Entrepreneurship and Music: A Story of Healing | Tara Jenkins - Part 1

What happens when your personal story becomes the heartbeat of your business? In this episode, Beverly chats with Tara Jenkins, board-certified music therapist and founder of Harmony in Dementia, about building a business that’s as healing for the entrepreneur as it is for the clients they serve. From the power of music in dementia care to managing chronic health challenges while running a solo practice, Tara’s story is an inspiring look at how to lead with passion, adaptability, and purpose, especially when life gets messy.

Three Key Topics Discussed:

1. The Healing Power of Music in Dementia Care: Tara explains how music bypasses damaged neural pathways and fosters connection for those living with dementia, often unlocking emotional responses and memories when words no longer work.
2. Building a Purpose-Led Business in the Messy Middle: From a toxic workplace to starting her own practice, Tara shares how personal challenges shaped her entrepreneurial path and gave her the clarity to serve others with intention.
3. How Transparency and Boundaries Fuel Confidence: We discuss what it really looks like to manage chronic health issues as a solo entrepreneur and how being honest with clients builds deeper trust and sustainability.

Follow Tara:
Tara Jenkins | LinkedIn
Harmony in Dementia | Facebook
Harmony in Dementia | Instagram
Harmony in Dementia | TikTok
Harmony in Dementia | Website

Transcript

Beverly: 0:09

Did you know that music therapy has been shown to reduce agitation and improve communication for people with dementia? It's a powerful tool, and today we are going to dive deep into how it can transform the lives of those who are aging and living with dementia. I'm your host Beverly Cornell, and I'm the founder and fairy godmother of brand Clarity at Wickedly branded. With over 25 years of experience, I've helped hundreds of purpose driven entrepreneurs awaken their brand magic and boldly bring it to life so that they can magnify their special impact on the world. Today's guest is someone who's bringing incredible transformation to the dementia care space. Tara Jenkins is the founder of Harmony in Dementia. Tara is a board certified music therapist and dementia care specialist. She's worked in the field since 2007, providing music therapy services, consultation, and training for older adults, caregivers and professionals. Tara, I'm super excited that you're here. Thank you for coming.

Tara: 1:12

Yeah, you're so welcome. I'm excited to be here as well.

Beverly: 1:15

I reached out to you on LinkedIn'cause I thought you had such a unique niche, like how you serve and what you do. What started your journey? What was the spark that helped you create Harmony in dementia?

Tara: 1:27

I had a grandmother who lived in a nursing home, and I always felt like there was a way to connect and reach her, but I didn't really know how. So I started exploring what types of careers I could have in music. I didn't wanna really teach, I didn't wanna perform full-time, so I knew what I didn't want. Okay. Okay. And I started researching music therapy and, I came upon music therapy, started reading about it, auditioned and explored a couple different schools. And I ended up at Shenandoah University. So that's how my music therapy journey started. And for music therapists, for board certified music therapists, we have four years of coursework. It's followed by a six month internship, and that is about 1200 hours of clinical training. Working with different people and different groups. And then you sit for a board exam after the six month internship. So that's where you get the credential. MTBC. Okay. For music therapist board certified. So in those 1200 clinical hours, my first practicum, which is basically like a rotation in other professions was with older adults. It was in a nursing home and full circle. I did my internship at that same location. Oh. So four years later I did my six month internship there providing group and individual music therapy services. And I knew from that first practicum that I felt this deep connection with older adults, with older people, with people living with dementia and cognitive impairment, and I never look back. So that's what started my curiosity and my interest in working in kind of the aging and dementia space. I've had a variety of roles. I've worn many hats over the almost 20 years. So I was an activities director who also did some music therapy. I was a full-time music therapist at a long-term care community. I've worked for a music therapy company and then I found at my private practice, so my private practice. Was founded originally, I wanna say maybe 14 or 15 years ago, under the name Young at Heart Music Therapy. Okay. So that was my original kind of baby starting out and it was in Washington, DC and. I was in a job that just wasn't working for me. It was a kind of a toxic environment as far as management and things like that. And I was having a really challenging and difficult time, so I went into private practice to just see. And I'm very much like always have a plan. So it's very scary to be like, okay, I am gonna put in my notice and I'm gonna just try this and see what happens. Fortunately I was very connected at the time I was in the Washington DC area. I was very connected with a lot of different long-term care communities social workers, different people like that from my other roles that I had previously. And so I just started and I realized how much I loved being my own boss. The autonomy of making your own schedule also, deciding who I wanna work with, who I wanna partner with. I think that's really important. Do our values align those kinds of things. And so that's where it got started for me with private practice work. And then we relocated to Austin. And so for a while I worked for a music therapy company doing a lot of different things. I still had my private practice, I had a couple private clients, but in 2022, I really wanted to go back into private practice full time, not only to continue the clinical services, but to provide education and support. So I'm doing a lot more work focused on supporting caregivers on professionals and students educating them on how to use music. Not everyone is trained as a music therapist, so there are a lot of things you can do outside of what we do to help support people. And I think it's important that older adults and people living with dementia can have access to their music and whatever that looks like for them. So I'm all about championing that along the way. So yeah, that, it's a long story, but that's where I started, where my inspiration came from and how my private practice has grown from that.

