permission to just be. the workshop.

about the creator.

Hi, I’m Jamie and I want to welcome you to ptjb. This mentorship program was born from my own journey of peeling back the layers of who I thought I should be, and finally reconnecting with who I really am. For most of my life, I've been your typical Type A overachiever. Always working multiple jobs, moving from one project to the next, and wearing all the hats. My driving force has always been "just do the next right thing." And I have built a big, beautiful life because of that. I’m a proud mama of two, a published author, a Sociology and Equity Studies professor, and a gender equity consultant who’s lived and worked across four continents. On the outside, it all looked great. And in many ways, it was. But something felt off. Beneath the surface, there was a part of me I had quieted or largely ignored for years...the wild, emotional, intuitive part. The part that felt everything so deeply. The part that didn’t care about perfect or productive, but craved freedom, connection, and adventure. I had been so busy doing the “right” things based on what the world expected, that I never really asked what was right for me. That changed when I came across a stack of old journals, fifteen of them that spanned all of my 20s and early 30s. In reading them, I could see all of the places I had been hiding behind busyness, productivity, and achievement. I realized that no matter what I did, it never felt like enough. I never felt like I was enough and the only place I would admit that was in my journals. For the first time, I saw myself clearly - all of me - not just the roles I played (daughter, sister, wife, mom, friend, teacher), but the messy, honest, vulnerable parts I had kept contained while I spent years “should-ing” all over myself, fulfilling expectations that weren’t even mine. So I decided to make a change. To slow down and turn inward. To really listen to the voices I had quieted and give myself permission to just be. From there, everything changed. I started to feel more present in the things I was doing, more connected to the people in my life, and more confident in who I was. And when I began showing up as my whole self, life began to feel more meaningful and more aligned. It’s really no surprise that I ended up teaching Sociology and Equity Studies. For over two decades, I’ve worked with students to find themselves and their voices to challenge the kind of social conditioning that creates and upholds inequitable systems. Especially now, when polarization is high and the pressure to conform is louder than ever...the “shoulds” are relentless and the boxes we’re told to fit into are getting smaller and smaller. This mentorship program is not a course or a productivity hack. It’s a space to exhale...to feel...to unbecome everything you thought you had to be and start showing up as who you truly are. This is for people like you. Maybe you’re the strong one, the reliable one, the people-pleaser, the overachiever, the caretaker. Maybe you’ve done everything you were supposed to do…but still feel a little disconnected, a little lost, or just quietly craving more. I share this journey in my upcoming books Hiding in Plain Sight and Permission to Just Be, but this space, here, now, with you...this is where your transformation begins. If something in you is saying “yes,” or even whispering “maybe,” I invite you to follow that nudge. You don’t have to prove anything. You don’t have to earn your worth. You already are enough. You just need permission to be. Let’s begin. With love, 💛 J