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!

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!

Welcome back listeners! Today’s guest is Ilana Griffo. Today on Brava we’re discussing how you can take your creative passion and grow it into your full-time gig…and Ilana is an expert on this! She’s a freelance designer and illustrator. Plus, she’s a newly published author of the book, “Mind Your Business”! Want to start your own side-hustle? Tune in now below to mind your (own) business with Ilana Griffo.

SHOW NOTES:

Ilana always knew she wanted to be a graphic designer. She went to school for graphic design and started freelancing immediately while working full-time. She went off on her own four years ago and hasn’t looked back since (1:05).

Despite using school to hone in on her design craft, her favorite class in school was a career development class that focused on interview tips and tricks and how to conduct yourself in the professional world (2:25).

Ilana wrote her book to help other creatives (like you!) create the business foundation to launch their careers (3:30)!

Working from home can be tough with all the distractions around you. Illana created a dedicated office for herself. A day in the life for Ilana includes her one year old son, a to-do list and drawing (7:00).

She sources inspiration from every aspect of life and is very inspired by the seasons (8:22).

When reviewing your own business, Ilana recommends not diving directly into a branding voice until you find your voice as a brand (10:50).

It takes a lot of adventure and trial and error to develop and find your voice (12:00).

The hardest part of publishing her new book, “Mind Your Own Business”? The beginning and getting started! What helped? Her loyal and hard-working team (13:45).

“Ilana’s go-to mantras: “Do it with passion or not at all” and “ask for what you want.” ”

Hoping to start your own side-hustle, Ilana recommends just to…start! Never stop having fun with it (17:45).

Thank you readers, to tuning into the Brava Podcast. If you like the show please leave us 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!