Beverly: 5:31

Music is so healing, Tara, like on so many levels. But one thing that I discovered it was my grandfather, he ended up having a heart attack and took a little while for him to be resuscitated. And ultimately in the end, very sadly, he was considered brain dead. But in the time when they were doing tests and they had brought him back to be able to breathe and his heart back into rhythm, we weren't sure if he was brain dead. And at the time it was actually very interesting in the sense of you would hold his hand and his hand would squeeze your hand. And there are certain things that your body does that is like almost like a muscle memory type situation. And when we played music for him, he tapped his toe. Yeah. He was essentially brain dead. And. We didn't believe the doctors at first because of some of those things. It was really hard for us to wrap our heads around how can you tap your toe if you're not there? Yeah. But music's hit such a center part of who we are like it now makes complete sense, like knowing what I know now. So maybe talk a little bit why it's so powerful in the space of dementia

Tara: 6:39

Segueing from that story, and thank you for sharing that. Music is one of the first things we respond to in the womb, and it's one of the last things we respond to in end of life. So when I've worked with people who are on hospice or receiving palliative care they may not be able to see you anymore or, they may not necessarily have that awareness, but they can still respond to music. And part of that is because music is centered throughout our brain. So it's not just localized in one area but it's more generalized. And so that's why a lot of times you might hear a story, especially in my kind of work where someone can no longer speak, but they can sing. And so part of that is because our neurons are constantly firing until they make a connection. So when you think about people who are living with dementia, there may be areas of their brain that are affected by their diagnosis or their disease, but our neurons are brains are working really hard to make those connections. And music is multisensory. So there's a lot of sensory input when you are engaged in a music experience. You've got your auditory so you're, it's coming in, you're hearing it, you're visually seeing it. Yeah. You're feeling it. That rhythm tactile. Yeah. Going back to feeling there's so many different things that are involved in any one given music experience. And so that's why a lot of times too, all of this input is going in to then get some output. And sometimes it's a toe tap and that's amazing. Sometimes it's singing and dancing, sometimes it's sharing a story. I just was in a group, I think it was about a week or two ago, and there was a resident who was resting, eyes closed, and I'd check in every so often throughout the group. And at the end she opened her eyes and I asked her if she could hear the music and she said, yeah. And I said, oh, how did you enjoy it? And she said, it was so good. Thank you so much. And I wanted to share that story because you never know when you're gonna make a connection. Yeah. Especially with people living with dementia. You just have to be open to that and recognize that, music experiences aren't universal to all folks, so everyone engages in their own way. So I always say there's no wrong way to engage in music, and there's no wrong way to feel when we're engaging and listening to music as well.

