So Glad You Asked

What’s In a Name? Exploring My Personal Evolution and the Story Behind My Name[s]

• Jean Madison • Episode 1

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Welcome to the inaugural episode of So Glad You Asked! In this first episode, host Jean Madison dives into the inspiration behind the podcast and explores the story of her two names: Jean and Madison. From family traditions and childhood memories to professional growth and personal transformations, Jean shares how her identity has evolved over the years—and how her names have played a significant role in that journey.

Through anecdotes about college nicknames, career shifts, and life as an entrepreneur and mother, Jean reflects on the meaning of identity and the power of embracing multiple versions of ourselves. Whether you know her as Jean, Madison, or both, this episode offers a heartfelt look at how names shape our lives and the people we become.

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

  • Why Jean decided to launch So Glad You Asked.
  • The family tradition behind going by middle names.
  • How Jean’s names reflect different stages of her personal and professional life.
  • The importance of honoring past and present versions of yourself.
  • How names—and the identities tied to them—can help us navigate change and growth.

Key Moments:

  • [0:00] Introduction to So Glad You Asked.
  • [2:31] The story behind Jean’s names and family traditions.
  • [6:11] College days: How a fraternity gave her the nickname Jean.
  • [8:26] Moving to Salt Lake City and becoming Jean professionally.
  • [13:20] Reflecting on Madison vs. Jean: Identity through the years.
  • [18:36] Embracing both names as a whole human coach and entrepreneur.

Connect with Jean Madison:

Thank You for Listening!
If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review! Join us next week for Episode 2, where Jean dives deeper into her journey of launching Whole Human Co. and becoming a coach.

Jean Madison Offers Complimentary Discovery calls - If you're curious to learn more about 1:1 coaching, Strengths, Team Work, Leadership Development or Hiring and Onboarding Consulting, click here to schedule your conversation and get started on the road to Whole Human Change.

Find me on Instagram: @JeanMadison_

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Jean Madison:

Welcome everyone to our inaugural episode of so Glad you Asked. This podcast is not my first, but it is one that has been in the works for quite some time now. I often find myself wanting to share in-depth information about the things that I've learned, the things that I know, the experiences my clients are having, and, to be honest, social media is just not the place for that. Nobody wants to have that long form content on an app that promotes six seconds at a time. So, in conversation with one of my coaches, the recommendation was made to do a podcast, and although she thought that that would be something I wasn't interested in, I actually had already been toying with the idea. So this podcast, so Glad you Asked, was born.

Jean Madison:

The reason for the name of the podcast is that I want to answer questions. I have questions that I'm asked frequently, I have questions that I wish people would ask me more often so that I could answer, and so this is really going to be my space to do just that answer the questions that are asked of me and give you all the longer form, more in-depth, more nuanced thoughts that I have on multiple different topics. So with that, we're going to kick off this series with a fun little episode called what's in a name. A few days ago I took to Instagram and I asked everyone what do you call me? The options to choose were Jean, madison or Maddie. Your last name isn't Madison and I've never known what to call you. Honestly, it was quite neck and neck between the first two Jean and Madison or Maddie and a few other people joined in for the other two options. I thought it would be fun to start off this podcast with this topic, because this is a question that I do get asked, but I probably don't get asked as much as people actually wonder what should they call me? So let me share a little bit about the story of my two names. Spoiler alert this might not be quite as enthralling as you all thought, but this is what you all asked for as the first episode. So let's go ahead and dive in.

Jean Madison:

First things first. My name is Jean Madison. First name, middle name I am the founder of Whole Human Co. I am a whole human coach working with people at the intersection of life and career, with a focus on figuring out what life you want to live and then finding the work that aligns with that. I have gone by my middle name my entire life. My brother and I both go by our middle names. It's a family tradition from my dad's side and I primarily went by Madison up until my 30s. So my dad's family goes by their middle names. My dad is one of seven siblings. My grandparents named the first six children by their middle names and then apparently wanted to mix it up with the seventh.

Jean Madison:

So sorry, michael, I've always really loved going by my middle name. I really felt that it made me different. It made me unique. I've always said that in school teachers always knew who I was, because the first day of school they would say my name wrong and I would correct them and they would remember it from there on out. It also just helped me kind of stand apart.

Jean Madison:

I struggled in my youth to make friends, to kind of assimilate. I was a little bit bold, a little bit different and I was confident in that. But it made it hard to make friends. So there was something about going by my middle name that really did make me feel like me. And so for most of my life, really up until college, I never actually considered going by Jean. I only really included Jean when I was, you know doing formal paperwork or legal documents, but otherwise I was Madison or Maddie my whole upbringing. However, jean is a special family name and my mom has always said that she had this thought that someone special might call me Jean someday. She always thought it would be her dad, but it actually turned out to be somebody else.

