ABOUT JENA

Hi there. I’m Jena Lee Nardella. I am the co-founder of Blood:Water, a nonprofit focused on equipping African organizations to overcome the HIV/AIDS and water crises. After having spent the last 12 years leading Blood:Water, I have published a book about my journey am now pouring my time into other social entrepreneurs through a nonprofit accelerator program called Praxis. I also spend my time speaking and writing as an advocate for justice issues around the world. I love traveling the globe, working from coffee shops, hiking on the weekends, and reading multiple books at once - all with this insatiable desire to pay attention to the stories around me and find reasons to hope amid a world that would tempt us to do otherwise. 

My husband James spent the last six years as Executive Director of another nonprofit focused in Africa, and has recently joined the Skoll Foundation where he is pouring into social entrepreneurs around the globe.  We have a darling toddler named Jude who has thrust us into the joys and new changes of parenthood. Our recent move to the San Francisco Bay Area has us missing our Nashville community, but has also brought us in proximity to both of our extended families, which is a rare gift.

We believe deeply in the calling to be in community, to spend our lives on behalf of the poor and to be advocates for a Love that knows no borders. We are figuring out what that looks like in this new season of our lives, and continue to be amazed at all that we are learning. I love sharing those insights here with you along the way. Welcome.