Jordan Lacenski of Greensboro on Life, Lessons & Legacy

Jordan Lacenski shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.

Good morning Jordan, we’re so happy to have you here with us and we’d love to explore your story and how you think about life and legacy and so much more. So let’s start with a question we often ask: What are you being called to do now, that you may have been afraid of before?
When I first started SheWolf, it was a collaborative creative agency. I moved it from Florida to Montana to Greensboro, and at one point, I was in the middle of a national dinner tour, thinking I had to go big to make it matter. I didn’t want to dig into my local community because I was afraid of moving again, afraid of starting over. Then COVID hit, the tour was canceled after dinner number one. Soon after, I had my son, who needed skull surgery at 3 months old, and I couldn’t bring myself to touch SheWolf again for fear of failing twice.

For a long time, I tried to avoid restarting it altogether. I even looked into bringing other organizations or chapters here, thinking maybe I could just plug into something that already existed. But nothing fit. What I was really being called to do was to build the thing I couldn’t find, to start small, start messy, and invest in the women+ right here in my own community, and in a different way. Not “just” moms or “just working women” – all people that identify as she/her.

It’s scary to rebuild something you’ve already lost once, but this time I’m not chasing big or perfect. I’m choosing rooted. I’m choosing local. I’m choosing real.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Jordan Lacenski, Director of Marketing for a Raleigh-based agency by day, and the founder of SheWolf by heart. My story is really one of failing forward. I’ve spent the last ten years as an entrepreneur learning business the hard way, building brands, closing doors, starting over, and learning how to lead with both strategy and soul.

Now, as a mom of two and approaching forty, I’m more focused than ever on taking risks that actually mean something, trying new things, creating community, and doing work that feels human. SheWolf is that outlet for me. It’s a women’s community built around connection, movement, and action, a space to show up imperfectly, try something new, and remember that we’re stronger when we do it together.

Okay, so here’s a deep one: Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
Before the world told me who I had to be, I was a big feeler and a loud mouth – bold, funny, and constantly covered in grass stains. I was the kid climbing trees, wearing my brother’s Umbro shorts, messing up the hair my mom spent forever combing through with bows. I rearranged my room weekly, hid nail polish stains in the carpet, and dyed my hair with Kool-Aid just because I could.

Then came the years of trying to do it all ‘right.’ I wanted so badly to be liked, to belong, that I tuned out my own gut. I listened to ‘leaders,’ wore the purity ring, picked the safe in-state school, switched out of design because it felt too risky in 2008. I even married the wrong person at age 20 and ended in a nasty, scary divorce at age 24. I think about that now and wonder, “what the hell was I thinking?” and I think my body knew but in the South, when someone asks, you say yes, right? What I’ve really noticed now is every time i’ve tried to shrink or fit someone else’s mold, it felt icky.

When I moved to Montana in 2016, everything shifted. Out there, makeup didn’t matter, a little carb muffin top was practically a badge of honor, and showing up as yourself was the only expectation. That’s where I found her again, the little tree climber, the loud one, the bold one.

Now I’m remarried, a mom of two, and still learning to listen to my own instincts first. I try to carry that same energy, curiosity, rebellion, and joy, into everything I do. Once a year, I backpack to disconnect and remember that girl who started it all. She’s still in there, guiding me back to myself.

What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?
Whew — this one cuts deep. My biological dad left when I was six, and I never saw him again. My stepdad adopted me, which was a gift in many ways, but that early loss still shaped how I saw love, safety, and belonging.

Then, as I mentioned before, I got married too young, and that relationship turned abusive. It’s taken me fifteen years to be able to say that publicly. But as I’ve become more involved in women’s rights work, I’ve realized our stories are the bravest things we can share and I have crossed paths with many amazing, strong women who are also survivors. It’s confirmed that it can happen to anyone, and often times the people you least expect.

Leaving that situation at 24, with no job, no suitcase, just me and my dog, changed everything. It cracked me open and forced me to rebuild from nothing. Since then, I’ve been in therapy, women’s groups, and doing the lifelong work of healing.

Some of my deepest healing has come through forgiving myself. I did the best that I knew with the tools that I had. Hearing other stories of others in similar scenarios made me feel empowered to share my own. Other important notes of healing: healthy love, between close friends, a beautiful supportive mother, time outside, and my own passionate outlets. Also equally important: purpose. My career has always felt empowering, and working with small businesses, people with stories to tell, and non-profits or causes I care about has filled me up in huge ways. And finally, becoming a mom has been its own mirror, showing me exactly where the old wounds still live and where they’ve finally closed. I’ve been ‘doing the work’ to break cycles and now having my 17 month old daughter, and 5 year old son, I feel like I’m closer to showing them how to handle boundaries, self-love, connection with their own values and bodies, and most importantly – consistently telling them I love them all the time, that I can handle all of their thoughts and feelings, that shame has no place here.

I’m proud of the work I’ve done, especially through family systems therapy, and I’ll always be a student of healing. It’s not linear, but it’s honest, and I still have a long way to go.

Next, maybe we can discuss some of your foundational philosophies and views? Is the public version of you the real you?
Probably a little too much. I’ve always been an open book – sometimes to a fault. There are definitely things that could stay more private, but I’ve always been a truth-teller and a truth-seeker at heart.

I’ve often been told I show up the same way whether it’s a 7 a.m. workout, coffee in one hand, water and pre-workout in the other, messy hair and a zit patch still on my face – or standing on stage at a women’s conference. And honestly, I take that as a compliment.

For a long time, I thought vulnerability was weakness, but I’ve learned it’s actually what connects us. Especially through SheWolf, I’ve seen how honesty gives other women permission to show up real, too. So yes, the public version of me is the real me, caffeinated, imperfect, and still figuring it out.

Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: What is the story you hope people tell about you when you’re gone?
I hope people say that I loved and laughed hard. That I saw the world and it made me love even bigger. That I tried things, even when they scared me. That I hyped people up, connected them, and made them feel like they belonged.

I hope they say I lived with my whole heart, not half in, not guarded, and that I left a little spark of that in the people around me.

But mostly, I hope they remember me as a mom who was full of life. The kind of mom who danced in the kitchen, laughed loud, chased sunsets, and raised kids who knew exactly who they were, and were proud of it.

If that’s my story, that’s enough.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://shewolf.co/, https://www.brandsbyjordan.com/
• Instagram: @shewolfco, @jordan.alexandria, @brandsbyjordan
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordanlacenski/

Image Credits
@jolindsay
@lindleybattlephotography