Beverly: 9:01

There's no wrong way to feel or to experience it. Yeah. It's so international on so many levels My husband is actually active duty Army and he's deployed right now, and he's in a situation where there's 20 other countries and they're all doing this training exercise and they did a karaoke night and he was like, it was epic, Beverly. They were singing in Nigerian and it was such a way to build a bond. With them that he asked to do it again. It was so powerful. But music is so universal and that's what's so beautiful about it. And I think about my kids, even the first things they did was like, dance around before they could even talk. And it's a way of communicating too. In that sense. It's so tactile. I hadn't really thought about it that way until you said something like that it's like the first language and it's universal and the last. So that's full circle.

Tara: 9:47

And you can have a musical conversation with no words, I think about drumming, if you're doing group drumming, you can engage with dynamics, with tempo Silence can be just as important. Having that pause, having that break. And that can happen in my work, working with people living with dementia. But really in music therapists work, no matter who you're working with. And that's the other thing, we work with all ages and stages of life. So anywhere a nurse can work, we can work and we can have those conversations with and without words.

Beverly: 11:26

That's amazing what a cool thing though, to be universal in that way.'cause I feel like so much of our world is siloed. And to have something that's so universal is pretty powerful in that respect. Yeah. Talk a little bit about what's the most rewarding part of what you do and maybe share a client's highlight or transformation.

Tara: 11:43

Sure. I have two examples that come to mind. But probably one of the most rewarding things, I think is the connections. I'm all about meaningful connections and relationships in everything I do. Whether I am talking to a CEO, whether I'm working with a client, whether I am, on a podcast, connecting with people I don't know who are listening to you the host. So that's really what my work is all about. And it's really the core of my work is fostering that rapport and those meaningful relationships. I say I'm really fortunate'cause a lot of the times I get to see the best moments for my clients and especially as a contractor now. So I go into communities I go in, I do my music therapy and I leave. I don't necessarily know a lot about some of the people I see, some of them I know because I see them frequently. Sometimes I'm there once a month. And I don't know if they're struggling or having challenges with X, Y, and Z because when I see them, they're presenting a very different way. I had one woman who was so thankful I was there and really appreciated what I did and was just so excited to be a part of the group. And afterwards, the staff member said, that's really high praise from her. She usually is not engaged, does not enjoy activities, especially group led things. So a lot of times. I am not aware of that. I'm basically just receiving that energy from my clients and trying to give it back. But two specific examples. One in a community group. I saw these folks weekly, so I knew them very well. Saw them every week Monday mornings, and I had a resident who was on the go, someone who paced and walked around and would never really stay in one place for too long. And it would increase anxiety in the other group members. They would become frustrated that this person was coming in and out. And it was not a positive experience as far as socializing with each other. And as much as I tried to say, it's okay, they can come in and out, it really worked up some of these other group members. So one day we were sharing James Brown I feel good. And a huge smile came on this client's face and they came into the center of the group and I encouraged them to dance along with me. So we're dancing. The rest of the group has instruments and all of a sudden the rest of the group is cheering on that resident and supporting them and just so excited for them. And little by little that residents started coming to more of the group. So maybe they would stay for. A half a song and then a whole song, and so eventually they would be able to stay for 20, 30 minutes of a 60 minute group, which was huge for them especially because they were on the go all the time. It was a time for rest, a time for meaningful engagement, and for socializing with peers, because they're living in that environment after I leave. So if the rest of the group can see that this person can engage meaningfully and they can connect with one another, that really goes beyond my work in that moment, in that group session.

