Jody Todd shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Hi Jody, thank you so much for joining us today. We’re thrilled to learn more about your journey, values and what you are currently working on. Let’s start with an ince breaker: What’s more important to you—intelligence, energy, or integrity?
Pick one: Intelligence, Energy, or Integrity.
I think of questions like this in terms of what can’t be taught. Intelligence? That can be learned. You can read the book, take the advice, make the choices. Growth can happen. Energy? That can be gained. You can take the vitamins, train for the day, push through the hard parts. That can happen too. Intelligence and energy are forces that come from the outside in.
But integrity—that’s different. That comes from a deeper place. No one can teach you integrity. No number of laps in the pool will build it. Integrity comes from the inside out. It’s who you are when no one’s watching, and what you do when it costs you something.
A long time ago, I coached a high school volleyball team. We had all kinds of players—some amazing athletes, some brand new to the game. One day, another coach asked me, “Would you rather have a player with a ton of skill or one with a ton of passion?” For me, that was an easy answer: I’ll take passion every time. Why? Because I can teach skill. I can teach you how to make a good pass. I can’t teach you how to love playing the game.
That moment stuck with me. Even now, nearly 20 years later, I still use that example in interviews, team building, and parenting. Because at the end of the day, it’s the same core truth:
You can’t teach integrity. It’s cultivated over time through an internal system of motives and values. It shapes everything else we do. Without it, even the smartest, most energetic person is just a loud noise with no direction.
So yeah—my pick is integrity.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Hi, I’m Jody Todd—and I do a lot of things. I’m a creative at heart, and by trade I work in marketing and communications, which means I spend my professional life doing everything from strategic planning to graphic design. But like most people, I also carry around a past that occasionally pops up sideways in my day like a rogue browser tab I definitely didn’t open. You know the kind.
A few years ago, I decided to stop pretending and start getting honest about all of it. Not the version of Jody other people needed or liked—but the real, in-the-middle me. That journey (which, let’s be honest, lasts as long as we’re breathing) led me to become a passionate advocate for creating safe spaces to pause, reflect, and breathe.
That’s why I founded The Respite, a therapeutic arts practice designed for just that. It’s a space to sit for a moment, find your center, and maybe even make a little mess with some paint while you’re at it. I built it based on what actually worked for me—and then opened it up for others who move through the world like I do.
Out of that came my newest venture, Neurospicy & Co.—because if The Respite is my calm side, Neurospicy & Co. is the wildly creative, sometimes-sarcastic brain behind it. This new brand brings together my original art, therapeutic journaling, and a dose of humor. Every journal features artwork inspired by a real Respite practice, paired with guided pages for writing and art exploration. Think of it as a winding trail through creativity and self-reflection for people who feel everything a lot.
Both of these spaces—The Respite and Neurospicy & Co.—exist for one reason: to help people stay on the planet. To remind you that you’re not alone, you’re not too much, and that somewhere out there is a wildly creative path, uniquely your own and zesty enough to make sense.
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
Wow, that’s a loaded question. Honestly, it sounds like something I’d ask during a Respite practice—only I’d hand you a paintbrush and tell you to explore that feeling with colors and shapes.
What I’d tell my child self now is this: You are enough. Just like you are, you are enough.
I grew up around addiction, domestic abuse, divorce, and a few other chapters I only unpack in safe spaces. That little girl believed many things that helped her feel safe: Be invisible. Be quiet. Be good enough. Be the comforter. Be the secret-keeper. In other words, be the household mood ring, backup counselor, and emergency response team—all rolled into one—before finishing middle school.
I’d love to say I don’t believe any of those things anymore, but that wouldn’t be entirely true. What is true is that I remind myself—pretty much daily—that I’m not that little girl anymore.
And yes, that shows up in very practical ways. Like the note taped under my computer monitor that says:
“You are not 13 anymore! Be Kind – Be Respectful – Be Direct.”
(It’s basically a pep talk from my wiser self to the part of me still scanning for danger in conference calls.)
So, do I still believe those old things? Nope, on a good day.
Is it always easy to live like I don’t? Also nope, on every day.
It takes reminders, post-its, deep breaths, and the occasional meltdown.
And that’s okay.
(Or at least, the very smart humans I process life with say it is—and I’m choosing to believe them.)
What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?
Yes, I have defining wounds. Most of us do. I’m not sure you ever really “heal” from them in the way I used to imagine. I think they just change in intensity—some days sharp, some days just a dull echo.
For a long time, I thought healing meant they’d just go away. Like there was some magic snow globe I could shake, and poof—new scene, clean slate. But memories don’t work like that. I found that out the hard way.
Like most things, healing has turned out to be a lifelong process—…less about closure and more about learning how not to believe every lie that fear still whispers in the back of my head.
My smart people (you know, the ones who help me stay on the planet) will sometimes say, “This is what healing looks like…” And it’s never the picture I have in mind that includes a rainbow with little blue birds flying around. It’s usually me, mid-stumble, grabbing the metaphorical handrail at the last possible second to avoid a full-blown faceplant. And them saying, “See? That’s it. That’s healing.”
Honestly, I had a very different picture in mind
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. What important truth do very few people agree with you on?
We’ve talked about a lot of serious things—but you can’t spend all your moments in the heavy stuff. There has to be a flip side. So here’s one of mine:
The simple, important truth that very few people agree with me on is this—black licorice is delicious.
And let me be clear: there are no other colors of licorice. The red? The blue? All those other rainbow imposters? That’s candy, not licorice.
Licorice is made of licorice and it only comes in that mysterious, hard-to-explain, nature-inspired flavor. The long twists? Acceptable. But go for the soft black licorice from down under. So worth it.
Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. What is the story you hope people tell about you when you’re gone?
When I’m gone, I hope people say one simple thing about me: she tried.
That’s it. I tried. I gave it a good go, even when I didn’t know what I was doing—and honestly, sometimes that’s all any of us can do.
I say this a lot in conversations: “You don’t know what you don’t know.”
There are so many moments when we’re faced with decisions or in situations we’ve never encountered before. And we don’t know what to do because we’ve just never been there. We don’t know what we don’t know.
Now, full honesty? Truth is, I hate that feeling. I want to know things…all the things. I want control…all the control. I want it wrapped up and handed to me with easy-to-read instructions, step-by-step illustrations, and maybe even a QR to a bonus video. Also true, that’s never going to happen, and most of the good stuff I’ve learned has come from the not-knowing first.
So, when the story gets told, I hope it’s not about perfection, having is all together—or how great I am (I mean, I know… am pretty great..ha…ha). I hope it’s about someone who made it. Someone who came sliding headfirst into home—with ripped pants, a black eye, and their helmet on backwards—the call? Safe or out? Unclear, but she made it home.
She tried…and if she can try, so can you.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0FGHMVB2T/allbooks?ingress=0&visitId=2b791ec5-1674-4ec1-b219-2051eb9ae586&ref_=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_3&ccs_id=ee03f63c-fb9b-4976-96c7-c310b0c81c78
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the.respite.franklin
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jody-todd-b7ba8732/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/the.respite.franklin/
