About Me

I’m Jenn.

By profession, I’m a lawyer. For more than three decades, I have  worked in the high-pressure world of litigation — managing conflict, solving problems, and helping people navigate some of the hardest moments of their lives.

But my life outside the courtroom tells a different story.

I’m a sober woman who has lived through profound loss, grief, burnout, reinvention, and recovery. In January 2021, my 18-year-old daughter died from fentanyl poisoning. That loss changed everything. What followed was not a graceful transformation. It was survival. It was rebuilding a life I no longer recognized, one small piece at a time.

Life de Novo means “from the beginning.”

This space grew out of that beginning.

I write about stress, sobriety, grief, mental health, aging, resilience, identity, and what happens when the life you built no longer fits who you are becoming. Especially for people who have spent years performing competence while quietly carrying exhaustion, heartbreak, or both.

I’m not interested in perfection, hustle culture, or pretending transformation is easy. I’m interested in honesty. In rebuilding a life that actually feels like your own. In creating meaning after loss. In learning that starting over is not failure — it’s often the most courageous thing we ever do.

If you’re navigating change, questioning what comes next, or trying to rediscover yourself after a difficult season, you’re not alone here.

Sometimes life falls apart.
Sometimes that’s the beginning.