Jenna Edwards Consulting
I didn't choose yellow because it's cheerful. I chose it because I couldn't find the light on my own.
This is the part where most consultants tell you about their credentials. I'll get there. But first — you should probably know who you're actually dealing with.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer · Mattel · Bestselling Author · Indie Film Fundraiser · Motivational Speaker
The yellow thing is real.
A car came out of nowhere at the Santa Monica Farmers Market and changed everything.
I won't bore you with all of it — I wrote a whole book about it — but the short version is: my brain broke. Not a head injury. A mental injury. PTSD. And I was in complete denial about it for longer than I'd like to admit.
There was a period where I couldn't function. I couldn't read. I stuttered when I talked. I forgot basic words.
The joy got knocked completely out of me and I was just going through the motions of being alive.
So I started putting yellow everywhere.
Not because I was happy. Because I couldn't find the light on the inside, so I put it on the outside and hoped my brain would catch up. Blazers. Mugs. Walls. Anything I could find in that color. It sounds a little unhinged in retrospect but, saved my life.
Yellow is is not only my favorite color. It is my proof that you can choose your way toward the light even when you can't feel it yet.
That's what I want for every organization I work with — a strategy so rooted in who they actually are that it carries them even on the hard days. And yes, I wrote a book about it. It's called Aggressive Optimism. Because that's what it takes.
Here's the part where my resume actually matters.
I wanted to move to Los Angeles from the time I was three years old. I know that sounds like an exaggeration. It's not. I never fit in Minnesota — and I spent enough years trying to make myself fit to know that forcing it is exhausting. It takes everything you have just to maintain the pretense, and then you have nothing left for the actual work.
So I stopped pretending. And I moved to LA.
The first time I got there, it felt like home. I booked my first audition, got my union card, and then my agent called and told me I was going to inherit Buffy's powers on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I'm not joking. That actually happened. It was definitely a "pinch me" moment.
I my passion for story and organization to the indie film world. And honestly, filmmakers and nonprofit founders are not so different — both are wildly passionate, chronically underfunded, and absolutely certain their project is going to change the world.
I was the business brain in rooms full of creatives. I learned how to take a big, messy, beautiful vision and turn it into something focused, organized, and fundable.
That's where I raised over $500K for independent projects by doing something nobody else was doing: leading with story instead of ask. Starting with brand instead of budget.
It worked. Every time.
Then I took that scrappiness to Mattel — where Barbie was my boss — and learned how that same instinct for story-first thinking lends itself to big, focused, organized campaigns. Turns out the principles that work for a scrappy indie film budget work just as well when there are a few more zeros involved.
I left with one big takeaway: brand is not fonts and colors. Brand is the thing that makes you unmistakable.
The thing that, when it's working, makes every decision easier.
So I asked myself — what if nonprofits did this?
What if mission-driven organizations stopped borrowing other people's playbooks and started building something that was actually theirs?
The work is hard enough. The way you go about doing it shouldn't be.
That question — and that belief — became Jenna Edwards Consulting.
The beliefs I won't compromise on.
I believe brand is identity — not aesthetics.
I believe every fundraising activity should earn its place in your organization's story.
I believe the organizations doing the most meaningful work deserve strategies as bold, specific, and joyful as the missions they're carrying.
I believe everyone belongs. That's not a tagline — it's a filter. I only work with organizations that believe it too.
I believe this work is a thought partnership, not a vendor relationship. You're not hiring me to hand you a document. You're hiring me to sit down with you, learn your story, and help you build something that actually lasts.
And I believe legacy built on anything less than truth doesn't last. So I'll always tell you the truth — with as much warmth as I can — even when it stings a little.
A few other things worth knowing.
💛 I was on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I still think about it more than a normal person probably should.
💛 I spent years at Mattel. Barbie was absolutely my boss — and I was part of the team that painted the world pink during the Barbie Movie launch. She wasn't the only brand I worked on, but she's definitely the most famous.
💛 I'm a published author and a motivational speaker who spent over a decade talking to young people about resilience, responsibility, and building a life on purpose — not by accident.
💛 I'm a PTSD survivor who chose yellow instead of darkness. That choice changed everything.
💛 I'm a solo consultant. When you hire Jenna Edwards Consulting, you get Jenna Edwards. Not a team of associates. Not a junior consultant. Me.
💛 And I make a genuinely great cup of coffee. The mug is not a prop. One of my first jobs in LA was as a barista at Starbucks - it's a right of passage.
If this resonates, I'd love to have you in my world — one way or another.
Ready to talk?
If you're an Executive Director or organizational leader who's tired of strategies that don't fit — let's have a real conversation.
Not ready yet?
That's cool. Come hang out in my newsletter. Every week I send a letter to purpose-driven leaders who are thinking differently about fundraising, brand, and legacy. It's called Aggressive Optimism. It's free. It's first person. And it's never noise.
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Made with a lot of yellow in Los Angeles, CA ☀