Clarity Before Creativity: Building Brands with Jeannine Sharp Mason

In this powerful episode, I’m joined by Jeannine Sharp Mason, founder of J9 Brandworks. We explore what it really takes to build a brand with clarity, intention, and purpose—far beyond just a logo.

Jeannine shares her journey from corporate marketing and creative leadership to launching her own boutique consultancy. We talk about why clarity comes before creativity, how storytelling shapes a memorable brand, and why consistency across every touchpoint matters.

We also explore strategic partnerships, visibility, career transitions, and the courage to trust the skills you have already earned. Jeannine opens up about how her daughter’s cancer journey deepened her commitment to community, philanthropy, and purpose.

This episode is for founders, creatives, athletes, and anyone ready to stop blending in and build a brand that reflects who they truly are.

Connect with Jeannine Sharp Mason

Website: j9brandworks.com

Instagram: @j9mason

Episode Sponsor: Kimberly Witort

Book your As You Are session:  https://kimberlywitort.com/asyouarebooking 

https://kimberlywitort.com/

 @kimberlywitorphotagrapher

Transcript

Theresa Cesare 0:06

Welcome to Heart to Talk the podcast. I am the host and creator Theresa Cesare My intention for this podcast is to deliver to you wisdom, inspiration, and consciousness. Through solo episodes and conversations amongst insightful people. It is my greatest honor to bring to you talks that come from the. Amazing souls, welcome to this very special episode of Heart Talk Podcast. If you've been on this journey with me, welcome back. I have been off the mic for the whole month of July, taking a powerful break to recharge, travel, so that I can come back re-energized. And if you're new here, you arrived at the perfect time. I'm so excited you're here. This season of Heart Talk Podcast is a devotion to owning our authentic selves, our true stories, our soul signatures, while still reaching for the higher version of who we're becoming. It's all about identity, community, and legacy. Not just the big moments like the book that we write or the stage we're standing on, or even the titles that we carry, but the everyday legacy of how we show up and make people feel out into the world. From the stranger at the supermarket to the team you lead in your company, your classroom, your school or organization, to your family, and ultimately, how you lead yourself. All of this is your story. All of this is your brand and your legacy. I believe each one of us carries a unique soul signature I call it, a one-of-a-kind light that only you can radiate. It's the way your gifts, your talents, your experiences, and even your wounds weave together and harmonize with your light into something completely singular. No one else can replicate it. No one else can shine exactly the way you do, and that light is meant to be seen and shared. This season is about being obedient to that call in our hearts and sharing real stories, lessons, and wisdom from people who are living it. That's why I'm so excited to open up this season of the podcast with my dear, amazing, beautiful friend, Jeannine Sharp Mason. We're going to pivot into her story, her brand, her impact in just a minute. But first, I have to share a personal story about my own identity and brand because it's directly connected to what this season is literally all about. Recently, I had the honor of doing an As You Are photo session with my incredible friend and today's episode sponsor, Kimberly Wheatworth Photography. For a long time, I'd been craving a truly authentic way to put my images out into the world, not just polish brand images or what everyone else is doing. But visuals that actually carried my story, my message, my essence, and my soul signature. Kimberly's As You Are sessions are built on one radical idea. You don't need to change anything about yourself to be worthy of being seen. You don't need to pose. You need to be caught being real. No editing, no curating, no performing, just you reflected back in truth and light. There's no right or wrong in this experience, only the space to feel alive, free, and safe to be just as you are. So we went out to Gates Pass to shoot my As You Are session during Tucson's monsoon season in June and had the most magical shoot ever. I came as I am. I did my own hair, my own makeup. I used the outfits that were already in my closet so the rain came out, my natural curls came out as well, and in that moment, I realized this is the story I want my brand and my life to tell, surrendered, present, willing to be seen as I am, honoring who I've been and who I'm becoming. If you're craving something different, not standard headshots, not trying to look like everyone else, if you want your images to tell the real story of who you are, your mission, and who you're becoming, I invite you to explore an As You Are session with Kimberly Wheatworth. You can learn more and book at kimberlywheatworth.com/asyouarebooking. The link will be in the show notes. And now let's talk about branding, identity, story, impact with the woman who lives this work every single day. Friends, so excited to bring to you Jeannine Sharp Mason. Jeannine is a Tucson native and proud University of Arizona graduate, a former Wildcat volleyball letter winner who learned early what it means to lead, compete, and show up as a team. She is the founder and principal of J9 Brandworks, a creative consultancy specializing in brand identity, strategic partnerships, and event production Her work helps organizations tell their stories with clarity and purpose across nonprofit, sports, entertainment, and corporate sectors. She previously served as a creative director at a leading advertising agency, developing high-profile campaigns for college athletics and tourism initiatives. She later led global marketing for a multi-billion dollar medical corporation, overseeing a full-scale rebrand and securing Major League sports partnerships across NFL, MLB, and NHL. Beyond the corporate and creative worlds, Jeannine is a committed advocate for southern Arizona, and she has helped raise more than two million dollars for local causes. From global brand campaigns and Major League partnerships to community-driven philanthropy and creative mentorship, Jeannine builds meaningful connections that elevate stories, spark impact, and leave a lasting legacy locally and beyond. I learned so much in this episode, things I'd never considered about branding and storytelling, and I know that you're also gonna love it and learn so, so much. Friends, let's dive into this beautiful conversation with the incredible Jeannine SharpMason I'm so happy to have you back on, girl.

