Christina: [00:00:00] This is the JOMO(cast), a podcast about deepening our commitments to the things that matter most and joyfully missing out on the rest. I'm your host, Christina Crook, bringing you interviews with leading creators, thought leaders, and technologists inspiring us to take action to thrive in a digital age.

A good friend of mine visited Japan a few years ago on a mission to visit the historical birthplace of Daruma, those little eggplant shaped plaster dolls of men with big round eyes and fierce mustaches you might see on a nook somewhere in a sushi restaurant downtown. The origin of the dolls comes from an 18th century Buddhist monk who taught his parishioners, a rural county of largely subsistence farmers, a way to craft simple, good luck charms that would become a local specialty souvenir whose iconic appearance quickly spread across Japan [00:01:00] and centuries later became one of the most indelible global images of that culture.

My friend traveled into that rural county, still a very small town by modern standards, and after hours of walking visited, one of the premier Daruma shops where she, in the near total solitude of the tourist off-season, booked a solo class to make her own Daruma with a craftsman, who was like a character out of an edgy, modern Japanese novel-- a retired monk turned semi-professional race car driver who made personal Daruma for three U S presidents, and the queen of England. I should mention here that my friend, a gifted writer, has no particular skill in any sort of arts and crafts, despite a youth spent trying nearly every visual, artistic medium there is. She was pretty intimidated to sit in a room alone with a man who had sculpted and painted probably tens of thousands of these little talismans in his lifetime, holding her one blank doll in her hands, getting [00:02:00] one shot, and one shot only, at painting her own to take home with her to America and make a wish on. 

"Sit and watch me for a while," the master said, "and when you're ready, go ahead." My friend watched and watched, over and over as the master painted 5, 10, 15 Daruma dolls for general sale in the store in front. After nearly half an hour, she felt she could imitate the brushstrokes, and she went for it.

It took perhaps 20 seconds. "I'm surprised you waited so long," the master said, when she was finished. 

My friend was tearing up a little. "I'm sorry. I did a bad job on it," she whispered. "I really tried my best, because I have an important wish to make on this daruma." 

The master took her doll, looked it over and handed it back wordlessly without evaluation. After a moment he asked, "Did you walk here from the Daruma temple on the edge of town?" 

"Yes," my friend said. [00:03:00] 

"Did you see the arhats, the little stone statues of monks on the side of the road?" 

"Yes," my friend said. 

"Did you stop and pray at them?" 

"Yes," my friend said, "I prayed that I'd catch you here and get to do this today." 

"But they're old and crudely carved," the master said, "from centuries ago. They're ugly and you can barely recognize them. How did you pray at them?" 

My friend sat silently for a moment perplexed. 

Finally, the master said, "Don't you still pray at an ugly Buddha?" Is something we create any less sacred if it isn't perfect; if it isn't as good as, or better than something someone more skilled than us can do. If it isn't objectively beautiful, isn't it still sacred? Are the fumbling scrawls your children bring home from daycare or school, any less precious to you because they lack three point perspective and proportion? I don't think so. 

We should create, [00:04:00] because it makes us feel good, because it makes us more than who we already are, because it lets us leave a piece of ourselves in the world.

Intuitively, especially when we're kids, we know this, we do it to do it. We pray to ugly Buddhas, because they're still Buddhas. We hang the finger paintings on the refrigerator. The act of making itself is the sacred part. 

My next guest rediscovered her creative spirit at a moment of physical and emotional pain and isolation, and found that when she opened herself to crafting as a mindful practice, she just couldn't stop doing it.

Her passion ignited. She turned an activity that she could do joyfully all day long into an entrepreneurial venture that helps her sustain her family. Jen Duffin's commercial name is Nova Mercury, derived from her youngest daughter of the same name whose birth precipitated the maternity leave during which [00:05:00] Jen launched her online store, selling weavings and weaving supplies and classes.

Creating a home business was the perfect pivot for Duffin, whose fibromyalgia, a musculoskeletal disorder, made a traditional nine to five job unsustainable. Today Nova Mercury is thriving due in large part to Duffin's social media positioning, with over 90,000 Instagram followers and over 3,500 sales, and a people's choice award on Etsy.

The digital marketplace is central to her success.

