Meet Jennifer Gilbert: Licensed Massage Therapist & Business Developer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Jennifer Gilbert and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jennifer, putting aside the decision to work for yourself, what other decisions were critical to your success?
Honestly, I had a couple of different answers but I’m gonna go with staying FOCUSED! When I say staying focused I mean cutting off negative friends, cutting off negative energy and being single worked big for me. I’ve been single for three years now and I have three businesses going since. I always thought I needed a partner or it would be easier to have someone to help me and it probably will be but I have so many things I needed to work on myself that this was the perfect time to not only build my business but to grow as a person. This has been the best experience of my life and to be able to stay focused on my business and invest my time into myself and love myself has been the biggest part of my success.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Until recently I didn’t realize that my creativity came from my childhood. I’ve always been an imaginative person but always slept on my thoughts and ideas because I didn’t think they were possible, I just thought they were smart. I always looked up things like inventors.com or how to sell your ideas because I had so many. Over the years I watched other people develop my similar ideas and I got tired of sleeping on myself. I was tired of letting my ideas get away for me because I didn’t have the confidence or the money to make them happen. So when the opportunity presented itself for me (job loss) to turn my life around and use the things that I had in my life and experiences to build the business that I have now I jumped on it. The only excuse was me! So I pretty much just put action behind my thoughts and here we go! Having faith and working hard go hand-in-hand. If you believe in your idea and you put focused work behind it it is definitely possible to get the dream that you want to live.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Honestly, not to promote my own business but we really like to hang out at MeTime Bed and Breakfast when we’re off. I literally have everything that we enjoy here Jacuzzi, Sauna, Movies, Karaoke, Hookah, Sip and Paint, Games etc . We enjoy ordering from our favorite spots to eat and hang out.Now my favorite foods and places to go in Atlanta to eat that’s easy… My Hometown favorite Harolds Chicken and Ice Bar Old National has the best chicken and hookahs on the southside. Flyy3k on Instagram has the best seafood delivery. Chef Marlon Dejoi has the best food truck in SwAtlanta. La Bella Vie is my friends french inspired delicious must have in Suwanee area, Sweet Heat Atl on IG is the best bbq and food on the East side with my girl Roni in her food truck and catering.

You could find me doing relaxing things like floating down the Chattahoochee or hiking at Stone Mountain maybe catch a concert. But eating is definitely going down. I enjoy supporting my friends businesses, hole in the walls or mom n pop spots like Scotch Bonnet on Campbellton rd. or my favorite Thai restaurant Hot Cafe in Riverdale. If you visit me we are definitely having a nice relaxing time filled with laughs, food and good times!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Desiree Boyd, Chef, mother, daughter, fiancé, sister, friend and entrepreneur. She is literally all that and then some. I first heard about Desiree about a year ago we were both working the same event at Tyler Perry Studio, although we did not meet each other that day I did met a lot of her friends and colleagues. Through Instagram and mutual followers I saw her page and instantly fell in love with her business Desi Date Nights. I had just gotten my mobile spa at the time but wanted to see if we could collaborate on something together at MeTime Bed and Breakfast. I reached out to Desi on Ig but we never connected. So fast forward to a year later…She started following me on IG and reached out in late March right at the beginning of Covid 19 shut down. It couldn’t have been a better time for us both. We spoke about working together and brainstorming on some ideas to help promote both of our businesses. Little did we know we were going into a full quarantine. So I came up with this idea to turn my Mobile Spa into a Quarantine Mobile Movie Date Night ( mid April corona virus ) and I asked Desi Date Nights is she wanted to curate a Menu for it that I could provide guests with a quality delicious chef prepared cuisine. So we did it! The date night included any movie on Prime Video, Netflix or Hulu can be viewed in the van right outside your home. I provide popcorn, snacks, candy, drinks, water, decor etc and Chef Desi has a menu that ranges from lamb chops to lobster, crab, shrimp and pasta. You could also upgrade and add Drinks and E Hookah by PartyPaq. Kid and adult friendly safe, clean, private, mobile date. Things couldn’t have been any more perfect. Our connection was very pure and organic it wasn’t forced it was business but with a mutual respect and love for each others craft. Desi is not only kind but she is also professional, punctual, reliable, sweet, thoughtful, funny, hard working and overall just a great person and wonderful Chef. Throughout the quarantine we were able to provide quality professional services to our community and throughout Atlanta that built up a new following that benefited us both. Chef Desi now provides meals to MeTime Bed and Breakfast, MeTime Mobile Spa and Mobile movie date night. I couldn’t thank her enough for her quality service, great work ethic and now friendship. Chef Desi also has her own thing going on of course at the same time… Chef Desi offers a date night including a three-course meal, roses, candles and so much more She also does meal prep, curbside pick up, catering corporate events etc. Shout out to my girl Desi @Desidatenights much success and many blessings my friend!