Turning Your Part-Time Passion Into A Full-Time Career with Illustrator and Author Jena Holliday

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Brava listeners, meet Jena Holliday, an illustrator, author, and creative based in Minnesota and founder of Spoonful of Faith. Her powerful, whimsical, and beautiful work has been featured in variety of publications but also in partnership with brands such as Dove, HarperCollins, TOMS, and more!

In today’s conversation Jena shares how she began her own business, shares where she sources inspiration behind her art, and gives us a sneak peek of what's next for Jena as she leads her fast growing business!

JenaHollidayTheBravaPodcast

SHOW NOTES:

While on maternity leave Jena made her part-time passion a full time career and launched a Spoonful of Faith (3:30.)

A lot of Jena’s works of art are inspired by her passion to uplift and encourage diverse women whose voices are not often heard (6:50.) 

“In a lot of the things that I share I am speaking to the women inside of me. The girl that was afraid to start. The girl that needs to know her worth and believe in herself and the gifts she has been given.”
— Jena Holliday

Jena finds that a lot of one's obstacles come from what one believes about themselves. Your identity plays a role when following specific passions and gifts (9:20.) 

How you talk to yourself is the story that you will believe and the story that you will tell yourself every day. Jena shares that it is vital to build yourself up and speak positively (10:36.)

Knowing the purpose behind why you are doing what you are doing will lead you to succeed. Many organizations fail because of a lack of connection to knowing why they are creating what they are creating (11:34.)

As a mother of two, outside a morning glass of orange juice, Jena finds everyday is filled with ebbs and flows as a creative entrepreneur (14:30.)

The biggest challenge Jena discovered as an entrepreneur was working towards setting a tone for everything at first  before she create her team (18:05.)

Tune in here to hear more about Jena and her insight on mentorship! Jena believes there is no “perfect” mentor. Be open to any and all opportunities (19:40.)

Jena launched her first season of “Mother Creative”, a podcast she co-hosts that celebrates and encourages women to utilize their creativity in the way that they live and how to start now with what they have (23:35.)

Want to hear more from Jena? Be sure to follow her journey here and follow her on FB here!

Love her illustrations? Be sure to check out her online shop - she just launched a new 2021 Calendar, an Art and Coloring Book that honors and explores stories of women POC youth, and has designed lots of amazing apparel and home items!

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! 

Cultivating Community with Wellness Chef and Coach Kara Elise

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Meet Kara Elise, a foodie who turned her passion for hosting into a full-time career that allows her to create joy by creating experiences for people around a table. She's curated moments and events for Darling Magazine, Alaska Airlines, Sorel Shoes, and more! Keep on reading and tune in below to get the behind-the-scenes with Kara as we enter her kitchen, where she offers creativity, art, and genuine community.

SHOW NOTES:

Kara got into cooking and food because she loved creating spaces that facilitated nourishment and connection. Food was a great modality to do that (2:00.)

She started her company to bring people together in a connective space. She loves the intuition that comes with preparing food, taking the ingredients in a kitchen and making something magical with it (4:15.)

This created two themes in her work life, first the importance of creating connection around food and two learning how to be intuitive and playful to make art out of food (5:03).

She loves working with brands at retreats because clients are completely taken out of their comfort zone and she can be part of the new environment. This allows Kara to come in, as a chef, and create a comfortable and inviting experience with food (5:20.)

“My vision is for people to feel free in the kitchen. I think the kitchen should be fun, playful, and intuitive. ”
— Kara Dykert

Kara’s book, Toast, offers simple and intuitive meal recipes. Accessible recipes are very important to Kara because they are the starting point for learning kitchen intuition (9:00.)

The biggest universal tip for bringing people together, according to Kara, is a table question. The way it works is you ask the question and then every single person at the table goes around and answers it. By asking the same question around the table it allows everyone to equally voice their own part of their story (13:15.)

She likes using table questions outside of the social space and brings it to the corporate space to help clients connect with their teams on a more intimate level (16:00.)

Kara believes that to pay it forward it’s important to first connect with ourselves: know who they are, be grounded, and operate from a place of self-compassion and self-love. She also has been hosting live cooking classes everyday on Instagram (17:20.)

What’s Next for Kara? She has been building an online course called Hosting with Heart which is a six-part series that teaches viewers how to host well. In addition to her series, she’s still working on her podcast with her finance and filming a pilot for a TV show called What’s in your Kitchen, where she teaches viewers how to use ingredients you have in your kitchen and in life to create something magical and nourishing (19:30.)

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! 

Celebrating Life’s Moments with Entrepreneur Kristen Ley

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Today on the Brava Podcast we’re going to hear from a powerful, creative entrepreneur and CEO who turned her passions into a thriving business by simply celebrating life’s moments. I’m SO excited to introduce you to Kristen Ley, CEO, er, actually I should say, “Chief Confetti Maker and Founder” of Thimblepress. Tune in below to get real with Kristen and her start-up story, learn more about differentiating products in a competitive space and advice on how to make your dream a reality.

SHOW NOTES:

Interview Kristen Ley is a party in a podcast! Can’t wait to get started with our interview (1:40)

Kristen has been creating art as early as she can remember. Her parents have always been very encouraging with everything Kristen has gone for despite her family coming from a medical background. She went to school for art and design. She graduated with a BFA in business and graphic design and a minor in marketing (2:40)

She started her career with an internship at Matchbox Studios in Dallas and loved it (4:30.)

She remembers going to the library in Charleston, SC to learn the ins and outs of how to start her business…from scratch! Her and her colleague hustled to launch and sustain their own marketing and branding business (5:00.)

Then she was offered a full-time offer to be a full graphic design artist that was closer back to home and she took the job. After about a year she quickly realized she was not wired for a 8 to 5 job (7:15.)

She used her letterpress as a creative release for years before making it part of her future career. During Christmas of 2012 she was convinced by her friend to start an Etsy and have a craft show (8:00.)

In 2013, she decided to make it official and launch Thimblepress, LLC inspired by her grandmothers and mother who influenced Kristen’s crafting (11:15.)

Thimblepress comes from the deep desire to want to encourage, lift up others, and show others how they can be present and celebrate friends and family (13:00.)

Kristen used to have 20 employees. Over the years she learned a lot about herself and her personality and realized a larger team is not for her. She’s very interested in the enneagram and it also helped her learn more details about her personality and how she can lead in the best way possible. Now she has a very lean team and she loves it both for her business and her wellness (17:45.)

When it comes to competitors, she keeps herself in her lane and focuses on her customer’s happiness and loving them like they are family and friends (20:00.)

“My strategy? Do what’s best for me!”
— Kristen Ley, CEO and Founder of Thimblepress

Looking to launch your own product? Kristen wants you to know that you are already amazing and a success no matter what. Allow opportunities to flow into your life and jump, even if you are afraid. Believe in yourself. If you don’t believe in yourself, how do you expect others to believe in your business? (21:56)

Stay in touch with Kristen’s next steps and business ventures! She recently launched KristenLey.com to be open and honest with her own business. Check it out! Be sure to check out Thimblepress too and celebrate others along the way!

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!