Jean Madison:

So, fast forward through childhood and high school into college, I was still Madison to all of my new friends, my professors, my bosses, et cetera. And then the Teak Boys came along, and if you're not familiar, teak is a fraternity. You see, I met my husband at the end of our freshman year of college at Miami and I was actually in his phone as Madeline, and then he proceeded to tell his mother that my name was Bertha for the rest of that summer. That is a story for another time. But once we were back on campus, sophomore year, I was still just Madison, even to Sam. And that was until one of my first classes of the year. And what always happened on the first day of school happened the professor was reading through you know roll call, and they said Jean Reeser and I said actually it's Madison Reiser. Now this has happened many, many, many times in my life. I didn't think anything of it, I just kind of carried on with reading my syllabus. But I very quickly noticed that one of Sam's fraternity brothers, who happened to be in class with me and was sitting across the room from me, was staring at me with huge eyes, mouth open, and when he heard Jean, he mouthed to me your name is Jean. And really that's kind of where this whole story starts. So he told the whole fraternity house that my name was Jean. Apparently this was like very entertaining for them and from that day forward I was Jean, but only to them, only to the Teague boys, not to anybody else at Miami, any of my friends, colleagues, etc.

Jean Madison:

What I actually ended up loving about having this group of people who called me Jean versus everyone else who called me Madison was that I always knew how you knew me on campus. If you knew me as Jean, you knew me through Sam and the Teak Boys. If you knew me as Madison, you knew me through me or like in a more professional setting or from our classes. And if you knew me as Maddie, then you had probably gone through childhood and high school with me. So it was really easy for me to determine how I knew people how they knew me and I just found this to be kind of funny through my college years. A lot of people might think, oh, that's really confusing. I didn't really find it confusing or complicated, I just kind of thought it was special and I liked it and I didn't think a whole lot of it.

Jean Madison:

So fast forward to graduation, into my career, my professional life. Professionally, I was Madison. You know, sam and I were long distance from 2014 to 2020. You know, sam and I were long distance from 2014 to 2020. And so the pattern of kind of his friends and his colleagues calling me Jean and my friends and my colleagues calling me Madison really continued through the majority of the beginning of my professional life. Then came 2020. And this particular version of 2020 doesn't have much to do with what was actually going on in the world, but in May of 2020, sam and I moved to Salt Lake City where we moved for his job and the only people that we knew were through his job. If you heard that date of May 2020, you also understand the significance of that, because it was very hard to make other friends because you couldn't do anything with other people. So we kind of created this close group of people that we spent time with. They all knew me as Jean because they knew me through Sam, and so my life in Salt Lake really started off as Jean. I was still working in my nonprofit job, so professionally I was still Madison, but I started teaching yoga online on the side and I had incorporated Jean into my business name Jean Madison Movement because, again, it didn't feel right to exclude that part of me and some people had been kind of lovingly moving to calling me Jean, who knew me through the yoga world.

Jean Madison:

So in 2020 and into 2021, I really went through some monumental personal and professional challenges and transformations and you know it didn't change my identity. It wasn't like I was like, oh, I need a new name now because of these things that have happened, but it was just kind of a lot of things that fell into place at the same time that kind of started leading me down this road. Of which name do I choose? So, while it wasn't super intentional because of the fact that I only really knew people through Sam here in Salt Lake City and that was it, in Salt Lake I just I was only Jean. I became Jean Moving into 2021, I left my job I had burnt out significantly in 2020.

Jean Madison:

I gave my notice in, I think, may of 2021 and left in July, and I did this in order to go out on my own and become a coach and start my own business and maybe teach yoga. I didn't really know what I was going to be doing exactly. We'll talk more about this in the next episode, where I talk about my story of getting to Whole Human Co. But again here in Salt Lake, I was just Jean, and so once I left that professional space, madison stopped being used quite so much in my day-to-day life and I was still Madison to my family and friends, but in my work and in the Salt Lake community I really was becoming Jean. So, professionally here in Salt Lake and some of the roles that I've taken on since I left my corporate or my nonprofit role Jean has become more and more prevalent and more and more of who I am now versus who I used to be. And so, thinking about 2023 and 2024, you know, jean gave birth, jean rebranded a business and rebuilt a business. Jean took adventures, jean shared her truth with people and I was honestly comfortable becoming sort of this new person.

Jean Madison:

And then a work opportunity came to me at the end, middle 2024, who it came from? Someone who knows me through my family, who knows me as Madison, and it was the first time really since 2021 that I had a professional opportunity where someone was like what do I call you? Like everything in your business says Jean or Jean Madison. I know you as Madison. What do you want to be called? And, to be completely honest, this was the first time that I really didn't know how to answer that question because it's always been pretty clear to me it's either been professional Madison, friend group, jean, you grew up with me, or you knew me in college, madison.

Jean Madison:

This particular situation was the first one that was confusing to me because professionally, for three years now, I've been mostly Jean or Jean Madison, but this person calls me Madison. And typically when someone calls me Madison, I just say, yeah, call me that. But I had to think about like, okay, I'm representing my business, potentially as a contract employee, consultant, and so I don't know. I still didn't really answer the question very well and when my husband hears this, he'll say, see, look, this is why I didn't want to name our child by their middle name, because it's complicated and confusing. But you know what. It's a complication that I've created for myself and I'll figure it out. I'll figure it out All this to say you all are welcome to call me what you want.