Jen Duffin, welcome to the JOMO(cast). 

Jen: Thanks for having me Christina. Happy to be here. 

Christina: Oh my goodness. It is my pleasure. My pleasure, indeed. And I wanted to start off, we've got a video version of this as well. So I wanted to show you my personal weaving from Jen.

 Do you have names for these? Is there a name for this one? 

Jen: Yeah, it's just like "rainbow weaving."[00:06:00] 

Christina: I want to know how you came to be Nova Mercury. Is there a story behind the name? 

Jen: There is. It's actually my youngest kiddo's name. I started my business. I started making art again when I was on maternity leave after her birth, and then I decided to launch my own business. And my kids are like my muses and biggest inspiration in life, so I named my business after her. That's it. That's her name. Her name is Nova Mercury. 

Christina: Oh my goodness. What a gorgeous name. 

Jen: Yeah, it's pretty cute. Hopefully like, she's still pretty little, she's only five, so I'm hoping as she gets older that she won't mind that I named my business after her. If she does, I'll just change the name.

Christina: She probably thinks that ... does she like it right now? 

Jen: She does like it. I think it's confusing to her sometimes too. She's like "but I'm Nova Mercury." But overall, I think I'm hoping that she'll see it as like a, an homage of my love for her, but yeah, I'm totally opening open to changing it, if she doesn't [00:07:00] feel that way. 

Christina: So in recent years, there's been a growing trend of people rediscovering crafts as a joyful grounding activity, and personally I have found making and fixing things steadies me, especially when I'm feeling I'm spinning out with online obligations. What do you think that crafting offers the human spirit, that other activities don't? 

Jen: Oh, wow. A lot. Yeah. I can draw on my own experience for sure, but I think making something yourself with your own hands is just incredibly satisfying in so many ways. And I think that the tactile experience of making things can really double as a mindfulness practice.

It's very grounding. It requires you to be really present and in the moment with what you're doing. So I think there are so many mental health benefits to crafting or making or art making of any kind. 

Christina: Do you have some strategies for yourself and even things you'd [00:08:00] recommend for people who want to spend more time doing it?

I know for myself, like on our main floor, I've got three kids myself, and we bought a craft table on the main floor. And just having those things readily available so that when you have a moment of inspiration, you can get your hands into it right away in terms of how you've set up your studio and even how you encourage it in your own kids. What does that look like? 

Jen: For sure. I work from home, and I worked from home for a lot of different reasons, but it is really convenient to just have my studio. My studio is half of our living room. I can go work and weave whenever I want. My weaving supplies are always readily accessible and also like neatly organized so they're not taking over our home. But yeah, it's really easy for me to just go grab my loom and sit down and start to work. Same goes for our family. I also have a little, we call it our art cart. So we have a little wheelie cart next to our dining table and it's filled with art supplies. So I always have it [00:09:00] stocked with paper, construction paper paints, markers stamps, whatever have you, whatever your making supplies of choice are, so that exactly whenever the kids want to get creative, it's accessible to them. They can go get it themselves. Or it's easy for me to set up a project for them. So we try to do art making in our house, like all the time. My youngest especially is really drawn towards painting and drawing, so she likes to just get in there whenever she feels like it. 

Christina: It's funny. So I'm actually wearing a shirt from a female entrepreneur here in Toronto. Her brand's "okay. Okay." And she's a maker extraordinaire, also has kids, and they're always making at home, like it's bananas. Like she'd be like, "oh yes. Made a pumpkin pie from scratch from the pumpkin that was delivered to my house. And we did 17." And I'm like, but this is what you do for your job. You make as your job, but it seems like maker's gotta make. It's even in your personal life that, that spills over. Is that true for you? 

Jen: It is, and it's not. I'm [00:10:00] definitely not the parent that is making all the time. I find too sometimes because I do this for my work sometimes that when I'm in my leisure time, I don't want to make anything and I want to do other things.

 In our household anyways, there's a bit of give and take. I do know folks like that though, who are just creating all the time, and I have a lot of admiration for it. I don't think that's me, but I'm have my hours where I like to be creative, and then I just need downtime from it too. But I definitely do want to encourage my kids to be creative whenever they feel like it. I think it's really important. 

