Episode 19

The Importance of Kindness: Jennifer Daniel on Teaching Modern Etiquette

Published on: 24th September, 2025

When Jennifer Daniel landed her first job after college, she quickly realized she didn’t quite know how to navigate the world of business meetings with confidence. That led her to the Protocol School of Washington and, eventually, to founding her own etiquette business, Polished Peyton Etiquette Essentials. For nearly 25 years, she’s been teaching children, young professionals, and executives the skills they need to succeed - with etiquette as a foundation for confidence and kindness.

"Etiquette seems like such an awful snobby word. And maybe long, long, long ago it was. I do not think it is now.”

Hear Jennifer talk about:

  • How she found her way from a resort job to opening her own etiquette and protocol school
  • The difference between etiquette and protocol, and why both matter in business and social life
  • Why young professionals often struggle with communication in the age of smartphones
  • How etiquette classes can build confidence and relational skills, not just table manners
  • Why kindness is the most important rule of all

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About the Podcast

Tell Me What It's Like
Everyday people, uncommon experiences
What’s it like to set a world record? To invent a new product? To survive an extremely rare illness?

On Tell Me What It’s Like, host Stacy Raine sits down with people who’ve lived through powerful and uncommon experiences. Each conversation explores how it happened, why it matters, and what it truly felt like to live through it.

About your host

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Stacy Raine

I was 16 when I conducted my first interview. I was a nervous high school kid assigned to interview a WWII veteran. It was an incredibly emotional conversation, and an experience I still think about to this day. I didn’t know it then, but that moment would shape everything that followed.

As a nonprofit communicator and podcast producer, I’ve spent my career thinking about the stories we all have to share. Tell Me What It’s Like unearths the backstory to the small and large moments that changed everything.

One of my biggest beliefs is that sharing stories connects us – as long as we're willing to listen.