Beverly: 14:46

James Brown. I feel good. Like, how can you not get up and dance. My dad plays the guitar. He sings, he was in a Beatles cover band when he was in high school. My grandfather played the guitar I feel like the music side of it's always come from his side. And he always loved to dance with my mom. He still loves to dance, they're a lot older. But love to dance with my mom. And one day we were in a pool and he was singing, I Feel Good. And he was spinning me around. I was like, I don't know, 11, 12 years old and spinning around in the pool. And when we got done, there was like several people in the hotel that had been watching us and all clapped, so that song has this very vivid memory for me of this really wonderful time with my dad. This very special moment. And it's often discussed even in our family. It's a family story of, yeah, we put on a show. We didn't mean to put on a show, but we put on a show. I think is super special when you can find a song that can make somebody connect in that way. That's so cool.

Tara: 15:39

You sharing that story makes me wanna say something else before I go to the next example, but that's what I love about music is how we can all hear the same song and we're gonna have a different reaction. It's gonna take us to another place. So going back to why music is so powerful for all of us, but for people living with dementia is because it can bring us back to a time and place. I love that story. Such a cool story. The other example is more with my individual work. I also work with clients one-on-one. And what I love about that is I can tailor. The session to their specific preferences with a group. Sometimes I have people who are in their fifties and in their nineties, so I try to mix the music style genres, all of that. But when I'm working with someone individually, I can really dig into their music preferences and their needs and interests in what they wanna get out of our time together. And I worked with someone who was a music educator and also a performer. So they were a brass player and they gigged all around. Originally their spouse sought out services because they were no longer playing their primary instrument like they used to. And they thought we could work together in that. And when we met, I found out that it was becoming a negative experience because he was aware that he could no longer play to the level he used to be able to play to. So we did do some processing and some work around that and realized that it maybe wasn't the best idea to push engaging with that primary instrument. And I will say you don't have to have musical training to engage in music therapy, but if you do, then we kind of work with you in a different way. With this person specifically, I knew he had this strong background as an educator in music and all of the knowledge and talent that he had. So we used an instrument called an auto harp. And it is a stringed instrument. It's a folk instrument. What's really great about it is you press a button and then when you strum it, it plays that chord. So instead of with a guitar where you're forming the chord with your hand, you just press the button, it hits the strings it needs to play the chord. And he was very familiar with that'cause he taught his students how to play those. So I could say, okay, we're gonna sing and play. You are my sunshine in the key of C or the key of D. We'd go over the chords and then he would play while I would sing. And that was a really meaningful and beneficial experience for him because he was still tapping in and utilizing all of that knowledge and all of that talent. And we were creating something in the moment together. And he could feel joyful after instead of feeling frustrated. And we still did work on him with his primary instrument in certain opportunities. But yeah, we really went beyond that. So I think that's important to keep in mind too.

Beverly: 18:26

I would imagine every situation's a little bit different and unique. These are really beautiful stories, Tara of connection. But I'm sure that being in business, if you didn't have a plan, like I didn't have a plan either. I was an accidental entrepreneur. I married an active duty Army husband, so I had to take my show on the road. So that literally was what made me become an entrepreneur. But. There's challenges being an entrepreneur. There's lots of things that we struggle with. You do everything. You try everything. One of the things that I read in your guest application was that managing your health while running a solo practice has one of the biggest challenges that you experienced. Yeah. Can you talk how have you Done that?

