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

Laura-Marie , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

I’m forever grateful for every opportunity that this career path has given me. I’m blessed to still be in this industry after so many years however I have thought a few times what it would be like to have a normal 9-5 job. I’ve worked in several different jobs growing up before I entered the music and modelling scene. My dream job growing up was to be a hairdresser, I worked in a small salon in Plymouth. From there I worked in a laundry folding towels before getting my job in a building firm warehouse where I was a picker/dispatch. Around this time I got introduced to the music scene and fell in love with it, the rest is history. With that being said though in between tours, I do like to pick up a part time job or volunteer my time.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Music Entrepreneur:
As a teen, Jenks supported musicians getting gigs, festivals, and airtime. She’d spend her days phoning around her local music venues and further afield for opportunities to arise, running merchandise tables on tour. After completing The Princes Trust business course in 2015, Laura-Marie Jenks debuted in the local music scene of Plymouth. Announcing numerous endeavours within the music industry, such as owning her music agency and promotions company, Still Hangin’ Promotions. Jenks would go on to showcase artists of all genres in local music venues, the Underground and The Junction, as well as venues all over the UK and US. Laura-Marie has raised money over the years for multiple charities through gigs and festivals. These charities included The Sophie Lancaster Foundation, ShelterBox and The British Heart Foundation to name a few, Jenks has also raised money for the Plymouth Punx Picnic. As well as owning her agency, the breakout venture was becoming a record label representative for Outsider Records and Punk Babylon Records, the same label that The Cockney Rejects signed to. This led to Jenks being noticed by Event UK, leading her to review music from upcoming artists of a mixture of genres in 2018 for Slice The Pie. In 2022 after a short break, Laura-Marie returned to the music industry with 24/7 Stage & Crew, one of the leading crew companies in Britain. This led her to become a sound engineer and producer, working with independent artists as well as mainstream musicians. Currently Laura-Marie is working as part of the board at the Barbican Theatre in Plymouth, she continues to produce music to this day.

Model:
Jenks has opened up about her struggles with body dysmorphia, confirming on The Christian Reeve Podcast she doesn’t have social media due to the pressures. She said, “I honestly believe social media is the devil, I feel it’s evil. In the past when I’ve had social media I’ve had someone post for me. The apps even being on my phone give me anxiety.” Despite her struggles with body dysmorphia, Jenks made a name for herself within the modelling industry in her mid-teens. Known for boudoir modelling ~ a photographic style featuring intimate, sensual, romantic, and sometimes erotic images. Laura-Marie has modelled multiple brands over the years including Killstar, Boux Avenue and Ann Summers to name a few. Jenks has worked with local photographers Lauren Blue Photography, Ruby Light Portraits and Jojo The Photographer, as well as travelling for shoots.

Writer:
Laura-Marie made her debut with her poetry book From The Ashes: Poems From Poisonous Love Affairs in November 2024. Giving voices to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault, the poetry collection has elements of Grimms’ Fairy Tales as well as metaphors however nothing is fictional. Within the pages, Laura-Marie wrote poems about her struggles with mental health, her time within the industry as well as enduring physical and mental abuse in a toxic relationship. While she hasn’t named the people she has written about, she told Cornish Stuff, “This is not an exposay, a memoir or burn book, I’ve only been publicly connected to a few people but I’ve been involved with a few others that I’ve never spoken about.”

Jenks opens the book with a letter to her readers, writing about becoming reluctant to use her voice to express her emotions “I was cursed out, striked for using my voice out of term.” She adds: “My silence was not enough, wounded I may have become, these poems that pour out onto the pages show I’ve not fallen. Depression, self-harm, sexual assault, rape, pain, despair ~ these are the heartbreaking experiences that many of us have faced. This book is for anyone who feels they can’t cope anymore, who have suffered and deserve to be heard. This book is my inner healing, for me because I never deserved any of this.”

Laura-Marie hosted a book launch at the Torpoint Library in November 2024 accompanied by First Light, the domestic and sexual violence charity.

From The Ashes: Poems From Poisonous Love Affairs is available to purchase on Amazon.

Personal Life:
Laura-Marie has been open about her struggles with depression, anxiety and body dysmorphia. In an interview with Ocean City Radio, Jenks said, “I feel as though I’ll always be on a healing journey when it comes to my body dysmorphia. I feel as though over the years I’ve been assigned characters by different people who have entered my life.” She went on to add, “My mental health too is a struggle, my depression can some days be manageable, other days unbearable. Turning to spiritual healing approaches has really helped me gain a new understanding of managing those triggers.”

Jenks in March 2022, completed an online course in holistic colour therapy with Maya Carrington. Laura-Marie has spoken about colour therapy on The Magic And The Mind Podcast, “I’ve always been a spiritual person, I’ve found so much healing within myself since I’ve been taking part in colour therapy.” Colour therapy, also known as chromotherapy, is a form of therapy that uses colour and light to treat certain mental and physical health conditions.

Laura-Marie supports local charity, Beat 4 Autism ~ a charity that supports parents and carers with individuals living with autism. Run by Lizeta Fellows, the charity aims to create an autism friendly community in Torpoint. Jenks told Ocean City Radio, “I volunteered to be an elf last year for my local sensory grotto run by Beat 4 Autism. I loved every moment, this charity is so special to me, it was such a rewarding experience.”

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I wish I discovered courses online sooner, over the last few years in my spare time I’ve been completing online diploma’s through Alison. They have a range of free diplomas and online courses that provide you with certificates on completion. These courses have really helped build up my connections within the industry and have aided me towards new opportunities.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn character assignment very quickly, this was something that subconsciously happened I feel due to me being in the industry at a young age. I felt as though I had to have all these different characters for different roles within my career to be taken seriously. When I stepped into the music scene putting on gigs at first, I mostly worked with alternative artists, I never felt I was taken seriously until I became an alternative myself. I would look at myself in the mirror and not recognise myself. I had become a version of me that I didn’t represent, similar to when I modelled for the first time. I was so grateful for the success of my career, the growth was incredibly fast but I felt so lost. I had to go on a spiritual journey of self discovery to be able to find myself in what felt like total darkness. I learned the hard way that in this world, you can only be yourself because that’s the greatest version of you.

Contact Info:

• Soundcloud: I wrote these poems to heal from the illness that has taken over my entire body from all the hurt and pain they have caused me. My truest form of expression lives within these pages, I hope that my words can help those who feel alone in what seems like a never ending darkness. Don’t stay buried, let your voice be heard, we are all beautiful women who deserve so much better.’
• Other: Purchase Laura-Marie’s book, From The Ashes: Poems From Poisonous Love Affairs – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ashes-Poems-Poisonous-Love-Affairs/dp/B0D29JT3D9

  Snapchat – lauraa-mariieee

Image Credits

Lauren Blue Portrait & Boudoir Photography