SPHERE Education... One Brain Owner at a Time!
SPHERE Education is about brain ownership. We are passionate about coaching people to achieve their highest potential through understanding, awareness, and ownership of their brains. Will you join us and #beabrainowner?
Jennifer Marshall-Green
CEO of Sphere LLC
"Renegade Badass"
When Jenn (Marshall) Green gets up in the morning, she thinks about brains. Her own brain. Teenage brains. Parent brains. Relationship brains. That’s because she believes—and has evidence to show—that there is no task too daunting, no habit impossible to break, if we just learn how to use our brains effectively. She calls that mastery “brain ownership.”
Jenn is a self-proclaimed “renegade badass brain coach.” She is the CEO of SPHERE education, the company she founded in 2013, while earning dual master’s degrees, in psychology and communication, at Regis University. As a 40-year-old student with 15 years’ experience in the human resources field and a bachelor’s degree in business from Henderson State University in Arkansas, she was the sole graduate to receive the prestigious Malcolm Knowles Award, for the student who most effectively applies what he or she is learning.
As a coach, Jenn approaches every situation with a series of questions: Why do we habitually respond a certain way? When in the past has that come up before? What did you do to contribute to the dynamic? How might you approach the situation differently?
She says, “What I do is less about figuring out what’s wrong, and more about figuring out how to transform the confusion of being a teenager/young adult/newly adulting person into genuine verve and self-awareness. What we think of as teen angst is really misguided or latent power that hasn’t yet been harnessed. With tools honed from leading research in neuropsychology, psychology, and biology, people can realize their potential for resilience, creativity, and empathy.”
As a child, Jenn says she experienced both trauma and total joy. Her parents were divorced but were very communicative, and nothing was taboo. She also had a pastor who also encouraged questions, and a swimming coach who helped her develop physical and mental strength. In high school, she first learned about neuro-linguistic programming, or NLP, which, in part, led her to volunteer as a youth pastor, teen counselor, sorority sister and advisor. Over time, people came to see her as a “life coach/therapist/weird aunt/cool big sister,” who was safe to talk to, and non-judgemental. Now she applies those skills in business and at home, where she engages the developing brains of the four children she acquired through marriage.
Jenn’s teaching philosophy applies to all areas and stages of life: from high school to dating, and to work, money, marriage, and family dynamics. She combines the latest neuroscience research, with tried-and-true principals such as positive psychology and cognitive behavioral science. Some clients want to learn about the impact of brain chemistry and epigenetics, while others are more inclined to keep it simple, by paying closer attention to tiny habit changes, emotional responses, and unconscious thought patterns. Her aim is to get people off of autopilot and into a conscious practice of choosing their behaviors and responses. And to be reflective when they occasionally revert back to old habits.
She says, “I give people the owner’s manual to their brain. People think that life is hard, and that they have to live from one small happy moment to the next. But we can we actually choose to be happy most of the time.”
Michael Green
Marketing Director of Sphere LLC
"Trouble Maker"
At Sphere Education, Mike’s job is to “take what’s in our coaches’ brains and get it on paper, or online, or into instructional videos that transform the lives of teens and adults and families.” That’s no small task, but—as Jen’s business partner and spouse—it’s a job for which he truly is uniquely qualified.
He said, “Jen is very much the optimist. She has really big ideas and so much passion for her own teaching and coaching, and for hiring and training new coaches, and for creating curricula that take her lessons to scale. I’m more conservative in nature. I want to be sure our offerings are organized and categorized, and that we figure out what, if anything, is missing in terms of content and delivery methods. And then there’s quality and the integrity of the SPHERE Education brand. Neither of us is willing to sacrifice on those fronts.”
With 32 courses in different stages of development, Mike is drawing on his skills as a creative director, graphic designer, retail manager, entrepreneur, youth mentor and builder of cross-functional teams. After spending part of his childhood in rural western Washington State, where his father, a civil servant for 35 years, and a pastor, moved the family to start a church, he became a jack of all theater trades in high school. he made posters, designed lighting and created and built sets, and eventually shared what he knew in summer community youth theater. After high school, he served in the Air Force and then majored in film and business at Centralia College. His mother, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in his childhood, is part of the reason he’s so interested in understanding how the brain works. “The brain is an amazing piece of electrical engineering,” he said, “and I’m curious about how memories and emotions are formed”
Mike also is curious about the brains and behavior of his four kids, ages seven to 14, who he now co-parents with Jen. “They challenge us to apply and incorporate what we see at home, and they help us understand ourselves better,” he said. “And that comes in really handy, especially as we develop the lessons around Brain Ownership for Parents.”
“Kids are sponges,” he said. “But so am I. My job has always been to absorb everything I can, like a sponge. And then, I wring out all that learning and experience in order to share it with others.”