Jennifer Draper
My primary role within the Grace Lane team is as Marketing Coordinator, but I am also responsible for the establishment of new investment accounts and firm administrative support. The diversity means I get to know all of our clients very well, which is really important, and brings a great deal of meaning and purpose to my work.
One thing that is consistent among all members of the Grace Lane team, is we all genuinely care about our clients. We work extra hard because we want the best for them. We treat our clients like a favorite aunt or cousin; we’ll hug their necks and then tell them there is some turkey stuck in their teeth.
My professional life started back when I was in college, when a family friend helped me get a job for a personal injury law firm. I started out taking calls from people who had seen our advertising and were looking for help. I loved it from the first minute. I loved the stories and the drama and I have always had a special place for the underserved and the idea of standing against injustice.The work allowed me to see a part of our world that I had never experienced. I progressed to receptionist and then to legal assistant and worked for several attorneys across Texas as my husband Guy and I made our epic journey from Beaumont to El Paso before settling in Austin.
I took a career break to raise our family, but once the two youngest were at school I began helping Guy in the office. This in turn led to other opportunities, most recent of which was Marketing Coordinator for Capital Strategies, the MassMutual branch office through which Grace Lane is associated. Capital Strategies serves over 100 advisors and my primary responsibility was assisting them in utilizing marketing tools and programs offered by MassMutual.
I had enjoyed watching Guy and Greg develop and grow their practices together and I decided I wanted to be a part of what lies next for them. Toward the end of 2019, we began giving feet to the vision that they had been developing for several years, for next-level, life centered financial planning; Grace Lane Financial Partners.
Guy and I have been married since the summer of 1988. I married a CPA, but for some reason, between the two of us, we can never calculate the number of years accurately. Last year, at our niece’s wedding, they played the dance game to see who had been married the longest. The dance went on until it was just us and another couple. We won, but as we retold the story later, we realized we had counted wrong, and the other couple had actually been married a few months longer than us.
We have three beautiful children, two of which we adopted through foster care. It has been a wonderful and wondrous journey teaching us that life is not a straight line. This was not a mission or a ministry for us, though obviously it was a beneficial experience as we filled our home with children. But it was also beneficial by giving us the opportunity to experience a part of our society that we otherwise would not have.
We had the opportunity to care for and love on not only children that were in a hard place, but also their parents. It is such a huge need in our community, in our country. In all, it took about three years from the start through to the adoption of our second daughter, Lottie. Those were years that we felt like we were really living and giving back with our hands and feet. And, in the end, just look what we came away with. We are so blessed.
Our son Jed is a young adult now, our oldest. He is laid back and caring, like Guy, but also passionate about injustice, like me. He is really creative and bright and is a talented writer. Olive-Anne just entered her teens. She is energetic and curious and contagiously happy. She is learning to manage her autism as she entertains, and sometimes frustrates, with her wonderful quirkiness. Lottie is only five weeks younger than Olive-Anne. They are artificial twins, same age sisters with different biological parents. Lottie is athletic and independent and really helpful. She loves food and is learning to cook, which we are all enjoying.
I really enjoy design. Much of my spare time is spent looking at and reading about design ideas. My favorite is Bunny Williams. I like to try things. The interior of our home is like a palette for me, that I continue to paint and change. One of my most notable projects was an art table for our girls. We had a raw pine slab dining table with thick, heavy legs. I painted the table white and sawed half the length off of each leg. When Guy came home, there was no dining table but the girls were happily sitting in little chairs drawing and coloring.
I also enjoy thrift shopping. It is a treasure hunt for me. I come home victorious when I make a great find. Of all of the fantastic events that we have in Austin, my favorite is the Settlement Home Garage Sale that benefits The Settlement Home for Children. One of my most memorable finds was a bolt of Schumacher fabric for $50. I brought it home and made curtains for our bedroom.