Navigating Entrepreneurship and Motherhood While Battling SMA

Meet Megan DeJarnett: a children’s book author, the CEO and founder of No Such Thing Co., and a mother of two. On January 7th, she (virtually) sat down with us at CRD and shared her journey navigating her present career and successful endeavors.

Megan DeJarnett was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy at the age of 18 months. Since this young age, she has learned to adapt to her environment; for example, she has begun using a power chair from the age of four. Amidst this journey, she would face certain instances of a lack of adaptability to disabilities. An example of these occasions occurred when she was searching for motherhood advice. As she read various blog posts and articles, she had trouble finding material relevant to her condition. This problem inspired her to share her own story through her blog and Instagram posts to address the audience who share her reality.

As she pursued her efforts on awareness, in 2018, she sought to broaden the impact of her work. This desire led to her beginning to formulate a digestible format through which she can share her story with the world; her careful thought has led to the publication of her children’s book: No Such Thing As Normal.

No Such Thing As Normal (published February 22, 2020) came into existence with the initial inspiration coming from her youngest son. He asked her, “why aren’t you normal, Mommy?” This experience reminded her that if her own child has such questions, surely others hold similar inquiries. This thought motivated her to create a resource that would educate others on how to ask questions regarding differences, help explain certain disabilities, and finally highlight the concept that “there is no such thing as normal.” She ultimately hopes to teach the general public how to better accommodate them.

The response to her book has been overwhelmingly positive, and it has been fascinating to her to see how necessary this content is for the disability and general community. She aimed to further expand this message through her brand and company: No Such Thing Co.

She noted that the journey of bringing No Such Thing Co to its current point of success required flexibility and adaptability amidst its launch at the beginning of the pandemic. She noted that her favorite word for this time was “pivot,” as her team and herself remained positive and focused on altering their original plans in order to successfully adjust to the current circumstances.

The overall message she hopes to convey to others is that no matter what your condition is or what you are facing in life, we all have passions; dreams; and things that we are good at and we have to be creative on how to make use of them. There will always be a way to do it, but the way you might accomplish your aims might be different. She further expresses that you should just attempt your goal and not wait for the circumstances to be perfect, or until you have all the answers; it is okay to learn along the way. She also cautions to avoid comparing yourself to others and to simply work with who you are. She lastly regards the importance of balance and having her husband and close friends as a support system in keeping her focused throughout her journey.

No Such Thing Co. recently released a new Inclusive coloring book where they feature Cure Rare Disease as one of their resources, (which you can find here)! Follow No Such Thing Co. on instagram here and follow Megan DeJarnett on instagram here! To order your copy of Megan’s book or other products head to her website www.nosuchthing.co