Jenna Hermans is the co-founder and COO of Be Courageous, a transformation agency, and a certified High Performance Coach. With 15+ years in human resources and degrees in psychology and organizational management, she helps leaders and busy parents build calm, practical systems for work and home. Jenna is the author of the award-winning Chaos to Calm: 5 Ways Busy Parents Can Break Free From Overwhelm and has been featured in outlets including Forbes.
Please tell our readers about an experience, either professional or personal, that shaped your approach and the work you do today.
One of the most formative experiences that shaped my work was running a preschool while raising my own children. On paper, I was capable, organized, and deeply committed to both my business and my family. But in practice, I was constantly operating in reaction mode, juggling endless decisions, emotional demands, and competing priorities, while neglecting my own wellbeing.
What I eventually realized was that the issue wasn’t my capacity or work ethic, but the lack of infrastructure to support my nervous system, time, and energy. Once I started building simple systems, setting boundaries, and creating habits that allowed me to operate from calm rather than urgency, everything changed. My leadership improved, my clarity sharpened, and I stopped equating stress with effectiveness.
That experience became the foundation for my work today: helping high-performing wo-
men move from chaos to calm by creating internal and external structures that support confident, sustainable leadership.
Women in the pallet industry often lead in fast-paced, male-dominated, and operation- ally intense environments. From your work helping women move from chaos to calm, what’s the biggest misconception about “calm” in high-performance industries?
The biggest misconception is that calm means being passive, soft, or less driven. In environments where margins are tight and decisions are constant, many women worry that calm will undermine their authority.
In reality, calm is a physiological and mental state that allows leaders to think clearly under pressure. It enables faster risk as- sessment, decisive communication, and steadiness without escalating tension. Calm is not the absence of intensity; it’s the ability to direct intensity with precision.
In high-stakes industries, calm is a com- petitive advantage. Leaders who regulate themselves amid chaos are more trusted, more effective, and better equipped to lead from confidence rather than over-compensation. Calm doesn’t lower the bar; it raises the standard for leadership.
Women in Industry Interview:Jenna Hermans
2026 WPA ANNUAL MEETING