We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Eve Bessier a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Eve thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?

Two of my most meaningful creative projects both involved teaching and mentorship. For fifteen years, I was the County Coordinator and a teacher for Cal Poets, which brought poets into classrooms as Writers in Residence. I worked with fourth graders almost exclusively. A perfect age group for mentoring creative thinking. I personally developed and wrote the curriculum, which was also used in other parts of the state. I’m a published author, performing jazz musician and hold a Master of Eduction. Therefore, I was able to meld poetic language, music and my academic experience to bring about an energetic alchemy in the classroom. The benefits and feedback were immediate. Not often true for creatives. Our work can sometimes take years to bring about a response, if we are fortunate enough to be noticed at all. I also taught voice for seventeen years. The one-on-one and group relationships I fostered with students of all ages were a daily blessing. The work enlivened my own spirit and the spirit of hundreds of others through the creative vehicle of singing. I want to acknowledge that teachers are by nature creatives. They are often people who financially support their own creative work by mentoring others. That was certainly the case for me. I think that’s a healthy fusion of personal artistic expression and community service. The creative process can be isolating. Being involved in mentorship of some sort allows creatives to share our gifts while experiencing the fulfillment of passing along the skill sets and perspectives that promote artistic expression.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I started composing songs, poems and telling stories as a small child. Writing is a central part of my life. I love sharing the joy of creativity through enriched language, music and vibrant visual art. I’ve been performing vocal jazz and poetry in live settings for over forty years. Being a creative has always been my avocation. I hold a Bachelor or Arts in Creative Writing and a Master of Education, and spent a couple of decades working in education for the University of California. I’ve taught writing and voice privately for thirty years, with the intention of supporting the creative empowerment of my students. I am a poet laureate emerita of Davis, California; and also of Silver City, New Mexico. As laureate, I served my communities by hosting literary readings, giving workshops, and bringing poets together to celebrate the power of language. I am recently retired from teaching, but continue to write, publish and perform both solo and with my life partner, Patrick Markham. My writing is widely published in literary journals and includes three full-length collections of poetry, a science fiction novel and a collection of short fiction. I’ve won various literary awards, but my main purpose in writing is to bring beautiful language and meaningful stories to the page. All of my books are available on Amazon.com. You can experience my unique blending of jazz and poetry on my website: www.jazzpoeteve.com. You can find a plethora of my videos on YouTube. My acrylic landscapes are currently on view at the Otero Artspace in Alamogordo, New Mexico. I am a monthly columnist for Southwest Word Fiesta: www.swwordfiesta.org. Most of my recent writing is in a form I’ve created, which I call the poetic micro essay. I hope you will explore and enjoy my creative work.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

Along with my formal university degrees, I am a certified life coach. My three-year training program with the Academy for Coaching Excellence included a year of mentorship to help build a private practice. I had already built a vocal coaching practice and had been teaching privately for about a decade. In fact, I decided to become a life coach because I found that giving people a voice through music resulted in also bringing about the empowerment of their voice in life overall. The more I advertised and worked to promote my life coaching business, the more voice students showed up for me. When I talked with my academy mentor coach about this, her response was, “You are obviously meant to be a life coach by teaching people to sing!” I decided to put all of my focus and efforts into my existing business as a voice coach. My skill set as a certified life coach greatly enhances my ability to work with students at a deep and meaningful level of personal development. Sometimes our plans and training lead us in a different direction than expected, or end up fortifying the direction we had previously chosen. Go with the flow!

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me it’s all about love! My writing begins with my passion for the powerful interaction of luscious language and resonant meaning. My vocal performances and recordings are about moving the heart and spirit. I am nourished by vibrant color and fascinated by the physical shape of things. Bringing all of these aspects of creativity together in my work allows me to engage with life and with others as an expression of joy. This expression is always evolving. I adore improvising when I sing jazz and when I write poetry. When I let go of my preconceived ideas and expectations, outrageously rewarding things are given the space to take place. As creatives we are bringing something new into existence, as the word creative implies. We are magicians, making new things appear out of thin air! It’s an immediate rush and a long-term noble endeavor.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jazzpoeteve.com
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83PzDMwUb1I
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud/search?q=%22Eve%20West%20Bessier%22

Image Credits

Photos of Eve West Bessier, credit Patrick Markham

All other photos, credit Eve West Bessier