Meet the Founders

A Home Away From Home started operations as a two-person business, started by two women in 2007. Meet the founders: Jennifer Button and Anita Barnum. These two women decided to put their people skills, industry knowledge, and passion for helping people to good use by serving our growing population of retirees and their families with a unique free senior living referral service. Anita has since retired, so Jennifer is now taking care of all locations in Southern California.

A native Californian, Jennifer has lived in Santa Monica since 1987. She earned her B.A. in French, business, and anthropology while studying in California and France. She has traveled the world and worked in this country and abroad. She started a clothing import business in Bali, sold gold jewelry in Florence, and worked at a casino in Lake Tahoe. Then, she moved to the desert to study at Thunderbird in Phoenix, earning an international MBA. After this, she spent 15 years in the international logistics field in Los Angeles.

Since 2003, Jennifer has devoted her time to helping families find solutions to the needs of their favorite senior citizen. "You always hear it, and it sounds so corny, but truly helping people is so personally gratifying. It feels great to be able to help so many wonderful people when they are faced with difficult situations. I love what I do!" Jennifer has expanded her business and is currently helping families throughout Southern California.