05 Mar 2025
We ask a different figure from the local community to choose 10 questions to answer from a list of 50. This week: Jen Smith, an executive coach and mentor with a special interest in inclusion, accessibility and neurodiversity.
She works individually as The Curious Mentor (thecuriousmentor.com) and also leads her collaborative consultancy Those Interesting People.
She’s also a serial volunteer and currently running St Albans Netwalks, and is a trustee of London Titans Wheelchair Basketball Club, the inclusion advisor for GirlGuiding Hertfordshire, a supporter of St Albans Community Pantry and a trumpeter for St Albans Scout and Guide Gang Show.
Where do you walk when you want to think?
Running the St Albans Netwalks, I have the joy of being able to walk the routes we’re going to take beforehand – on my own. I love the stretch of the Ver Valley walk through Sopwell and have a long circular walk around Batchwood which is glorious from about February to October.
What’s the first thing you do after you’ve woken up in the morning?
Drink a pint of water! Once I’d realised that as little as 2% dehydration can lead to up to 20% loss in cognition in February 2021, I haven’t missed a pint! This discovery was a pivotal moment in my journey to moving away from my digital work into coaching and mentoring.
Were you well behaved at school?
Definitely – I went to Garden Fields and then to STAGS. Obviously, you need ignore the fact I was possibly involved in contributing the sandwich crumbs to get the pigeons into the classroom.
Have you ever been arrested and if so for what?
No – but I have been an expert witness in a murder trial in Belfast!
If you could travel back in time and offer your younger self some advice, what would it be?
The same advice that I give to the young people that I work with now… that the job you’ll end up doing probably doesn’t exist yet. And that there’s no need to commit to a single career path – change is good and don’t let what ‘everyone’ says you ‘should’ do get in the way of being true to yourself.
Do you play any musical instruments?
My degree is in music! I specialised in trumpet and piano, but also played cornet for various competitive brass bands, learnt to play the ‘curtal’ – a predecessor to the oboe and bassoon, early recorders and flute. I can turn my hand to most wind and brass instruments and most recently have been found playing the trumpet for the St Albans Gang Show.
What’s your favourite St Albans pub?
The Garibaldi. From bingo on a Monday night to an excellent roast on a Sunday, it’s a wonderful community based pub full of folk who look out for each other.
What was your first job?
An administrator/typist at Jane Campbell House – a residential care home that’s now Neville Close, on Waverley Road. It’s where I learnt to cook fried eggs in bulk, the importance of not being precious about your exact job description and to always expect the unexpected.
What was your best subject at school?
My favourite subject was music – but I actually got better results in Human Biology – which I suspect is coming to the fore now as I continue to learn more about neuroscience, neurodiversity and how we behave as humans – both individually, as teams and in communities.
What did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be a music teacher or a professional piano accompanist. I was told that ill and disabled people (ie me) couldn’t be teachers, and I got too nervous to do the accompanying work – so neither of those ever happened. Do I regret that? Absolutely not.
