Every Friday I am going to feature a woman that I adore. They exude all the qualities of an Alpha Female and I want to dig into their lives to get some nuggets of knowledge to help us all live happier, healthier lives balancing life & work.
Definition of an Alpha Female
An Alpha Female is a powerful and assertive woman. Her confidence is due to being an intelligent and intellectual problem-solver. Being an Alpha Female is a State of Mind based on choosing ambition and being proud of it. She strives for a happy and healthy work/life harmony.
She is the brightest star in her constellation. When an Alpha Female stays true to their authentic selves and their missions they shine. An Alpha Female puts herself first because she deserves self-care and love. She knows that work/life harmony is found by staying true to your priorities and what makes you happy. She is never complacent about striving for better and nurtures relationships with all the people in her life.
Meet Jessica Kuepfer!
Jessica Kuepfer is a public relations leader, digital influencer, blogger (lacesandlattes.com), and endurance sports athlete with a wicked coffee addiction. She currently is a PR manager at Home Hardware Stores Limited and is training for her first Ironman, the ITU World Championships, and the USARA National Adventure Racing Championships. She cannot keep a plant alive but she tries.
What do you think of the definition and how are you an Alpha Female?
An Alpha Female to me is someone who has quiet confidence. It isn’t a confidence that needs to be flaunted but it is deeply rooted in who a person is. For me, it is not being shaken by trends, opinions or noise but remaining focused on a goal and being clear and authentic to everyone in your life.
I have chosen to focus my year around quiet confidence; to listen more and to be as unshakable as I can in the things that really matter.
What are you most passionate about?
Not wasting life. Whether it is unplugging and battling the elements for days in an adventure race or executing a successful PR campaign that makes me proud of my work or surrounding with people who make me better every day, I am passionate about living well and living with contentment.
What does work/life harmony look like for you?
For me, work/life harmony means there are seasons. Balance doesn’t mean everything is centered all the time, it just means that you don’t draw consistently from just one area of your life. Sometimes I am needing to focus on work for long stretches, or I am training for an Ironman and need to do 20 hour training weeks but I always, always prioritize the people I love because they fill my life.
Share with us a time when work/life balance was out of wack? What was your aha moment that taught you it was ok to take care of yourself first?
When I first graduated from university, I had debt and I made it a goal to pay it off. I worked 3 jobs and worked double digit hour days all week to reach my goals. I was giving everything I had and even though I reached my goal, it was an entire year of limiting time with my loved ones and exhausting myself. I don’t think it was an exact moment but a slow realization that I was sacrificing my health and some really important life moments for a goal that could have been adjusted.
How do you nourish yourself?
Well, as I am currently training for an Ironman, with any food that is put in front of me…
In all seriousness, I nourish myself by taking care of myself. This ranges from the obvious physical sense of ensuring that I am getting all the nutrients I need from the food I eat and drinking enough water to allowing myself relaxation time every day and enjoying the finer things in life with no stress – like coffee, chocolate and more peanut butter than you can possibly imagine. I focus on keeping my cup full so I can help fill the cups of others. If it brings me joy, it is in my life.
What is your weekly fitness routine like?
Right now, I have 15-20 hour training weeks with swimming, biking (road/TT/cross/mountain) and running in various lengths and intensities. In my offseason, I increase my weight training and cross training like hot yoga and cross country skiing.
What are your daily habits for winding down at night and reducing stress?
I am able to walk in the door, put on pjs and fall fast asleep but on the nights I have time, I will read a book I love and drink something wild like sparkling water or Natural Calm magnesium. I then will foam roll and stretch to keep my muscles happy and healthy and finish off the day by journaling which often just consists of a few bullet points about what made that day awesome.
What are some pain points of being an Alpha Female that you have to problem solve for?
I suck at saying no. I regularly spend time reflecting on what actually matters most to me and that way, if I get asked to do something that does not align with my core purpose, it makes the answer more obvious to me. My knee-jerk reaction is always to say yes because that is where my greatest opportunities have come from, but I try to subscribe to Ryan Holiday’s advice in his recent book, Ego is the Enemy:
“All of us of regularly say yes unthinkingly, or out of vague attraction or out of greed or out of vanity.
Because we can’t say no because we might miss out on something if we did.
We think that yes will let us accomplish more when in reality, it prevents exactly what we seek.
All of us waste precious life doing things we don’t like, to prove ourselves to people we don’t respect, and to get things we don’t want.”
What is your definition of happiness?
Contentment. If I am operating from a mentality of abundance, rather than a place of lack, I am happy.
One thought on “Alpha Female Friday – Jessica Kuepfer”