Tara: 19:00

Yeah, it's a day to day, but I will say I have gotten better at it over time. I have several kind of chronic health issues that flare up some chronic pain some other things as well, and sometimes it comes out of nowhere. Sometimes I'm feeling great, I'm doing all the things and then it just stops me in my tracks and. It's really hard as a solo entrepreneur to just say, okay I can't, I have to cancel this. I have to reschedule that. I would carry so much guilt about having to do that. And then being hard on myself and hard on my body what it can't do. I think over time also working with the therapist, I can't recommend that enough if you're struggling with different things. For me, it's been very helpful to give me more tools in my toolbox. My philosophy is if you're working with people and helping people in the way I do, I think you also need to be checking in with someone yourself. But what it's helped me to see, especially after we moved, we relocated from Austin to Wilmington. So I'm in North Carolina now. I've been here about a year. And recently after we relocated, I was like ready to hit the ground running, like ready to reach out and start building my business locally.'cause I also see clients virtually. I do things nationally and then things locally. And I had a flare up of several different things and it was really hard to make the decision to just pause. I eventually put an away message on my email that was just like I'm having some medical issues. I don't have a return date. I will get back to you when I can. That kind of a thing. The decision was hard, but once I made the decision, all this weight lifted off of me because I was doing what I needed to do. I had to take care of me, my body, mentally, physically, emotionally. There was a lot going on. And I don't think we do that enough as a society. And I think especially if you're in your own business, because you are it, right? Like you said, we're doing all the things. And there's no one to go to say, can you cover for me? Or can you take this phone call? And then you also look at it from a financial standpoint, right? I'm very fortunate and I recognize that I had the ability and support from family, but also from my husband that I was able to take that break, right? Which I'm so very thankful for. I know not everybody is in that situation or has that set of circumstances. But I came out of it stronger and I also came out of it being more transparent with everybody I work with. And not just about my health, but just about anything we talk about. Being transparent when it comes to, I'm a business and I do charge for services, I do get a lot of people asking for me to do things for free. And especially sometimes with music people think of it as, there's music volunteers who like volunteer from the church and go and play in assisted living communities and in memory care and dementia communities and things like that. So sharing that while I have expertise and experience and all of that, but to be transparent about cost, about health when something comes up. And I found that I've received so much grace and support and love and understanding and I used to be. I don't know if afraid is the right word, but I used to be very hesitant and timid to share what was going on with me because I thought either they didn't wanna know or it shouldn't matter. And I've learned over time that sharing those things connect me to the business clients I'm working with more. But it's also just then they know what's going on. So it's not me flaking, when I'm canceling last minute, they know, oh, it's not that this person isn't unreliable, it's that there's something real going on. And then I also give them grace, and give them support. Yeah. And vice versa. I think for me it still is a challenge, but I think I've learned to navigate it. It was not easy by any means. And I still navigate it because it's something that sometimes some symptoms will creep up. So I know something's coming so I can thin out my schedule, but other times it comes out of nowhere. And that's more of the challenge for me.

Beverly: 23:03

Two things. One is I'm just near Fayetteville, North Carolina. Oh. Oh my goodness. Wilmington. Wilmington. Beautiful. I was just there. I love it. So welcome to North Carolina. Yes. Oh, we love it here. We'll have to have coffee someday. Yeah, I would love that. The second thing is I'm listening to you and one of the things that we talk about with our clients all the time is that and I say this often, I have felt the same way. To be a professional as a woman, you have to leave like this part of you here and do this part of you here. And for a long time, I bought into that. But recently, in the last couple three years, I have realized, and I help my clients realize this too, and really lean into it. So I'm gonna say go deep in this. Is that. My business was built in the messy middle of life, like my husband's deployed and I have a kid in my, and all this stuff is happening. I had major hip surgery, me going through menopause. All the things

Tara: 23:53

Yeah.

Beverly: 23:54

That happen in our lives. What is so powerful about that, Tara, is there are people who really connect with you as a service provider. Those in helping professions need therapy. Yes, I agree, need help. But the thing is that do not feel alone in that kind of feeling that am I the only one that's needing help? I am a very high performer. I need a coach and I need a therapist. Just for my own mindset and my own sanity. I know I need that, but the fact that you advocate now intentionally for you allows you to also coach others to do the same. And that's so beautiful and it honors so much of what I think our purpose here is. So I'm gonna tell you, lean harder and be visible. Be confident in that because it's exactly what the world needs more of. So if you had to reflect on the years you've been in business, what has been the biggest shift and what's it evolved you most as you've been in this field now since 2007?

