Jena Ball | SpeakerHub

Personal Details

Bio

Jena Ball is the beloved author and illustrator of the CritterKin book series and an educator on a mission to ignite creativity and help children of all ages discover their unique gifts.

Jena has more than 25 years experience creating multimedia stories designed to entertain and capture the imagination. Her work has included everything from features for national publications to a syndicated humor column.

Most recently, she has embarked on a global campaign to debunk the myth of perfection. She offers author readings, workshops, and keynotes focused on helping people of all ages recover from the perfectionist mindset, and harness the power of creative collaboration to realize their goals. Her work is based on lessons learned in schools, working with hundreds of students and teachers around the world, and cutting edge neuroscientific research. Participants leave inspired, informed and empowered to create positive changes in their lives.

Current position (1)

Multimedia Storyteller, speaker, educator

CritterKin

Degrees (1)

BA in Writing

University of California at Davis

1978 to 1981

Presentations

Presentations (4)

Lessons from the Little People

If you've ever been around a young child who's exited about an idea, you understand the power of passion. Children never stop to wonder if they are smart, talented or good-looking enough to execute their ideas. They know (because they haven't been told otherwise) that they have something important to contribute, and will insist that you pay attention.

As adults, we take this youthful exuberance and creativity with a grain of salt. Our well-trained brains hear an original idea and immediately start to pick it apart. Instead of allowing what I call our super powers to flow, we use our minds to shut down creativity because we're afraid to fail.

In this interactive, engaging keynote, attendees will discover how lessons learned from little people (first, second and third graders in classrooms around the world) can help adults reclaim their super powers, and how they in turn can help children grow into caring, creative and collaborative adults.

Perfectionists Anonymous

Let's face it. Perfection is a myth. Everything from the cells in our bodies to the weeds in our gardens is constantly changing and evolving into something new. Tadpoles become frogs, kittens morph into cats, and babies cry, crawl and stumble their way into college, parenthood and adult careers. Perfection is the antithesis of how life works, so why are so many of us obsessed with (addicted to) the notion?

In this engaging, interactive presentation, we will explore the answers to this question and use Jena's 12-step program (12 creative and inspiring activities developed and implemented in classrooms around the world), to:

- Learn to identify and bypass the inner judge;
- Access, listen to and articulate passions and purpose;
- Tap and express curiosity and creativity;
- Support one another in overcoming self-judgment and fear; and
- Create realistic goals and daily routines for achieving them.

Fun and engaging personal development for all ages.

Illustrate Me

In this interactive and engaging presentation participants will learn how to foster innovative thinking, creative problem solving, and self-awareness using storytelling and illustration techniques.

Going Awry

In this fun and funny talk Jena discusses why having your plans go awry can not only be a positive thing, but a way to jump start your creativity and add excitement to your life.