We recently connected with Pearlie J. and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Pearlie, thanks for joining us today. What was the most important lesson/experience you had in a job that has helped you in your creative career?

Learn to discern that moment of challenge or frustration over your emotions! So many times it is so easy to allow FEELINGS to override the facts or true intent of a situation. Being one who identifies as an Entrepreneur and Creative, there has been a few times I can recall my emotions almost or completely blind siding me in a decision. For most, this is hard to admit but that’s not my style. I own what I did and how it helped tailor me to be even better.

Specifically, I remember having an expectation for something MAJOR to occur by the end of a certain time period and let’s just say it didn’t happen. All the time and energy I had invested had no proof of results to show what I had been working so hard for. At that very moment, life itself came crashing down in my mind. It seemed everything I had subconsciously buried that could stop me from producing for that particular season to use as fuel of motivation, no longer had any jurisdiction for that very moment. I completely broke. Anything I was doing, I no longer felt confident in. It seemed that all career placements and relational partnerships I questioned. When I say I backed up from it all, I…. MEAN… IT ALL!!

We all can attest to having a moment where you look at everything around you and start doing inventory and reflection on its validation to your life. So at that moment, I took about a month to reset. No business endeavor can be purposefully successful when you are personally drowning. Whether it’s your emotions, finances, relationships, physically, it will eventually catch up to you to handle accordingly. I dealt with my insecurities, my decisions that led to my lack of productivity and I sought to understand what was the root cause of why I allowed my life to reflect the way it did. From grief of losing a major friendship, to my love life falling in shambles, financially not at the peak of what I was accustom too, mending relationships and releasing toxic partnerships I made covenant with, yielding to the calling over my life and changing my approach of becoming.

When I took the time to discern it all, my emotions no longer was the leading producer; God was! It’s no secret I am daughter of the Most High God. It’s His abundant love and grace that brought me to the place each reader can witness to today. So I challenge us as individuals that before we just respond to forsake the business endeavor or next project, take a moment to remind yourself the truth of what you know something to be and decide firmly. Lastly, don’t forget to take care of YOU! Self-care and quality time weekly goes a long way and you have to prioritize it in your week like you do everything else as essential to remain healthy across the board.

Emotions will not override purpose, unless you give it access to.

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?

Pearlie J. Enterprises, LLC is an entity specializing in Consulting for the brand of all people. This entity is known for its creativity, business vitality, brand protection, confidentiality, exceptional service, innovation, and leveraging of human capital. We are extremely set apart with how we tailor each service/project based on our clients’ needs/demands by them entrusting our strategy with persistence to regaining their timely freedom. Whether its content creation, marketing kits, honorarium packets, web development, grant writing/reporting, bookkeeping, social media management, analyzing processes, product launches, updating or creating SOP’s, contracting as an administrator for the day or week…..we can handle it.

Pearlie J also renders musical performances as a contemporary gospel artist. From conferences, weddings, revival nights, and Sunday or mid-week worship services. Then next up is faith-based apparel which is available online. The line is called: “P.O.P.” which stands for Power of Prayer. This was a movement created to empower and stabilize the hearts of all people through the understanding and application of prayer. I am excited to announce exclusively that a new collection will be emerging with a release anticipated by the end of 2022.

A little back history to what helped me develop as a entrepreneur, I came out of college in 2015 as a HBCU Music Major graduate of Elizabeth City State University. Right after I headed to Disney as an Intern in Operations, which led me back to my hometown, known as “Bull City” to build my foundation and that’s Durham, NC just to be clear. With my minor being in Business Administration, I worked 7 months as a Receptionist and 6 months as an AP Analyst for the largest Wine and Spirits Distributor in the US for the Southeast region.

Next, I proceeded to County Government as an Office Assistant for 3 years in Public Health, which led to some of my most crucial attributes being cultivated as a professional.By providing administrative support to one division with five teams, I oversaw a budget of four-five million dollars each fiscal year, while submitting grant reports, reviewing federal and state budgets, creating courses in LMS, assisting with events and becoming the Project Manager for an offsite-location within four months.

