We were lucky to catch up with Jada Jay recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jada, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. If you could go back in time do you wish you had started your creative career sooner or later?

It’s funny because if I was asked this question a few years ago, I know for a fact I would have said sooner. Thankfully I have grown and now I don’t wish my career started any sooner or later because I trust in God’s timing for my life. Every blessing that has come my way, came right on time, and I’ve learned that it’s important to just enjoy the journey because tomorrow isn’t promised. Anytime that I thought something was meant for me and it fell through, the Lord blessed me with something even better. What the Lord has in store for us is greater than anything we could even fathom. So put your trust in him and watch how he blesses you. (Proverbs 16:9)

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

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

For me, the most rewarding aspect of being a creative is seeing how my art or my influence in general inspires, motivates and uplifts others. I will never forget when I was told by one of my supporters that my song “All Alone” helped get them through their depression phase and made them feel as though they weren’t alone in feeling how they felt. When I wrote that song I was in a really dark place and was just being completely transparent about the reality of what I was feeling at the time, but little did I know by writing that song, I was helping heal myself and others. I’ve had people tell me that I inspired them to follow their dreams, or motivated them to work harder at their craft. With being a creative comes great responsibility and whether you like it or not, you’re a role model to a lot of people so being mindful of what you say and put out into the world is important because you never know who will come across your art and how it will affect others.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

Being a booked and busy entertainer can be extremely stressful because hearing “no” is inevitable and your income is literally determined by how many “yesses” you get. I understand now though that rejection is God’s protection. However, before I learned to just let Jesus take the wheel, I remember I would always say yes to every opportunity that was presented to me because I felt as though if I said no to an opportunity, then I had no excuse to complain about why my career wasn’t where it needed to be because “I did it to myself”. Clearly this mindset was extremely toxic, but at the time, workaholic Jada Jay thought she was doing the right thing. One day I was swamped with multiple auditions that had the same deadline and while I was filming, I received an email regarding another audition opportunity for a huge network that I have always dreamed of working for as a kid. I decided to just quickly learn the material and film the audition that same day. I submitted my audition thinking that nothing would come of it and a few months later I booked the gig. When I accepted the gig, I knew deep down it wasn’t a project that I was passionate about because it seemed cheesy and childish, however, during the time I wasn’t making a full time living with entertaining so the money plus the big name attached to the gig, made me think that I would be a fool to turn down the offer. BIG MISTAKE. The entire time I worked with the company I was miserable every single day. I was harassed on a daily basis and the company was aware and did little to nothing about it and would turn a blind eye to the blatant retaliation I received from coworkers after speaking up about my experiences. In fact, it got to the point to where people began acknowledging the treatment they saw I experienced but they remained bystanders because they didn’t want to ruin their rep with the company. Overtime, my mental health began to cripple and I gaslighted my own feelings about the job not being good for my mental health by telling myself that this job was the answer to all my financial problems, and was going to finally help me open doors and that so many people would kill to be in my position so I should be grateful and I had no room to complain because I was blessed. I drew the line when I realized that no matter how much I spoke out about the daily abuse I experienced, that no one was going to protect me so I had to make the hard decision of leaving because I owed it to myself to protect myself physically, spiritually, emotionally and mentally. The lesson I quickly had to learn was that no amount of money a job can pay you is worth the expense of your mental health. And just because a huge name is attached to a project doesn’t guarantee that they will value you as an employee, pay you what you deserve or even pay you the right amount that you discussed. My advice to entertainers is to make sure you pay close attention to your paychecks, because a lot of companies will try to take advantage of entertainers who aren’t knowledgeable about the business.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/JadaJayMusic, http://www.jadajayent.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jadajaymusic/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jadajaymusic/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/i/flow/login?redirect_after_login=%2Fjadajaymusic
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_BUwf0VIcoCfM3yXooMyUg
• IMDb: https://pro.imdb.com/name/nm11771377/
• Filmography Demo Reel: https://www.dropbox.com/s/ypofkdcxay6zpzf/DEMO%20REEL%20_JADA%20JAY.mov?dl=0
• Resume: https://resumes.actorsaccess.com/jadaadams
• More Jada Jay Articles: http://voyagedallas.com/interview/life-work-jada-jay/ https://shoutoutdfw.com/meet-jada-jay-pop-singer-actress-dancer-influencer-ceo-of-jada-jay-entertainment/
• Other: 

Image Credits
Todd Tyler Photography V Image Productions Peter Roberson Photography Greg Hughes Aditya Ali