Jena Lee Nardella | |
|---|---|
| Born | January 21st, 1982 |
| Education | Political Studies at Whitworth University |
| Occupation(s) | Co-Founder and Executive Director of Blood: Water |
| Notable work | One Thousand Wells: How an Audacious Goal Taught Me To Love the World Instead of Save It |
Jena Lee Nardella (born January 21, 1982) is an American author, writer, activist, co-founder and Executive Director of Blood: Water, a nonprofit organization whose mission is to put an end to the HIV/AIDS and water crises in Africa. [1]
She also is the author of One Thousand Wells: How an Audacious Goal Taught Me To Love The World Instead of Save It.
Biography
editFamily
editJena Lee Nardella was born in San Francisco, CA on January 21, 1982 to Gus and Diane Lee. Her father is a first generation American from a family of Chinese immigrants whereas her mother is from the Midwest. Jena Nardella is the middle child of three, with a younger brother, and an older sister who passed away at 11-months of age due to a congenital heart defect.
Nardella grew up in the San Francisco Bay area in which she was exposed to diversity among race, gender, and most socioeconomic status. Jena Lee Nardella began her endeavors to helping others after an encounter with a homeless man on San Francisco's streets. This encounter resulted in her becoming a volunteer at a local homeless shelter.[2]
Education
editNardella moved to Spokane, Washington to attend Whitworth University in fall of 2000 for four years where she originally majored in nursing. Throughout her time as an undergraduate student, she came to realize her focus should not be on nursing, but rather political studies in order to pursue the dreams she hoped to conquer.
With her major change, came her decision to attend educational lectures structured around her passion and major which paralleled her future. At one lecture in particular, she met the speaker named Dr. Steve Garber who spoke with her on her future aspirations and gave her the chance to reach out and seek further support in making those dreams reality. [2]
Career
editNardella found, through Dr. Garber, a Grammy Award winning band whose values and dreams matched her own: Jars of Clay. Nardella began to meet consistently with this band and through these visits and lots of brainstorming came the start of their co-founded non-profit, Blood: Water, and more importantly their main purpose, the project, One Thousand Wells.[2]
At age 22, Nardella moved to Nashville, Tennessee in order to continue pursuing the dream of growing and creating Blood: Water with Jars of Clay who were all from this area. Nardella took multiple trips to Africa where the project, One Thousand Wells, would unfold allowing for Nardella to see first-hand where the final product would take place.[3]
One Thousand Wells
editThe book One Thousand Wells: How an Audacious Goal Taught Me To Love The World Instead of Save It was published in August, 2015. It is a memoir in which Jena Lee Nardella herself, shares her wins and losses, feelings and story about her journey to achieve the goal of building one thousand wells that would provide a thousand communities in Africa with clean water. A part of the proceeds made from the sale of this book go to back to the Blood: Water cause. [4]
Accomplishments/Awards/Recognition
editNardella has won multiple awards and gained remarkable recognition for all her work and talents. Nardella does public speaking appearances for colleges and universities such as her alma mater, Whitworth University, and Gonzaga University along with churches and conferences such as The Asbury Project and The Telemachus Annual Gathering. Her most noteworthy appearance was in 2012 when President Obama invited her to offer the closing benediction on national television at the National Democratic Convention for 20 million people. [5]
Some awards and honors Nardella has been given are the Epoch Award, GOOD Magazine’s GOOD 100, and named one of Christianity Today’s 33 Under 33 Christian leaders.
On top of writing her own novel, One Thousand Wells: How an Audacious Goal Taught Me to Love the World Instead of Save It, published in August 2012, she has contributed to many other relevant publications. Two of the books she has worked with other authors on are Hope in the Dark and The Revolution: A Field Manual for Changing Your World. She has also appeared in films such as Sons of Lwala and Unconditional Love. [6]
External Links
editReferences
edit- ^ "33 Under 33". ChristianityToday.com. Retrieved 2016-02-23.
- ^ a b c Nardella, Jena Lee (2015). A Thousand Wells: How an Audacious Goal Taught Me to Love the World Instead of Save It. New York, NY: Howard Books.
- ^ "JENA LEE NARDELLA - Chaffee Management". Chaffee Management. Retrieved 2016-02-23.
- ^ "Jena Lee Nardella, author and co-founder of Blood:Water | Nfocus". Nfocus. Retrieved 2016-02-23.
- ^ "Speaking Schedule". Broken:Beautiful. Retrieved 2016-02-23.
- ^ "JENA LEE NARDELLA - Chaffee Management". Chaffee Management. Retrieved 2016-02-23.