learned, and here we are with a successful company that is now national. I would have never imagined.
Rosaria Cain 29:03
Now looking at math, which I am not that good at, but you started you started your business around or just before the Great Recession. Do I have that right, mathematically?
Jenna Ghisolfo 29:13
So actually, it was right after, and then in between that and COVID.
Rosaria Cain 29:19
Ah, okay. So those are great bookends, right?
Jenna Ghisolfo 29:21
Oh.
Rosaria Cain 29:23
Who wouldn’t want to start a business between the Great Recession and COVID?
Jenna Ghisolfo 29:26
I mean, come on.
Rosaria Cain 29:27
So, did that make it harder or easier?
Jenna Ghisolfo 29:30
Absolutely hard. I was in such fear for my business, especially during COVID, thinking how in the world am I going to survive? And then, of course, I had two young kids that were at home with me, driving me crazy, so trying to run a business and supervise them for their schooling activities was just not happening. So I’d be working in the mornings and in the evenings, and honestly, COVID doubled my income. It blew up because guess what? Nobody’s moving out. Couldn’t move out.
Rosaria Cain 30:01
That’s true.
Jenna Ghisolfo 30:02
Couldn’t move out. So you’re staying place. So all of my clients immediately needed all of their complexes leased up very quickly because there was a huge demand. So we had a plethora of vacant units that got filled instantly, and then nobody’s moving out. So all of our clients, we just kept having on a reoccurring basis of “Yep, we want to stay. We’re going to stay. We’re going to stay,” and so our paperwork and our compliance continued.
Rosaria Cain 30:26
That’s awesome.
Jenna Ghisolfo 30:27
I would have never imagined.
Rosaria Cain 30:28
And yet it caused the price of homes to go through the roof and housing in general, right?
Jenna Ghisolfo 30:33
Oh my god, skyrocketed. I would say from pre-COVID to now, which so we’ve got a few years gap afterwards, the cost of housing for a rental rate has almost doubled, almost doubled. Which somebody who could afford–
Rosaria Cain 30:48
There’s a new apartment on every corner, almost.
Jenna Ghisolfo 30:51
Yeah.
Rosaria Cain 30:51
And they all look alike.
Jenna Ghisolfo 30:52
Don’t they?
Rosaria Cain 30:53
So they can talk about what we call affordable housing or Section 8, but everything I see looks the same, whatever section it is.
Jenna Ghisolfo 31:02
They’re not affordable. You can’t afford it. It’s it’s way out of your budget unless you’re have a really great stable income. The chances of you applying for that and getting it are slim to none, slim to none. So it’s it’s a huge need that we are continuously trying to fill.
Rosaria Cain 31:20
You’ve had role models, so you had your mentor.
Jenna Ghisolfo 31:22
Absolutely.
Rosaria Cain 31:23
Were there other role models in your life that moved you in this direction?
Jenna Ghisolfo 31:26
Yeah. So I’m gonna say the two big ones that I’ve obviously my mom is a great role model for me. I have to give credit to my mom. She’s one of my best friends besides my husband. He’s gonna he’s gonna miss out if I don’t give him a little shout out. So he definitely is there. But growing up, I had two, so it was a tie between Princess Diana. Shocking, right?
Rosaria Cain 31:47
Completely sophisticated.
Jenna Ghisolfo 31:49
Exactly.
Rosaria Cain 31:50
And a very classy person in every way.
Jenna Ghisolfo 31:53
Absolutely, absolutely. So she was one of my biggest mentors growing up, and then Mother Teresa was the other one.
Rosaria Cain 31:58
Now, that’s an interesting combination.
Jenna Ghisolfo 32:02
Isn’t it, though?
Rosaria Cain 32:04
And they actually liked each other.
Jenna Ghisolfo 32:05
Oh, did they!
Rosaria Cain 32:06
And they actually knew each other.
Jenna Ghisolfo 32:07
Yes! There was photos of them together.
Rosaria Cain 32:09
So I mean, there is a tie.
