Walkable communities on the rise
The importance of the entire fish – scales and all
January 6, 2025
MARATHON COUNTY – When imagining the winner of a leadership award, one may anticipate a business owner, CEO of an organization, director of a department or a manager who oversees a large team.
At least, that’s what Jennifer Johnson said she would’ve imagined.
Even when she found out she’d been nominated for the Greater Wausau Chamber of Commerce’s 2024 ATHENA Leadership Award, Johnson said due to her position – senior corporate communications specialist at Church Mutual Insurance Company, S.I. – she never considered she’d be selected for the award over the other nominees.
“When I looked at (the nomination notice), they listed all the other nominees. I thought, ‘Well, it sure was nice being nominated,’” she said of her expectations. “It’s funny – when we left our house to go to the (award ceremony) lunch and my husband said, ‘Let’s practice your Emmy faces… What’s your winning face?’ (I said,) ‘I don’t know – I’m not winning.’ I mean, CEOs and CFOs and executive directors – I was up against some people with some much heftier titles and implied leadership than myself.”
Johnson said her role at Church Mutual is not that of a traditional “people leader,” adding, “I’ve really never been in a role where I’ve had direct reports or people that I directly manage.”
The criteria for the international accolade, however, make no mention of job title or specific requisite duties.
The ATHENA Leadership Award – which, according to athenainternational.org, was named in honor of the wise, courageous and resourceful Olympian goddess – is intended to recognize a person who:
- Has achieved the highest level of professional excellence
- Contributes time and energy to improve the quality of life for others in the community
- Actively assists others, particularly women, in realizing their full leadership potential
Considering her past accomplishments and her present efforts, Johnson said “when I start listing it all out, it does seem like a lot.”
Still, she said, when she was announced as recipient of the award, it came as “an incredible surprise” – to the point where she hadn’t prepared an acceptance speech whatsoever.
“I was shocked,” Johnson said. “I am great at promoting other people – I’m not fantastic at promoting myself.”
Her way
Johnson said she grew up in Tomahawk, graduated from Tomahawk High School and then earned her bachelor’s in journalism, with an emphasis in broadcast news, from Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa.
From there, she said she moved to Joplin, Missouri to work as a reporter for the local NBC affiliate.
“I like knowing what’s happening around me, and I always enjoyed that from the journalism aspect – and the relationships and meeting new people,” Johnson said of her early career ambitions. “I like letting other people know what’s going on, and helping them understand and see how what’s going on on the other side of the county makes a difference to you. Or sharing those stories – those cool, unique things happening, and highlighting that.”
Initially, Johnson said, living a good 12-hour drive from her family didn’t bother her.
“I’ve always been very independent, and my parents would probably still tell you that to this day,” she said. “(But) when you hit your mid-20s, you start to realize there’s more to life than just being on your own.”
Deciding to return to Wisconsin, Johnson said, resulted in meeting the man she would later marry, and the two opting to stay in Wausau.
Putting down such roots, however, all but signaled the end of her broadcast news career, Johnson said, as growth in that industry typically requires relocation.
She said she then decided to pivot into the marketing and public relations field which, in its own way, bore resemblance to journalism.
“It’s reporting, right? You take things… and make it so that everybody can understand,” Johnson said. “That’s still kind of what I’m doing every day.”
Marketing and PR experience at various agencies, as well as Northcentral Technical College, she said, would eventually lead to a communications career at Church Mutual as she consistently pursued work inspired with a sense of purpose.
“What has attracted me to the things I do, or the organizations I work for, is what they do and what they are at their core,” she said. “You look at Northcentral Technical College – it is helping people move up and step forward and advance their lives and their careers.”e
The same, Johnson said, is true of her current employer, Church Mutual.
“We insure organizations that make a difference, whether it’s a house of worship or a nonprofit or a school, we’re helping to make a difference, and we care,” she said. “I don’t think I realized that as I moved (between roles), but looking back, I think that’s what drew me to those types of organizations.”
Johnson said the other common thread she’s recognized in retrospect is her appreciation for seeing others succeed.
