Jenny's Story:

23 years in the making... That's when I began to find myself.

After high school I began to work for the same company as my dad, in my home town of St. Catharines, Ontario. I was very good at my job but the company started to fail. I had to make a choice. Continue working at a job I hated until the company folded or do what I'd dream of doing since I was 12 years old.

I chose the latter. It was a scary new beginning. I was 29 years old and leaving a job that paid fairly well, that paid health benefits and a company vehicle to move home with my parents so I could return to school.

Living at home would be a huge challenge, add to that returning to school.

WHAT WAS I THINKING? I hated school. I was painfully shy and always felt invisible in school, not to mention I was 29 years old and entering a program that most felt I was too old for.

This was my new passion....Hairdressing. How was I going to do this. I was going to have to learn to make conversation with strangers. The course load didn't scare me, all I could think about was exposing the real me in conversation with strangers.

Well I had a wonderful experience with a great teacher who I feel I owe my 23 year career to, the founder of this online magazine, Carolyn Shannon.

After passing the course and the provincial exam I packed up and moved to New Brunswick. I had mastered my first big challenge so I was ready to take on a new one.

This is where the new life really begins. I'd never been away from home so moving was a huge deal.

I moved in November of '92 and began working in a salon in April of '93.

It was a fairly normal life…I thought.  I was busy working, forming relationships, becoming a wife. Something was still missing. I didn't know what but I was basically going through life aimlessly. Partying on the weekends Cont'd at Right...