Corey Jamison is the co-founder of DIY Marriage Retreat in a Box, a newly launched product designed to “help couples enrich their relationship, (re)build communication patterns and solidify commitment to one another.”
She co-founded the Marriage Retreat in a Box with her business partner. Julie Bush. Jamison and Bush also co-own the management consulting firm Corey Jamison Consulting.
Jamison stresses the box is not intended to replace therapy or couples counseling, rather it helps couples find ways to communicate with one another on money matters and helps them build trust and resolve conflict, among other things.
The box can be ordered online and comes with two guidebooks, reading materials, (re)building exercises, conversation starters and love notes.
You can follow Jamison, who is today’s 20 things, on Instagram.
1. I was born in Cincinnati, Ohio to parents who were deeply in love. Their loving, funny, intense and beautiful relationship set a standard for what would take me 38 years to find.
2. I love being a stepmom. It’s a unique connection to children who know you love them solely because you want to, and because you can’t help yourself. It’s a different sort of parenting joy that I delight in.
3. I grew up an avid water skier, and in an attempt to impress my children a few years back, hopped on a slalom ski (after some years of not skiing), wiped out and broke a rib. AND, my kids were really impressed, so … worth it.
4. When I was in the third grade, I wrote in my journal, “I want to have 28 children.” We have seven, plus one who I love like my own. So, yeah, no. That’s it on that one.
5. At 54, during the pandemic, I decided to take horseback riding lessons for the first time in my life. I fell in love and now have my own horse, Jaxon, who shares my big smile.
6. My business partner and close family friend, Julie Bush, was an intern in our former company. Over the course of her time there, she filled marketing, HR and special projects roles and blew my mind with her smarts and capability. When I went out on my own, it was only a matter of time before she joined me, and we’ve never looked back!
7. In 2013, I struck out on my own and formed Corey Jamison Consulting. A friend of mine said, “you’re not actually a consultant until you have a client.” I am now happy to say that my business partner, Julie Bush, and I now have a thriving practice that has reached goals I once couldn’t have imagined.
8. My sister, Renee Jamison Clark, is the funniest person I know. I am so lucky to be her sister and love her with my whole heart. I was always worried our oldest daughter, Sierra, would be lonely without a sister… enter Josephine 13 years after she was born. Their friendship and closeness brings me so much joy.
9. Jon and I are deeply in love and pay a lot of attention to growing our relationship. Every year, we do our own marriage retreat. It is a meaningful and important time for us to take stock, to plan and to reconnect in the ways that are hard with the bustle of everyday life. Recently, Julie and I turned that well-tuned retreat into a small business. DIY Marriage Retreat in a Box just launched and is available by order!
10. My elementary school required German from kindergarten through sixth grade. Periodically, I break out into German songs to the shock of my friends and family. In high school and college, I studied French (and some Spanish) and re-started French lessons during the pandemic, in hopes of returning to Paris soon!
11. My father is 95 and lives in Cincinnati. He goes to the gym 5 days a week, does the NYT crossword and is generous with his energy and counsel to my siblings and me. I always run big decisions by him, and he’s seen so much in his lifetime that he often has an experience to draw from or share. I consider myself so very blessed to be his daughter.
12. In my early 40’s, I went back to school for my PhD in psychology. It took nearly 10 years. For my residency, I worked as a therapist for Community Hospice, and as a resource to the cardiac surgical team at St. Peters. Both were incredible learning experiences and shaped how I consult with clients in profound ways.
13. I am a giant fan of the YWCA of the Greater Capital Region and of Planned Parenthood. Both of these organizations were there for me during times in my life when I needed them, and I am committed to supporting them forever.
14. My mother was a fierce and fiery social change agent way ahead of her time. At a time when there were few women consultants, she was using her powerful voice inside of organizations in service of equity, diversity and inclusion. She died of breast cancer at age 53. I was 19.
15. I am an avid reader and huge Outlander fan. I love the powerful women characters.
16. I am a slightly below average cook, but a great baker. My signature chocolate chip cookies earned the title of “Miss Corey Cookies” at my kids’ elementary school, where they are the stuff of cookie legend. I have done three fancy wedding cakes in my time, way too stressful, and high pressure for me!
17. Jon and I lived down the street from each other when we met. We weren’t sure whether we were going to live in his house or my house, so we kept our own houses and moved the whole family back and forth, day by day, for over a year after Josephine was born. Josephine became the “glue” so everyone wanted to be where she was and happily went from house to house.
18. I love blood and guts- anything gross and science-y is my favorite. In high school, I earned extra credit in science by transforming the desiccated skulls of roadkill into fully reshaped cranial displays. My mother once found a giant container with a bucks head in the basement (soaking in bleach), screamed and grounded me for three months. In hindsight, I probably should have asked permission on that one.
19. I love love love old houses and the stories that go with them. The Victorian era homes are my favorite- and old lake houses and camps like the one that has been in our family for 50 years in western Maine. I love imagining how daily life unfolded in our old home- was our garage a stable (I believe so!), how was the kitchen configured?
20. Over the course of a decade, my sister and I walked over 500 miles to fundraise for the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade. We raised tens of thousands of dollars and had so much fun together thanks to the support and generosity of so many of our wonderful friends and family members.