“That’s what makes me happy,” she said. “I like helping someone because to me, that’s what communications is. Whether it was journalism or now in my role, it’s helping with a piece of something and making it successful, whether it is championing others and helping them be successful, mentoring – those sorts of things.”
‘Leading with empathy’
Johnson said her values are rooted in her working-class upbringing.
“My father has a GED – he worked hard in a paper mill all his life,” she said. “As a professional with a college degree, there are things that I see now that might have been struggles for my parents. They hid it well from us as kids.”
Her appreciation for others’ plights, Johnson said, has helped her cultivate a mindset of community service – a perspective which informs her work and voluntarism as well as her leadership style, which she calls “leading with empathy.”
“I’ve got to go about leadership a little differently,” she said. “It’s not directing someone to do something. It’s helping people see their strengths and kind of point them in the right direction. You have to know the people you’re working with. You need to understand what’s happening with them in their lives, outside of that workday, to be able to lead them and help them effectively. If something’s a little off or a little different (with someone), you can’t just (tell someone to complete a task). You have to understand, accept and you have to have empathy. It helps them through all of that.”
Johnson said for her, that sense of empathy has extended to a number of volunteer opportunities, with present service including:
- Group advisor for Be Amazing, with Rib Mountain Elementary
- Vice chair of Resource & Membership Development and co-chair of the Member Relations Committee for Women United, with United Way of Marathon County
- Member of the Marshfield Children’s Parent and Family Advisory Council, with Marshfield Clinic Health System
- Member of the local football booster club
“I want to treat others how I would want to be treated,” she said. “It seems silly when you put it so simply, but it’s important to me to teach my children that when we can, we give back, and if we can’t give back financially, we give back with our time and our energy.”
Johnson said it’s important to understand the whole person.
“I’m not really sure where that (value) came from,” she said. “That’s got to be (from) my parents – they must have done something right. They did a lot right.”
Oddly enough, Johnson said her inspiration to give more was inspired by a time when she felt she had no more to give, as her and her husband’s careers, parental duties (for their three children) and voluntarism had her “burnt to a crisp.”
“I was in the (Greater Wausau) Chamber (of Commerce)’s transformational leadership class, and the topic for the week, for the session, was passion,” she said. “We had to fill out this worksheet, and I remember looking at it and thinking, ‘passion – who’s got a passion? I don’t have time for passion. That takes time, and I can barely keep my head afloat right now.’ But I thought about it more, and I thought about the things that I’ve done and the things that I do, and what brings me joy and kind of fills my bucket – and it’s helping others.”
Acceptance
Though she was aware of the ATHENA Awards, Johnson said earning such recognition has never been a source of motivation for her.
“I kind of like just hanging out in the background and celebrating other people,” she said. “It was actually one of my coworkers who nominated me – she didn’t tell me until after I won. I think other winners would likely say this, too, but I don’t feel like I’m doing anything all that special.”
From encouraging her to reflect on her path through her career, service and life; to finding inspiration in her husband’s own exceptional efforts; to appreciating the way her supervisor, Dawn Bernatz, has pushed her outside of her comfort zone; Johnson said processing this award has been “a huge lesson for me.”
“It’s kind of validation, right?” she said. “I think you get so deep in the things that you’re doing, whether they are for work or community service or personal – you get so deep in them that sometimes it’s hard to remember the difference you’re making. So it was validation that, you know what? I do a lot, and people recognize it. And it feels good, aside from – obviously, when they read my name – shock and thinking, ‘Oh, (no) – I didn’t prepare anything (for an acceptance speech).”
Another major lesson from the process, Johnson said, has been learning how true leadership can be enacted and appreciated in any number of ways.
The 2024 ATHENA Young Professional Leadership Award went to Lindsey Lewitzke, chair of the DC Everest Area Education Foundation, who Johnson said is likewise not a prototypical business leader, rather “a stay-at-home mom right now, but she’s very involved in the community.”
“It’s important for people to understand that leadership is not just your job title or your position. That’s something I’ve struggled with,” she said. “But there are ways to do it. No matter where you are in your career or your personal life, you can lead. You can influence others to make a difference.”