Christina: I think that's part of what you were saying before in terms of making also being a mindfulness practice in terms of being aware in yourself when it's energizing, and when it's de-energizing, right? When it's life giving and when it's life taking and just paying attention to that, not making, just because that's the right thing to do in your head, but like actually being in touch with what's happening in your body, is this [00:11:00] going to be a thing that brings life right now? Or is this just going to be another thing that exhausts me, and give yourself permission maybe to do something a little less involved, like watching a screen maybe sometimes. 

Jen: Totally. Yeah. I think it's interesting too. Cause I think sort of your show and what you do. Like I do this for my work, so I'm really lucky, I think in the sense that I get to do this the creative grounding practice, as a big chunk of what I do for my job, how I make my living.

So yeah, I'm not always doing this in my free time, but I do, I do think it's so important for folks to carve out time to be creative in their lives. I think it's something that is missing right now. And one of the reasons that I teach workshops and sell weaving supplies in my shop is because I really want to encourage folks to be able to be creative in an accessible way.

Cause I know if you're not making art all the time, sometimes it can seem really intimidating or maybe something that like other people do, but you can't do, but that is not true. And I think everyone is creative. Everybody has a creative point of view. [00:12:00] And if you don't feel like you can just dive into that on your own sometimes like picking a kit that's being curated for you, so it takes some of the guesswork out of it, and you can just get to work on making something yourself. Plus like the holidays are coming up and it's so nice to like, make your own gifts and stuff too. 

Christina: Such a good reminder. Okay. We're absolutely going to plug that for Christmas, get on it people. And um, funny backstory.

I actually got connected to you because I was going to do one of your in-person workshop in Toronto, at Bookhou, and was so excited. It was my gift to myself, my 40th birthday. And then. 

Jen: Oh, yeah. And then Covid. Right. I'll be back. I'll be back when, whenever this is done, I don't know when that will be, but

Christina: I will be there.

Jen: I hope you come. The workshops are so fun and I really miss teaching. I work at home all the time by myself, so workshops are like [00:13:00] really my way to, to connect with people in real life, which is just a totally different experience. And they're so fun and really energizing for me. So I'm trying to come up with like other ways to connect with people.

It's been challenging this year. And yeah, doing the online thing, doesn't it's not, it's really not the same. It's like doing a zoom workshop or something is not the same as being in a room full of people. So I know how we're all adapting right now and making things work the best we can, but I'm excited when I can teach in person again.

Christina: Yeah. There's just something about embodying a space, with other people that, 

Jen: Oh yeah, totally. 

Christina: You can't replicate on zoom. I was on a zoom call last night, that, this was a supposed to be essentially a book launch that sort of, it just, it literally is flat right? As flat as the screen. So I too look forward to the days when we're back.

So you plotted a major professional and general life change as a survival strategy. In terms of your life conditions, and I would love if you're comfortable [00:14:00] for you to talk a bit about that, but what advice would you give to people who would see such a change as inaccessible to them due to the realities of their finances, relationships, or other practical considerations?

How did you make that shift in your own life?

Jen: Sure. I have to be honest and say it wasn't super well thought out. It was a little impulsive. I'm a little impulsive, as a person. So to give your listeners a little bit of background on me. I have chronic illness. I have fibromyalgia, and some other health issues.

So it's a chronic health condition that causes sort of widespread pain and fatigue. It can be very debilitating. And in my circumstances, working um, sort of nine to five job was just becoming increasingly difficult for me to maintain. 

Prior to doing this, I worked in the music industry as a grant writer. So I had like more administrative jobs, I'd worked in the nonprofit sector for a long time, but I was not making art at all. I had not made art since high school, and I'm [00:15:00] turning 43 this year, so it's been awhile. And then during my, I was on maternity leave with my second child, and a lot of folks who have kids can maybe relate, but you can lose yourself in that moment, and I started art making, again, really just as a practice for myself to carve out time for myself. My goal was to draw or paint for 20 minutes a day after my kids were in bed. Just to have this time and create this ritual. And doing that little exercise, just like unlocked something in my brain that had been dormant for a long time, and I just became consumed with wanting to make art. And it was at this time that I'd actually taken an online class with Emily Katz of modern macrame, cause I wanted to make macrame plant hangers from my house, and I'd never made fiber art before, and I just totally fell in love with it.