Jean Madison:

I respond to either. I will probably have questions if you're new in my life and call me Madison just because of the way things have gone recently. But it was more than just like what do I want to be called? It really was this question of like, who are you now? And I do know who I am now. I'm just not always sure which name goes with that person. So this is why I always introduce myself as Jean Madison. I put it in as many of my communications as possible because, it's true, I do respond to both and I am both. I am both of these people, I am both of these experiences combined and yes, my husband has teased me about the complexity, but you know, these two names hold strong meaning now and, it's true, I still don't really know how to answer this family and friends question of what do I call you. So here are some thoughts on Madison and on Jean and 20s.

Jean Madison:

She is a go-getter. She's motivated to succeed and lead in traditional and maybe non-traditional ways. Madison set out to change the world. She did her best to never settle. She always saw potential in situations and in people and never quite understood why we couldn't take action for change. Madison is independent. She's well-traveled. She is a bit minimalist and deeply committed to her spiritual, personal and professional development development. Madison knows what she wants and often pursued that, rarely failing.

Jean Madison:

And then there's Jean. Jean is a mother. Jean is much more solid, both physically and emotionally. Jean is grounded. She understands her priorities right now. She's quietly confident, has a deep sense of knowing as a mother. Jean is embracing, doing less, being present, and Jean is a little bit less about changing the capital T-H-E world and more about improving the world. That's a little bit less about changing the capital T-H-E world and more about improving the world. That's a little bit closer to home. Both of these people are the same. They're both in me.

Jean Madison:

It's just interesting that my transition as a person, my growth as a human and an adult, has really coincided with this kind of shift in what I'm most typically called by the people around me. So, yes, this episode is what's in, an Aim, and it's all about how I got to be Jean or Madison, or Jean Madison or Maddie, but really deep down, it is the story of personal and professional transformation that I think a lot of us have gone through. It just so happens that my different professional personalities have different names these days the passionate person that I've always been about social justice, about human rights, about people being able to do what they're most meant to do in this world, I'm still the person that cares deeply about equity and about ensuring that people have what they need to not only survive, but to succeed. I'm also a little bit less aggressive with that now. I'm a little bit less black and white. I'm a little bit less right and wrong. I have a lot more nuance that I'm working with in my life, in my career, in just my knowledge of the world. I ask a lot more questions. I'm much more curious about what both sides see, what both sides think, how we got to where we are and how we move forward from here.

Jean Madison:

Part of my burnout and transition from my more traditional career into entrepreneurship was around understanding strengths, and if you follow me on social media, if you get my emails, you already know this. You know that I am obsessed with strengths and if you follow me on social media, if you get my emails. You already know this. You know that I am obsessed with strengths, but this was really a big part of my personal journey, a big part of my personal transformation. Again, we'll talk more about this in the next episode.

Jean Madison:

But I think that when I think about Madison, it does feel like a different person. But I think it feels like a different person in the same way that those of you that are in your mid 30s look back at you in your mid 20s and are like oh, good for her, like that's a cute version of me. I'm so proud of that version of me and also I'm not her anymore and so that's kind of the experience that I've had, her anymore, and so that's kind of the experience that I've had. And again, this is not to say don't call me Madison. It's just to say that that is a version of me. And that's why it's so hard for me to answer that question of what I want to be called in that particular professional situation, because I kind of do want to channel Madison in that professional opportunity. I do want to channel that kind of go-getter, extremely confident, very good at her job person Not that she doesn't exist in Jean and in Whole Human Co, but it's just a different version of me and so there is part of me that wants to recapture that name and use it more frequently when I need to embody that version of myself, when I need to step out of the mothering version of myself, the, you know, currently in pajamas at 12.45 pm version of me recording the podcast, because that is someone who's inside of me who's not being utilized very often these days.

Jean Madison:

So I hold on to both. I am Jean Madison, the whole human coach. I embrace both of my experiences, my identities, my names. I respond to either and I really appreciate the ability to go back and forth between the two versions of myself, the current two versions of myself that I enjoy being that I need in order to run a business and be successful. And, yeah, it's a little funny, it's a little bit funny to have to share both of my names. It's a little bit funny that some people think Madison's my last name. It's a little bit funny that there's a whole population of humans who, if they heard Jean, they would have no idea who we were talking about, and that's okay.

Jean Madison:

Sometimes you compartmentalize your life, sometimes you compartmentalize your experiences and sometimes you just just do what you got to do with the names that you are given, so this probably doesn't answer your question, but I hope this gives you permission to call me whatever you want, whatever version of me you want to call forward. That is the name that you are invited to use. So with that I will wrap up this first episode of so Glad you Asked. Thank you so much for being here. I'm your host, jean Madison, and we'll be back with another episode next week. If you want more from me, follow me on social media at jeanmadison underscore. Join my email list where I send out occasional thoughts, food for thought, options for working together, et cetera. If you are interested in one-on-one coaching or team coaching, reach out at the link in the show notes to schedule your free discovery call to learn more about my process, my way of coaching and to see if whole human coaching is right for you. I'll see you all next week.

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