Superpower: Everything is figure-out-able
Co-Principal, Alchemy Accompanied and Assistant Professor, Future Generations University
Although Jenny Totten studied and trained to be an engineer, something was missing. She worked for a couple of years as a contractor for the U.S. Navy, but she found herself longing for a stronger sense of community.
As the Loudendale native tried to figure out what was next, she spent some time with a college friend in Haiti. When she came back to West Virginia, she worked as an AmeriCorps VISTA for the next four years, focusing on youth empowerment as well as economic and community development. “That’s where I found my passion,” she says. “Those placements showed me how you can build power in youth so they can build power in their communities.”
Totten worked for the West Virginia Community Development Hub and the West Virginia Food and Farm Coalition, and then she had an opportunity to help grow the Appalachian Community Engagement team with Future Generations University. “In engineering school, I learned how to do research, but this was a way to see the numbers in action and the direct impact on the community.”
Totten will continue teaching at Future Generations and assisting with the Appalachia field course, where she loves introducing students from around the world to the Appalachian region. But she is ready for her next professional endeavor at Alchemy Accompanied, a rural community and economic development consulting firm she co-founded with her business partner.
“It’s not an underdog story, but I like the surprise aspect of Appalachia,” Totten says. “You see the national narrative since the late 1800s that Appalachia has been useful and extracted from, but now it’s time for us to take hold, to tell our own story, and to grow our wealth from within. There is a moment of ownership, and I want to explore how we keep building economic pride and leadership with local communities.”
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Since 2014 WV Living magazine has been honoring West Virginia Wonder Women, amazing women who are raising the bar in their communities, serving as beacons of light in their industries, and forcing change for the greater good. WV Living is proud to celebrate these Appalachian mothers, millennials, and mavens proving that in a time full of uncertainty, divisiveness, and hate, love for one another is all we really need. No need for bulletproof bracelets or a golden lasso of truth—these women are creating a better West Virginia with their can-do attitudes and Mountain State spirit.
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