Jessica Lerner Halprin

Attorney by training. Founder by necessity. Speaker by choice.
‍

I never imagined I'd leave a career in corporate law to build an event planning company.
For more than twenty years, I worked in derivatives, hedge funds, and global banking, solving complex problems in high-pressure environments. I loved the challenge and built a career I was incredibly proud of.I spent more than twenty years as a lawyer - derivatives, hedge funds, global banks, the whole high-stakes production. I was good at it. I built something I was proud of.

Then life asked something different of me.

I became a caregiver, an executor, a homeschooling parent during a global pandemic, and eventually an entrepreneur. Not in that order, and certainly never one role at a time.
Somewhere in the middle of caring for everyone else, I realized just how much life's most meaningful moments depend on the people willing to bring them together, and how often those people carry the weight of making it all happen.
‍

Read Jessica’s Story →Start Planning Your Event
Read Jessica’s Story → Start Planning Your Event
The main Why
Why I Built Swankey
It started with a loss, and a spreadsheet that had gotten completely out of hand.

My mother loved to celebrate people. Any occasion, no matter the size, was worthy of gathering. I internalized her philosophy completely. Even in the middle of a demanding legal career, I was still the one planning the parties. It was how I stayed connected to what, and who, mattered most. When she died, I stopped.

For the first time in my adult life, I simply didn't have it in me to celebrate. Two years passed. It happened to coincide with the pandemic, when the world had grown quiet and nobody was gathering anyway.

Then, as my grief began to loosen its grip, the world slowly opened back up. People were ready to celebrate again. So was I.
But as I started planning, I was reminded just how frustrating the process could be. The tools were fragmented, overwhelming, and anything but intuitive. And if I, as a lawyer with a high tolerance for complexity, found the experience exhausting, I knew I couldn't be the only one.
That's when the idea for Swankey was born.

Not in the middle of loss, but on the other side of it, when I had enough space to recognize a problem hiding in plain sight. I wanted to build something that made planning feel lighter. Something that helped hosts spend less time managing details and more time enjoying the people they brought together.

Because celebrations deserve to be remembered for the moments they create, not the stress it took to get there.

our background
Swankey was built from real
experience planning life’s most meaningful events

For more than twenty years, I built a career solving complex problems in high-pressure environments. I never expected my next chapter would be building a company... or speaking about the life experiences that led me there.

Today, I'm the founder of Swankey and a speaker on reinvention, resilience, leadership, and the courage to embrace unexpected beginnings. If my story resonates with your audience, let's connect!

Topic of speak
Jessica’s Signature Topics
  • Reinvention
    What to do when the title that defined you no longer fits, and you’re not sure what comes next.
  • Women in Law and Leadership
    Twenty years inside the most powerful companies in the world taught me what having a seat at the table truly costs, and whether it’s worth it.
  • Entrepreneurship through Grief
    I founded a company in the middle of losing my mother and managing her estate. Here’s what lossteaches you about building something.
  • Work-Life Design
    The billable-hours model of life doesn’t work. I know because I lived it, and then I had to rebuildeverything from scratch.
  • The Future of Celebrations
    We’ve over-automated everything except the moments that really matter. Why that’s a problemand what we’re doing about it.
Featured in
On reinvention, risk, party therapy, and why the best business ideas often come
from your hardest seasons.
Book Jessica
to Speak
Whether your audience needs a framework, a story, or both,
here’s how to bring Jessica to your stage.
Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
Connect with
Jessica
From corporate lawyer to startup founder: Jessica
Halprin on turning setbacks into startups.
Connect with
Jessica
As someone who has spent a lifetime
hosting parties, I now take
“the more, the merrier” as fact.
‍
So come follow along.