Jenna Ghisolfo 32:10
Absolutely, absolutely. Mother Teresa kind of had that humanitarian aid type feel.
Rosaria Cain 32:16
Most humble person,
Jenna Ghisolfo 32:17
Absolutely.
Rosaria Cain 32:18
in the world.
Jenna Ghisolfo 32:19
Absolutely, never heard a negative word come out of her voice, and that would be something that I would aspire to. That when I’m in my final days, I want somebody to say, “I never heard Jenna say a bad word. No.
Rosaria Cain 32:29
Do you ever say a bad word?
Jenna Ghisolfo 32:30
Oh, come on, we’re Italian. I got to work on that. That’s got to be a New Year’s goal, New Year’s resolution. But you know, it’s
Rosaria Cain 32:38
I can teach you some in Italian.
Jenna Ghisolfo 32:40
Oh, there you go.
Rosaria Cain 32:40
Nobody, nobody will know.
Jenna Ghisolfo 32:42
Oh, even better.
Rosaria Cain 32:43
Unless you go to Italy. Were you born a founder, or did you become one? It sounds like you became one because you didn’t know you were going to be one until that moment. Tell me about that that time.
Jenna Ghisolfo 32:55
Yeah, I would say I was definitely not born a founder. I saw my parents both as entrepreneurs, funny enough, and I never really absorbed that until I got older and appreciated, obviously, how much they had to put into their businesses. So I guess I had that role model guide in my life, but as I grew up and went through my abusive relationship, I didn’t know where to go.
Rosaria Cain 33:19
So that was really a milepost for you.
Jenna Ghisolfo 33:22
Absolutely.
Rosaria Cain 33:22
Didn’t see it coming.
Jenna Ghisolfo 33:23
No.
Rosaria Cain 33:24
Everything seemed okay in the beginning.
Jenna Ghisolfo 33:25
Absolutely.
Rosaria Cain 33:26
And it was something that well, it surprised you, obviously, but it’s something that affected the trajectory of where you went.
Jenna Ghisolfo 33:35
Absolutely, absolutely, because I would have never expected my life to, for me to even need Section 8 housing. I wasn’t even even the game cards. I didn’t even know what Section 8 housing was. It was just a word that I heard people use. So for me to need it was a humbling moment. But then to actually experience what it was and realize that I’m not degrading myself. I’m giving myself a second chance, a second opportunity that changed the entire trajectory. And I think that moment was when I became a founder and knew that my life was meant for a different path. It just was going to mean I was going to build it on my own.
Rosaria Cain 34:16
It propelled you into services.
Jenna Ghisolfo 34:18
Absolutely. And I think I always had a heart for service beforehand because I loved the idea of being a second grade teacher and helping young children. But at the end of the day, it was really seeing and having a person sit across from me on a desk and say, “Okay, here’s your new apartment keys. Your rent is only $400 a month. You can move in tomorrow. It was the second chance that I was given. That propelled and changed my entire life.
Rosaria Cain 34:48
I am sure you’ve heard this before, but resilience has played obviously a big piece of your life, and that’s a big card.
Jenna Ghisolfo 34:59
Yes.
Rosaria Cain 34:59
That you’ve played.
Jenna Ghisolfo 35:00
Yes.
Rosaria Cain 35:01
What would you tell others about your resilience when when their times are difficult?
Jenna Ghisolfo 35:06
You know, I’d remind them you can get through it, especially with a good support system. You can accomplish and get through any hard times that you have. And it’s funny because I get asked the question all the time. You know, if you could go back and redo, or give yourself one piece of advice as as your younger self…
Rosaria Cain 35:24
I had that on here,
Jenna Ghisolfo 35:24
See!
Rosaria Cain 35:25
But I didn’t because I feel like you’ve you’ve answered it so beautifully.
Jenna Ghisolfo 35:28
Yeah. Well, I you know I I like to tell people I don’t think I would go back and tell my younger self that I was going to be abused and go through that situation.
