ALL About Jen.
My name is Jen, the daughter of Christine, the daughter of Harriet, the daughter of Helen, the daughter of the Carrie, the daughter of Sallie. I come from a long lineage of incredible Black women of faith who “made a way out of no way”. I am an ordained minister, public theologian, and national leader in the multi-faith movement for justice. I spend a lot of thinking about how we can collectively build the spiritual infrastructure for our movements for social justice, how we heal legacies of harm in our communities, and about how we can imagine a world in which we all feel seen, valued, and loved.
In 2014, I founded Faith Matters Network (FMN), a Womanist-led organization accompanying spiritually grounded leaders on their journey to heal themselves and their communities. I am also a Co-Founder of the People's Supper. Founded with two friends after the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election, The People’s Supper has hosted over 2,000 suppers in 135 communities globally focusing on bringing people together across lines of difference to engage constructively on issues affecting their communities since January 20, 2017.
An Ashoka Fellow, Aspen Ideas Scholar, On Being Fellow, New Pluralist Field Builder and Truman Scholar, I earned degrees from Tufts University and Vanderbilt University Divinity School where I was awarded the Wilbur F. Tillett Prize for accomplishments in the study of theology.
A commentator, preacher, and public speaker on the intersection of religion and public life, I have had the privilege of speaking at the inaugural Obama Foundation Summit, Makers, TEDxSkoll, and the White House. Our work at FMN and The People’s Supper has been featured on OnBeing with Krista Tippett, CBS This Morning, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and dozens of other publications. My first book, To My Beloveds: Letters on Faith, Race, Loss and Radical Hope, was published by Chalice Press. Order your copy here!
I currently sit on the boards of The Fetzer Institute, Jessie Ball duPont Fund and The Healing Trust. In 2013, in the presence of my family and community I was ordained an itinerant elder in the African Methodist Episcopal (A.M.E.) Church. I serve locally on the staff of Greater Bethel A.M.E. Church in Nashville, Tennessee. I enjoy good food, dancing like nobody is watching, and road trip adventures with my husband Ira, son Max, and daughter Celia Pearl.