speaking & Corporate workshops
Live with intention.
Lead with courage.
Own what comes next.
Book me for your next event
My work as a speaker begins where most frameworks stop: with what actually happens when real challenges hit. I’ve spent my career studying what it takes to move through difficulty well, including leading resilience work at the Pentagon. I’ve also lived it personally, through grief, transition, and rebuilding from the ground up.
What I bring to every stage is practical, honest, and earned. Through storytelling, reflection, and practical tools, I invite audiences to consider how they want to navigate what’s hard, lead with intention, and participate in what comes next.
14th Sergeant Major of the Army (retired)
—Raymond Chandler
"I truly believe her story of great tragedy and personal loss, recovery and ultimately triumph over almost impossible odds is one that we can all learn from and grow. I highly encourage you to invite her to come speak to your organization. You will leave inspired!"
"Jennifer Ballou has a story to tell. It is compelling, it is personal, and it is real."
—Chris DAVID
"I have had the incredible fortune of working with Jennifer and hearing her speak on multiple occasions. She has the unique ability to share stories and principles with passion and candor. Jennifer is authentically Jennifer, a remarkable leader living one heck of a life. Spending time with this gem is an invitation to embark upon a wonderful journey of love, pain, triumph, learning, and self-reflection.."
"Raw, personal, soul-tugging messages that are relevant and timeless."
Founder, momentUS Solutions LLC
—Nichole Coleman
Jennifer participated in the 2022 NACVSO Annual Conference in Texas and delivered two powerful presentations for us. Her skills as a professional speaker were evident as she engaged both a luncheon of 50 women veterans and a hybrid audience of nearly 700 attendees. I was incredibly impressed by the way she shared her story, provided resiliency education, and connected with both audiences. Thank you, Jennifer, for your authenticity, professionalism, and vulnerability. I look forward to working with you again.
"We all left with tools we could use to live our best lives."
Chief Culture Officer, TurboVets, Inc.
Jennifer Ballou is an author, retired U.S. Army Master Sergeant, nonprofit executive, and resilience practitioner with more than three decades of leadership experience.
During nearly 21 years in the Army, Jennifer served in senior leadership roles including Senior Enlisted Advisor to the U.S. Army Resilience Directorate at the Pentagon and First Sergeant of the first Army dental company to deploy to Afghanistan. Today, she serves as Chief of Staff of the Global War on Terrorism Memorial Foundation and is the author of Own Your Resilience: An Army Leader and War Widow Shares Tools to Live with Courage and Joy (St. Martin’s Press, 2026).
Jennifer holds a master’s degree in Yoga Therapy and brings together leadership experience, evidence-informed practices, and lessons shaped by a life that has required her to put those ideas into practice herself.
MEET JEN
Move beyond insight and into practice
Jennifer’s interactive workshops create space to explore how these ideas show up in life and leadership. Through reflection, conversation, and accessible practices, each experience can be tailored to the organization and the people in the room.
Courage, choice, and living with intention
Drawing from her book, Own Your Resilience, Jennifer explores what it means to live and lead with intention when so much of life is outside our control. Through story, reflection, and practical tools, she invites audiences to recognize the choices that remain available and consider how they want to spend the life they’ve been given.
OWN YOUR RESILIENCE
SIGNATURE KEYNOTES + WORKSHOPS
CORPORATE WORKSHOPS
Reconnect with yourself and lead more sustainably
High-capacity people are often rewarded for carrying more, solving more, and continuing to perform. Jennifer explores how those same patterns can disconnect us from ourselves and offers a practical framework for building awareness, expanding choice, and leading more sustainably.