And if you've never made fiber art, it's a real. It is really grounding, repetitive practice, cause [00:16:00] you're working with your hands, you're often doing movements or motions that are repetitive, and it brings you into this really like calm and mindful state. And I just like completely fell in love with it.

 And shortly thereafter I just bought a loom online. Also took an online class and learned to weave. So fiber art just became really exciting to me. And then at this time, this is a long roundabout story. Sorry. 

Christina: Go. I want to hear it all. 

Jen: At this time, I just was feeling really anxious about needing to go back to my job. Um, if I'm being honest, I wasn't really happy doing what I was doing. And my health issues were the barrier to me with this idea of going back to work full time also with two young kids. Something else I should mention is that my partner who's incredibly supportive, also travels a lot for work. He's away like six months out of the year, so I spend a lot of time with my kids by myself. 

I just had this idea that I would try to start my own business, making art and [00:17:00] selling. It's really that simple. And it was like this huge leap of faith. And all I can say is that my intuition was overwhelmingly telling me to do it. Like I just had this gut feeling that this was the right thing for me to do.

 And. I was in a position where I was like able to do that. But I don't want folks to think too that this was a hobby, like we do rely on my income as a family, so I really had to make money doing this or else it wouldn't have worked for us. I also spent a lot of time working in customer service and retail in my younger years, so I have a bit of background in business. So doing this wasn't totally foreign to me either. I was able to just jump in and I opened an Etsy shop, and I reached out to folks in my community where I lived to try to sell some of my product. And it's just, it's really grown from there, like organically.

So the spring of 2021 will be five years that I'm doing this. Wow. That was a long story, Christina, I'm [00:18:00] sorry. 

Christina: I think it's super helpful for people. There's so many different things you touched on there in terms of like your physical even your physical and mental limitations or challenges are pushing you in a direction.

Maybe you felt like it was a limitation at that time, but it's opened up right, channeled your energy into a place that sounds like is much more joyful and rewarding than what you were doing before and also just talking. 

Jen: Totally. 

Christina: Yeah. And also I loved hearing about the fact that this wasn't just like a hobby turned semi business, like you actually have built a real business that's supporting your family, cause I think a lot of makers can see people from the outside, and maybe this is a perfect segue into talking about social, because by all appearances, things can look really dreamy on social media, but maybe the business backend isn't really happening. I'd love to hear about, did you jump on Instagram right away?

How did that build, how do you find balance in that space? 

Jen: Yeah. Instagram has been amazing for my business. And I have [00:19:00] a wonderful community there that, that has grown organically over the years that I've been doing this. I really did. When I started doing this, I really set out to build a business. And I did, I opened an Etsy shop and I think I was on Instagram like the same day. I made my first post and I was like, here I am. I already recognized at that time. The landscape was a little different back then, but it really was like a medium to promote yourself. Socials are great too, because a lot of them are free. So it's like a very accessible entry point.

 And yeah, I just started posting and taking pictures of my work. I didn't have the follower count that I have now, obviously that's grown really organically over the years of doing this. I'm losing track of your question of what you were asking me. 

Christina: My question was you answered half of it because there's multiple parts.

 When did you get on, and how did it grow? Which you answered and also, how do you find balance with it? Like how do you how do you carve time for Instagram? Does it ever feel like [00:20:00] it encroaches on your time? How do you hold time for the making and for the promotion? 

Jen: So that's a really good question because that has shifted and evolved over time.

I'm at a space right now in my life where I try to have pretty firm boundaries with my online time. Um, It can get away from you very quickly as I'm sure anyone with a smartphone knows you can just spend a lot of time. And Instagram too. I think it's designed in a way that in order to be successful in it, you do need to spend a lot of time on it.

You need to understand the algorithms, how they work. I always think of it as a little bit of a game and you have to play the game if you want to have the reach and reach your communities. So for me, it's a really important part of my business. I won't say that it's not. I make direct sales, I connect to my clients, it's a way for me to promote my work, and I have a wonderful community of fiber artists and weavers I love to connect with. It's super important, but I do try to bookend time in the day, to be [00:21:00] on it. And then in order for me to be productive and actually get my work done, I usually put my phone in another room and keep it far away from me, otherwise it's just like distraction constantly. And especially once Instagram introduced things like stories and now reels, they really want you interacting on this sort of ongoing basis. So I do take the time to create content, but I have pretty strong boundaries around how I use it. And I also, as somebody who's self-employed, also keep like working hours for myself.

