Her Story
About Jodie
At the end of the day, who I am is a creative human. I'm very creative, and I am very resilient. I've been able to take what is no different than many, many people, women in particular - a very difficult, traumatic childhood - and alchemize it into an incredibly beautiful life. In large part, that is because of my creative practices and this overwhelming sense of belief that I'm supposed to be here, and I'm supposed to be doing this work. I'm incredibly resilient, I'm beyond playful, and incredibly optimistic. I love being creative, and I love getting to create a life that I love, based on my own interests and my own purpose. I'm not the boss of you - I get to be creative and the boss of my own life. My most notable achievements aren't necessarily the cultural ones like being in Forbes, on Entrepreneur, or on television nationally and locally, or even speaking at South by Southwest. The achievement that I feel most is really serving people and helping them activate the truest version of themselves through creativity. That's the most gratifying and most notable thing for me - the lives that I've been able to support and change through creativity.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Jodie
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to grit, optimism, and self-belief. It's about just sticking with it, no matter what. I think a big part of it is that when I started painting, I wasn't indoctrinated into that starving artist mentality because of my entrepreneurial background. I just assumed success was a possibility because no one ever said, 'well, you better not, you're gonna be a starving artist.' So I approached it differently from the start, with the belief that I could make it work.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice I've ever received is that everyone's got an opinion, and you have to trust your gut. You can always ask for opinions, you can ask for ideas and ask for guidance, but at the end of the day, you have to trust your gut. That's been invaluable to me throughout my career.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
I would tell them it's never too late. A lot of the women that I work with are 40 to 80, and I haven't met one of them that didn't think it was too late for them. They all kind of come into this thinking it's too late, and it really is our prime. So, especially for women getting started in this, it is not too late. You are exactly where you need to be at exactly the right time.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I believe the mindset has always been one of the biggest challenges that I work with artists on. What I mean by mindset is there is a prevailing thought that the likelihood of having success is extremely minimal, but I don't find that to be the case. I find that when we can implement best practices to artists that maybe are prevalent in other industries, artists will have success. That's one of the biggest things that I work with people on. Then when you add in the additional element of AI and the fear that's going around about AI art, being able to come back and say, actually, this is going to make original art even more valuable, and just really supporting artists and their mindset on all of these things. That's the biggest challenge. Luckily, it's a challenge that can be overcome, but those are the biggest challenges.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
My values are definitely the same in my work and personal life. Integrity is everything - that's at the top of the list. But also, a sense of optimism. You know, ain't nobody got time to be whining, like, let's just figure it out. So integrity, optimism, and accountability are my core values.
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