Today we’d like to introduce you to Audrey Jacobs.
Hi Audrey, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?
Confidence — Are You Born with It or Can You Build It?
I’m not sure if it’s confidence or chutzpah – but I have lot of it. Why? Because I do, before I think. That’s the secret. Don’t overthink. Just do.
Since I was a little girl, I’ve had this drive to build, create, and live voraciously. The desire to do was stronger than the fear of failing.
Sure, I had voices in my head—“You’ll fail.” “People will judge you.” I just didn’t listen. I didn’t wonder if I was worthy or capable—I did it anyway. I didn’t care if it worked or what people thought.
Why? Because I was always an outsider. A Jew growing up in the South. A hated minority. Antisemitism—the oldest form of hate. People didn’t like me because of the tribe I was born into. That gave me a weird kind of freedom. Nothing I could do would make them like me, so I might as well go for it.
Confidence comes from doing for yourself—not for what others think.
So, “do for yourself”—what does that mean? When we shut out the external world and look inside, we find we all have a creative soul—that’s where our hopes and dreams live—our internal vision boards. Whether it’s to build a business or a beautiful family. Or both.
To find your creative soul, you must be quiet enough to listen to your dreams and drown out the doubting voices.
To access the quiet, take a walk in nature (without your phone). Dip in the ocean. Wake up at night and write down your dreams. Always have a notepad and pen nearby. Thinking, witnessing, writing down your dreams is the first step to having the confidence to pursue them. I do this each morning writing in my journal.
So when you articulate your dreams you have to give them voice. I know, the negative voices in your head may say “you can’t” or “you shouldn’t.” Don’t listen, turn up the volume on the voice that says “go for it.” To give them voice, you also need to tell others about it. Whether its your loved ones or a stranger, give it voice. I want a business, start making art, buy a house, travel to an exotic place. Say it aloud – the part of the magic of manifesting – making your dreams come true.
I created three rules of life that drive my confidence. My employees even created a sign that now is the center of my altar. The three rules are:
1. If you don’t ask, you don’t get
2. Never take no for an answer
3. F*ck Fear
These rules have served me well for most of life, but now as I’ve gotten older the risks have gotten bigger. I need more confidence. To build more I’ve leaned into my faith.
Now I tell myself: “I’ve got this, because God’s got me.”
I believe my creative soul comes from the divine. Therefore, if I doubt my creative desires, I’m not just doubting myself. I’m doubting God. That’s not how I want to live.
So much of my confidence comes from listening to my gut. I now say, “your gut is God.” If my gut says go for it, I do. It’s God saying it’s going to be OK. If I get that sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach, God is saying walk away.
Confidence is having the courage to say no as much as it is to say yes.
When you do say yes to something big, it’s exhilarating. Again, allow the excitement to outweigh the fear. When I took on the volunteer role to run and curate TEDxSanDiego—one of the most prestigious TEDx events in the world—I had zero experience. I had only given a TEDx talk. I had no idea how to run the organization. But my soul said yes.
I asked for help. The founder, Jack Abbott, was an incredible mentor. He trusted me and my ability to do it. Thinking about failure wasn’t a consideration. Only the feeling in my soul that told me doing this fulfilled my purpose.
That’s another secret: nobody really knows what they’re doing. Passion drives progress, not proficiency. Again, you need the confidence to ask others for help. You will still mess up. A lot. I love advice—but the best lessons? The ones I’ve learned the hard way.
Confidence isn’t knowing what you’re doing. It’s doing it anyway.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Please tell our readers about what you do, what you feel is most exciting or special about it, as well as anything else you’d like folks to know about your brand/art/etc. If relevant, please also tell our readers about anything new (events, product/service launches, expansion, etc.
I connect people. I’m a matchmaker—not just for love, but for ideas, opportunities, and communities. I help folks find their people, their purpose, their platform, the funding they need for their startup or non profit. In my TEDx talk I call myself a “Master Matchmaker” and encourage everyone to be one.
What’s exciting? Watching someone light up when they realize they’re not alone. When they find their tribe. I may never see either of the two people again but both their lives will change for the better. That’s a meaningful life.
Creating individual connections is one way I fulfill my personal mission statement I wrote when I was 17: “To be a catalyst for positive change by educating and inspiring individuals and communities.”
Another way I fulfill my mission is as curator of TEDxSanDiego. In my third year I keep pushing myself to expand our reach and grow the platform to launch more important ideas out into the world. When someone pitches me an idea, I listen to see if it’s their ego or their purpose talking. I listen for their creative soul to speak to me.