So I work while my kids are at school, and then when they are home, I don't work. I don't work on weekends. Like I don't, I really try to keep regular hours for myself and have boundaries. And it's interesting because that's something that having chronic illness taught me is that you can't do all the things all the time.

And when my health got poor, I really had to reevaluate my priorities. And I think doing that, it's really extended to all areas of my life, and I'm somebody who's really comfortable having a lot of [00:22:00] boundaries in my life. So I just started to draw those lines and stick to them as best I can. Not perfect, obviously, but it helps. 

Christina: Has it always been that way or has it grown over time? 

Jen: No, I definitely, like I said I didn't, I know being sick, like really, because you just, it changes your life so much, and my ability to participate in daily life really shifted quite considerably. So you have to pick and choose what you can or want to do because you only have so much energy in the day.

 That's something that's extended to every part of my life, but now it's like part of my life, and it's forced me to slow down a lot too, which I think has been super healthy in other ways. And I don't want to say that having chronic illness is a good thing, but it's definitely forced me to shift some things in my life that I think have had really great long term benefits. For sure.

Christina: What was your hardest lesson as an emerging entrepreneur in this space?

Jen: That's a really good question. I'm not sure. [00:25:00] I feel like there's been so many lessons, I can't think of one that's been like, particularly difficult. Maybe sort of speaking to what I just said, I think the hardest lesson as a business owner is learning to maybe manage your time, in order to remain efficient and not have your business take over your life, which I think is something that can easily happen for entrepreneurs and people who run their own business. But I don't want to say it, like there was some big incident that happened or a catalyst to, to force me to realize that, no. I think it's like overwhelmingly been just like really positive for me.

Christina: That's amazing. Yeah. 

 The draw for me to talk to you is like there's multiple elements. Joy, like your, just your work just screams of joy. I think you have that right in your description, don't you? Joyful, hyper art for your home. 

Jen: That's my intention. I'm glad it comes across. Oh, I'm in rainbow art too. So it's hard, [00:26:00] hard not to. 

Christina: A hundred percent. And I think, I don't have official seasons for my podcast, but I have themes. I'm pushing into this theme around our attachment to the real world. There's a philosophy that I believe in, that to be human, we need to remain connected to our humanness and to what's actually, excuse me, real. And that's why I'm curious about your online presence versus your physical making and your your embodied home life. And so that's why I was drawn to talk to you and selfishly, I just think your work is fabulous and I wanted to meet you. 

A big part of your brand success is connected to a strong following on Instagram and Etsy, which we've already talked about, where you've won several awards, is that correct? 

Jen: Oh, I won one award.

I applied to the Etsy design awards last year, and I won the people's choice award for Canada, which was wonderful. I was so thrilled. And it was a really great experience because I've been on Etsy for almost five years. So it was fun to [00:27:00] participate in something as part of that. 

Christina: You've talked already about time management. Are there other strategies around online that you would share to encourage people that are either starting out in their career or sort of mid career in terms of growth? 

Jen: In terms of growth? Yeah. You can get into sort of like the technical aspect of it. Like I am no, no social media expert.

I just know from my own experience, and I've never used any coaching or anything on it. It's really just me. Honestly I try to just, and it's what everybody says, I just try to authentically be myself and share what I do in a real way, as much as possible. I'm also a private person in a lot of ways, and I don't share everything about my life.

But I am pretty transparent about my work and what I do. It's amazing because as somebody who works alone in my house by myself, it allows me to exist in the world and connect with people. Because otherwise especially with COVID, it's so challenging to do that right [00:28:00] now. So it's an amazing vehicle for that.

And I think taking the time to really understand how it works, if you want to sincerely grow your following is important. So you have to understand like the boring stuff like algorithms and what they're looking for, because it's the platform who really decides who's going to see your work, not you. But it is a visual platform too, so making things that are visually appealing and trying to grow a community where you can genuinely engage with people who follow you and who like what you do, I think is amazing. I've made so many friends, like from all over the world, like people I've had connections with for years now. So, um, it's, It's potential for connecting humans and our humaness I think is really amazing.

