We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jasmine Alexander a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Jasmine, thanks for joining us today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?
I would actually like to take this time to say the exact opposite, factually. You see, I knew from a toddler who I was always going to be: an actress, singer, dancer, musician, fashion designer, writer, model, illustrator—in other words, a renaissance artist.
The picture I want to paint is the scarcity mindset. Though I do not say the following as an attack on my mother, but stating the reality for other likeminded people to see: you are not alone.
My mother was a visual artist (oil-on-canvas and muralist). And where she had success in the past (before she began having kids), something shifted. What it was I’ll never know as, regrettably, my mom has since passed. But the moment I came into the world, that mindset had taken permanent residence in her mind.
Parents always try to come from a place of “what’s best,” whether it’s for the child’s future, or just the present moment. Add to the mix living in poverty, things like big dreams were “out of touch” with the reality we were currently dwelling in. So growing up, my art was treated almost as an “over there” goal, not a “what can I do as a parent to get you to reach your goals?” Those conversations never happened—lessons even were off the table.
I began working “regular” jobs as early as age 8 and have more or less been working those jobs since—making only minimal money with my art since age 18. As an artist, this is a slow death of the soul. That incessant longing for something that is just barely out of reach that only grows dimmer with each passing day, week, month, year that the artist is not fulfilling their true potential, just “making a paycheck to keep a roof over their head” because they are so tired of the “starving artist” lifestyle.
It’s a kind of cancer of the creative spirit, and eventually, if not revived, many artists lose touch with part of themselves—or themselves in their entirety—and settle for “regular” jobs because of consistency, comfort zones and “scarcity.” Not a day goes by where I ask myself, “How can I get back to my art fulltime and actually financially succeed to the extent that I will forget the last time I had a ‘regular’ job?”
And this is no insult to those regular jobs. Far from it. It’s me saying as I’ve said in management and executive positions a plethora of times, “Are you qualified for this position? No? Nothing personal, but I will need to fill the role with someone qualified.” If an artist’s job is A-B-C, why are they doing X-Y-Z? The same goes in the reverse order, as well: those whose expertise is not art have no business being in art.
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 background and context?
Hailing from Seattle, Washington State, USA, I’m an actress and renaissance artist. What does “renaissance artist” mean? It means I also excel at: writer (published author of 12 books at present with 250 slated, with 66 screenplays as of now), fashion designer (launched a shoe line the spring of 2025, with hundreds of designs to my name), illustrator (one of my illustrations won a contest), singer, dancer, musician, model, and director.
I decided what I was going to be when I was a year old, where I began acting and fashion designing at age 4 and 5, singing, dancing and music from age 6, writing at age 3 but again at 9, illustrating at 14, and the rest is history.
What sets me apart from others is how I strive for the utmost professionalism, realism and authenticity. Being a devote lover of language, culture and history, when I delve into a character, a clothing design, a novel, song, what have you, I go for as close to exactness as possible. Example: I don’t just write a story; I research more than I write to have audiences completely transported to times, places, and cultures of that specific story.
I’m learning some 15+ languages for the reason above, have diplomas in Latin, ancient Hebrew, Greek, art history, Roman Empire, Ancient Greece, Ancient Egypt, Egyptian hieroglyphs, the Tudors, William Shakespeare, preliminary law—the list goes on. This is not a flex, but a statement of my commitment, dedication, and devotion to my crafts and ever-increasing education.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
Well, nearly dying from a micro brain aneurysm significantly delayed not just my career, but my life. It was an utterly harrowing experience that I had to perservere through 99% on my own—hell, the moment I fell to the floor dying I was alone. “Terrifying” doesn’t even feel strong enough a word to describe the entire scope of the incident, let alone the next 5 years that followed after in my recovery.
It taught me that—whether you believe in reincarnation, past lives, or not—what you do here and now in your current life/identity HAS an effect, whether good or bad, and that we should strive to always do the very best. But not just for oneself; your family or significant other, groups or communities you’re part of, Mankind as a whole, the animal kingdom, the inanimate objects, spirituality, and the tolerance of the religious beliefs of others as well as your own faith, whatever it may be.
By wanting to do good things, big or small, for all of the factors above, one could look back over their life and smile in pride at all their good deeds. So this experience, though one I would not wish upon another, made me open my eyes to my life lived so far—with a new lease on it—and got me to pivot.
I now take the time to engage, to be in the present moment, to really make lasting relationships—but am no stranger to cutting out the toxic ones, don’t get me wrong—and asking, “What can I do to HELP?” I’ve always been a very self-less person to begin with, but this experience—if I could take some sort of silver lining from it—led me to the realization that I also need to include MYSELF in that help.
That I need that time to help me FIRST before I can help others to create that lasting impact, you know? Because you can’t do good deeds—especially as an artist—if you’re dead, right?
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
That fame and money do not corrupt, the person’s pre-existing anxieties, uncertainities, aberrations, and the ilk amplify the moment those things come into the picture. We’ve all seen that person—whether in high school, randomly on the street, or the one that has us scratching our heads asking, “Why are you this haughty in this small town?”—that had unfavorable personality traits, and 90% of the time none of them had fame, popularity or money.
Take those who win the lottery who then file for bankruptcy: they had pre-existing issues with money, now add a ton of it and it just AMPLIFIED their issues. If they had only handled their issues PRIOR to the lottery, they would have lasting wealth.
Take the drama queens or jocks in school: inflated and curated images of perceived value to hide fragile egos or major insecurities. Give them popularity, and they become the “bullies”—again, it had NOTHING to do with the fame, but their lack of true value.
I’m done with the false narrative and generality that fame/money corrupts. It does not. In my experience, having come from abject poverty, some of the most arrogant or entitled people, or those going up to their eyeballs in debt just to buy the latest Gucci to project this image of status, are the POOR, and almost always insecure, and at times flaw-ridden.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/jasminealexander
- Instagram: @TheJasmineAlexander
- Facebook: https://Facebook.com/JasmineAlexanderActress
- Linkedin: https://Linkedin.com/in/thejasminealexander
- Twitter: @TheJasAlexander
Image Credits
Mariah June Photography
David Bisson Photography
Marty Hicks Photography