Jeannine Sharp Mason 6:56

Oh, thank you, Theresa. I'm so proud and privileged to be here with you today. Thank you so much.

Theresa Cesare 7:01

I am excited to highlight you, your journey, your brand, and all the things. So that being said, if you can just tell this audience, who you are, what you do, your business, and your mission.

Jeannine Sharp Mason 7:11

my name is Jeannine Sharp Mason. I am a native Tucsonan, born and raised here. I'm a graduate of the University of Arizona, proud Wildcat. I'm a former, Division I athlete. I played volleyball at Arizona a very long time ago. And then about a year ago, I started, my boutique creative consultancy called J9 Brandworks, and it's a culmination of kind of all of my experiences and career paths, to kinda come to this new, activity and, brand that I've launched. And so I'm very excited about where it's going, and it's just been such a wonderful experience. But what J9 Brandworks does is it builds your brand identity, which is so many parts of building a brand as, as most people know these days. But focusing on that, also working on strategic partnerships and how we elevate your brand with the right partners, and also events, that elevate your brand as well. So I have been fortunate to produce some of those too throughout my career. I kinda took some time to decide, do I wanna stay in the corporate sector or do I wanna go off on my own? And I spent a lot of time talking with, former colleagues, mentors, and friends to kinda determine which path I wanted to go on. The best advice I got from someone is, "Don't do anything for a while. Take some time and, and decide what you really, really wanna do," and I did. It was hard, but I did, and it kinda came to me naturally just from talking to people and like, "You've got this." Like, "You have to just do this for yourself." And so it just naturally started. People started coming to me and asking me, to work with them, and just slowly just started to build, and it's taken off on its own and I've had the opportunity to work with so many different segments, in different industries, which is really fun for a creative person to not just work in one space, but to kinda learn and evolve in some different areas. I've worked in finance, nonprofit, technology, education, even the food service industry. So, uh, just really great opportunity for me to be also able to stay home. I spent a lot of time on airplanes the last few years, and so having a change and, and being a little more grounded has been wonderful for me.

Theresa Cesare 9:18

I love it. I love that you said you took a little break, because we do have the tendency, right, to be like, "Okay, I have downtime." Yes. "This is uncomfortable." That was hard. Then, how did experience shape who you are as an entrepreneur and with your brand, what you did before? Oh, wow.

