Living her life with sickle cell anaemia, Jenica Leah has battled with the many complications that come with the disorder; but she has never let this stop her from achieving. From being a full-time model at the age of 14 to organising and managing catwalks with an international events specialist by the age of 20, Jenica Leah refuses to let her condition hold her back.

In order to create and develop her award winning children’s book series ‘My Friend Jen’, Jenica Leah has done in depth research of the sickle cell condition to further her knowledge of what she already knows from living with it. Her vast understanding as well as her patient expertise has placed her second to none when it comes to discussing the topic of sickle cell education and raising awareness.

The success of her first children’s book about sickle cell in 2016 then lead Jenica Leah to set up her own book publishing company, JLG Publishing to help new authors bring their stories to life. Working with aspiring writers to help them get from idea to published and offering publishing packages for those wanting a less hands-on approach, JLG Publishing are helping truly amazing and valuable stories to be told. They also help already self-published authors to sustain book sales.

Jenica Leah is becoming a popular specialist speaker for her ability to engage an audience on a serious topic and leave them feeling inspired. She is a regular key note speaker at conferences for NHS and NHSBT and has featured in Forbes, BBC, TedxBrum, BuzzFeed News, AlJazeera, The Nursing Times and many more.

“I don’t see life as challenging. The world is my oyster with endless possibilities.”

To date, Jenica Leah is now the author of two published children’s books about sickle cell, the solo host of her new podcast “Salted Popcorn” and has created a community blog for people living with sickle cell and everyone who supports them. She is also the director of SEA by My Friend Jen which is a CIC with a main aim to create and deliver sickle cell educational resources, programmes and events in the UK and worldwide.