TEDxSanDiego is a volunteer role. I still am in the earning and building phase of my life. But last year I made a big jump from financial security to trusting in the universe. After 20 years of earning a paycheck I had the courage to leave the corporate world to go on my own as a consultant (Mindful Maven Consulting).
Thank God I have a rich and diverse paid client base of major institutions, non profits organizations, philanthropic families, and individuals guiding them on strategic communication, building their business and brand, fundraising and charitable giving.
Beyond my paid clients I do a lot quietly behind the scenes to give back and donate my expertise. I know my worth and am proud to earn a good living, but I also feel good about doing well financially because I tithe, give 10% a year to charity, and give even more of my time.
What else these days is brewing in my creative soul? I’m toying with leaning into what made me different and hated as a child – being a Jew. Now I want to wear my identity proudly and call myself a “Full Time Jew”. This means I promote myself as a proud Jew and share with the world the universal wisdom and values that have guided my people for over 3000 years.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
What would you advise – going all in on your strengths or investing on areas where you aren’t as strong to be more well-rounded?
Before you can answer this question I say you need to get clear on what your strengths actually are. This is not intuitive. What is easy for you, your strengths, often is so effortless you don’t see it as a superpower. I suggest you ask a few of your closest friends and people you work with and ask them – what am I good at?
I believe our strengths, our superpowers are our divine gifts so we should embrace them. Don’t try to become good at something you’re not – celebrate other people’s gifts. Let their gifts inspire you.
I love art, it feeds my soul. I love going to galleries and art studios and museums and meeting the artists who have the courage to listen to their creative soul and create. I buy and collect their work.
I am not an artist but as Rabbi Abraham Joshua Herschel says, “you must build your life as if it were a work of art.”
As I’ve become a “consultant” I’ve avoided creating a website of saying what “I do” or “my strengths”. I’m a driver, a builder, a dreamer, a writer, a connector, someone who gets things done, who helps others get things done, who brings people together, who designs meaningful experiences. Somehow without articulating “my strengths” the clients come.
If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I always come back to the quote: “People don’t remember what you did, they remember how you made them feel.”
So to me, the most important qualities are the ones that shape how we show up for others.
Over the last few years, I’ve fallen in love with the study of character development—the art of being a good person. We’re not born with a fully formed moral compass. Concepts like “right,” “wrong,” and how to treat others are learned. And there’s an entire body of ancient wisdom around this—timeless and deeply human.
I went back into my own roots: 3,000 years of Jewish wisdom. I spent two years studying a single book, Ethics of Our Fathers, and one passage in particular—chapter 6, verse 6—lays out 48 qualities of personal virtue. Out of those 48, these three I continually work on so I can improve my relationships:
• Listening (Shmiat HaOzen):
Being present, attentive, open to truly hearing someone else.
I love to talk. I love to tell stories. But I’ve learned that listening—really listening—is an extraordinary act of love. It means listening without judgment, without fixing, without waiting for your turn to speak. It means listening with your soul.
• Humility (Anavah):
Recognizing your own limitations while elevating the gifts of others.
This one for me is a constant practice. I know what I’m good at. But I also know those gifts aren’t mine alone—they were given to me for a reason: to serve. So when I’m with someone, I try to pause and ask, What are your superpowers? What makes you shine? You can have a healthy ego and still be humble. That balance is where the magic is.
• Joy (Simchah):
Approaching life with enthusiasm, positivity, and gratitude.
Joy, for me, is a discipline. I’m wired to go, to create, to do—and sometimes I move so fast I forget to feel the joy. Not because I’m unhappy, but because I’m addicted to being productive. But when I slow down, when I’m working with people I admire, doing something I believe in—that’s when joy rushes in. And I’ve learned that to give joy to others, I also have to feel it in the quiet moments, when no one’s watching. That’s the joy that comes from contentment. From gratitude. And that kind of joy? It starts by listening to your own soul.
So if the question is to go all in on your strengths or try to round yourself out, I say start by honoring what is already within you. Let your gifts lead. Trust that when you show up fully as yourself—without needing to package or perform—the right opportunities, the right people, and the right path will find you. You do not have to be everything. You just have to be you. And that is more than enough.
So if there’s anything I’ve learned, it’s this:
First, confidence isn’t something you wait to feel—it’s something you build by taking action.
Second, don’t keep your gifts to yourself. Be a matchmaker. Make connections. Open doors. Everyone has the power to lift someone else.
And third, character matters. The way you show up—how you listen, how you lead, how you make people feel—is the legacy you leave behind.
Your strengths are your superpowers. Use them with heart.
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I’m grateful to share my thoughts with you! Want to connect? Email me at audrey@tedxsandiego.com
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.TEDxSanDiego.com
- Instagram: audrey_jacobs613
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/audreyjacobs
