Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Danielle Jade . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Danielle, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?

My parents have always supported my creative pursuits both financially and emotionally. In a very large way, they have given me the freedom I need to be an artist and feel safe in my creation. They haven’t gotten everything right, but they have never once made me feel like I couldn’t have a career or future in any of my creative endeavors.

I went to college in New York to pursue theatre, and they paid for my schooling and didn’t even hold it against me when I graduated and decided theatre really wasn’t the path for me. Then, they allowed me to move back home to Florida and turn their garage into my own studio/workshop to build my hat-burning business.

My parents are really just a large source of support for me because they themselves are entrepreneurs who have always encouraged me and my sisters to forge our own paths and figure out how to combine our passions with profits so that we can work for ourselves.

That kind of support is crucial for both artists and entrepreneurs because you will have plenty of strangers telling you to play it safe and get a “real” job. You need those people in your life who will say, “I might not get what you’re doing exactly, but I support YOU and your right to do it.” My parents are those people, and I am genuinely so grateful for them.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am a hat-burning artist/business owner. I got into hat burning through the art of pyrography aka wood-burning. I’d been wood burning as a hobbyist for about 5 years before I started selling my woodwork. A year into selling my art, I discovered I could burn on hats and that changed the game for me! I always loved the idea of making “functional” art, and as a wood burner that looked like making a crap ton of coasters and earrings and bottle openers: things people could actually use instead of just something to hang on the wall.

Hat burning gave me the opportunity to combine my love of fashion with my desire to create functional art. And now I say a BoHippi Express hat is a “wearable work of art.” I also have a deep love of Western fashion and culture, and through my hats, I get to bring that love to the East Coast, where I call home.

If you go out West to Texas, Arizona, Colorado, etc., you will see everyone and their mama wearing a cowboy hat or a fedora, and there are so many different ways they express themselves using only a hat. There is something so magical to me about finding the perfect statement piece that not only pulls together your outfit but makes you feel great while doing it!

On the East Coast, you won’t see as many folks rocking hats, but the ones who do are hat ADDICTS, and it’s those people I love to connect with. My hats aren’t your standard hat; they have intricate designs that are inspired by my love of nature, adventure, and spirituality. Hat lovers see my work, and they’re impressed because it’s something really quite different than what they’re used to. It’s a lot of fun for me to put a twist on such a popular product.

Two recent additions to my business that I’m really proud of are my hat bar and my hat-burning workshops. The hat bar provides an interactive experience for customers to have a hand in creating their perfect hat. They get to pick out feathers, ribbons, playing cards, charms, and more to customize the hat band. In my workshops, I teach folks how to burn a hat from start to finish, and they also get to utilize the hat bar to customize their band. I’ve always loved interactive experiences (I am an Orlando girl, after all) and these additions have been such a welcome boost.

I call my business “BoHippi Express” because I enjoy the combo of bohemian and hippie styles, and I create hats to help people express their true nature.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is meeting and connecting with other artists/creatives. My guiding motto in my business is “collaboration over competition” because I truly believe you will go much further and succeed much faster if you focus on building others up with you rather than tearing them down. I have had many doors opened for me by moving in accordance with that motto, and I strive to open doors for others in return.

You might see an opportunity pop up and maybe it’s not for you, but when you move from “collaboration over competition,” you forward that opportunity to that one artist you met that one time who would be PERFECT for it. And they might come across something that would be perfect for YOU.

So, I think community and collaboration is truly the most rewarding aspect of being a creative entrepreneur.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I pivoted from selling wood art to selling hats, and it was the best decision I’ve made. I love the art of pyrography, it’s very meditative to me, and I knew if I was gonna sell any art it had to be pyrography art. For five years, the only form of pyrography I was aware of was wood burning, which is so great and so fun but reeeeally sort of tricky to sell.

A year into selling my wood art, I discovered I could burn on hats and it really changed the game for me. I started by selling just a couple of hats at each event alongside my wood art, and I noticed my hats always sold out before anything else.

Over time, I added more and more hats until I finally decided to say f it, let’s go all in on the hats. Now BoHippi Express is a hat shop first and foremost with a few wood-burned art pieces here and there.

I have more fun burning the hats, they sell more consistently, and they’re unique. Also whatever hats I don’t sell, I get to wear until the next event so it’s really a win-win.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.bohippiexpress.com
• Instagram: @bohippiexpress
• Facebook: @bohippiexpress