Jen Braun, MS, LPCC, CH (she/her)

Journeys don’t always turn out the way we think they will.

In the fall of 2014, after 21 years in the field of child welfare, I mentioned to my spouse that I was thinking of leaving Ampersand Families, the award-winning nonprofit that I co-founded that finds and supports adoptive and permanent families for the oldest and longest-waiting kids in the foster care system.

I had other visions for my life, so I was considering taking a leap of faith. My wife supported the idea. “What’s the worst thing that could happen?” she mused.

Neither of us considered that I’d be propelled into something messy and transformative – that I’d become seriously injured and spend the next chapter of my life struggling to walk again.

By the way, the irony is not lost on me that, after so many years spent helping other people metaphorically find the ground beneath their feet, I literally found myself trying to put the ground beneath mine.

But let me back up… my path to astrology and podcasting has been an unusual one, so I’d like to share a little more.

When I made the decision to leave my nonprofit, I was at the height of my career in child welfare: Ampersand Families was doing exceptional work (it still does!), not only shepherding resilient-yet-vulnerable youth to what is called “permanency” in child welfare, but also providing leadership in Minnesota and nationally to champion policies and practices that expanded family and youth participation, community engagement, child welfare systems change, and innovative practices. It was well documented that teens “aging out” of foster care faced grim prospects* – many without a place to live, unemployed, and worse. Healthy communities rely on engaged citizens, and the social justice mission of Ampersand Families was critical in bringing a large group of disenfranchised young people back into the fold of family and community life.

Working in collaboration with Michelle Chalmers (the other co-founder and co-executive officer), what began in 2007 – with an idea, an office, and a grant – had blossomed. By 2014, we supported a staff of 14 and a budget of around $1 million, and we were doing pioneering work. We’d also won some accolades: Ampersand Families was named the “Nonprofit to Know” by the Minnesota Community Foundation and the Saint Paul Foundation; our program Minnesota Heart Gallery won an award for meritorious services in adoption recruitment by the Minnesota Department of Human Services and MN Adopt; and we were also nominated for the U.S. Children’s Bureau National Adoption Excellence Award.

So I’d spent over two intense decades working with teens and families. I’d also developed and led workshops nationally, been featured as a keynote speaker, and provided extensive consultation and training to other child welfare professionals. Additionally, my work with two teen siblings in foster care had been featured in the one-hour American RadioWorks documentary "Wanted: Parents," which aired on National Public Radio and won the producers the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism. I’d also authored the American Public Media essay, “Why Bother?”, which recounted my personal and professional views on teen adoption. My other experience included: participating in The Homecoming Project (a successful five-year federal project that laid the groundwork for Ampersand); supervising staff at a nonprofit focused on family and teen crisis intervention; and providing hypnotherapy to clients at a hypnosis clinic.

In terms of fancy papers, I have a master’s degree in counseling from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and am a licensed professional clinical counselor through the Minnesota Board of Behavioral Health and Therapy. I also hold a certification in hypnotherapy from the National Guild of Hypnotists.

All of the experiences above were the scaffolding upon which I hung my identity. I’d always been a wellness enthusiast, but could I still build upon the structure of my life after that fateful day in the fall of 2014 when everything changed?

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Two days after I resigned from Ampersand Families, I was injured by a horse. I chronicled that experience in an article for The Career Astrologer magazine, which is the quarterly journal of the Organization for Professional Astrology (“Eclipses in Scorpio & Taurus: Life Lessons on Letting Go” begins on page 52). I also shared more in a couple of blog posts (Capricorn New Moon: Step by Step and Capricorn Full Moon: One Thousand Steps), so I won’t go into detail about the injury here, but suffice to say, it changed my life.

I struggled. A lot. But over the past years, I slowly began finding my way back through the most unexpected avenue: astrology. I had a deep longing to figure out how I could heal and what the patterns in my life were telling me. Determined to find a larger meaning to it all, astrology offered guidance. I entered an intense period of carefully observing the movement of the planets against the framework of my own unfolding transformation. I began studying everything I could about the complex topic, as a student of life in pursuit of recovery.

In the late summer of 2019, I connected with April Elliott Kent over at Big Sky Astrology. In November of that year, we decided to launch the Big Sky Astrology Podcast, with me as producer and co-host – and JJ Boots Productions LLC was born! Over the next 2+ years, we were delighted to bring listeners 107 episodes together. When I left in January 2022, we’d amassed over 100,000 downloads, had been heard in over 120 countries, and were on the top charts over 75 times in a dozen different countries. We figured it wasn’t too shabby for a small, independent podcast like us!

In the spring of 2022, JJ Boots Productions began to grow as an astrology-focused production company. I currently work with astrologer Celeste Brooks of Astrology by Celeste to produce her weekly show, the Celestial Insights Podcast. I’m also producing Within Orb in collaboration with executive director Dr. Jenn Zahrt of the Celestial Arts Education Library Institute. Additionally, I help in the background to guide and teach other astrologers how to produce quality audio for their current astrology podcasts.

I also provide one-on-one astrology readings – learn more at my Offerings page! And I’m a member of the Publications team for The Evolving Astrologer, which is the quarterly magazine of the Organization for Professional Astrology.

If someone had told me in 2014 that today I’d be an astrologer, podcaster, and editor, I’m not sure I would have believed them. But I’ve found that sometimes, in our quest to pursue our dreams, we are not given what we think we want, but rather, the most surprising gift of all: Coming home to ourselves.

If you made it this far… thanks for reading! And if you’d like to drop me a line – perhaps you’re interested in working together on a podcast or need audio editing help or guidance with an existing show – please contact me and let’s learn more about each other.

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*Source: The Midwest Evaluation of the Adult Functioning of Former Foster Youth

Photo credit: Alyssa Lund Photography