Hello #MPLocal day! We absolutely love the days we can shine the light on other creatives in this #KWawesome community. Today, our feature is literally the definition of someone who has turned a traumatic experience into a passion project career for herself. Her story is beautiful and she took the chance to be vulnerable with her love of art and poetry - and has had great success doing so.
We won't spoil it too much, so without further ado - meet Jennifer!
Name: J.Drews (but you can refer to me as Jennifer or Jen or J)
Your title: The Creative Entrepreneur (Writer/Artist/Event Planner)
Your elevator pitch:
I create content and space for people to connect to art and find healing through it. I do this with my poetry novel called ‘These (transitional) Words’, which is about the stages of healing after trauma, through my graphic design/art work, and recently through art pop up events to showcase the work of other artists in KW.
One word to describe yourself:
Resilient
Why did you choose that word?
I picked resilient because I have gone through hard situations and persevered through it. A lot of my art and what I do as a creative entrepreneur stems from using those past emotions to fuel my current projects.
Why did you start the business that you did and what was the inspiration or reasoning of how it came to life?
This is a two-part story because how I first began writing and first launched a business happened at very different times in my life.
Part 1:
I started writing years ago when I was working at a hostel in The Dominican Republic, it didn’t stop raining for an entire month and the flooding became so dangerous that my parents asked me to come home early. However, there was a problem… I had run out of money. Which was not that surprising because I only had less than $1000 CAD when I went down to the Caribbean to work. But now I was in a tough predicament where I needed to somehow acquire funds to get back to Canada and finish my finial semester of University.
With about $200 in my name, and the minimum wage of Dominican being $150 a month… I began searching for online work. My co-worker was from Toronto and taught French online to Canadian students, she only did this a few hours a week but was able to live off of it. She helped me get set up on a site to find writing contracts and by chance I saw a posting for a ghost writer to create a guide book about The Dominican Republic.
With nearly no options left and little to no experience writing, I applied for the guide book contract and somehow got the job. With the money that I received I was able to get back to Canada and finish school, since then I have always casually done travel writing contracts, which is how I have been able to fund a lot of my traveling.
Part 2:
Nearly a year later, I found myself floating across Europe, it was a really fun trip until something very traumatic happened to me. It took a long time to heal from it, and months later I began writing short phrases as a way of dealing with everything. The phrases turned into poetry and last August I had completed a poetry book filled with illustrations about the stages of healing after trauma and named it “These (transitional) Words”.
Creating a book and releasing the first copies last November, is what really launched my creative entrepreneur career. Since then the book has gotten into some stores like ‘The Truth Beauty Company” and has been featured in quite a few publications both locally and internationally. The book has helped me develop my art career and now the book is responsible for being my motivation behind pop up art events about healing through art.
The inspiration behind everything I do is to help people heal and love themselves. Money is great, sales are wonderful, and of course I want to be ‘successful’ as an entrepreneur, but connection and healing are the things that drive me. It took me a long time to speak openly about difficult subjects and be vulnerable through my writing and art, but after seeing the positive effects of sharing my story, I am really happy that I choose to do that.
First thought when you officially became your own boss:
I couldn’t believe that I had made money from doing art, my first thought was ‘my god, I’m doing this, I’m doing things that I actually love. I don’t need to be a waitress or barista anymore!” (not that there is anything wrong with those jobs but I had been doing those jobs for the last 5 years)
When you’re not hustling, what do you do in your free time?
When I am not hustling, I am probably plotting my next trip, cooking, swimming, or going to super random community/art events. I also watch an unhealthy amount of Netflix, so much that I should consider it a hobby at this point.
Describe a day in your life:
Even though every single day is incredible different and I am terrible at keeping any sort of routine, there are some key elements that transcend my chaotic schedule. The first is, that I need coffee and a smoothie when I wake up to function. After this I either work on creative things like writing or graphic design or I go to my job- which changes often. If I’m feeling stressed or motivated, I’ll exercise, which in the summer is swimming and then I either go to meetings or do work in the afternoon before finishing my day off with going to see friends. I need a lot of alone time to work on art but I find I need a balance of giving myself a break to do fun social activities so I am not always constantly thinking about work.
What is your biggest accomplishment?
This was the most difficult question to answer, I thought about this for days and I am not sure what it is, but writing a book in 6 weeks then teaching myself how to self publish felt like a huge accomplishment.
What are your top 3 bucket list items?
1. Sky Diving
2. Buy a boat in the Mediterranean, then have cute dinner parties on it.
3. Get featured in the New York Times best seller list.
What or who inspires you to keep doing what you’re doing?
The strength, resilience and power of women inspires me on a daily basis to keep doing what I am doing. I love hearing everyone’s personal stories of how they got to where they are now.
What animal do you relate with and why?
A whale. They are so majestic and cumbersome, and I find that combination really entertaining. They also spend their lives swimming around oceans, which is where I would be every day if I could.
What is your daily mantra?
“Unconditionally pour love into the world”
What are some tips and tricks you use to stay motivated?
1. Connect with like minded people who understand what you are going through.
2. Give yourself a break from your work when you need it, set limits on your work day as a creative entrepreneur and talk care of yourself mentally and physically.
3. Social media is not an accurate representation of other people’s lives or your own, don’t use it to compare how much more work you should be doing.
4. Everyday remind yourself that you are doing what you love, be grateful about where you are and always stay humble.
What is the biggest lesson you’ve learnt along the way?
Success is whatever YOU want it to be. Not what your friends, family, or other entrepreneurs think, not what your bank account or social media standing is.
What’s next for you?
Professionally, a series of art pop up events that will showcase local artists and possibly some artists panels and talks. As well I am getting back into my first love, travel writing, with a guide book on how to travel as a solo female. I am also working on developing my graphic design abilities and would like to start painting plant themed murals because I love large scale art.
Personally, I want to travel, to go to the west coast of Canada because I have never been and for the winter my unofficial plan is to work with an NGO either in North Africa or South America to work with women’s rights. (the applications have been sent but we’ll see if any of the organizations hire me, fingers crossed) But I have a quirky back up plan, if no one hires me, I am going to the Caribbean and becoming a scuba diving instructor.
How can our readers find you?
Instagram: @j.drewspoetry
Website: www.jdrews.ca
Photography done by Jess Kalman - @jesskalphotography
Stories like Jennifers is what keeps us going day in and day out. It's seeing others have the motivation to pursue their creative passions and build a career out of it. We can't wait to see what this next year brings Jen and we hope to attend one of her art pop up events asap!!
We are constantly looking to promote local businesses and freelancers in the community, so if you are interested in sharing a bit about your life and your journey, send us a DM or email us at hello@mintandpoppy.com.
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