Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jaci Kaelinn. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Jaci, thanks for joining us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
Honestly, everything I’m doing now I’ve just fallen into. Opportunities came up and I have kept rolling with them to where I am now. With flowers, I guess you could start it all the way back from my childhood. I grew up in North Carolina, where every spring there would be tons of flowers and greenery blooming. I would go on walks through the woods and neighborhoods and pick bouquets for my mom. (Sometimes from peoples mailboxes where they specifically grew flowers for their curb appeal.)
Being an extremely creative kid I guess I knew from an early age that flowers were absolutely a form of art. I had a job at a small flowershop as “shop support” where my role was making sure the designers had their flowers, buckets, water, etc..
When I departed from that job I remember thinking, I can do this shit. So that’s when I started doing arrangements out of my home. Now that has blossomed into my current role as the in house florist at Buena Vida Bodega where I offer weekly floral wraps for guests. I’ve already done two weddings and have several more coming up. I’m winging it but have this inner confidence that keeps telling me I can do it.
Tattooing came a little differently. Again, being a creative kid who loves to draw and paint, everyone told me “you should become a tattoo artist!” and I always said hell no. People would ask me to draw their tattoo designs and that was the same answer. Nope nope nope. One year for my birthday, a distant friend got me a stick and poke tattoo kit. All hand selected with the bells and whistles, and that night I think I spent four hours in complete silence practicing techniques on how to tattoo someone (aka, myself). From there I started giving away free tattoos to anyone willing to let me practice on them. It’s the same as anything you get into, there is so much to learn and so many different styles. I’m constantly critiquing my work and adapting so my next piece will become better and better. So, yeah, from that birthday gift I’ve now tattooed so many people and each one I get more and more excited. I love tattooing and the specificity of stick and poke is such a fun thing to experience. I’ve done pieces that have taken my five hours and I’ve also done freckles on someone’s face. It can be so delicate and then so bold. I love it so much.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
My name is Jaci Kaelinn. I was born here in Phoenix over at st. Joes, but grew up in North Carolina. I moved back to Phoenix six years ago and have lived in the Garfield historical district most of those years. I have three animals, a bearded dragon named Fig, a cat named Romeo and a chihuahua named Ribbit. I’m a professional hula hooper as well as being a tattoo artist and florist.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
Both my flowers and tattoos really flourished when I was at a really difficult time in my life. I had most everything ripped away from me and had to rely heavily on the love of my friends to help me back up. I was in a steady relationship and had a 9-5 job, everything was as steady as it could have been. Then suddenly when I no longer had those things I was pushed to rely on my creative side to help me financially. I realized I had been so out of touch of who I really was when things were “steady”. I wasn’t drawing, I wasn’t creating, I wasn’t doing any of these things that give me so much happiness. So the universe slapped me in the face and took away my comfort blanket. Now I have my creative outlets being my main source of income and still have days where I’m in disbelief. I’ll be driving to the flower market, (shout out to Juliana and the gang at We Got Flowers and Jackie at Buena Vida Bodega) and I’ll burst into laughter because I’m driving to go pick flowers! For my job! It also happened that when I started trusting myself with just figuring out how to be a creative person (something I was born into) more and more opportunities started to pop up. It was really scary to pivot from my old lifestyle of status quo but I’d do it again and again because I’m so grateful with where I am now. So incredibly grateful.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
It has been so engrained in me that if you try something and fail, you’re a failure. God but that is the farthest thing from the truth. I was absolutely petrified of trying anything because of all of the classic reasons. What if someone sees me mess up, what if I do it wrong, what if I can’t at all… When I see a new opportunity now, I wish I could share the feeling I get with everyone. It’s pure excitement and curiosity. I want to try everything I can and ask all of the questions. I want people to teach me as much as I can learn. There are so many amazing people out there doing incredible things and I want to be just like them and then maybe help others as well! So yeah, Unlearning that you should walk away from an opportunity that scares/excites/intrigues you (this is situational). If I’m interested in something but have never done it before, there is still that scary feeling of “failure” but I lean into it. Lean into things you feel you can do but have never tried!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @FlowersforKaelinn @44raspberrypokes
- Other: Buena Vida Bodega
Image Credits: Austin Harrison