Rosaria Cain 35:35
Fair.
Jenna Ghisolfo 35:36
I honestly think I would tell myself you’re going to go through hard times, but know that you’re going to come out of it stronger and as a more wiser, empowered female at the end with a beautiful outcome. I would give myself that so I have that sense of hope to hold on to in the dark nights. But I don’t think I would tell myself what was coming.
Rosaria Cain 35:57
And when you have that sense of hope, how do you convey that to others? Because that must be a lot of what you do and what your your company aspires to do.
Jenna Ghisolfo 36:07
Absolutely, we provide hope. We provide second opportunities to people, and sometimes it’s just listening to them, hearing their stories. A lot of times, they just want somebody to hear them out and just to hear them, where they’re at, what is going on in their lives, what situation are they in, because they’re hopeless, and so to provide that opportunity to them just to be able to speak gives them so much hope, and then to provide them with resources, you’re providing with even more hope.
Rosaria Cain 36:36
So you get a lot of fulfillment out of that.
Jenna Ghisolfo 36:39
Absolutely, absolutely.
Rosaria Cain 36:41
So is that what you get out of business? Is it is that I mean, money obviously, and that comes and it goes, as we all know.
Jenna Ghisolfo 36:50
Correct.
Rosaria Cain 36:51
Right?
Jenna Ghisolfo 36:51
Yep.
Rosaria Cain 36:51
And sometimes it’s easy, and sometimes it’s hard.
Jenna Ghisolfo 36:53
Oh yes, there’s the peak season.
Rosaria Cain 36:55
Yeah.
Jenna Ghisolfo 36:55
Then there’s the slow season.
Rosaria Cain 36:57
Been there, done that.
Jenna Ghisolfo 36:58
Of course, every business owner has.
Rosaria Cain 37:00
But it’s fulfillment that drives you.
Jenna Ghisolfo 37:03
Yes, absolutely. It’s those second chances. It’s hearing the success stories, and I love when my team members shoot me an email and say, “Guess what? Here’s a new story for today.” And it just fills my heart with so much joy, knowing that we’ve done something good for a family, an individual, a veteran, a senior- we’ve changed the trajectory of their lives, and then that begins the ripple effect for them, and then generations to follow.
Rosaria Cain 37:30
So, as we talked about, and as we drag our businesses around behind us wherever we go, whether it be on vacation or whether it be having a cocktail by the pool, we always carry our bag with us. What do you do to keep yourself grounded to try to get away from business and try to stay fresh?
Jenna Ghisolfo 37:49
You know what? So I have to say, it’s spending time with my husband and my children. It.
Rosaria Cain 37:53
How old are your kids?
Jenna Ghisolfo 37:54
So I have. In fact, today is his birthday. He turned 20 today. I can’t believe it. He turned 20 today, and then my little infant son that I left with is now sky high. Not the Italian short. Oh no, he got the height. He’s everything. And then I have a 16-year-old daughter, and so just–
Rosaria Cain 38:14
The one in the kitchen!
Jenna Ghisolfo 38:15
The one in the kitchen. Yes, the one that cut her finger. This my my mini chef, of course. But she comes–
Rosaria Cain 38:20
Got to start somewhere!
Jenna Ghisolfo 38:22
And she does it without recipes. She’s just one of those natural chefs, not the I need a no, no. She’ll just taste something, see it on Instagram, and we’re out shopping. We’re out shopping, so it’s doing things with them that that give me the break from business and allow me not to have to wear that business hat for for quite a while.
Rosaria Cain 38:41
How do you divide that time up between between family and work?
Jenna Ghisolfo 38:46
It’s hard. It really is. That work life balance is really one of the pieces that I think all entrepreneurs struggle with, no matter what. And for me, it’s reminding myself that when my husband gets home from work, it’s time for me to stop working, because then it’s family time, and then once kids go to bed, everybody’s kind of settled. If I need to log back into work, I can later on the evening. But that period of three, four hours is meant for family time, for cooking, for socializing, whatever it might be. It’s dedicated to family time and not me glued to my cell phone or my laptop.
