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About Jennifer David | Writer, Traveler & Founder of Closer Lives
Welcome — I’m Jennifer.
Writer. Traveler. Creator. Teacher.
A woman who has lived many lives online — and built something meaningful in each one.
My presence on the internet didn’t begin with travel videos or social platforms. It began with writing — raw, reflective, unfiltered writing — long before algorithms, monetization, or strategy mattered.
This page is the anchor point.
The place where every era of my work connects, overlaps, and finally makes sense.
If you’re curious about the heartbeat behind Closer Lives — this is where the story lives.
THE EARLY ERA — Writings of a Mrs (2012–2013)
I started Writings of a Mrs in 2012 while raising a blended family of eight — five teenagers and three younger children. Life was full. Busy, beautiful, overwhelming, and very real.
Writing became the way I stayed grounded, processed what I was carrying, and made sense of the world I was living inside.
During this time, I discovered poetry, created a pay-it-forward space for bloggers, built early Pinterest and Facebook communities, and self-published my first poetry book, The Vault: Main Floor. Alongside this, I ran Writings of a Mrs Mommy, documenting the day-to-day realities of motherhood, identity, and the woman I was becoming within family life.
Those early posts still live exactly where they began — on their original blogs — and they are being thoughtfully reactivated, not rewritten. They remain the foundation of my voice and my relationship with long-form storytelling.
THE PAUSE — Work, Study, Depth, and Transformation
As life shifted, the blogs grew quiet.
I focused on work, raised my family, and entered a deeper season of study — training in funeral services, embalming, end-of-life care, and death doula work.
This path shaped how I listen, how I hold space, and how I understand endings, grief, and meaning.
It was a quieter season publicly, but a deeply formative one personally — and the depth from this chapter still informs everything I create today.
THE REBIRTH — Writings of an Ex-Mrs (Post-Divorce)
After my divorce, I wasn’t ready to return to the woman I had been when I first blogged. Too much had changed.
Instead, I opened a new space on Instagram called Writings of an Ex-Mrs — a place for healing, truth-telling, reinvention, and reflection.
This chapter marked my first solo travels, poetry, a deeper exploration of meditation and energy work, and years of learning driven by curiosity rather than obligation.
This was where the earliest seeds of Closer Lives were planted — the realization that poetry, storytelling and community could grow side by side.
THE COMMUNITY ERA — Closer Lives Poetry (2019–2021)
Closer Lives Poetry began as an Instagram community for writers and poets — a gathering place for shared expression, live readings, and creative connection.
It grew quickly, with thousands of contributors, weekly live sessions, and over 35,000 posts shared under #closerlivespoetry.
It also changed my life.
This is where I met Leon.
He joined first as a reader, then became a collaborator, and eventually my creative partner — and later, my life partner. Our community witnessed our relationship unfold across continents and time zones, from poetry readings to meeting in Australia to building a life together.
This era laid the emotional and structural groundwork for everything that followed.
THE TRANSITION ERA — From Poetry to Travel, From Ex-Mrs to A Broad Perspective (Late 2021)
As the world reopened, our creative direction shifted.
Closer Lives Poetry evolved into Jenn and Leon Travel on Instagram, reflecting the life we were actually living. At the same time, Writings of an Ex-Mrs transformed into A Broad Perspective — a home for my travel reflections, spiritual insights, and deeper thought pieces.
This was the bridge between who I had been and the woman I was becoming: still a writer, but now a traveler and storyteller in motion.
THE TRAVEL ERA — Full-Time Nomads (2021–2023)
In April 2021, we packed up our lives and stepped into full-time world travel — without a roadmap, just curiosity and a willingness to learn as we went.
I shifted from writing into video, teaching myself editing, on-camera storytelling, and visual narrative. Leon focused on SEO, analytics, and building a digital infrastructure that could grow with us.
Together, we built a platform that now reaches a global audience — with a YouTube channel in the top 2% worldwide and a travel blog ranked in the top 4% globally. This era opened the door to brand collaborations, partnerships, and a new way of sharing our lives and travels.
→ Jenn & Leon YouTube Channel
→ Closer Lives Travel Blog
THE PRO-AGING ERA — Embracing the Silver Lining (2022–Present)
As we traveled, another chapter emerged: my decision to stop dyeing my hair and grow out my natural grey.
Embracing the Silver Lining became a space for pro-aging conversations, confidence, beauty, wellness, and visibility — especially for women navigating midlife transitions.
It also opened doors to brand collaborations and UGC opportunities aligned with authenticity rather than perfection.
At the same time, I returned fully to my writing voice.
A Broad Perspective deepened into a home for essays, spiritual reflections, and the quieter inner work that has always shaped my path.
→ Embracing the Silver Lining
→ A Broad Perspective
THE NOW — Closer Lives (Where Every Era Connects)
Today, Closer Lives is the connective home for everything Leon and I have built — and everything I’m returning to.
It connects the writing, the travel, the pro-aging work, the spiritual reflections, the community, the courses, the retreats, and the purpose that has followed me through every season. It doesn’t collapse those chapters or force them to compete. It gives them context.
Closer Lives isn’t just a website.
It’s the architecture of my life’s work — and the place where the next era begins.
If you’re here to read, reflect, travel, question, reinvent, or simply witness a life built in chapters — you’re in the right place.
→ Explore Closer Lives
→ Courses, Retreats & Creative Work (coming soon)
Latest Blog Posts
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