Honest Storytelling With Founder of The Confetti Project Jelena Aleksich

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Meet Jelena, mental health and grief advocate and founder of The Confetti Project: a photography challenge that turned into an opportunity to encourage others to answer the question “what are you celebrating”. Tune in below to meet Jelena, and learn how you can use real-life experiences and honest storytelling to build a brand, community, and more!

JelenaBravaPodcast

SHOW NOTES:

Jelena’s work has served as a source for many brands, people, and start-ups. She was inspired to start The Confetti Project when she left a previous job (1:00.)

After an OK Go concert, she left the event with confetti in her pockets. She was so surprised by it and the confetti brought her so much joy! It made her question, “what does confetti mean” and she immediately started to gather photos of confetti (2:05.)

She then began asking others around her, “what do you celebrate in your life right now?” and “what are you grateful for?” These questions would stop people in their tracks. Jelena quickly realized that this project may be unlocking something bigger than herself and she owed it to herself to explore it (3:02).

“Any time you are carving your own path, it takes a lot of trust. Listen to your internal compass and be fearless. Go after those moments and things that make you feel the most alive. ”
— Jelena Aleksich

After traveling to Dubai Jelena asked people who were all so diverse the same question, “What do you celebrate?” and their answers were exactly the same! She realized we all have way more in common than we think we do.  Celebration and being human is universal (9:00). 

Jelena finds anytime we take time for ourselves to check-in and explore our passions not only impacts ourselves but creates a ripple effect to those around us (11:20). 

“Every human life is worthy of celebration.”
— Jelena Aleksich

Now more than ever people need to be inspired by the good in the world. (17:55)

 When storytelling, the key is to be authentic and genuine and bring to life why you are doing what you are doing. The ‘why’  should be the nucleus of what you do. Your brand becomes the platform to make it happen (19:00).

Jelena’s next projects are Confetti Grams, virtual community confetti circles, such as this healing community workshop on grief, and Casa Confetti where people can share what they celebrate (22:10).

When taking a leap, ask yourself what you are passionate about and believe in yourself. There’s no reason why you can’t do what you want to do. Surround yourself with people that believe in you. The whole nature of pursuing a dream job or starting your own business is constantly learning from it and making yourself excited by growing and evolving from it (24:30).

To learn more about Jelena be sure to follow The Confetti Project on Instagram!

Thank you readers, to tuning into the Brava Podcast. If you like the show please leave a review on iTunes! 

What from our conversation inspired you today? What do you hope to hear next? Tweet or message us on Instagram @BravaPodcast to tell us what you want to hear, even if it’s your own story!