Tara: 24:53

I love the messy middle for sure. Sharing that. I think also for me, how it's evolved is letting go of, I of course, have a to-do list and I'm gonna check things off that list. But letting go of, it's okay if it doesn't all get done. I have so many ideas as a creative and as an entrepreneur and, oh, I wanna work with this person and that person and this organization. But there's just only so many hours in the day and there's also so many hours I wanna devote to my business, and I don't mean that negatively, but I think too, as solo business owners. It's hard to turn your brain off, and as a music therapist too, I sometimes will be in the grocery store and I'll hear a song and I'll be like, Ooh, that would be a really good song for this client. Things like that happen to me all the time. And it's work in progress trying to get better about acknowledging that thought and putting a note in my phone. Or if I have social media content, I have so many ideas, it comes down to the time of putting that content out there. I put a note in my phone and then every now and then I'll revisit that if I'm looking for inspiration. But trying to enjoy my life outside of my business as well. And I think that's really hard to do sometimes. And I think as my business has evolved also to explore, for me it used to be a lot of in person, like everything's in person. And I still believe in-person music therapy is the most beneficial. But there are a lot of people who either don't have music therapists in their area, or they can't leave their home for whatever reason, or they have so many different circumstances. So I have pivoted and I am working with organizations to provide telehealth services for people living with dementia and their caregivers. And that's been really beautiful. Before the pandemic, I was doing telehealth services, but I was keeping quiet about it because not a lot of people were doing it. And I didn't know, is this okay that I was doing it right? I just went along my way. But it was with Skype to show you how long ago it was. Yeah, Zoom was not a thing. And it was when I relocated, I relocate it from the DC area to Austin and I had a husband and wife. I saw both of them. Both were clients and the son was their primary caregiver and we used Skype to bring family members into our sessions. So he said why don't we try to continue with you in Austin like this and see what happens. So that was one of my private clients that I kept, even though I started working for another company and then the pandemic happened and then a lot of people got used to very quickly how to do stuff not in person. So I think it's opened up a window for me and my business, and especially sometimes with what I've got going on health-wise, to stay in my home. To be comfortable to be where I am and not only provide clinical services, but education and training. So I think that's what's also evolved most about my business is I wanna stay with clinical.'cause I think if I'm gonna talk about all of these benefits and the challenges and everything that goes into it, I wanna be tapped in and be doing the work every day. But I also wanna be doing more speaking and teaching. And educating and being online and being visible on podcasts and, getting hired by organizations to train their teams or webinars for caregivers and professionals. Being online has allowed me to do a lot more of that.

Beverly: 28:06

Amazing. I started my business in 2011, end of the 2011, beginning of 2012. And same, I took my show on the road and we move every two, three years and I would not have a business if I couldn't work remotely. You have to rebuild from scratch every three years would be almost impossible. And this technology has just changed everything. Everything that I do is online. I do websites and all this. It's all online. Obviously the whole I in-person connection is always really valuable. However this has allowed such a different level. My therapist she's in Winston-Salem. And my coach is in New York City. Yeah. And we have clients that are in Vancouver and like my whole team is in Central America and Michigan and we're all over too. So it's really allowed us to just be where we want to be, where we can be and serve more people in that way. If you are listening and you have built your business in the messy middle, or you are just understanding this process of maybe sharing more of your true self in your journey, like some of the challenges, some of the things that are really hard, like Tara's talking about her health and different things that if this resonates with you, I'd love for you to share this episode. Take a screenshot, share the link, put it on social media. Tag us, let us know your biggest takeaway. What are you working with in this right now? Plus, it also helps other people discover the magic of this particular podcast and people like Tara. So this season we are all about confidence. Last season we awakened some brand magic, Tara but this season we're all about visibility and confidence. So what does confidence look like for you as a business owner? How did you build it? And can you share a moment when you realized that you were truly showing up with it?

29:44

Hey there, you've just finished part one of the Spark Ignite Your Marketing episode. How are you feeling? Excited, inspired, but we're just getting started. Next Tuesday we're dropping part two, and you won't wanna miss it. Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter, so you'll be the first to know when it goes live. Until then, take a breather, let those ideas simmer, and we'll see you next week.