Today we’d like to introduce you to Jai Brown.
Hi Jai, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I married young, believing that love, loyalty, and perseverance were enough to sustain a family. Over the years, I navigated divorce, remarriage, and divorce again. I experienced domestic violence. I endured seasons of betrayal, instability, and rebuilding. From the outside, I looked strong. Inside, I was barely surviving.
My story shifted the moment I made the decision to leave and start over.
I moved across the country with four children — one of them just a year old — and $400 to my name. I didn’t have certainty. I didn’t have access. I had courage, faith, and just enough support to take the leap. I was able to fly to Dallas because my mother lived there. She became my first safe landing.
And I often reflect on that moment.
Standing in an airport with four children, a few bags, and an uncertain future — I remember thinking, “What if I didn’t have my mother here? What if I didn’t have even this small measure of help?”
That question has stayed with me.
Because the truth is, many women remain in unhealthy or unsafe environments not because they lack strength — but because they lack access. Access to support. Access to resources. Access to a safe place to begin again.
I know what it feels like to stretch $400 across diapers, food, gas, and toiletries. I know the fear of asking for help. I know the quiet fear of wondering whether you made the right decision — and the strength it takes to keep moving forward anyway.
Rebuilding my life required more than survival. It required healing. It required redefining peace. It required choosing stability over familiarity — even when chaos was what I had known.
That lived experience is what led me to create A Phoenix Woman. I wanted to build what I once needed — a soft landing and a strong foundation. A community for women over 25 with children, particularly those impacted by domestic violence and hardship, where they can move from crisis to stability and from stability to purpose.
My story is not one of being broken but bruised.
It is one of rebuilding.
It is one of pivoting without collapsing.
It is one of rising with intention.
And today, my mission is simple: no woman should have to start over alone.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I could sit here and tell you all kinds of things to make this sound pretty but in reality – No way has this road been smooth. There were financial struggles in the beginning — stretching every dollar, rebuilding credit, learning how to stabilize a household as a single mother of four. There were emotional struggles — healing from betrayal, navigating the trauma of domestic violence, and learning how to trust my own judgment again.
One of the hardest parts wasn’t just what I was going through — it was learning how to regulate my emotions while going through it. Do you know how hard that is? Feeling the tears, wanting to scream and knowing this is not the right time.
I had to learn that strength isn’t suppressing how you feel. It’s understanding your emotions without letting them control your decisions. I had to develop emotional discipline — pausing before reacting, responding instead of erupting, and creating calm in my home even when I didn’t always feel calm inside.
Therapy, prayer, journaling, coloring, and intentional self-reflection became tools for me. I learned how to sit with discomfort instead of running from it. I learned that anger is often grief in disguise. I learned that fear can coexist with courage. And most importantly, I learned that my children were watching how I handled pressure — so I chose to model stability, even when I was still healing.
Building A Phoenix Woman came with its own challenges. Starting a nonprofit rooted in lived experience is powerful — but it’s also vulnerable. There are learning curves around funding, structure, and sustainability. There are seasons when the vision is larger than the resources. There were closed doors and quiet setbacks.
And life didn’t pause while I was building. I was still raising children. Still navigating parenting. Still managing unexpected life shifts — including my son’s paralysis in 2024, which tested my emotional strength in ways I cannot fully articulate. Watching your child endure something life-altering forces you to dig deeper than motivation. It requires regulated faith. It requires steady presence.
The road hasn’t been smooth — but it’s been refining.
Every challenge taught me composure.
Every setback taught me patience.
Every emotional wave taught me how to anchor myself before leading others.
Resilience, I’ve learned, isn’t about avoiding hardship.
It’s about mastering yourself within it.
And in many ways, the struggles gave the mission its depth — and gave me the emotional maturity to lead it well.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am the founder and CEO of A Phoenix Woman, a 501c3 nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting women over the age of 25 with children — particularly those navigating domestic violence, financial hardship, or major life transitions. Our work centers on providing essential household and hygiene support, building strong community, and helping women stabilize before they rebuild.
In addition to leading the nonprofit, I am a certified life coach specializing in emotional regulation, resilience, and intentional decision-making after trauma, divorce, or betrayal. My work focuses on helping women move from survival mode into stability and clarity — because empowerment is not just about inspiration; it’s about emotional discipline and practical strategy.
Professionally, I bring over 25 years of experience in healthcare, including leadership in revenue cycle management and team development. Healthcare taught me structure, systems, accountability, and how to lead under pressure. It sharpened my ability to manage operations, build sustainable frameworks, and think strategically — skills that now directly impact how I run A Phoenix Woman. I understand both the heart of service and the infrastructure required to sustain it.
What I’m most proud of is that A Phoenix Woman was built from lived experience, not theory. It wasn’t created from observation — it was created from understanding. I know what it feels like to start over not once but twice, with limited resources. I know the emotional and financial rebuilding that happens behind closed doors. Because of that, everything we build is intentional, practical, and rooted in dignity.
I’m especially proud that our organization doesn’t just offer temporary relief. We focus on long-term empowerment. We meet women in crisis — but we equip them for stability. We provide support, but we also teach responsibility, self-awareness, and growth.
What sets me apart is that I lead with both compassion and composure. I am empathetic, but I am also strategic. I combine lived experience with executive-level leadership. I understand trauma, but I also understand systems. I don’t just tell women they can rise — I help build the framework that allows them to sustain that rise.
I’m known for being direct yet nurturing, visionary yet grounded.
And above all, I’m known for reminding women that starting over is not failure — it is often the foundation of their next most powerful chapter.
Is there a quality that you most attribute to your success?
If I’m being honest, the quality that has mattered most to my success is my willingness to grow — even when growth was uncomfortable.
There were seasons when I didn’t feel strong. There were moments when I was overwhelmed, hurt, uncertain, and emotionally exhausted. I didn’t always have perfect confidence. What I did have was the decision to keep working on myself. I had my children and wanted to show them that no matter what you face, you can overcome.
Learning how to regulate my emotions changed everything for me. I had to learn how to sit with disappointment without letting it harden me. How to feel anger without letting it define me. How to move through fear without allowing it to stop me. That didn’t happen overnight. It came through therapy, prayer, reflection, hard conversations, and sometimes simply choosing to pause instead of react. I did say pray right? Lol. Lots of prayer.
I had to accept that strength doesn’t mean you don’t feel deeply — it means you learn how to carry those feelings responsibly.
There were days I cried and still showed up.
There were days I doubted and still led.
There were days I was healing and helping others at the same time.
I think what has made the difference is that I never stopped doing the inner work. I didn’t pretend I wasn’t affected by what I’d been through. I chose to process it instead of project it.
That quiet commitment to emotional growth — even when no one sees it — has been the foundation of everything I’ve built.
Not perfection.
Not toughness.
Just growth.
And I’m still building, learning and growing.
Contact Info:
- Website: www..aphoenixwoman.org
- Instagram: jai.brown.41
- Facebook: Jai Brown
- Other: info@aphoenixwoman.org
Image Credits
Thank you to my team
Fashion stylist Kylah Carter {Styled by Ky}
Photographer: Soba Photography
