We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jade Jones. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jade below.

Alright, Jade thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s start big picture – what are some of biggest trends you are seeing in your industry?

One of the biggest trends that I see in the modeling and influencer industry on social media is the “self-care” and “self-love” narrative. My concern with this is that it only takes care of the exterior things. It tends to your hair, your nails, your skin, if you get facials, your muscles if you are going to get a massage, but it doesn’t take care of the root of things that cause stress, or that cause us to need a relaxing spa day. And I am not talking about working hard and natural fatigue. I am referencing the things that you have to be honest with yourself to talk about, the things that cause us to have bad days and the things that cause us to be in need of a mental health day- not relating to diagnosed conditions.
I believe one of the biggest contributing factors is the lack of a relationship with self. In my last interview I did with Voyage I was able to speak a little bit of my background of being a dual athlete on full ride scholarship and how that had been a part of my life for a long time, even on the coaching side. What I started to realize once I stepped outside of that athletic culture and into young adulthood was how often I was disregarding and devaluing my intuition, my body, and my input. That showed up in my constantly feeling overwhelmed by not saying no to take on projects, or always committing to show up for friends at events because I simply never practiced that. I always said yes to playing as an athlete. I was constantly forcing my body and mind to play through injuries whether it was a cracked sternum during an AAU championship game, fractured ribs mid- season my freshman year of college because of the fear of getting cut from the team, or playing with a fractured foot against #16 nationally ranked John Brown University my senior year of collegiate basketball at WBU, in which I scored my career high 46 points and stopped a few points shy of breaking the school scoring record, and afterwards I put my compression boot on in order to walk out of the gym back to the dorms. In the culture of athletics it is an all fight no quit mindset. In my mind I couldn’t afford the risk of losing my scholarship that gave way to my education so I refused to listen to my body and intuition, which subconsciously became a habit in my young adult life that led to me feeling overloaded with set life as a model and even simple daily conversational interactions.

What helped me grow past those things? Intentionality. Intentionality with myself. Carving out intentional time daily to understand myself and spend time with myself. Real time. Not phone in hand scrolling through various socials while trying to get to know myself. Truly taking the time to understand and started asking myself questions about what I liked and what I didn’t and why. Making connections to different questions that helped me understand myself and where my habits developed in the first place. Whether it’s something as simple as food choice or as complicated as relationship traits. It is paramount to anyone who wants to be successful in any career to understand themselves. Some good questions to start asking are, what’s my threshold of interaction whenever I’m out in public, my threshold of what I can do in a day and how many hours am I going to commit to? No work after 6pm? I would encourage readers to hold yourself to those standards you create, not what social media or trends tell us we are supposed to do or value. Also keep in mind sometimes knowing what you do and don’t like comes through trial and error. The important thing that really stuck with me is not just going through something and getting it done, but going through it then checking in with yourself to understand what was good, what did you appreciate, what would you change, and also communicating all of those points when necessary. When we do those things consistently with ourselves, it automatically creates healthy boundaries for others. So often I would find myself getting so frustrated with people and a lot of times they’re only doing what my boundaries allowed. Nowadays we’re so focused on what our life looks like rather than what it feels like especially when it comes to social media and trendiness. It’s important to not only value the relationship we have with others and what others think, but placing that same value if not more on the relationship with ourselves. Remember it takes time to build that relationship just as any other relationship does so be patient with yourself. And if this isn’t something you are growing through I would challenge you to take a step back and see where you could be better or what health habits you can add to your daily routine, it could be daily, reading, a daily walk we can always be better. How you show up for yourself is important; it builds trust and confidence with yourself. Practice it in small ways and big, consistently.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

For those who haven’t read about me previously, Hello my name is Jade Jones, Nice to meet you. I am currently a data interventionist and I break down testing data for schools and work with scholars I identify through the data dig process one-on-one in growing their reading fluency and closing educational gaps. I also do commercial modeling and have a few ads running currently nationally and via youtube, runway modeling, I was able to walk in miami swim week this year which was exhilarating, print as well as social media modeling and content creation. I am the research and media specialist for my family’s glass business. We do commercial windows and also residential window repair and installation.

We’d love to hear your thoughts about selling platforms like Amazon/Etsy vs selling on your own site.

I am currently on social media for modeling @jadealexusjones. In the time of social media I’ve learned that there is no limit with your reach and connection which is really nice. And for our family business we are direct to consumers (512 430 2837) and ask for Melanie. I think there are pros and cons to representing yourself in both areas business wise, but I think that there’s nothing worse than being misrepresented, the pros outweigh any cons for me.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @jadealexusjones
• Other: TikTok: jadealexusjones Booking inquiries: Email: [email protected] Glass: (512) 430-2837 Ask for Melanie commercial and residential windows

Image Credits
Sport Photo: @m_knight Creative Director : @fashionfwd_ash Tree photo: @thegadburyco Horse Photo: @Photographiebymaggie @giannimontanezphotography Creative Director: @boho.pompas MUA: hairandmakeupby_suzy TAMUCT Photo: @jasonaranadesign Swim Photo: @kauwuane