In 2019, I debuted my first independent album: IX Shades of Pearl, where I arranged, recorded, branded, and handled all music business accordingly. In 2020, my occupation shifted, and I started working for Grace Church of Durham as the Administrator/Coordinator. In that same year, I spent my last year in government as an Outreach Worker for gang-involved youth with case management. In mid-2021, I adventured back to Accounts Payable for close to a year and started digging into the launch of Pearlie J. Enterprises full-time.

Since 2015, I have been building my skillset in customer service, administration, management, event planning, operations, songwriting, finances, music production, vocal arranging, ministry, and branding. As a small black-owned business, I am proud to be the main investor and owner of this brand. As the year is coming to a close, currently we are revamping our services to fine-tune even the more.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

As a creative, most of the times one who doesn’t identify themselves as a creative can lack the ability to understand what it takes to be one and what it takes to create. Truly, each person can be a “CREATIVE”, it is all in perception and how one chooses to interpret their direction of imagination to fulfillment. The journey is always endless because a true creative is forever thinking of how to take their niche to the next level.

Being that I am creative who is in different industries, they all intertwine together, however; the process of each lane is significant in there own way due to the systems that I have in place that help guide me through to a place of creation.

Let me first talk about what it takes to create as a Consultant. There is a path that leads to the development of something. When working with a creative, you have to acknowledge how they formulate their “product”. Each day can literally vary on how a CREATIVE interacts, finds inspiration, studies, brainstorms to eventually start or finish creating .

Now let’s take it a step further….that even in creating, the canvas can be so close to completely being finished only for the CREATIVE to restart. So, be patient, respect the process and give that individual room to breathe. It is imperative that the mind has to be clear to receive clear frequencies to build. Graham Wallas proposed one of the first complete models of the creative process in four-stages, which is preparation (or saturation), incubation, illumination and verification (or implementation). All of this then ties into what it takes to be a CREATIVE.

Creativity comes from the beginning of a thought. That thought is then processed through several elements: purpose, information, inference and conclusion, concepts, presumptions, implications and consequences, points of view and questions. Learn to value the CREATIVE and what it takes to be identified as one. A lot of times we either want the value of the CREATIVE but lack the honor of them through compensation or acknowledgment of the process to do what it is that they do.

May we all take time to meet someone where they are. It doesn’t mean you have to be who the CREATIVE is or agree to their means of producing; however, acknowledge their approach to create and if you agree with their values, SUPPORT.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

As an Entrepreneur, I have no other choice but to be RESILIENT. We define resilience as the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties but if I define it for me, it’s simply choosing to move forward and trying again each and every day! As an Entrepreneur, difficulties can be something that is hard to accomplish to the place of solution, deal with, or understand and that even includes people. Of course, I make this statement because of my experiences.

As we do purposed day to day task, mountains always appear whether in the beginning, during or after a major pivoting moment. Back in 2021, I remember making the decision to go full-time as an Entrepreneur, which included my artistry as a Singer, Apparel Designer and Consultant. It hasn’t been easy at all if I’m truly transparent, but it’s been everything I needed. It was challenging to have minimal support from my inner circle and being completely funded without any startup investments.

Let me truly break it down some more. I am the Owner, Content Creator, Social Media Strategist, Bookkeeper, Administrator, Stylist, Assistant, Web Designer (with the help of my sister Christina) and anything else that needs execution BUT that is the investment of believing in what is assigned to you. It requires sacrifice, discipline, patience to work through frustration and grace to extend towards self-development of self. I struggled at first to keep that momentum of assurance that this is my path only because I wasn’t seeing results as fast as I anticipated. In being resilient, I had to learn to see that time isn’t based upon the 24 hours we have in a day but to shift my perspective to view each individual day as a moment of progression in that particular season. Some moments in life are all about planting, which is what you are doing to eventually see the development of what you’re working on. While another season may be you seeing the succession of what you put out prior and it’s critical to know where you are in life. It helps navigate you through to your “NEXT”.

When it’s all said and done, just keep moving forward even if it feels like you’ve only taken one step, JUST DON’T QUIT! Continue to show up for yourself daily. Be Patient. Be Persistent. Endure and Be Resilient, as you were created specifically for your purpose.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.pearliejent.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iampearliej/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pearlie.turner.3
• LinkTree: linktr.ee/iampearliej

Image Credits
Whitney Allen, Owner of Awakenings Unlimited, LLC Voncia Reed Photography