I also think there's a lot of downsides to it. And keeping perspective around that I think is important. Managing the amount of time you spend on it, like planning your content and curate your content, but having it on all day and always being available, I don't think is healthy [00:29:00] either. I actually just listened to an episode of your podcast preparing for this today.

And it was... I just randomly picked one, and I listened to the episode with Tiffany Shilane. 

Christina: Amazing. 

Jen: And now I read, I was just finished her audio book. This is her idea of 24 6, and I'm totally implementing this in my family. And I just, I'm so inspired by what she's doing. And we've actually connected on Instagram just really quickly, and I'm hoping to send her a weaving kit.

Christina: She and I were just messaging this morning, so it's all in the family. 

Jen: And I loved her book. I love her perspective and I'm not Jewish, but my partner is too. So I love the idea of it being like Shabbat and bringing that back into our house too. But so anyways, I'm going to plug Tiffany's book here too.

So for anybody who's interested in around like having boundaries around how they use her technology, I think her idea of a weekly text Shabbat is just [00:30:00] totally brilliant. And it'll just create that space for you to do things that maybe you can't normally find the time to do in your week, because of how we live our lives now.

So yeah, if you wanted to develop a creative practice or an art practice, that would be like a wonderful day to do it on. Yeah, for sure. Good old analog art making. 

Christina: Such a great strategy. Yeah. Carving out that day to just, yeah, explore and get curious and fill it. That's the one thing that I recommend because I also recommend taking a day off a week from technology, and people get really scared when they think about the removal of it.

But when you talk to them about " what are you going to do?" Like obviously brunch isn't a real thing right now. Meeting up with friends or going for a walk in the forest or getting out that kit that you've pre-ordered to put your to get your hands dirty and try something new, I think reframes it as a joyful experience and they can follow their curiosity.

So I love that you connected [00:31:00] with Tiffany's ideas. It's so good.

Jen: Yeah. It's super inspiring. I love it. Yeah. And it's totally true. Because I do think for a lot of folks, sometimes it's like for art making, it can be, like I said, I think for people who aren't regularly... Who don't see themselves as like artistic or creative in their daily lives, it can be intimidating, but often it's just like finding time too, to be able to sit down and do something. So even taking a workshop is great, cause you're marking that time for yourself to go try something new. And I think it's so great. And I often, when I'm teaching, talk to my students, not about weaving as so much as like a technical art form, I try to speak to it as more of a creative practice and sort of art therapy.

And I'm not a therapist, but that's really how I approach it because it's been incredibly healing for me in my own life to rediscover a daily creative practice. And I think it can bring so much value to your life, even if it's just 20 minutes at the end of every day, just drawing in a [00:32:00] sketchbook, like something super simple, but that just allows you to totally be in the moment, take that time for yourself and do something, yeah with your hands and your mind without any real devices. I think it's super powerful, and I think the world would be a better place if everybody did that. 

Christina: Agreed.

One thing that's been fun, I'm, I've got a partner, I've got kids and I think it's, it's wonderful to build an individual personal creative practice, but there's also opportunities for getting to know your loved ones better through making. And I know one family there's a show called Kim's Convenience on CBC and the creator of it is a friend of mine, Ins Choi, and their family.

They have sketchbooks, and almost every evening, they just get out their sketchbooks and they sit together for 10 to 15 minutes, and they'll put something on the table, they'll talk about an idea and they all just sit there and they draw together. [00:33:00] And I love that because obviously everyone's at different levels, everyone's going to explore that concept or idea in a different way.

And it just, it draws out a new relational right, dynamic. So I think, yeah, it doesn't just have to be a personal thing. It can be a relational, interpersonal thing as well. 

Jen: Oh, totally. And then it like doing it with your kids, especially. I think if you don't consider yourself to be creative, artistic is fun, cause it just, it's a great example to set for your kids. And also just seeing how you all maybe interpret the same subject matter. Our family was doing something similar at the beginning of the pandemic. One of my favorite illustrators is Carson Ellis. She's an American illustrator, and she does illustrations for children's books often.

