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

Hi Jess, thanks for joining us today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

The way I was raised hands down made starting a business possible. My parents taught me that I can do anything I put my mind to. Our family has a great spirit of following your dreams. I grew up looking at my mom’s modeling headshots and glam photos of my dad from his band in the 80’s. They always encouraged all of our creative pursuits and taking our passions are far as we wanted to. They were my rock through my dance career – from the age of 3 dancing in a studio connected to a gas station, to college nationals in Florida, professionally at NBA games and now across the globe. When I was on my high school’s dance team they literally went to EVERY competition. They must’ve seen those dances at least 20 times. My parents also are amazingly vulnerable and open people. Obviously working with my dad, communication is key. He has never shied away from telling me the truth about the industry, lessons he’s learned, or his expectations of me. My mom is the chillest, most encouraging and loving person I’ve never met. That balance really created a beautiful environment for me to learn in. They never told any of their kids who to be, they let us figure it out for ourselves. They’re total hippies, I could go on forever about 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

Throughout my life there has been a strong theme of independence, creativity, and work ethic. Dance was my first love, I started at the age of 3 and won’t ever be able to let it go. I wanted to be good so bad when I was younger. I stretched while watching tv and practiced for hours on my own. But I knew that was not the ~career~ move for me. When it came time to crack down on who professional Jess would be, I realized I can translate my love for creating beautiful, strong imagery through media production. My dad has worked in video production his whole career. When I was growing up his job was to literally chase monsters with the Travel Channel. I was always aware of the industry but it wasn’t until I graduated with my Marketing degree it clicked that that’s what I wanted to do. Neither of my parents had a 9-5 when I was growing up. I tried one for 6 months after graduating college and then quit in the height of the pandemic. Taking a huge risk but gaining the opportunity to start a business with my dad who also wanted to quit his 9-5 (he tried for a couple of years). Our business gen.boutique is will be 2 years old in January 2023!
We are a media production company that specialized in mixing creativity and business to solve our client’s problems. I believe the differences in our age, experience and background differentiates ourselves from the competition. Our work is extremely high end but keeps a contemporary and current feel because of our different strengths. My dad brings the execution, I bring the ideas. When those elements come together, especially in a ranging landscape like photo and video, it’s a combination not a lot of small businesses have. My favorite projects are the ones that could be the most basic, standard “talking heads” that we turn it into something attention getting and unique. We work with a lot of amazing companies and non-profits that really deserve to have eyes on them. We’ve been able to help client’s fill their staff and raise huge amounts of money with a single video. It’s powerful, very fulfilling and tells me we’re doing something darn right!

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

Brené. Brown. My philosophy around owning a business isn’t even about owning a business. If I’m not my best self, I’m not my best CEO, art director or producer. Brené Brown’s book Daring Greatly changed my life. Reading that book gave me strength to believe in myself after a very traumatic time. Without my self care and self love journey I wouldn’t have gen.boutique. It’s that simple. The rollercoaster of starting a business, especially when the work you’re producing is your personal art, hits hard. Everything feels personal. So taking care of myself comes before the business. I’m blessed to work with family so they’re fully on board with that philosophy and I reciprocate that back to them. Rising Strong by Brené Brown and Untamed by Glennon Doyle are also very transformative books for me.

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

Give grace to yourself and coworkers. Assume the best in people and outcomes. Take time to rest on weekdays and weekends. Attitude is 100% a mind game. Positivity and focus are under appreciated skills. Time to be inaccessible is necessary for mental health (set time limits on apps, DND, phone down time). Create strong boundaries around the times you work, the times and ways you communicate. Be realistic and remember were humans with basic needs. Whenever I feel crushed by societies insane narrative around hustling and the grindset – I think about living to work vs. working to live. Imagine the short time ago when you didn’t have a computer at home. You can create your own narrative around work, the assumed expectations are optional.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.gen.boutique
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gen.boutique/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/gen-boutique/

Image Credits
Ken Friberg