Jeannine Sharp Mason 9:32

You know, going into the corporate sector a little over 10 years ago was an amazing opportunity for me that came to me. I was approached by, a former friend and colleague who worked for this, company and asked me to come to work for them. And it was at a time in my life where I was going through significant changes. I was going through a divorce. I'd moved, and I'm really not sure where I was gonna go next. And this kinda just... I always tell him, "You were my angel. You just like came, and, and he saw something in me at the time that I hadn't seen in myself at that moment." And so that was just i- instrumental in changing the course of my life at that point, and giving me an opportunity to, one, yeah, dig into my talents again, and to meet so many new people and travel the world and work at a very, very high level, has been just extraordinary and understanding that I had the experience and the talent to do it, but then to continue to grow. And probably one of the bigger things I learned in that experience was working with a team, building a great team. I, I feel like I was able to surround myself with really good people and, and I pride myself in being able to tap into talent and find the right people to support the work I do. Collaboration is a big, big part of what I do, and making everybody feel like they're a part of the journey. That gave me that opportunity and, so just all of that experience. Also worked through a very hard time during COVID, so lots of challenges there, as everybody knows, and the company I worked w- for was at the forefront of that. We actually developed diagnostics for COVID, so launching products in that space during that time at a very fast pace. I learned a lot. So, just taking all of that, expertise and knowledge and experience has really been an eye-opener for me. I didn't even realize how much I'd learned until I started this venture on my own and taking all that experience, and every day I'm like, "Oh, I got that. Oh, I got that." You know? It just is coming natural, and it's very fun to see that, come to life.

Theresa Cesare 11:33

Yeah, that's what's so exciting, people hear a lot of other branding companies out there, and then now we have AI. But there's nothing like the creative person behind there with the experience. And I just remember when I first had met you through our business networking group, Key Group, and you walked in and you're... It was, like, post-COVID,

Jeannine Sharp Mason 11:50

yeah.

Theresa Cesare 11:51

And all the incredible things you were doing as far as, like, marketing and advertising. I've... never seen anything to that scale. Like you said, high level. Can you share a little bit about it? 'Cause I've never seen anything like it. Like the teams you were working with, the travel. I'm like, "I wanna live that life." It's just so cool.

Jeannine Sharp Mason 12:06

I got to work, um... Part of what I did was, sports partnerships with major, Major League sports teams. So promoting our brand, again, through those strategic partnerships, not just with Major League sports teams, with, also with philanthropic organizations as well. And so building those partnerships to amplify the brand was a big part of what I did. And so, yes, I had a lot of fun going to a lot of NFL football games, and Major League Baseball games, and hockey games, and Super Bowls, and all of that as part of my job. And being a former athlete, and my, my family, my kids are all athletes, I mean, it was right up my alley. I loved it. I could speak their language, but also was a, a good creative partner. And so that was incredibly fun. And I had a very large marketing budget to work with for a long time, so yeah, being able to exercise that and work with some very high-level creative firms and bring them along, from, you know, Madison Avenue in New York City and, and that was, that was great to partner with them, and I made some very good friends because of those partnerships, which was really nice. But I think the biggest part about, i think what differentiates me and what I've learned, too, from this process is, again, it's storytelling, and brand is always about telling a story in so many ways. Not just your logo. Your logo doesn't just tell your story. It's how you show up. It's how you answer the phone. It's what you wear. It's how you talk. It's everything. And so really being able to dive deeply into the, the partners that I work with and learn about them is a very important part of my process. And learning about what motivates you, who you are, what's your background, what's your mission, what are your core values, all of that needs to come to life through your brand. Recently, am working with a, a client and went to her home, 'cause her home said so much about who she is- Nice and how she comes to life and, and took so many things just from being in her home, even though it's not her business. But, all those things are important in the process and understanding how you bring someone's brand to life. So

Theresa Cesare 14:04

I love that. Yeah. So how did you come up with the name J9 Brand?

Jeannine Sharp Mason 14:09

Well- Yeah that's interesting, and actually, if you go to my website, I do have a little blog on my site that tells the story- Brand works about J9 Brandworks and the, name J9. So J9 is my nickname. It's been my nickname since I was a kid, uh, short for Jeannine, which Jean nine. Last four letters in my name are nine, so everybody started calling me J9. So then when the advent of social media and email came about, I know most people don't remember that, my first handle was J9, and always has been. All of my emails, my social media handles have always been J9. And as I was starting to name my business, people were like, "Oh, you should name it Sharp or this or that." And I said, "You know, it's funny being a woman-" Your name changes sometimes throughout the course of your life, and you don't think about that when you're young, and you're first getting married or whatever. But your last name can change. The one thing that doesn't change is my first name, and my nickname has always been there. So I tied into that, and I thought it was just kinda fun, 'cause it's the one part of me that's always been there. And the interesting part of looking into my name was learning how many other J9s are out there. There's, like, a whole community of us

15:19

Jeannines

Jeannine Sharp Mason 15:20

that go by J9. So, you know, looking into building my brand name and all that, and finding out, oh my gosh, look at all these J9s that are out there. There's a lot of them. And so that's been kind of fun. That is crazy. It's connecting with other J9s in the world, so.

