Janice John's Biography
Stories from the far side of life
Janice John is a writer, entrepreneur, and seeker of knowledge. A lifelong poet, in High School, she submitted multiple poems under her own name and various pseudonyms to the school’s poetry review. When it was published, every poem in the review except one was written by her.
Janice earned a B.A. in English Literature/Creative Writing and Psychology (double major) from Salisbury University in 1983. She briefly pursued graduate English Literature studies, but soon realized she’d need to earn a living.
Before dropping out, Janice submitted poems to Sigma Tau Delta international graduate English Literature honor society’s Review. To have a poem selected is considered the Oscar of poetry. In 1986, Janice’s poem was not only selected for the Review but selected as “Poem of the Year.” She was unaware of these honors.
The Review’s editor finally tracked her down and, over the phone, noted that the $200 prize was more money than 99% of poets will earn on their poetry in their lifetime.
To actually earn a living, Janice worked as a journalist, a technical writer, a marketer and public relations professional.
While working fulltime during the day, in the evenings, Janice earned an M.S. in Systems Management and a Graduate Certificate in Information Systems from the University of Southern California alongside officers at Andrews Air Force Base in Camp Springs, MD.
In the early 2000s, she served as Client Executive with USinternetworking (USi), the firm that pioneered cloud technology (since acquired by AT&T).
In 2005, Janice founded Outreach Process Partners, LLC (OPP) - an award-winning strategic communications, video production and stakeholder engagement consulting firm. Clients included DoD, FEMA, HHS, DoC, DoT, GSA and EPA.
During her consulting career, Janice held the following professional credentials:
- Accredited Business Communicator with the International Association of Business Communicators (ABC);
- Project Management Professional (PMP) and
- Agile Certified Practitioner (ACP) with PMI;
- Certified Floodplain Manager (CFM) with the Association of State Floodplain Management.
Janice became the legal guardian of her mother who had dementia in November 2013 and of her autistic older brother in Patrick in 2015. She secured him a spot at Johns Hopkins’ Center for Adult Autism and moved him to Baltimore.
Patrick had a savant ability to remember birthdays and to play any tune on the piano by ear. Upon setting up his keyboard in his new room in Baltimore, Janice asked Patrick to test it out. He sat down and played “You Make Me So Very Happy.”
Though Patrick never thanked Janice for her efforts on his behalf, music was Patrick’s way of communicating gratitude.
Janice’s mother passed in 2018. Patrick died of Hepatitis A in 2000, likely from eating contaminated takeout food during the Covid lockdown.
Janice sold OPP in 2019 and became a Certified Property Manager through Penn Foster in 2023. Janice manages several rental properties for steady income. She simultaneously founded Trancendi to pursue art through storytelling.
Since 2019, Janice has walked the Camino de Santiago twice. She trekked to Everest Base Camp with her daughters Marisa (then 26) and Robin (then 24) in 2022.
From August to December 2023, Janice fostered 11 immigrant children (unaccompanied minors from Mexico, Honduras, Venezuela and El Salvador).
In January 2024, Janice did the polar plunge in Antarctica.
In November 2024, Janice took in an Afghan nurse who narrowly escaped the Taliban and hid in Pakistan for two years while awaiting her U.S. refugee status to be approved.
Janice bought her an old car, taught her to drive and is helping her through the bureaucracy of transferring her nursing credentials to the United States.
In November 2025, Janice completed the New York City Marathon on behalf of the Parkinson’s Foundation.
Janice founded and leads the Suburban Maryland $100 Breakfast Club where all attendees bring a $100 bill, have breakfast together and leave the server a fantastic tip.
She’s in her 3rd year of the 4-year Education for Ministry (EFM) program at Sewanee University. In EFM, a small group reads and reflects on the Bible as well as University-designated books on the Bible’s meaning, Christian History and theology.
The EFM group also conducts theological reflections on modern issues such as evil (e.g., “No Country for Old Men), art, sexuality, community, music and other deep issues that group members bring forward.
In April-May 2026, Janice is scheduled to co-facilitate a sold out non-credit course on Howard’s Zinn’s “The People’s History of the United States” at Anne Arundel Community College.
In June 2026, Janice will be traveling to India to become a 200-hour certified yoga instructor. She has five books on Yoga to read before then.
Meanwhile, she is using her lifetime of experience to write and produce scripts that have humorous, messy and realistic characters exploring relationships, belonging and life’s meaning.
She’s a mother to three grown daughters and a son who died in infancy in 1995. She’s been married and divorced three times. Today she is in a happy, committed partnership with no plans to marry again.
