Meet the Member: JK Celebrant - Chiltern Biz Collective

Meet our member Jeannette from JK Celebrant. She tells us more about how she got started, shares her highlights & challenges of running her own business, and answers our Local Biz Quickfire.

Briefly tell us a bit about yourself and what your business offers.

I’m a celebrant who works with people at some of life’s most meaningful moments. Weddings full of hope, funerals filled with memory and celebrations of life that sit somewhere in between. I believe ceremonies should feel real, personal and unhurried, shaped by the people at the heart of them rather than a script.

How and why did your business get started?

I attended a close family funeral, and while the service itself was perfectly fitting, something stirred in me. I found myself thinking, this is something I could do. At the time, I was at a crossroads, 57 years old, working in technology in London and questioning what I wanted the next chapter to be. As I began to explore the role of a celebrant, it quickly became clear that this was where I was meant to be. Looking back, changing my career in that moment was one of the best decisions I have ever made.

What’s been your biggest highlight of running your business?

Delivering my first funeral just 3 months after my training, hearing back from the family afterwards, with the most wonderful testimonial….I knew this was for me and there have been many other highlights over the past year.

What’s been your biggest challenge?

Constantly marketing myself…I worked in marketing before over the years, but it’s so different when it’s YOU that you are selling as such. But, I am learning everyday and taking on new challenges to stretch myself.

What’s the best thing about being a member of Chiltern Biz Collective?

I joined the Biz Network after a Capture and Connect session with Tanya, and from the outset everyone was so warm and welcoming. I really value the way the network works, support is always there when you need it, but there’s also the freedom to get involved when something interests you, to seek out company or connection and equally to step back when you’re not able to participate or when it simply doesn’t feel right for you at that time.

Jeanette from JK Celebrant standing holding a folder and smiling at the camera

How can people work with you and where can we find you?

Find more about me at www.jkcelebrant.com and you can get in touch via email at jkcelebrant@outlook.com

Local Biz Quickfire

Favourite local place to eat & drink?

I love Tabure in Berkhamsted.

Favourite local retailer (online or bricks & mortar)?

The Market House, Tring

Favourite local day out

Love to catch up with friends at 108 in Aston Clinton.

Shoutout to 3 local businesses who you love.

Mother of All Jobs, Hello Ruth and Spring and Press.