MORGANTOWN — “It is never too late to reinvent yourself.”
This mantra is symbolic of the life of Frank Jenio, a Clarksburg native.
Jenio is the president and founder of The Reinvent Project, a lifelong personal reinvention system for people wanting to improve their lives. Jenio is paying tribute to his home state through offering his services to the people of West Virginia.
The Reinvent Project is a step-by-step, hands-on guide to self-recreation — meaning changing careers, lifestyle or goals, regardless of age or situation. The project began after Jenio co-authored the book, “Don’t Retire: Reinvent Yourself.”
The book led Jenio to creating a set of training materials for public seminars on people changing their lives. The Reinvent Project specifically contains self-assessments and training exercises for establishing goals. Two components make up the project — the personal Reinvention System and the veteran’s version, the ReinVETion System.
Jenio’s inspiration for creating this resource goes back to his childhood. Throughout his life, Jenio saw a theme of reinvention, starting over several times himself. His father reinvented himself from a coal miner to an employee in the automobile industry, moving the family from West Virginia to Michigan.
Jenio was a teacher, reinventing himself into a training coordinator for a $400 million auto component supplier. He reinvented himself again as a small businessman of The Center for Thinking & Collaboration LLC, going from servicing small businesses with as few as five employees to Fortune 500 organizations with thousands of employees.
Fellow West Virginian Deborah Sharpe Fisher joined Jenio in marketing The Reinvent Project through West Virginia. Fisher and Jenio worked together in Clarksburg, reconnecting after Fisher bought a copy of the Reinvention System. Within the last two years, she started her own business, coaching others on the system and teaching mind mapping.
After deciding to market the project towards West Virginians, Fisher and Jenio created a one-day leadership summit in Fairmont, focusing on helping people of the state become more productive and prosperous. The daylong event took place at Pierpont Community & Technical College.
Participants experienced The Reinvent Project through a series of lectures from influential speakers Mark McMillion and the Rev. Lou Ortenzio. McMillion emphasizes helping veterans transition to civilian life, and Ortenzio is an ordained minister who shares insights into moving from opioid addiction to recovery and reinvention after a personal battle with drugs.
Although the summit did not have the turn out as expected, Fisher said that’s not going to stop the wave of inspiration.
“We had excellent input and will definitely be coming back soon,” Fisher said. “Dr. Jenio and I are very excited to help our state to be the great state we all know and love.”
Jenio said they intend a follow-up with the myriad of organizations throughout the state and would like to have summits all over West Virginia.
Presidents of Fairmont State University and Pierpont Community Technical College sponsored and endorsed the initiative. The support among West Virginians to improve all aspects of the state is one of the reasons Jenio is passionate about what he does.
“I love the state — born here, raised my family in the state and taught here for several years,” Jenio said. “There are many aspects of the state that could use a fresh approach for their citizens. We feel the Reinvention System can be conduit to making West Virginia a more competitive state in the country.”
To learn more, visit facebook.com/thereinventproject/
Morgantown Area News
'Friday, April 26, 2024'
