Before 2020, Jenn Drummond had never slept in a tent. She couldn’t pronounce half the climbing gear she needed to buy. Today she’s a two-time world record holder in mountaineering, a mom of seven and the author of a book about turning “someday” into today.

Jenn flew in from Park City, Utah, to sit down with Terry Barga in the Nashville Fit studio for an exclusive interview. Watch the full conversation below.

A Near Miss and a “Someday” List

In 2018, Jenn survived a car crash that she says should have killed her. The gratitude she felt coming home quickly turned into frustration over everything she had been saving for “someday” while trying to be the mom everyone expected her to be.

So she started working through her someday list: taste pasta in Italy, swim with whale sharks, climb a mountain. With her 40th birthday coming up in 2020, she decided to launch the next decade by climbing.

“What a great way to launch a decade,” she said, “is to rise to meet it.”

From Beginner to World Records

Jenn went from total beginner to climbing Everest within six months of learning to climb. She went on to become the first woman to climb the Seven Second Summits, the second-highest peak on every continent.

This June, she finished her second world record on Denali, the highest point in North America. It was her second attempt after her guide got sick on the first one in 2025. This time she led the climb herself, with her son turning 17 on the mountain alongside her, plus a disabled veteran and two other climbers. Her team was dropped on the glacier with 650 pounds of gear to move up the mountain.

Seven Kids, One Big Message

Jenn is also a mom of seven: five boys and twin girls, now ages 13 to 20. As Terry put it, raising seven kids might be harder than climbing the mountain. Jenn agreed: “The mountain doesn’t ask for anything except for you to show up. Your kids ask for everything.”

Her advice for women who feel boxed in by what they think they’re supposed to be: give yourself permission to let it look different, and lean into who you are.

Somedays: Turning Someday Into Today

Jenn’s book, Somedays: The Art of Turning Someday into Today, grew out of that same list. She’s also building an app where you can share your somedays with friends and family, so the people you love know what matters to you.

This November, she’s leading Thankful & Thoughtful, a campaign to write 10,000 handwritten thank-you notes. Anyone can contribute. The idea is simple: “someday” isn’t a date on the calendar, so tell someone what they mean to you now.

Get “GPS Honest”

For anyone who hears her story and thinks, “I could never do that,” Jenn asks one question first: why never? Then she says to get “GPS honest” about where you’re starting. Plug in the truth about where you are and where you want to go, and you can start building a plan one step at a time.

Find Jenn’s book, app, speaking and adventures at jenndrummond.com.

Author: NFM Staff

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