Aerianna’s Intentions for the Jenuine Journal

Aerianna created the Jenuine Journal originally as a journaling club and just that, but after months of new members, creating a weekly newsletter, and learning that there are more ways to include more people, Aerianna transforms a secluded journaling club into it’s own Journaling Platform!

Aerianna’s intentions for the journaling club and for the Jenuine Journal is to help bring others closer to themselves.

“I want people to understand that the relationship they have with themselves is within top priorities. I don’t want people to think that caring for themselves is a chore, or that it’s an option. These prompts are to help introduce You to yourself.”

Aerianna Carlos, Jenuine Journal CEO & Founder

Aerianna states that her intentions for the Jenuine Journal are to help those who don’t have a healthy relationship with themselves to find what they’re missing and to help close their inner voids. By journaling with the Jenuine Journal’s prompts, Aerianna intends to help reach those in need of getting out of depression, or her acronym, G.O.O.D.

Aerianna’s Journaling Journey

Aerianna has been journaling since January 2011, when she was 9 years old. Aerianna originally wanted to begin a journaling club with her younger sisters, but at the time, her sisters were beginning Kindergarten and they would not have been able to comprehend the concepts of journaling like Aerianna could’ve, so, she ultimately gave up trying to recruit them as journaling club members. Years later, her sisters are not as interested in journaling and Aerianna has created her dream journaling club with others around the world.

With 12 years of journaling under her belt, Aerianna takes pride in knowing that she has journaled her entire teenhood and her entire entry to Double-Digit Age. Aerianna has recorded all of her heartbreaks, her breakthroughs, and all advice she’s ever written to her past or future self.

“I remember when I turned 20 and my journaling that day on my birthday was emotional. That’s when it hit me that I have successfully recorded my entire teenhood and my entry to Double-Digits altogether. I was so emotional, it felt like I was beginning and ending at the same time. I’m so proud that I get to say all of this.”

Aerianna Carlos on recording her entire teenhood

Forwarding to today, with 35 journals completed and at least another 20 waiting to be written in, Aerianna does not plan to stop her journaling journey. Aerianna states that one of the best things about her journaling journey now is that she has come full circle and continued to pursue her original intention of creating and running a journaling club.

How the Jenuine Journal got its Name

Aerianna grew up in a household of 8 people, including herself. growing up, Aerianna had shared a room with two of her younger sisters whose names start with an ‘E’ and an ‘N’. Aerianna goes by her middle name within her immediate family. Aerianna’s middle name starts with a ‘J’. Since Aerianna and her sisters had shared a room, and her other siblings shared rooms with each other, each room had a common term to identify whose room belonged to who.

The older sisters’ room was called ‘The Big Girls‘ Room’ because they’re the oldest. Aerianna’s twin siblings shared a room, so their room was called ‘The Twins’ Room‘. As for Aerianna and her younger sisters all sharing a room, Aerianna’s mother figured that it would be too much to call each of the girls’ names when referring to their room, and they aren’t all necessarily close in age.

With the first letters of each of the girls’ preferred names, Aerianna’s mother created the acronym, ‘J.E.N‘, and Aerianna’s childhood bedroom was called ‘The Jen Room‘. ‘Jen’ is a name spelled out of Aerianna’s younger sisters’ first initial and Aerianna’s middle initial, the middle name her family addresses her as. And thus, the ‘JEN’ name was established to refer to 3 people.

As mentioned earlier, Aerianna always had the intention to have a journaling club with her sisters, even though they did not grasp the concept of journaling back then. When finally figuring out an official name for the Journaling Club Aerianna had created in 2021, Aerianna thought fairly quickly about a good name.

Aerianna speaks on thinking of something to do with journaling, as she wanted the word ‘journal’ in the name of the Journaling Club somehow. Aerianna searched for alliteration for the official Journaling Club name. She thought of something serene, something calm, kind, generous, and something that captured the essence of the Journaling Club and Aerianna’s vision

“Genuine”, but with a ‘J’. This finding kept Aerianna researching the types of businesses and official public names with ‘Jenuine’ in them, and when Aerianna found nothing closely related to journaling, she decided on the name. The Jenuine Journal.

The ‘Jenuine Journal’ name contains alliteration, captures the intentions of the Journaling Club, and still pays homage to the originally intended members, Aerianna’s younger sisters.

And thus, the Jenuine Journal was crowned and named.

How the Jenuine Journal Began

As referenced in the section about how the Jenuine Journal got its name, the Jenuine Journal was a premeditated community created by Aerianna 12 years ago when she was journaling as a child.

Throughout her years of journaling, Aerianna did not have the community she desired, whether it was her dream friend group or a journaling club. In October of 2021, Aerianna unknowingly revisited her childhood dream of building a journaling club when she tweeted a request for Journaling Club Members.

Aerianna had 10 Journaling Club members signed up the same night as the formal request. Aerianna was ecstatic and did not mind the Journaling Club being 11 members wide.

“When the Journaling Club was first introduced to the public, I did not have a plan for anything. It was a school night, I had no idea what to really do or how to manage a club, but I literally just went for it. I was always content with whatever number of members I would end up with because as the member count grew, the purpose for the Jenuine Journal changed. This is a community now. It’s more than just journaling.

Aerianna Carlos, Jenuine Journal Founder & CEo on first BEGINNING the Jenuine journal publically

It wasn’t until January 15th, 2022 when the Jenuine Journal (formally known as the Journaling Club) formally introduced Email Newsletters using the Email Marketing Service, Mailchimp. It was only January 14th, 2022 did Aerianna have the idea to send out weekly emails containing a prompt she designed.

The journey the Jenuine Journal has been through to be where it is today–with a functioning website, a store, downloadable journal prompts, and a thriving community–is a remarkable one.

Aerianna has posted on Twitter about the Journaling Club and how it has come to be, with updated information and revisions, The Jenuine Journal Presents: Our Beginning

How it All Started

Aerianna had tweeted a Journaling Club request and idea on October 3rd, 2021.