 Anyways I just love everything she does, but on her Instagram, she started this little thing called transmundane Tuesdays, where she was just [00:34:00] posting drawing prompts on every Tuesday on her Instagram feed. But they were super like weird and whimsical, and so we were sitting down as a family on Tuesdays, doing the prompts so that we would all be drawing based on the same prompt, but then we would share what we did afterwards. And of course they were all really different interpretations of the same keywords, but yeah, that's a, that's an amazing idea. I love that. 

Christina: I do have a monthly craft group. We call it "making it happen," cause we finally made it happen. 

Jen: I love that. 

Christina: But we really have struggled with shifting it online. It just didn't have, like I do have a little mini loot table loom and the last time we were together, we're drinking wine and we've got, I've got it out, and I'm pulling out with thread and being like not thread, but fabric, what do you think of this? And oh yeah. Or no, that's terrible. And it's just, I don't know. Or they can touch it. It's just feels, it just feels really different. I'm curious to know [00:35:00] how you've, do you maintain relationships that inspire your own creativity, let's say, do you have groups that you're a part of, or what does that look like in terms of just nourishing your personal life not necessarily your business? 

Jen: Well, it's, It's funny because creatively, I feel like I'm an island. I just sort of do my thing and in my home every day, and I find inspiration in the everyday and like just living life with my kids and honestly, like color and material are so inspiring to me. So when I'm making, I'm very, just doing my own thing.

 I do have a few relationships with folks, but they are more business focused, which is something I love to nerd out about by the way. So cool. I'm part of a little group here in Montreal, which is all self-identified mothers and entrepreneurs, and we normally meet monthly. And this group of folks is just amazing and I've just met such incredible people in this [00:36:00] group.

And they're all super inspiring and all of us have completely different businesses, but that we just all run our own businesses that sort of the common thread. We are trying to meet on zoom right now, but it's the same thing. I really struggle with large group zoom meetings, especially, if it's like a one-on-one conversation I'm okay, but with a lot of people on the screen, I just get lost. So I haven't been participating as much, but hopefully we will be all together again, one day soon. 

Christina: Okay. I want to close this out soon. Cause I'm mindful that you are during school hours and probably you should be weaving at some point today.

What's one of the most meaningful things that you've created? Do you have a favorite weaving? Is there one you could tell us a story about? 

Jen: They're all kind of special in their own way, I've got to say. And I like remember all the pieces I've made. They're all like little journeys. I will give a shout out to my friend, Andrea, because she commissioned a rainbow piece from me years ago, and it was the first rainbow I ever made. [00:37:00] And then that has led to my signature pieces. So that piece is definitely really special because it was the sort of the first one, and it lives with her. She's an incredible osteopath, and it lives with her in her office in Los Angeles.

I'm sure makes cheers people up and makes them feel good. But yeah, I don't really have one particular piece, but I will say that, I am just so grateful, always that I get to make art that makes people happy because it's really what I aim to do with my artwork. I want to make things that are beautiful and that bring people joy in their daily lives.

That's really what I strive to do. So every piece is special that way, cause even if I'm making like a rainbow piece, which I make all the time, I know that the person who's on the receiving end of it, it's going to be like a special piece for them. So they're all special, right? Yeah. 

Christina: I can attest to it because I got to unbox one of Jen's pieces, my [00:38:00] weaving, which by the way, when your episode comes out, I'm going to share that unboxing video because yeah, you do such a beautiful job of that as well.

 Okay. Final question. Do you have a special keepsake that you keep in your work space? 

Jen: Well, I have a beautiful rock that Nova painted for me, which I keep in my studio. And it's all multicolored sitting on my shelf in front of where I work. So I have a little piece from my kids. Yeah we have, there are all over the house too, so it's everywhere.

Christina: Yeah, I guess the final question would be, what does the concept of Jomo means to you? 

Jen: Oh, I think that's really good. I thought about that. And it's funny, cause like when I hear JOMO, I think of FOMO, which is something I probably used to stress about when I was younger and now I don't anymore. But when I think of the concept of like the joy of missing out, I feel like it's really pleasure and like the small things and just really knowing what's [00:39:00] important, like being clear about your priorities and boundaries too. But yeah, I really just like sort of appreciating the small stuff. 

Christina: Awesome. Jen, thanks so much for being with me. 

Jen: Thanks Christina, this was so fun.