Theresa Cesare 15:34

Yeah, that's so crazy. I would've never known, right? Oh my gosh. Yeah. Was it hard to get, the trademark and all of that?

Jeannine Sharp Mason 15:40

There was a lot of people that had that, J9 consultancy or J9- Okay this, so that was already taken. But, but J9 Brand Works wasn't, and so I was able to, to capture that. And that really does tell what I do, you know? It's, it's all the things that go around building your brand and making it work, and so.

Theresa Cesare 15:55

Yeah. And I love that you're the walking embodiment of what you do for others. Your story is in it, the J9. Yeah. And then I love, your logo, and just like you said, the polished appeal. Like, that first impression is everything, and it does matter. And just you, the way you show up, even when you're at home chilling, you look so good all the time.

Jeannine Sharp Mason 16:13

I

Theresa Cesare 16:13

never leave home without

Jeannine Sharp Mason 16:14

my mascara. And your website. Without my mascara that you gave me. Yes, our Estee Lauder mascara.

Theresa Cesare 16:18

It's our

Jeannine Sharp Mason 16:19

favorite. It's the first thing I put on every day.

Theresa Cesare 16:21

It is so good. I just love it, and I'm just so proud of you. It's just takes such, courage and confidence to, to go out and build something. And, but the beautiful thing, you were, like, equipped along the way. You had this opportunity to work in the corporate world. All of that has prepared you, and then here you are in this Tucson community, where you have everyone around you, that might need you- Oh, yeah or can refer you. So it's just, so beautiful. And so that being said, those listening who are like, "Wow, I'm really interested in my personal brand", d- do you work with, individuals to, large organizations, corporate? Who- Oh, yeah is your ideal

Jeannine Sharp Mason 16:57

client? Everybody. Everybody. So whether it's a, a business you're branding or a product you're branding or an individual. I've been doing a lot of, work with athletes and talking to athletes about building their personal brand. I'm actually putting together a program where, athletes can come and work with me, and there's different tiers of helping them identify and build their personal brand in the space of NIL. And I know there's a lot of people out there doing it, but I feel like there's part of me that's uniquely fit to it because of my experience being a student athlete as well as my children being student athletes and having gone through that at different phases of, of time and the changes in the college landscape and, being able to take, even my experience working with major league sports teams and bringing ba- that back into this experience and helping them understand what really works and again, digging into their core, who they are as an individual. And really understanding what makes you unique and sets you apart from everybody else and helping, these kids understand that is what's important. So yeah, I've been working a lot, on that as well. And, but yeah, working at, at every level, like you said, it's Tucson, but I've worked with clients around the country and I hope to continue to do more of that. That's been a lot of fun, so.

Theresa Cesare 18:08

That is seriously amazing. Mm-hmm. What would you say is your biggest mission?

Jeannine Sharp Mason 18:14

My tag is, is creativity with clarity. So again, it's like you can't be creative until you're really clear about who you are and what story you're trying to tell, and, that part of my process is what is so important. I mean, every part of building a brand tells a story, from the, the typography, there's a choice and there's a story behind it, to every single color in your palette has a story behind it. I've done a, a palette for a local, catering company, and every single color in that palette comes from a very specific ingredient that they use in their recipes, whether it's saffron or parsley or whatever, and so it, it means something to them and they can tell a story around it. So all of that is, is sup- super important. So it's that clarity and, that comes with being able to be creative is what's so important to me.

Theresa Cesare 19:01

I love that you talked about color it, like, has an energy to it, it could change just how you're received, perceived, all of that from the outside world.

Jeannine Sharp Mason 19:10

Your brand is not just your logo. It, it goes back to that idea of it's every touchpoint that a client has with you, and, your email signature, even the font you've used on your email. I think about all of that, and when I deliver that to a client, we li- like literally go through everything. I'm working with another client right now. We're working on sonic branding and creating music, 'cause music is very influential in their world, and even though that's not what they do, but how do we bring that in as part of their brand? 'Cause it does tell a stor- a story. So, to everything you wear and you show up, and the picking an outfit that is your brand colors or aligns with your brand colors is, is so important. So it's just creating consistency is really key, and being consistent about it. And again, it's not looking at your competitors and trying to match what they're doing, which you find so many people are trying to do all the time. But again, identifying what is unique about yourself.

