Women’s History Month Feature
PaSH Magazine is celebrating Women’s History Month with a Q&A style mini-series highlighting women from many different industries making an impact in the world and for themselves.
Meet Jeannie Jacobs
Jeannie is a former OBGYN who made a bold pivot to build a lifestyle and culinary brand centered around gathering, intention, and creating meaningful moments around the table. My cookbook blends elevated yet approachable recipes with storytelling and entertaining inspiration — but what makes it especially unique for an event like yours is its interactive component.
What was the moment you knew the life you had built no longer fit the person you were becoming?
Let me take you back before the hospitals, before the white coat, before any of it. There was a
little girl in a yellow bedroom in South Carolina who read every encyclopedia she could get
her hands on — not once, not twice, but cover to cover, multiple times. She had dreams so
big they didn’t even have names yet. Medicine was one of them. But only one. Even then, she
knew there was more. I think part of me always knew. During residency, something quiet but
certain lived in the back of my mind — a knowing I wasn’t ready to face yet. So I kept
moving. Kept serving. Kept searching for myself in the margins of a life I had built with
enormous intention, but that was slowly, quietly, revealing it wasn’t the whole story.
And then came COVID. And then came her. A pregnant patient. COVID positive. In denial,
belligerent, refusing a vaccine, refusing a mask — and she looked me in the eyes and told me
she didn’t care if she infected me or anyone else. She called me a fraud. She treated me as
though my life, my safety, my humanity simply did not matter. I stabilised her. I delivered
her baby emergently. The outcome was not what any of us had prayed for. And when it was
over, I walked into my call room, picked up the phone, called my supervising physician, and
told him that was my last day. I walked out of that hospital and I never looked back. Not out
of anger. Out of clarity.
Because that little girl in the yellow bedroom with the encyclopedias
and the enormous dreams — she deserved to be treated as fully human. She deserved
respect, safety, and people around her who valued her presence. She deserved to finally,
fully, answer the rest of her dreams. And I was done making her wait.
Was there shame in leaving medicine, or was it something
you had to unlearn over time?
Shame? No. And I want to be clear about that because I think it’s important. I earned that
degree. I showed up. I served people — really served them — and I gave that season of my
life everything I had. There was nothing to be ashamed of. Medicine gave me skills,
discipline, and a depth of human understanding I will carry forever. But I had done what I
came to do. I had honored that chapter fully. And when it was time to turn the page, I didn’t
do it with my head down — I did it with my chin up and my whole chest open, walking
toward the next version of my life with optimism and genuine excitement. Leaving medicine
wasn’t a retreat. It was a graduation. And I refuse to frame my evolution as something to
apologize for.
How did you separate who you are from what you did for a
living?
People kept expecting me to break down. To be sad. To question myself again. And I think
that made them even more confused when I didn’t. People don’t tell you this about identity:
it only feels like a crisis when you’re leaving something behind and don’t know what you’re
going to. I already knew. I had always known, ever since that little girl in South Carolina with
her encyclopedias and big, unnamed dreams. I wasn’t letting anything go. I was finally
getting something.
The doctor was a part of me. A real, proud, hard-earned piece. But
medicine was never all of me. I didn’t feel lost when I left that hospital. I felt like I had finally
given myself the go-ahead to become the true me in all my glory. I was always supposed to
my full self with no limitations. That’s not a crisis of identity. That’s an arrival of identity.
“Your past built you. It doesn’t have to cage
Jeannie Jacobs
you.”
What would you say to women who feel trapped by the identity they worked so hard to earn?
I would say, “I see you.” I can see how hard you worked. I see how much that identity cost
you, and I understand why you want to keep it. And I would say, in a kind but clear way, that
the work you did to get there will always be yours. No one can take away your skills. No one
can take away your knowledge or the nuances you learned along the way. The question is not
if you should stay. The question is whether staying is still good for who you really are. Your
past made you who you are. It doesn’t have to hold you back.
What has creating, publicly and unapologetically, taught you about freedom, joy, and self-trust?
That they are all the same. You have freedom when you can create things. Joy is proof that
you are in line with your goals. And self-trust is the engine that makes the whole thing run.
Making things public taught me that I don’t need everyone to agree with me to keep going. I
just need to believe in myself enough to show up. And coming back, over and over, with my
whole face and voice showing, has been the best education I’ve ever had. More than any
other degree. More than any other title. It’s just me showing up and being real. That’s it.
That’s all there is to it. And it turns out that it is more than enough.
If your story gives someone else permission to pivot, what do you hope they take with them?
They always had that permission. I didn’t give it to them; I am just a reflection of what giving
oneself permission to pivot. And I hope they understand that changing direction isn’t a
failure of the first chapter. It’s the start of a second one. And sometimes the second chapter
is the one you were meant to write all along. Be brave. Take the mess. Say, “I don’t know how
this ends yet.””That’s not a flaw.” That’s what life is all about.
Thank you for reading the first installment of the Women’s History Month Features. Come back each day to read a new inspiring story, centering women.
PaSH Magazine is a lifestyle publication. Our slogan is “all your tiny obsessions.” We are strong advocates of self-love, self-care, body positivity and supporting minorities, especially women, people of color and communities not highlighted in mainstream media. Please send pitches to southernpashmag@gmail.com. Please note that we sometimes use affiliate links. If you purchase anything from a link we have provided, we may receive a small commission. This money is used to help support our efforts at PaSH Inc. Check out our sister magazines Explore Georgia Now , Glownoire , plurvylife. and www.redpashmag.com! This article may mention several of our sister brands including but not limited to: Plurvy, Curvy Girls Rock, AYTO, PaSH Publishing and more
