As the host of HGTV’s No Demo Reno, an influencer, a restaurant owner and a mom of three, Jenn Todryk certainly has a full plate, but the vivacious redhead balances it all with down-to-earth humor and style, much to the delight of her nearly 2 million Instagram followers.
Most recently, Todryk has partnered with Scotch Brand to celebrate their 100th anniversary (that’s right, the company synonymous with tape has been around for a full century!) and launch a giveaway for limited-edition instant-print cameras. “Not only do I use Scotch products, specifically painter’s tape, at work, I come home and then use again in a different form while crafting with my kids,” Todryk says. “Nothing else comes to mind as far as products that I’m using at work and then again at home.”
Todryk sat down with First for Women to discuss her career journey and creative inspirations, finding peace as a busy mom, navigating health issues and more.
First for Women: How did you go from being an influencer to an HGTV host?
Jenn Todryk: It’s funny, because when I started doing this influencer wasn’t even a word yet. I came into it as a blogger. I originally wanted my blog to be only home decorating because that’s what I’ve always been interested in, and we had been working on our home. I thought, “You know what? I’m doing a lot of design stuff and this is fun. It comes easy for me. I want to do a blog about it.”
I’m actually happy that I didn’t end up putting myself in a box. As silly as it sounds, I don’t know if I would be here if I had only been putting out home decor content, because that’s not initially what resonated with people. It was more about my essays on being a mom and bringing humor and lightness to something really important, because if you really think about it, what’s more important than being a good parent? You’re creating humans and impacting their whole life and who they become.
Parenting can be really heavy and scary and sometimes sad and lonely. I wanted to have a different view on it. When I started, the whole mom blog world was heavy on satire and it was kind of a dark space—like being a mom sucks, but in a funny way. I remember thinking that I would never want my kids to read this stuff and feel like I didn’t love being a mom, so I went full-on with having fun with all the joyful things about being a mom, and that’s what took off.
Then I started my Instagram and posted about home design, and it was no longer like blogging, and the rest is history. A production company found me when I was on my home renovating journey, and they were like, “Would you want to do this and help other people?” And I was like, “Heck yeah! I can do this.”
FFW: What do you think draws people to home renovation shows?
JT: I think overall, even outside of TV shows, people are drawn to this because everybody wants to love their home and everybody wants their home to be a safe, beautiful space that they can be proud of. It’s very intimate. One of the most intimate things that we can do is let people come into our space and see our messes and our nooks and crannies. It’s really where we do life.
As far as the appeal of the content I build around homes, I think it makes for really good TV. We’re tying into something that everybody wants to feel, which is the love for their home and having a magical space, and now it’s all up in a beautiful package where someone’s super happy and in tears because they got the home of their dreams. It’s all about the reality mixed with the beauty of television and creating that happy ending.
FFW: How do you find work-life balance as a busy mom?
JT: It’s a choice every single day to maintain a good work-life balance. If I say I’m going to be home from filming at 4:30, then I need to stick to that. It’s really hard in this industry, because they want you to stay till 7 or 8 p.m. They’ll ask you to do that, and every day you’ll be like, “Bye!” People might be a little irritated with you, but you made that promise to be home for your family at 4:30, and that is something I always stick to.
It’s hard and it’s a mind cluster all the time, because it eats at you and it brings up a lot of different emotions. The new phase I’m in right now is about fun-life balance, just slowing down and seeing what I’m doing. It’s like self-help, but I’m not a spa or massage girlie. I don’t get my nails done and I only get a haircut once a year. I’ve found hobbies, and now I’m teaching myself to be okay with doing things other than working and being a mom.
FFW: You’ve been open about your experience with Hashimoto’s Disease. What advice do you have for other women who might be dealing with autoimmune conditions?
JT: Oh my gosh, these issues are more common than people even know. So many women are walking around with depression, weight issues, tummy issues, low libido—maybe it’s weighing on their marriage and they feel bad about themselves because they think that’s just how they are, but they’re not.
It all has to do with hormones. If one hormone is disrupted—and so many of us have disrupted hormones, whether we know it or not—it wreaks havoc on so many other things, and it’s like a big spider web. It’s wild, and I always say that even if you think you’re healthy, just go and get your tests done so you can take a little peek. Unfortunately, hormone health is expensive, and it’s not something that’s an option for everyone to maintain, but just going once and learning about what’s going on will give you a lot of insight.
FFW: What are the biggest inspirations for your home designs?
JT: Honestly, it’s all in my head. On HGTV, what was the hardest thing for me was seeing how clients don’t want one style every single time, so you end up doing multiple styles. At first I was like, “Dang it, I wish I could do my style of design.”
My style is organic and modern, with some mid-century modern and traditional elements mixed in. At first I wanted to do that with every house, but I quickly realized that that’s not everyone’s cup of tea, so my inspiration comes from the homeowners telling me what they want and then asking them the right questions. At the end of the day, my clients know nothing of what’s going on in their home. That’s 100% real. On the show, you see them walking through the house and they don’t actually know or see anything until the day of the big reveal. It’s so scary and so fun at the same time.