Theresa Cesare 20:04

I just love that so much. So what are your top three tips to listeners when it comes to branding and marketing?

Jeannine Sharp Mason 20:10

The tips are clarity before creativity. So really digging in and doing the work and the discovery process to understand who you are, what motivates you, and, how you set yourself apart from other people. That's the first step. And then again, I... Understanding that it's not just your logo that we're delivering, and clients are always so surprised when they see all of the things that I deliver on their behalf and how much meaning it has behind it. They think, "Oh, just give me a logo." People are so used to just going on Canva and creating a logo and that's not what it's all about. There's so much more. You wanna be able to use it, you want it to be simple. That's super important to me too, something that's usable. So that kinda goes into the third pillar is, like, giving you something you can actually use. And so understanding, because so many people have different levels of sophistication in how they execute their brand. They may be doing it themselves on Canva. They may be, they may have a marketing team in-house or... So understanding what is it they're using and so they have success once I hand it off is really important. And giving them a one-stop shop to come and get all the tools they need. I, I think that that's something that me and my team excel at, is making sure that they have success beyond us. I don't wanna hand stuff off and then have them fail. I want them to continue to grow on their own and have confidence using the tools that we've given them.

Theresa Cesare 21:28

I love it. Such good tips. Okay, and I'm, like, looking at your colors. It's a purple, would you call it purple, and black. Is there a story behind your colors for your brand?

Jeannine Sharp Mason 21:36

Well, there's, it's, it's vi- it's violet and, and-

Theresa Cesare 21:38

It's violet. Okay I'm,

Jeannine Sharp Mason 21:39

it's, yeah, but-

Theresa Cesare 21:39

Violet and black.

Jeannine Sharp Mason 21:41

There is a story behind the violet. It actually is a color that inspired me many years ago. My daughter, when she was 12, was diagnosed with cancer, and that was such a pivotal part in my life, so life-changing to have any child who's sick and she was diagnosed with brain cancer at age 12. She went through, a surgery, treatment, rehab for a couple years. She's doing great today. She's 29 today. But at that time, purple was our color. It's like the community around us, we lived in California at the time, they rallied around us, and that was the color supporting her and her path. And so everybody made these, these violet bracelets, and everyone in town had them. In fact, here's a story. At the time Lady Gaga had just come out and was huge at the time, and she had an opportunity to meet her, and she gave Lady Gaga one of the bracelets, and she ended up wearing it i- in her tour, so we could see pictures of her with this purple bracelet on. And so that color has always resonated with me and people look back, I don't look back on that time as being something I wanna forget. It was incredibly amazing. I learned so much from that point in my life, That's really where that color kind of resonated from. And when I see it, it just brings me joy, brings me promise, brings me knowing that things are always gonna be okay when I see that color. So that's a really important color to me.

Theresa Cesare 22:59

Wow. I just love that you told me the backstory behind the colors. I didn't even know that.

Jeannine Sharp Mason 23:04

Yeah, yeah. And there's, and there's others that are really kind of leaning towards the, you know, being in the Southwest, I've always loved blues. I have, like, kind of a dusty blues in my palette, as well as a, a soft kind of terracotta color, which is so much the desert.

Theresa Cesare 23:17

Oh, I

Jeannine Sharp Mason 23:17

love it. And being in Tucson is absolutely my home. Took me a while to realize that, and I had to go through my process of being gone, coming back, and thinking, "Do I need to leave?" And then a few years ago, I was like, "Nope, I'm staying. I love it here. I have an incredible network, a incredible community around me of friends and family to support me, and why would I ever wanna leave?" And so those colors really ground me in, in being here in the desert Southwest.

