Resilience & Growth Mindset

At an early age, Dr. Jean learned resiliency as she watched her mother, Rusty Kanokogi battle for women's rights in the sport of Judo. 1959 Rusty was stripped of a medal she won in judo, just for being a woman after winning her match. Rusty said it best “I did not dwell on it, I just kept moving forward”. That growth mindset carved a huge path for women’s equality.  

 

As Rusty entered the Olympic Stadium as the USA Women’s Olympic Coach in 1988, this moment was bittersweet for Jean. Excited for the significant impact and many opportunities that just opened with the inclusion of women’s judo in the Olympics, Jean suffered a catastrophic knee injury which precluded her from participation that left her home. Following in the girth of her mother’s wake, Dr. Jean began navigating her paths to find her purpose.  

 

Dr. Jean brings a unique approach to Resilience & Growth mindset in presentations by utilizing all her strengths and practical experience. Basing her content on empirical research stemming out of positive psychology, offering various perspectives, encouraging the audience to look at experiences through a different lens, and sharing real life experiences in a narrative form to tie how these skills can/have been used to positively impact a varied audience.  

 

Dr. Jean is passionate, relatable, extremely quick witted, culturally competent, fully engaging (even in an online seminar), and totally filled with gratitude as she helps people find their own Get up & Fight!  

 

The Project Rusty team refers to Dr. Jean, our leader as our affectionate relatable badass.