We were lucky to catch up with Hailey Jordan recently and have shared our conversation below.
Hailey, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career? Maybe you can share a story (or stories) that illustrate the things they did right and the impact they had on you and your journey.
I am the daughter of magic makers. The youngest of three, I grew up in Norfolk, Virginia before making a new home here in Baltimore for the last 10 years. From an early age, I saw first-hand what hard-work looked like. My mom worked her way up from being a daycare teacher to overseeing the child care training of the East Coast branches and is currently pursuing her PhD, and my dad transitioned from being an electrical contractor to going full-time with his leather-crafting business nation-wide. They would travel for work and adventure, bringing us kids along whenever they could. Growing up, my parents modeled what it looked like to connect with the world, to dream big, and value hard work.
A story that comes to mind would be back in 1st grade when I had a class project to craft a mini replica of indigenous homes to learn about their culture. I told my mom about this project and by the end of our brainstorm, we decided to go all in– we were going to make a life-size tipi made of butcher paper and real tree branches from the backyard, learning how and why these structures actually worked. At moments when I got overwhelmed or doubtful, my mom would challenge me to find another way, there was nothing we couldn’t craft! When I showed up to school with my giant display, my teacher was shocked and rather amused. I remember sleeping in it for weeks after the project was over, beaming with pride of where my imagination could take me. I am proud to have inherited my mother’s imagination and audacity to bring it to life. And these moments happened again and again, leading me right where I am today. I have a vision for a world where communities are equipped with the information they need to move with agency and collectively design their futures, and because I was raised by magic makers, I have every intention of making that vision a reality.
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?
I’m Hailey Jordan, the founder and creative force behind Kings Imagination Co. It was through community building in my hometown, Norfolk, Va, that I discovered my passion for information design— communicating complex ideas in accessible ways.
I hold a BS in Neuroscience and Entrepreneurship from Johns Hopkins University, trained in human-centered design at the Carey Business School, and am a graduate of the 2023 Experience Design Certificate program with Odyssey Works. I am self-taught in graphic design and a member of the global Design Justice Network, which anchors my multi-faceted approach to social design. While working for a prominent brain bank in Baltimore, I became acutely aware of the deep fractures that exist between institutions and the communities they serve, particularly in the public health domain. Though we are constantly inundated with information, it is not often designed in a way that is accessible, digestible, and actionable. As a neuroscientist, designer, and community weaver, I am deeply committed to bridging knowledge-gaps and in doing so, activating collective agency within communities.
At the intersection of art, science, and joy, I collaborate with local community-serving organizations to reimagine visual & experiential tools that share essential information / resources regarding health, housing, and opportunity. We specialize in designing multimedia collateral, from infographics and publications, to websites, slide decks, and interactive idea-sharing platforms. I launched Kings Imagination Co. to be more than a design agency; but rather a catalyst for collective capacity building through information accessibility. By infusing designs with joy, abundance, and actionable challenges, Kings Imagination Co. is reshaping the narrative of information accessibility.
I’ve collaborated with community-serving institutions like MICA, Johns Hopkins University, Dent Education, Wide Angle Youth Media, Black Arts District, Station North Tool Library, and Neighborhood Design Center. When QTBIPOC, youth, and other marginalized communities have access to critical information, they are better equipped to move with agency in their own lives and show up for their neighbors, cultivating generative, resilient, and locally-sustained communities. That is what Kings Imagination Co. sets out to do, starting right here in Baltimore.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
I spent the first 20 years of my life building up an endurance for high-paced academia. Climbing my way through gifted programs, I learned how to focus, how to push myself mentally and physically, how to sacrifice wants in order to reach my bigger goals. That training got me into Hopkins and many powerful rooms since then. But shortly after I graduated, I realized that, while those skills got me as far as they did, they wouldn’t get me any further. If I wanted to repair and build bridges within communities, I knew that work required that I am whole and human. And so began the unlearning of solitude, of perfection, of exhaustion as metrics of success. I looked to friends and sunny humans in my life who modeled what it looked like to rest, to move with unprompted curiosity for the world, to deepen connections with people and be changed by them. I read brave and imaginative authors like Audre Lorde, Adrienne Maree Brown, and Cole Arthur Riley whos’ work is grounded in their body. As I build Kings Imagination Co., I honor the person I was who got me here, and I’m so grateful for the opportunity to exist beyond that narrow frame, to create something that is an extension of what is alive in me.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
A year ago, I was in senior management, handling an executive leadership transition at a youth-innovation Non-Profit, a walking PSA on burning out. I took pride in my work, loved working with young people, and often felt that I had to be the one with the answers– I had linchpinned my way into a corner. By trying to do it all, I quickly veered from my standards of excellence, inviting guilt and disappointment to creep in. Without reasonable support or reprieve on the horizon, I realized I had to step back and re-evaluate. I quit my job with no back-up plan other than to live on my savings and lean on a truly incredible community of friends and loved ones.
When people talk about burnout, there’s always a focus on either coping or changing circumstances, but what they don’t mention is how narrowed our imagination can get at the bottom of that pit. When I quit my job, I wasn’t dreaming of starting a business or working for Google or traveling the world, the exhausted don’t get to dream, just survive. So I decided to pause, sit in the unknown, and focus on mending the aftermath of burnout. I did that for 4 months, unsure what was to come from the other side. Like a change in season, I noticed things shifted in me, I felt myself come alive again, excited to connect and create and explore. I started to recognize myself again and I picked up my notebooks full of ideas from a past self who dreamed big. In one of my notebooks it read, “PIMco, Pioneering Innovative Methods of Communication”, it always came back to sharing ideas in new and imaginative and accessible ways. Feeling rested and increasingly inclined to find a way to earn money, I helped a friend of a friend redesign her portfolio, and a colleague redesign his organization’s website. It wasn’t long before it became clear that I could really do this, that the world is asking for my contribution. I stepped out of my own way and allowed curiosity and a love to problem-solve to connect me with clients. Now, I’m in awe of the life I am building, centering connection and creativity in my practice, contributing to my community in a way that I can sustain. The version of me a year ago would have never imagined the opportunities I’m pursuing right now.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://kingsimagination.myportfolio.com/work
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kingsimagination/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/haileyjordan/