Theresa Cesare 23:47

I love that so much., I know you're involved in a few local organizations., Can you tell us about your involvement with the community

Jeannine Sharp Mason 23:54

After going through, the journey with my daughter, my focus has been on any kind of children's health initiatives and also empowering women. So those two things are where I really like to focus my efforts. So I've been serving on the board of the Steel Children's Research Center here in Tucson at the University of Arizona now for a little over 10 years. And if people don't know, Steel Children's Research Center is one of the, pinnacle research centers for children's health in the nation, and we've been blessed to have, incredible leadership and doctors here and scientists, working on, any, mostly, looking into children's, the microbiome and autoimmune diseases and, and also cancer research. And so that's been important for me to be a part of that and fundraising there. I also serve on the board of the American Heart Association for Southern Arizona, and primarily focused on the Go Red campaign for women and bringing awareness to heart disease and the impact on, on women's health. Then that flowed into starting actually the STEM initiative here in Tucson, to bring, the careers in the STEM industry to young high school-aged children here in Tucson and introduce them to those careers, 'cause I was fortunate to be in that career for the last 10 years. And so helping these young kids understand the possibilities for them is amazing, so I've been a part of that project as well. And then most recently, I, joined the board of the Arizona Diaper Bank. I was asked to chair,, Dancing With Our Stars. I know I was on here talking about that before. And again, that's an agency here that helps so many, families and children obviously, and young women who need help. And so, being a part of those three organizations is really important to me.

Theresa Cesare 25:35

I love your why and how intentional you are, how can these listeners get in touch with you? What's the best way for them to connect, hire you, even maybe, you know, support any of the organizations that you're involved with as well?

Jeannine Sharp Mason 25:50

You can reach me, on my website, j9brandworks.com. Lots of places there to connect and start a conversation. You can also email me at hello@j9brandworks.com. Uh, you can follow me on social media at J9 Brandworks, Instagram and LinkedIn and Facebook. All of those ways are ways you can, reach out to me, or if you see me around town, just say hi.

Theresa Cesare 26:12

So anyone listening- go visit the show notes, click, and then you can be connected to Jeannine and any announcements or any other specific things you wanna mention before we pivot to those closing questions? I wanna make sure I covered everything and anything.

Jeannine Sharp Mason 26:25

Gosh, you've already covered so much. I know there's one project I'm working on, here in Tucson right now. I've been fortunate enough to be connected with... and I am Catholic, but I've been doing a lot of work for the diocese, the Catholic diocese here in town, and it started with a rebrand of, Newman Center on the U of A campus. Mm-hmm. St. Thomas More Catholic Newman Center, so working with Father John Paul there and helping them elevate their brand and kinda take it to the next level. People think a church and a brand? Well, yeah, a church has a brand, too, and they needed to bring it together in light of their, big 100-year celebration, which they're celebrating right now, and they're doing a big development push. And so, working with them to build that and their 100-year mark was great, and then from there, that led me to the St. Augustine High School out on the east side. Cool. So I just did a rebrand of the school, and they're in a very, historic building out on the, the east side of town, so taking in that architecture into the mark that we created. And also, redesigning their school mascot, which was really, really fun. So I got to work with the ch- the kids there at, St. Augustine and meet with them to hear what they wanted and what they wanted to see and what their school mascot looked like, and that was just so rewarding. That whole process was just incredible. And so that has now led to working with the bishop and a redesign of St. Augustine Cathedral downtown. And so that has been just an amazing process. I've learned so much about the history of our cathedral and, It's just been really, really amazing to have this opportunity to work with a diocese, and I'm super excited to unveil the new brand here in the coming months. So that's been a, really fun project. Um, and then I have a couple other things in the works I can't divulge publicly, but some really big things, coming here in the next, few months as well.

Theresa Cesare 28:13

Wow. Congratulations. Yeah. That's so exciting. I'm actually like- Mm-hmm so excited. We're gonna have like a watch party of when all of their brand launch.

Jeannine Sharp Mason 28:21

I've hired a couple people and we're building out my portfolio so you can actually see the work that's been accomplished. So we're building that on the website, so you can actually go see the study and the case study and the story behind those brands as well is there.

Theresa Cesare 28:33

That is seriously so exciting. All right. So I'm gonna go ahead and pivot to the closing questions.

Jeannine Sharp Mason 28:39

Okay.

Theresa Cesare 28:40

Janeen, the first one, 'cause I've gotta ask, what is your favorite affirmation?

Jeannine Sharp Mason 28:45

There's so many, and I have your affirmation cards, and they're so incredible. But right now, I would say for today, my affirmation is, "I am exactly where I'm supposed to be." And- it took a long time for me to accept that. But every day I wake up and I am so happy to be where I am. And, that, is something that, Really, warms my heart, and once I accepted that, it's changed everything for me.

