Jena Schwartz (she/her) has spent decades exploring her own Jewish identity, coaching writers and creatives to live more authentically, and writing and publishing poetry, personal essays, and opinion pieces.

Widely known and respected for her unique writing prompts, welcoming facilitation style, transformative coaching style, and generative writing groups, as well as her advocacy on behalf of LGBTQIA+ youth, Jena has devoted her life and work to honoring and making space for her own and others’ multitudes. She holds an MFA from Emerson College and a BA from Barnard College, where she graduated Summa Cum Laude. 

Since 2020, she has served as Poet Laureate of the Jewish Community of Amherst, and in 2023, she became a Creative Facilitation Training Cohort 4 Fellow with the Jewish Studio Project.

Jena lives in Amherst, Massachusetts with her spouse, M.J., a writer and intuitive eating counselor. Together, they spoil their English bulldog, Chalupa Jane Schwartz, Esq., and are proud parents, stepparents, and grandparents of five amazing humans and one grandchild. 

Jewish Creative Practice was born out of Jena’s desire to create a container specifically for her Jewish work in the world – from her own writing to 1:1 Jewish Co-Exploring Sessions, and eventually, classes and workshops.

For updates and more, subscribe to her newsletter, Dispatches from Daily Life, on Substack.