Jen O'Ryan's Blog

“Never Enough” cocktail: – One part vulnerability – Two parts imposter syndrome – Shake until queasy – Set on fire

– Serve chilled over social media

I recently decided to take a break from social media.

Nothing too extreme; I was focused on a few projects and felt that turning off my phone, news feed, etc. would decrease the noise. About a week later, I’d created new content and outlined several pages of notes.

Less than an hour back on social media and I was smack...

What seems like a very long time ago, I spent some quality time with my favorite geeks at Seattle Comic Con. After much deliberation, we decided to spring for a photo op with Tom Wilson (Biff) from “Back to the Future” and the infamous DeLorean.

Waiting in line sparked several conversations about space-time continuum and, of course, bullies. Movies love a villain, and most make it easy to determine “heroes” from “bullies”.

Unfortunately, in the real world, it’s not always that clear.

On th...

What feels like a very long time ago, I wrote an article asking companies if they were ready for an “all genders” world. At the time, three states and Washington DC had (or were in the process of) creating non-binary gender indicators on licenses.

Now, almost a year later, Delta and four other major US airlines plan to offer options other than "female" or "male" to passengers when booking. Ten US states, plus Washington DC, provide alternative markers on their official documents (such as birth ...

Managers who reward fire drills create arsonists. This is one of the first bits of advice I received after starting work in the tech industry. At first it seemed obvious—why would any team intentionally create a crisis just so they could step in at the last second and save it?

And then …

I had been working on project that spanned three groups. Everyone had the same expectations and shared goals. Everyone had committed to developing across teams in a collaborative approach.

Everything was gr...

Part of what I love about this time of year is going through photo albums. Looking back at family pictures sheds light on who we were, also giving context for who we’ve always been.

Pictures bear witness to difficult times and perfect moments equally. They tell our stories before we have the vocabulary to share them ourselves.

Seeing your child for who they truly are can mean facing some uncomfortable truths. Truths about you, about the world, about the person you envisioned this amazing ki...

One of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever received came from my boxing coach. After a particularly challenging sparring session, he gently leaned in and said, “If someone keeps hitting you in the head, you should think about moving it.”

Sounds pretty straight-forward, right? Like not even something a person would need to be told. The problem is, I was exclusively focused on what other parts of my body were doing in response to all the cross—jab combos whizzing at me.

I was using my energy ...

A company’s biggest differentiator is often their ability to predict the needs of customers. This concept is typically associated with the purchasing experience, or developing personalized services.

What’s missing from these strategies are the opportunities in communicating to customers how things go wrong.

More specifically – how to get out of the customer’s way when they need help.Sounds counter-intuitive, I know. Stick with me here.

When your customer has a garden variety question,...

Being a parent is definitely not for the faint of heart. Juggling priorities and family obligations during the holidays are no exception.

While commercials and social media show happy, snow-flaked humans running out to help carry things from the car, reality can be quite different. Instead of the cinnamon-infused joy of holiday perfection, parents more likely find themselves employing negotiation tactics that are the envy of UN Peacekeepers—and that’s just getting everyone in the car with sho...

One of the biggest questions parents ask me is about keeping their trans kids safe. Bullies and physical or emotional safety are the topics we can most easily identify.

Erasure and the negative impact of discriminatory policies are a bit more subtle; even while their influence can have farther reach.

When talking about the LGBTQ community and their exhaustingly higher rates of negative outcomes, erasure needs to be brought to the forefront.

Our understanding of gender is changing rapidly...