Theresa Cesare 29:12

Got goosebumps, and I could almost cry. I just love that. The second question is, what is your favorite hobby or thing to do when you're not busy working or traveling?

Jeannine Sharp Mason 29:22

My favorite thing to do is just get outside. I mean, we live in one of the most beautiful places, I think, in the world, and so I just look at any opportunity to be out in nature, whether it's hiking. I love Sabino Canyon. Sabino Canyon's been a part of my life since I was young, and so any opportunity to get up there, especially after a big rainstorm, brings me such joy. And then, golfing. I took up golfing about, six years ago with my son, who's an incredible golfer, and he taught me the game, and so I've been, doing that a lot, which has been so much fun, 'cause again, you get to be outdoors. You get to be with your people you love, and being active and competitive, it just brings all of that together, and so I do love playing golf as well.

Theresa Cesare 30:04

Okay, number three. When you think about the woman you are becoming and are, what is one belief you had to let go-

Jeannine Sharp Mason 30:11

Oh, yeah to get

Theresa Cesare 30:12

here?

Jeannine Sharp Mason 30:12

This is a good one. And this goes back to when my daughter was ill, and it's, um, uh, the fear of accepting help is somehow that's a weakness in asking for help when you need it. And, that was the point in time when my daughter was sick, is when you're in the midst of something really big and terrifying, you quickly realize that you can't do it all on your own. And so when you finally let people in and allow them to help you, there's this incredible healing process that comes from that. But the benefit, the fringe benefit of that, is how much you allow others to evolve and grow and heal when you allow people to help you. And so that came into play when I was working and leading a team at my last job, and just really being able to delegate, allow people to do things, allow them to help you, to allow yourself to learn from them, has been an incredible lesson. And again, it came back when I started J9 Brandworks, and tapping into my community and my networking group, and going to them and saying, "Hey, how do I do this?" You know, they inspired me to take the leap, but they also helped me with every little step, like how to start a business, opening your bank account, every little step was so important. And asking people, I would sit down and just say, "Hey, tell me what I need to do." That has been a, a huge shift in my mindset in the last, you know, 15 years in, in learning that is, is great. So always be able to ask for help. Don't be afraid.

Theresa Cesare 31:50

I love that. That is seriously the best belief change I've ever heard. Mm-hmm. That's so good. I mean, I can relate. Like sometimes I'm like, "Ah, I just wanna figure it myself or do it all myself. I can do it all myself better." That's what we do as women. Yeah. So good- Yeah Jeannine. And the last question. In this season of your life, do you feel like you're living the life of your dreams and fully stepping into your potential?

Jeannine Sharp Mason 32:17

I'm so blessed to be doing what I've always wanted to do, even from the time I was in high school, identified that I wanted to be an artist and be creative. And so being able to continue to be that person, 40 years later is amazing, and I I think about that all the time. I'm really lucky. I knew what I wanted to do, and I've been able to do it throughout my entire life, is tremendous. I think, also, I feel like I'm definitely stepping into my potential, and I'm learning every day there's just so much more I'm capable of, and believing that. I had an incredible, meeting yesterday that just, I went into it going, "Oh gosh, I hope I do this well," and I did. And it was just so empowering to see that in myself. And so it's been, really incredible at this point in, in life, and identifying all the things that have happened up to this point to make me who I am today. It's really a culmination of all of those experiences, good and bad, and just knowing, yeah, you're gonna have bad. I think when you say dreams, I kind of always am a little scared of that word because sometimes that limits you. What I've found- Hmm if I kind of thought, "Here's what I wanna be," I've always found there's more that I didn't even realize was there. And so I don't try to limit myself with saying, "This is what I want and this is what I'm striving for," because sometimes it's a lot more than that. So don't limit yourself by necessarily saying, "This is all I want," 'cause there's more out there that you don't even realize is, is there for you along the way.

Theresa Cesare 33:48

Thank you so much for tuning into this episode. Please download, rate, subscribe, and share this podcast. Also, be sure to visit my theresacesare.com to check out my inspirational merch, connect to my social accounts, and much more may you continue to be filled with wisdom, inspiration, and consciousness. Otherwise, friends, I will be back in two weeks for another episode of Heart to.