Janet Sherlund

Kathryn interviews Author Jennifer Hernandez.At just eight years old, Jennifer Hernandez encountered horrors typically found in fiction – discovering her home unlocked and vandalized, with the terrifying word Die painted in blood-red on her bedroom wall. This marked the beginning of her tumultuous journey through parental abandonment, unstable living conditions, early substance use, teen pregnancy, and a search for belonging within the inner-city gangs of Chicago. If she was capable of escaping the depths of trauma and self-loathing to a life of recovery, abundance, and joy, she believes anyone who is brave enough to help themselves can do the same. In her inspiring new memoir, she chronicles the complete transformation of her life, and how she found incredible success and happiness against all odds. Today she is in the top 1% of loan officers in the country with over 18 years invested in the mortgage industry, Top Woman Originator, and was #1 for FHA lending in Illinois.Kathryn also interviews Author Janet Sherlund.Like many adoptees of her generation, Janet Sherlund was born as the offspring of teenage parents. Her mother was forced to have her baby in secrecy. Sherlund would come to learn that her mother was unusual for her time. Not only did she not tell the father she was pregnant, she wanted nothing to do with her baby and never even looked at her newborn. All she had to go on when she began her search was a false narrative written about her biological parents by the adoption agency. In her memoir, she paints a vivid portrait of the detachment and longing of an adopted child and the lifelong quest to find her biological mother. It’s an unflinching examination of the grief and trauma caused by this primal separation and the dogged determination it takes to face the forces of opposition—both internal and external—to finally achieve answers. She has served on nonprofit boards in education, health and the cultural arts.