Jen Soriano (she/they) is a powerful speaker, award-winning writer, and narrative strategist who brings together storytelling and healing. Known for creating brave spaces and community care-centered conversations, Jen offers audiences tools for reflection, trauma-wise insight, and a vision for collective transformation.
She is the author of Nervous: Essays on Heritage and Healing, a celebrated memoir-in-essays that explores personal and ancestral trauma through the lens of Philippine history, social neuroscience, and lived experience. Described as a “love letter to bodies that have survived,” Nervous invites us to imagine healing through interdependence, cultural awareness, and nervous system-informed care.
In addition to her literary work, Jen is a purpose-driven leader who has helped shape social justice organizations like MediaJustice and ReFrame. She speaks on topics such as narrative power, healing justice, and identity and culture, always with a deep commitment to inclusive learning, interpersonal growth, and shared purpose.
Jen holds a BA from Harvard and an MFA from the Rainier Writing Workshop. She was the 2022–2023 poet-in-residence with Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility.
Building Trauma-Wise Communities: Mental Health and Collective Care for Campuses and Organizations
Recent years have brought collective challenges that deeply impact mental health, especially among youth. Drawing from Nervous: Essays on Heritage and Healing, Jen Soriano explores trauma as a public health crisis and offers practical insights on creating trauma-wise spaces. This talk guides campuses and organizations in fostering psychological safety, community care, and well-being—inviting us all to show up for one another and build cultures of healing together.
Historical and Collective Trauma: Healing Through Science, Culture, and Decolonial Action
This presentation explores historical, intergenerational, and collective trauma through examples from Nervous and Indigenous scholarship. Jen Soriano leads audiences through the neuroscience behind trauma and the practices of neural and structural decolonization as keys to healing while highlighting the lasting impact of US empire and colonialism on communities and nervous systems, focusing on territories like the Philippines and Puerto Rico. By integrating cultural narratives, rituals, and collective care, Jen offers a vision for building trauma-wise communities rooted in history, equity, inclusion, and transformative justice.
Building Connection Through Difference: Navigating Conflict and Communication for Stronger Communities
In a world marked by division and complexity, the ability to communicate across difference is essential for building resilient, inclusive communities. Jen Soriano draws on storytelling, lived experience, and frameworks for brave dialogue and collaborative spaces to explore how we can hold trusted conversations even in conflict. This talk offers practical strategies for deepening understanding, fostering relationship-centered engagement, and creating welcoming environments where everyone feels seen and heard. Together, we’ll explore how showing up for one another through honest, human-centered learning can transform conflict into connection and collective growth.
Resilience in Action: Drawing from History to Fuel Climate Justice and Collective Well-Being
The climate crisis and human rights are deeply intertwined challenges shaping our time. In this insightful talk, Jen Soriano explores how lessons from past movements, rooted in intergenerational stories and cultural legacy, can offer vital insights for today’s climate justice efforts. She highlights approaches that center collective care, transformational leadership, and inclusive culture, and offers practical pathways for advancing environmental and social justice. Jen invites audiences to engage in purpose-driven action that nurtures hope, fosters solidarity, and cultivates lasting change for people and the planet.
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Storying the Future: Narrative Strategy for Hope, Vision, and Collective Change**
What stories do we need to tell to imagine and build the world we want to live in? In this interactive, story-driven workshop, award-winning writer and narrative strategist Jen Soriano invites participants into a brave space of curiosity and growth, where collective imagination becomes a tool for community resilience and transformational leadership. Blending personal reflection with popular education, Jen guides participants through exercises that explore the power of storytelling to reframe narratives, deepen shared purpose, and make space for hope and healing in times of instability. Participants will explore the intersection of personal story and collective insight, engage in meaning-making through conversation, and practice using narrative as a tool for change.
