Hey there!

In addition to founding B2B, Marlena is a 30 year old full-time employee at NYU Langone Health, and part-time Master’s student at NYU’s Silver School of Social Work, studying to become a therapist. Despite that heavy load, she is one of the goofiest, sweetest and most high spirited people around. her current reality stands in stark contrast to that of her later 2000s. In short, Marlena experienced a devastating fallout with her friends and ENDURED subsequent bullying. This culminated in her needing to be home schooled for the remainder of high school; during which time she lived very isolated and psychologically traumatized. It took a long time, but eventually she learned to self-love her way to healing and what she deems triumph. Healing is something she continues to work on every day, but ultimately FEELS life is really really wonderful; she’s following a career she’s passionate about, in tow with a loving family, boyfriend and tons of supportive friends. She believes none of these things could have been attained however, had she not gone through what she did and learned to rise on her own. It is this realization that inspired her to start B2B; she never could have dreamt back then, that her life could be so happy now, and she wishes she’d had a resource like this while she was going through her own struggle. She wants to provide proof to those suffering that it not only gets better, but it can actually get marvelously more beautiful because of the pain and lessons learned from trauma. SHE ALSO ASPIRES FOR THIS TO BE A healing space for those who are still recovering from their past bullying; she knows all too well that the scars can remain long after the problem has seemingly been resolved.

Also… She says hiII and she’s so happy you’re here! she hopes to remind you OF JUST how MAGICAL you are and how DEEPLY YOUR STORY IS VALUED, ESPECIALLY HERE. You belong, babe!

[To hear her FULL story, sign up for the Phoenix Story membership!]

Boy mom, amateur doodler, dog rescuer, and ice coffee snob…

After the universe divinely intertwined Jessie and Marlena’s lives, the two shared their stories, and Jess quickly hopped on board this beautiful project as co founder. Jess and her army husband reside in Missouri with their two dogs and two boys. When not working on B2B, Jess spends her time rescuing and fostering dogs, After going through trauma in high school, Jess was determined. With the support of her family and friends, Jess became the bubbly, mom and friend that she is today. She was drawn to this conception because of knowing you’re not alone in this life, is what helped Jess blossom.

[To hear her FULL story, sign up for the Phoenix Story membership!]