We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful JaCoya Rivers. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with JaCoya below.

Alright, JaCoya thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you share a story about the kindest thing someone has done for you and why it mattered so much or was so meaningful to you?

The kindest thing someone has done for me was sponsored the pre-launch of my business by investing their own hard earned money into my brand. I had anticipated to start The New Pretty and really get the ball rolling much quicker than actually happened. With COVID 19 hitting in the midst of my launch; it was very discouraging at moments to proceed with my vision for my brand. I had been doing grant applications every other day, looking for business scholarships, saving as much money from my 9-5 as possible on top of doing small gigs/odd jobs to save enough extra money to fund my dream. I wanted to provide a one stop shop for people to feel inspired, be uplifted and leave empowered to take on their life journey with a new, refreshed mindset. I had the desire to produce items that represent me as a person but also things that could be easily relatable and used throughout different communities. I had really been working hard doing everything myself; from creating the name, the logo, marketing materials, t-shirt printing, business/website/social media copyrighting, as well as all of the graphics. animations and coding for the website – all done by me. I hadn’t outsourced anything. The entire time my Angel donor (Devin) had been watching me put all the work in to get the brand aesthetically where I wanted and witnessed how it took me months to do this. In the midst of it all, I was still being a mom, working full time and managing my modeling/film career. That said, my Angel donor took it upon themselves to gift me $500 to do with whatever I needed for my business to get started. At a time where I felt like I was pinching pennies and overworking myself to get things done at the pace neccesary – I am ’til this day, truly grateful.

I was shockingly surprised and in awe that someone could be so generous without being warranted. It meant so much that my vision could be inspiring to others and the blood, sweat and at times, tears I was putting into getting my brand launched could be seen. The belief in me and my brand did not go unnoticed and I am forever impacted by the gesture. Building a community of people who believe in the mission of my brand and my journey is super important to me and seeing the generosity so easily spread made me feel like my purpose for creating the New Pretty was being lived out in real time. The emotional effects of someone investing their time, energy and money in me and my dream gave me hope that others would also see my vision and want to be apart of the ‘YOU-ARE-THE-NEW-PRETTY” community in the near future. I was inspired, uplifted and empowered to want to do more (each1teach1, pay-it-forward), be better and produce an even better quality of products and experience. I am truly grateful to be able to follow ALL of my dreams and slowly but surely finding balance in making them all purposefully make sense and tie together.

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 model, actress, creative artist, humanitarian, web designer and project manager. A self proclaimed Queen of all trades, I put a lot of energy into making sure that I can produce a good quality product that I would enjoy myself. I got into the entertainment industry through my childhood endeavors. Growing up, I was a young pageant girl and dancer – I have always been one to enjoy entertaining and using my creative nature in different ways. I went to college to focus on tech and engineering and quickly found that I desired a more colorful approach to my technical abilities. I used my creativity to venture into art and what started as a hobby, something that I did just for fun, quickly became what I was known for in my hometown. “The model girl who does art and henna tattoos”. I love providing a service that acts as therapy for both parties involved. Creating art in all forms and at moments, being a muse to others AS art (through modeling and acting) is truly a passion of mine. There is so much healing in creativity and learning to tap into our artistic genius. I am now working at acquiring more projects to add to my resume by collaborating with other creatives and brands. I am most proud of being a creative, influencer-like mom in this industry and proudly tackling all of the things that I love without apology. I ambitiously started a charity organization called Homies with the Homeless that goes out quarterly providing food, resources and blessing bags to the unhoused locals of Atlanta. We were featured in the DeKalb Champion Newspaper for my accomplishments and having three successful drops. On weekends, I offer mobile henna services and parties as well as produce pop ups at events where I offer henna tattoos and display my canvas artwork and handmade pieces. Otherwise, I am mostly found hiking Stone Mountain with my family or doing the next trending outdoors-y activity with my son. In between all of this, I am at times. filming a scene, taking a dance class or shooting my next creative concept or collaboration. I try my best to honor what I believe I can master without wasting precious time but at the same time, what I can enjoy the most. We only get one life. At times societal beliefs can make us feel limited and we are often encouraged to box ourselves in to just one or two things; for someone like me, that can be pressuring when I truly find peace in doing multiple things and being good at them all. So I stopped that way of thinking for my personal journey and adopted the method of taking focused steps towards ALL of my goals but on different timelines divided evenly- acting, modeling, creating, mommy-ing, giving back, so on and so forth and I have never been happier. All of my opportunities somehow make sense in relation to one another and I can say that I am aligning with new clients, gaining new followers, booking new gigs and becoming a more polished version of myself every second that I stay true to my brand, my Spirit and my purpose. I am a walking testimony that you can truly accomplish whatever you put your mind too. A Kansas City native, a “show me state” gal, I am knowledgable, resourceful and well versed in many different industries including but not limited too: henna art, canvas art. digital art. photography, photoshop/graphic design, web design, creative direction and project management. I have over the years acquired the skills and expertise to be a focused, reliable and harmonious asset to any new or existing team. You can visit www.IAmJaCoya.com which is a one stop shop for all things that I am working on including links to my other platforms and pages.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

For me, the most rewarding aspect of being a creative artist is the ability to set my own tone. I have the freedom to be myself and make a living off of my creativity and artistic mind. Being a chameleon, I am able to blend into different environments seamlessly without the pressure of sticking to just one expertise or lane. I can master many different things in life and still feel gratitude for where I am at the moment. I enjoy being able to find inspiration from all things and people around me and I enjoy the bliss I often feel knowing this life is the only one that I get and I get to live it feeling fulfilled, joyous, and empowered because I know that I am constantly growing, learning and discovering through my creativity.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

Advice that I can give to anyone managing a team. and maintaining high morale is to:

1. Stay organized, organization is key and can literally save you from chaos later by simply keeping things filed, organized and communicated effectively across systems.

2. Communicate. Communication is also key in any relationship but even more important when managing others. People are often creatures of habit and developing a ‘habitual’ and ‘healthy’ line of communication early will save so much unneccessary stress later.

3. Team building. Every once in awhile grab a team lunch, do a competition offering rewards, offer bonuses or something that will make your team see that you appreciate their time and hard work. People love to be where they are loved and appreciated.

4. Integrity. Building trust with your team members through honesty and transparency is so important. It will literally make or break any team.

5. ENJOY each other. Get to know one another. Learn each others hobbies, birthdays and favorite movies. Leave funny sticky notes or emails (if remote) with bad dad jokes or affirming pick me ups. It is very important to LIKE the people you work with/manage.

These are all things that I feel have worked in assisting me succeed when managing teams on projects.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.iamjacoya.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jacoya.t
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jacoya.rivers
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacoya-rivers-01466347/
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/jacoyaaaaa
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUGqOxsPw-OHsGi5H1pgk9w
• Other: www.homieswiththehomeless.com

Image Credits
StillGoingDesigns Javan Stewart Lyonswork Productions