Jasmine Chambers Is Changing the Home-Building Experience
For Jasmine Chambers of JASPER Builds, a full life includes big ideas, a house filled with teenagers, plenty of time outdoors, and the occasional quiet afternoon at Parnassus Books. Meet this week’s Nashville FACE!
Jasmine Chambers took an unconventional path to becoming a CEO. After spending 16 years as a stay-at-home mom, she earned her business degree and eventually turned years of behind-the-scenes experience into a new chapter by launching the Nashville-based residential construction company JASPER Builds with her husband, Jed. Today, Jasmine brings a keen eye for strategy, systems, and people to the business. We caught up with her to talk about working alongside her husband, rethinking the home-building experience, and why she believes no chapter of life is ever wasted.
You and Jed had years of experience with building and renovating before launching JASPER. What made you decide to start a company together?
My path to becoming a CEO wasn’t exactly linear. I spent 16 years as a stay-at-home mom before launching JASPER with Jed in 2020. During that time, I served as an admin for a large community, where I built expertise in planning, organizing, budgeting, and leading groups of diverse people.
Looking back, I can see how much of that time prepared me for what I do now: leadership, problem-solving, managing people and priorities, and creating value from very limited resources. Those skills translate more than we sometimes give them credit for.
Building and renovating had been part of our lives for many years, and Jed has an incredible amount of hands-on knowledge and experience. I saw an opportunity to take what he does exceptionally well and build a company around it — one that cares as much as he does about excellence in building.
We also believed the construction experience, especially for families building their dream homes, needed major improvement. There are incredibly talented people in the industry, but the systems, communication, leadership, and overall client experience often don’t match the quality of the work. So we asked, “What if we could bring those things together?”
JASPER grew out of that idea. Great construction, yes, but also an extraordinary experience for the people trusting us with their homes.
How has your business background shaped the way you lead?
I naturally look at the whole business. I love the creative side of what we do, but I’m always thinking about the structure underneath it. What are the numbers telling us? Is the process scalable? Do our people have what they need? Are we building something sustainable? Construction is a more complex business than many realize. There are so many moving parts and players involved in every project, so discipline matters.
Financial clarity matters, and repeatable systems matter. But I’ve also learned those things don’t work without people who are clear on the vision and aligned on how we’re getting there. My role is connecting all of it: vision, people, operations, financial performance, and the experience we’re creating for our clients.
What has surprised you most about building a business with your husband?
How much it has required both of us to grow. Jed and I are very different, which is undeniably one of our greatest strengths. He understands building at an instinctive level, and he’s naturally gregarious and generous. I tend to see vision, strategy, people, and systems while being more introverted and calculated. When we respect those differences instead of trying to make each other think the same way, we’re incredibly strong together.
But building a company with your spouse also means there isn’t much separation at all between business growth and personal growth. You learn to communicate differently, trust differently, and let the other person lead where they’re strongest. It has stretched us and tested us to the core, and through it all, made our partnership much deeper.
Of everything you’ve accomplished so far, what are you most proud of?
The people. Of course, I’m proud of what JASPER has become and of the extraordinary homes and
projects we’ve had the privilege of building. But when I look at our team and see people growing into leaders, building careers, supporting their families, and taking real pride in what we’re creating together, that means something different to me.
I’m also proud that my children have watched us build it. They’ve seen the mistakes, the hard seasons, the risks, and the wins. I hope what they take from it isn’t simply that their parents built a successful company. I hope they know that they have permission to build a life that matters to them, too.
What’s something most people would be surprised to learn about you?
I didn’t have a traditional education or a high school diploma. I started my family at age 18, spent 16 years as a stay-at-home mom, and put myself through school during that time, graduating with my bachelor’s degree while I had kids in high school, middle school, and elementary school.
I didn’t start JASPER until I was 34. I think there’s this idea that if you haven’t established your career early, you’re somehow behind. My life has taught me almost the opposite. There are entire chapters, decades sometimes, of your life that may look unrelated at the time and later become exactly the preparation you needed. I feel like I’m still just getting started.
When you have time to yourself, how do you like to spend it?
I love space to think. I’m naturally very forward-moving, so my favorite time alone is when there’s nowhere I have to be and nothing required of me. I enjoy reading, writing, walking, working out, and being outside, immersed in nature. That’s where I clear my mind and let it wander. Almost every time, I end up dreaming about a business idea, something I want to write, a place I want to go, or what I want the next season of life to look like.
I’ve never been very good at doing nothing, but I’ve come to realize how necessary it is to give myself that kind of space.
You spend your career helping other people create homes they love. What makes a place feel like home to you?
The people inside it. I believe deeply in beautiful spaces. I’ve built a career on how much our surroundings affect the way we live and feel. But a beautiful house and a home are not the same
thing.
Home is my sanctuary. It’s where I invite the people I love into the most sacred, safest place I have. It’s a place I’ve worked my whole life to discover and build first within myself, and then for my family.
It’s the kitchen everyone gravitates toward. It’s the driveway full of cars belonging to teenagers I’ve watched grow up alongside my own kids, in and out of my pantry, raiding the fridge like it’s theirs. That’s when my heart is fullest. Not when the house is styled perfectly, but when it’s fully lived in.
It’s the rooms where my children’s lives have unfolded — where I sit, look at the memories on the walls, and cry from deep gratitude, heartache, and hope. Home holds ordinary Tuesdays and festive holidays, hard conversations, easy laughter, and everything in between. The best homes are beautiful in how they serve the life happening inside them.
What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
“You get more of what you focus on.” It sounds simple, but it has changed the way I lead and the way I live. Our brains are constantly looking for evidence of what we already believe. If I’m looking for what’s wrong, I’ll find it. If I’m looking for opportunity, growth, excellence, kindness, or possibility, I’ll find those, too.
That doesn’t mean ignoring reality. It means being intentional about where I place my
attention because attention becomes action, and action builds a life. I believe our lives are shaped much more by our choices than most of us realize.
LIGHTNING ROUND
Favorite hidden gem in Nashville? Parnassus Books. Give me a bookstore and a little time with nowhere else to be, and I’m happy.
Self-care product you can’t live without? Magnesium before bed. Not glamorous, but absolutely true.
Dream dinner-party guest? Oprah. I’d want to talk about reinvention, purpose, the stories we tell ourselves, and what she has learned from decades of asking people profound questions.
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Jenna von Oy Bratcher
Jenna von Oy Bratcher is StyleBlueprint's Editorial Operations Manager and Lead Content Editor. The East Coast native moved to Nashville almost two decades ago, by way of Los Angeles. She is a lover of dogs, strong coffee, traveling, and exploring the local restaurant scene bite by bite.