Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Janell Roberts. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Janell, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Not Found
I’ve learned that you have to study yourself before developing your craft, which is essential in learning your skill. My most significant achievement in my career as a creative has been getting to know who Janell is by asking myself what message I want to send. What do I want to convey? Will this change me as a person? Does this go against my morals? Getting to know myself has been a tiresome yet rewarding journey that I have learned to love and appreciate. I’ve learned to speed up my learning process by doing the groundwork. What that means is that I’ve learned to prioritize my alone time. In feelings of loneliness, I’ve learned to empower myself through it. For me, at least, The groundwork is where the creativity begins, and it’s the origin story. And this mindset has helped me grow into the woman I am today. Understanding who I am has made the learning process much more manageable. One of my biggest obstacles has been finding time to rest; as a creative, I often have feelings of imposter syndrome when I don’t rest. I’m sure most creatives can relate. However, learning to police my thoughts has been something I’ve grown to master. If there’s any advice I could give anyone, its to learn to separate intrusive thoughts from real ones; once you’re able to do that – you will save yourself a lot of time from unnecessary stress.
Janell, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
To the people that don’t know who I am, Hi, My name is Janell Roberts; people call me “Jay” for short. I am a content creator, creative director, podcaster, and the #1 best-selling author of “To All the People I loved before Loving Me,” a book for young adults navigating toxic cycles of family trauma. I am also the host of the “To All The People podcast,” where we bring on women of color with unique stories.
I think I understood my zone of genius (that thing I could do for free for the rest of my life) after taking on countless jobs, quitting, starting projects, and failing. Failure seemed to be a constant theme in my life, and failure is inescapable – I was failing at things that I didn’t love, and I knew that if I was going to fail at something, it needed to be doing something I loved. It became clear to me what my calling was. My calling was to “get the message out,” whatever that message may be and who it might come from. I wanted to compile all my life experiences to help others, and I felt this calling early in my childhood when I would spend hours inside writing short stories, obsessing over Oprah, and reading psychology books. I have used my life like a mirror, and I wanted my work to mirror who I am. I use TikTok as a vulnerable outlet to show my viewers the highs and lows of life. I use my Podcast to bring on women with amazing stories about how they empowered themselves as to what others would see as a “shortcoming.”
I think what sets me apart from others is my directness. I am very direct with my words, ideas, and work. Don’t get me wrong, time and place are everything – So I’ve learned to understand both. If there’s a story I want to convey, I refuse to tip-toe around it or water myself down. I think my vulnerability opens the door for others to be vulnerable with me; I choose to be authentically myself, and with that authenticity, I’ve found that people feel comfortable doing the same in return. I ask for people to be their truest form, to say how they feel, and be unapologetically themselves. And because of this, it has been reflective at most in my Podcast. I’ve had people come on to the “To all the People Podcast” and thoroughly discuss their experiences of not being accepted, grieving loss, and working in a career that doesn’t represent them. We often see the accomplishments of others but never the groundwork that made them who they are – I’ve always been fascinated by the stories that are often untold. I want to hear about those bad days, what shaped you, and how you overcame them. What makes me stand out is – my need to understand people by removing myself from the equation.
“To all the People Podcast” Is available every Sunday at 10 am on all streaming platforms (Spotify, Apple, Iheart Radio, Pandora, Etc).
“To all the people I loved before Loving me Poetry book” Is available on both Amazon and BNB
How did you build your audience on social media?
TikTok is a great way to grow a following for any influencer struggling on other platforms. When I leveled out the game plan of increasing my TikTok following, I started with Posting Black Women in Luxury, and from that point on, I let my following lead me. I was constantly asked questions about How I got to where I was, allowing me to show day-to-day videos of myself. Those everyday videos showed the vulnerability, which helped me accumulate a following of nearly 55k in the short 10 Months I’ve been on TikTok. From then on, I could sell more books than I had before and start my podcast.
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I wish someone had told me to get to know MYSELF FIRST in my creative journey. There are so many “trends,” and my best advice is not to follow them. Like a trend, it eventually dies. And once you learn what works for you, you will succeed genuinely.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/Janellroberts
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janell_roberts/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1g5LcLYhpRMKnkYXnim7HQ/videos
- Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@janell.roberts?lang=en