Rosaria Cain 39:21
What do you want to be known for?
Jenna Ghisolfo 39:24
You know, at the end of–
Rosaria Cain 39:25
Write your obituary.
Jenna Ghisolfo 39:27
Write my obituary? Oh, jeez, I love it. You know, I would say I just want to be known for being a community impact maker. I want to have made a difference. At the end of my life, it doesn’t matter how many lives I’ve touched. I just want to make sure that the community remembers me for the ripple effect that I’ve made.
Rosaria Cain 39:45
What one thing about you– now I’ve already blown it.
Jenna Ghisolfo 39:48
I know!
Rosaria Cain 39:48
I mean, because this is awesome. The fact you’re Mrs. Arizona is huge.
Jenna Ghisolfo 39:52
Isn’t it fun? I mean, we et it’s a glittery–
Rosaria Cain 39:55
How shocked were you about that?
Jenna Ghisolfo 39:57
Well, I can tell you, my husband was even more shocked. I think that was the funniest thing because I didn’t expect I didn’t expect to be going to pageantry. It was just an accident that I fell into, and now I can tell you the sisterhood. It’s like being in a sorority.
Rosaria Cain 40:11
That’s nice. So you have a lot of you have you have a lot of healthy relationships as a result of it.
Jenna Ghisolfo 40:16
Yes.
Rosaria Cain 40:17
A lot of friendships.
Jenna Ghisolfo 40:18
So many across the United States, which makes it even better. While we’ve got some central here in Arizona, I know women all across the the United States that are empowering the next generation. They’re in schools, they’re in businesses, they’re moving mountains, and so it’s great to be a part of that that sisterhood that we all believe in.
Rosaria Cain 40:36
So, are you looking to write a book? What’s next?
Jenna Ghisolfo 40:41
So funny you mention that. I actually wrote a book. It just launched yesterday.
Rosaria Cain 40:46
I came on a day late and a dollar short!
Jenna Ghisolfo 40:48
I know, right?
Rosaria Cain 40:50
If I had known, I would have read it before.
Jenna Ghisolfo 40:51
It literally just came out. We just launched it on Amazon.
Rosaria Cain 40:55
Congratulations!
Jenna Ghisolfo 40:55
Thank you. It’s called Still Standing in Heels: What Love Didn’t Take and Trauma Didn’t break, and it’s all about my journey as being a domestic violence survivor and moving mountains through my journey and what I experienced to help other survivors recognize key points in their relationships, so they recognize that they’re empowered too and they can leave. And so, what steps do they need to take to then leave, resources for domestic violence shelters across the United States, and little empowering tidbits that are scattered throughout the book. So it’s it’s a really good read. I’m super excited about it, and so we launched that, and now I get to have all the fun of managing book tour.
Rosaria Cain 41:38
A book tour!
Jenna Ghisolfo 41:38
Exactly. I mean, also, why not one more thing?
Rosaria Cain 41:42
Because you don’t have enough to do.
Jenna Ghisolfo 41:43
No, not at all.
Rosaria Cain 41:44
And you don’t have enough work to do.
Jenna Ghisolfo 41:46
No, no. My husband laughs every time I come to him and I say, “I’ve got an idea.” He goes, “Oh no, what are we doing now?”
Rosaria Cain 41:51
That’s awesome.
Jenna Ghisolfo 41:52
What are you doing? What business are you creating now? Yeah.
Rosaria Cain 41:55
Well, thank you for being on the show.
Jenna Ghisolfo 41:56
Thank you!
Rosaria Cain 41:57
This is an excellent way to end with a high note.
Jenna Ghisolfo 41:59
I know, right?
Rosaria Cain 42:00
And a privilege to meet you. And I’m sure our our viewers and listeners will feel the same way.
Jenna Ghisolfo 42:05
Thank you. It was a honor to be here!