Life & Work with Jennifer Pascua

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennifer Pascua. 

Hi Jennifer, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I found myself relocating from the IL/IA Quad Cities to Grand Rapids, MI back in 2005. I was offered a position as a Morning Reporter at the ABC affiliate WZZM. Admittedly, I didn’t really know much about Grand Rapids and was given 2 weeks to decide. While I did have other offers on the table, I took a leap of faith. For 13 years, I held roles as Reporter, Anchor, and Host rounding out a 25-year career in Broadcasting. When I turned 40, I took time to re-evaluate what else I wanted to do with my life. I went back to school and graduated with a Master’s degree in Communications, “retired” from tv, and a mentor created a position for me at Serendipity Media. I held roles as a Digital Content Strategy Manager and segued to Content Engagement Manager, focused on a variety of local and national publications in the field of women’s lifestyle, entertainment, student travel, and group travel. Then the pandemic hit. That’s when the entrepreneurial side of me had to kick into high gear, as I predicted my position would eventually be eliminated. (I was right). During that unpredictable time, I hustled. I was able to adjunct teach a COMM class at Hope College, while launching a freelance group named, Halo Halo Multimedia, LLC. Next thing you know, Spectrum Health came calling asking if I would consider joining their Community Relations team. Truly a moment in “trust the timing of things” because it happened to all fall into place. I’m currently still doing all three gigs. 

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
If we want to stick with this analogy of a smooth road. I’m known for always taking the winding, complex one and getting lost along the way (Ha!). 

There were and continue to be many struggles. I look at it as survival mode. When things seemingly fall apart, I believe it’s your moment to dig deep, get dirty and find your grit to piece those things back together. It may not look like what you thought it would, but it still ends up to be a beautiful representation of YOUR journey, YOUR story, and YOUR triumph. 

For me, broadcast journalism is all that I’ve known for more than half my life. It WAS scary going back to school, starting a brand-new career, finding a way to elevate my talents so I could create a new chapter. I have fallen down A LOT and I bet I will continue to, but it’s how I get up and get back moving that matters. 

I wish I was more confident in the beginning naming my price for projects. More often than not, I think women have a tendency to not ask for what they are worth regarding the expertise they are bringing to the table. 

After a couple of months of doing freelancing projects, I realized I was charging well-below market value for my work and also offering too many “discounts” in an effort to gain clientele. 

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
In terms of Halo Halo Multimedia LLC, it is Filipino-American family-run freelancing group. The Tagalog term “Halo Halo” translates to mix. Thus, Halo Halo Multimedia LLC provides a mix of micro media services to clients, such as social media video shorts, social media content services, still photography, virtual fundraising, and more. Halo Halo Multimedia focuses on elevating BIPOC and women entrepreneurs and the disabilities and non-profit communities. 

Halo Halo is also a delicious, sweet Filipino dessert mixed with so many ingredients influenced by other cultures that some may consider to be an acquired taste…just like us. Some may like us, some may not. But we’re still going to serve up unique sweetness every single time! 

I am most proud of being able to work collectively with my sons whom all swore they would never do anything within the media. My youngest son is one of the main photographers/editors– he just has the eye to see what I may not be able to see at the moment and his creativity blows me away. We may butt heads because we’re both passionate about what we do and what the final product will look like, but our collaboration has been successful thus far. My middle son has a knack for social media and knowing what content will or won’t drive engagement. His personality is also perfect in the area of sales and he just gets people and knows how to make people feel at ease. My oldest is growing his following in the world of hosting with his culinary arts background. I know I can lean on him with anything food-related and that he has the on-air presence to make content enjoyable to watch. While we’re still small, we are mighty and resilient. We have big dreams and realize it will may take some time to achieve them. 

Can you share something surprising about yourself?
Given I was in the broadcasting world, on-air personalities kind of had to be in order to connect with our audience. So, I’m pretty much an open book. 

I think something that has surprised me that I realized over the pandemic was that even though I am an extreme extrovert (Enneagram 7, too!), I find myself appreciating the forced downtime. I have been working on meditation and finding joy in quiet moments. Mind you, this maybe happens 20 mins out of every day, but before it would make me uncomfortable because I tend to need constant “noise” in my world. 

Contact Info:

• Email: jenyannepascua@gmail.com