THE GOOD
I feel so blessed that I’ve been surrounded by family since March. There were seven, and sometimes nine, people in our pod— three kids; two fiancé’s, my husband, our nephew and three to four dogs. We fought for office space but ate memorable meals and did at-home Peloton work-outs together.
I personally had no choice but to take it down a notch. I’m still not meditating but I did download the Calm app. I also said yes to Zoom panels, speeches and was able to virtually connect with tons of people — new and old.
The coolest thing was getting to launch my dream cosmetics company, JonesRoad Beauty, from the comfort of my home (with a few in-office days). Who knew the power of a young scrappy team mixed with a seasoned professional could simply just get it done.
THE ADD
Travel! It’s the first thing I’ll do when we can. My husband and I love our vacation time together and as a family. I miss the UK and Paris and had also promised my youngest son a trip to Tokyo as his college graduation gift. I miss the Bahamas, which is one of our favorite warm weather destinations, too. I also haven’t been able to see my family in Chicago and really want to see my 85 year-old Dad.
Two of our sons put their weddings on hold, so I’m really looking forward to those celebrations.
THE BUZZ
Jones Road s releasing 25 shades of face pencils and 4 shades of eye pencils in mid-January. We’ll also be fully back ins tock of our Miracle Balm, which we underestimated the demand for. There are a bunch of monthly launches in the pipeline after that.
My wellness brand, EVOLUTION_18 is releasing several delicious new products to support beauty from the inside out. Plus, new episodes of my podcast, Beyond the Beauty, with amazing founders. And hopefully, I’ll get a chill spa day with my sister, which we usually do once a year, or I’ll finally meditate...
PHOTO COURTESY | Bobbi Brown
THE GOOD
With the Covid 19 crisis making 2020anunforgettable year for all of us, it was a strange time to have the most successful year of my career. This year I have won the European championship (ELMS) the world championship (WEC) and the 24 hours of Le Mans. I became the youngest British winner of the Le Mans as wel las the youngest winner of WEC (World Endurance Championship). This year has felt even weirder due the races held behind "closed doors", closed to the public spectators. Covid tests proved me wrong in thinking nothing would enter that high up my nose, it didn't take away from a year where I won 6 of the 9 races I entered.
THE ADD
I said to myself that I was going to rekindle my German this year, 2 phone apps and the subscription page to an online language platform later I still haven't given it the time it needs. It's one of those things that won't make me a faster racing driver and therefore doesn't take priority, but then again that's exactly how I excused myself this year. Maybe next year will be the year.
THE BUZZ
Next year I am signed for another season of WEC, and ELMS with the same team as 2020 alongside both returning and new teammates. Another strong season next year is almost a make or break for my career with new manufacturers on the horizon to enter in 2023 and their development likely to start in 2022. Next years performance could solidify my name amongst the top to be first in line fora seat in one of the upcoming campaigns to win the top class of sportscar racing. The pressure is definitely going to be piling on over the winter months of training to make sure I'm in the best shape possible to hit the ground running where I left off this year.
PHOTO COURTESY | Phil Hanson
THE GOOD
I think that on a very big level, there has been a massive awakening of people on the planet. There’s so much. Anytime there is an election year, the pandemic, the amount of variables that have been going on is massive. Where people saw protests, I saw people coming together. I saw so much alignment in a way that we haven’t had in my lifetime that I can remember as an adult. I thought that that was special.
For me personally, when things slowed down and got quiet, I had an opportunity to listen. It was a year for me to let go and listen. When you sit down and listen, the answers are there. I realized that there were people, places and things that I could let go of now. I wondered why I was holding and why I was chasing to-wards them which could take me off my path. Being still, I saw relationships that I could let go with love and without any drama. It also allowed me to see some of the most amazing people on the planet that I am able to call friends. That goes to my family as well. It’s been a crazy year. My brother’s fiancé passed away very early in March not COVID related and we have never been closer. He lost his fiancé, we've been separated by a pandemic, I’ve seen him once the entire year and you know my brother and I get to FaceTime and we’re closer now then we were 10 years ago so there are gifts within the loss and that forme was great. So relationships with my brother and others has been great.
THE ADD
There are a couple of massive things I’m really proud of! One being Openfit. It’s a brand that basically I’m going back to coaching. So we’re filming a massive program that will be out in the world and we will film it in Jan. It will go out in Feb. I want to be the modern day Richard Simmons - having great access to health. I can't dance as good as Richard but man, it's going to be fun and special. All this programming is so intense and there’s no place for people that are beginning or trying to get back in. So Openfit and I have built this wonderful program and I can’t wait to do it because I haven’t coached this way in years. It will be available in streaming and I’m really excited about it. It’s exciting that people will be able to bring me back into their homes and living rooms again.
The other big thing is my CBD company! I started GetUP, a CBD company a year ago.COVID was tough, I couldn’t do shipping and getting things out – it really helped me identify the purpose of what this was.I know that there are people who may not be familiar with it, but they trust me and this will be the people’s CBD. CBD is so expensive and this is going to be like, "hey pay what you can scale" and I will send it to you. I want people to have access to health and it shouldn’t be exclusive based on affordability. It’s a really big initiative that I have decided to put together and I’m really excited as that will be available in Jan. It’s a really good start to the new year. I wanted to demystify fitness and I did, food/nutrition and I did and now I want to do the same thing with CBD. I love the name because no matter how much you get down, you get back up and that’s the mantra of 2021.
THE BUZZ
I encourage people to sign up and go to my mailing list Widerstrom.com. I send an email out every week. Sometimes it’s what just in my head or little tips. If you’re getting that, you know about things that are going on with me, challenges that I’mlaunching, Transformation will be in there I’m sure and I have things like that happening but I always say get on the mailing list and we start from there.
PHOTO COURTESY | Jen Widerstrom
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