We were lucky to catch up with Jailyn Easley recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jailyn, thanks for joining us today. Being a business owner can be really hard sometimes. It’s rewarding, but most business owners we’ve spoken sometimes think about what it would have been like to have had a regular job instead. Have you ever wondered that yourself? Maybe you can talk to us about a time when you felt this way?

I think this question really resonates. And honestly, it’s funny to think about because before moving to Atlanta, I didn’t care to own a business. If I’m being completely honest, I still don’t care for the professional side of it. Becoming a business owner for me was always about creating your own lane that didn’t exist in the space you were in. Now that’s not to say studio spaces and creative agencies didn’t exist before 2020, but it was the work that I wanted to do, brands I wanted to partner with, and how I wanted to create my digital footprint by making an impact in the industry.

When I was first breaking into the industry, I had moved to Atlanta to complete my Masters at SCAD in Midtown. Because SCAD is a leader for producing quality creatives across the spectrum, they encourage students to take the agency or corporate route, but seldom discuss what creating your own lane, your own agency, or freelance business would look like and furthermore how to execute. The school was great for teaching you how to sell yourself (in my case) as a designer in advertising and being able to appeal to larger agencies/companies. But they never talked about the business side, the side that I think was a missed opportunity, especially in a city like Atlanta. Atlanta is like no place I’ve ever seen, in the sense that a large percentage of the metropolitan population has some sort of entrepreneurial endeavor in pursuit and this inspired me.

The pandemic was probably the best and worst thing to ever happen to me. Furthermore, it made me realize that being an entrepreneur isn’t for the faint of hearts. Interestingly enough, the same things that inspired me about Atlanta, scared the hell out of me. Understanding that it was so easy to fail, also meant realizing that everyone fails and it’s about how you turn your failure around and how flexible and adaptable you can be.

In fact, it gives you a different perspective on what we know to be entrepreneurship. Let LLC Twitter tell it, entrepreneurs are anti 9 to 5ers whose primary goal is to make six-figure jobs out of creating passive streams of income. Although there is some truth to this, on the contrary, I was running a business and had a full time position, both doing what I loved and quite literally making a living for myself. The entire situation really gave me a different perspective as to what I thought entrepreneurship was, and how it fit into my life.

The biggest insights I gained from these experiences was first, to do what you love. No matter what, your joy comes first. Second, to always be inventive in figuring out how what you do aligns with your financial goals and ultimately becoming a lucrative business. Last, know what your value is, which seems so cliche, but looking back as a freelancer, I left so much money on the table because I was afraid people wouldn’t hire me if my rate was too high.

Jailyn, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My name is Jailyn Easley and I am the Founder and Owner of The Curated. The focus is in Art Direction/Design and content creation, by way of our Content Studio in Downtown Atlanta. I have a passion for curating experiences and spaces equipped for storytelling. I am inspired by creating relevant, forward thinking, and captivating experiences that prioritize autonomy and environments that encourage inventiveness. I find excitement in projects & brands who take an innovative approach to the same problems. I’m a person who understands that concepting and storytelling is just as important as execution, which is why I enjoy the entire process start to finish.

On the studio side, we host small to medium sized productions for photoshoots, music videos, documentaries, films, interviews and other happenings.

On the agency side, we take on freelance and contract projects to help support creative teams with visual design, art direction (photo & video), experiential marketing (activations), social media, digital and print design, and brand strategy. Many of our clients look to increase their visibility on social/digital platforms, define their brand’s identity, and develop strategy around how to expand in a digital space.

I am most proud of the work that I recently completely with Nike for Nike Womens. Our team developed a digital/social campaign called ‘Do More You’ focused around the messy and sometimes obsessive parts of wellness by showing women how to add more fruitful practices to their everyday life. We hand selected 13 women of color to share their experiences as we developed a story around how other women could also implement these into their lives in digestible steps. We chose women of color to cultivate a sense of representation for the ‘unorthodox’ woman and to uniquely show how Nike can support her wellness journey. This project was so special to me not only because of the representation of the women whose stories we told, but also the women behind the scenes helping to produce it. The majority of the producing team were women (of color), as were the photographers across all 6 cities. In this industry, having more than 3 women on a team, especially diverse women, is a rarity and was one of the most productive and profound projects I’ve had the privilege to be apart of.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

Being an entrepreneur, the ability to pivot for me has become second nature. As Murphy’s law states, “Anything that can go wrong will go wrong” and I haven’t seen the lie yet. The biggest pivot off my business was probably last year, after dissolving my previous business and former partnership within a matter of days, I had moved into a new studio space in different building at The Goat Farm in February 2021. I was aware that the property had announced the deconstruction of the property which was set for January 2022, and meant that we were to be moved out by December 2021. I knew I had a good 9-11 months in the space before having to start the process all over again. Unfortunately their landscaping team reached out at the end of August and said we needed to be moved no later than October. There was no time to be upset or thrown off, because bills needed to be paid and changes needed to happen almost immediately. After just getting comfortable in my second space, I had to begin scouting locations again, while simultaneously packing my laptop up to work on the road from wherever I was. Fortunately, I had come across a newly established building looking to rent out their spaces to creators like myself. Within 3 weeks I had secured a new location, brought in my contractor to help design the space, painted the walls, and was open for business by late September. We are celebrating our first full year at this location on September 6th, 2022.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My goal is to curate meaningful visuals and experiences that cultivate community and innovation. It’s about using the small (and arguably insignificant) details to create the bigger picture of the brand. Storytelling and creating an identity around that brand, who they are, what they offer, and how they’re unique to the world is where I find inspiration.

Earlier in my career, I found that the majority of the brands I worked with at the time were small and black owned. From that point on, I realized our stories are just as significant and interesting as ‘Nike’ or an ‘Uber’. So I wanted to provide solutions for these brands that weren’t so social media following focused. Instead I wanted to focus on the longevity of these brands by ensuring all of their efforts were consistent and cohesive across the board by providing strategy made for scaling.

These business’ have been my biggest supporters so it was only right to pour back into the community the same way it poured into me.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.curatedesign.co
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/finessawilliams__/ and https://www.instagram.com/@thecurated_co/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jailyneasley/
• Other: Book Our Studio: https://www.peerspace.com/pages/listings/604441af73380e000ce166d4?sort_order=12

Image Credits
Solomon Jones, Carol Rose, Jada Jeffers, Ryen Trenae, Vonny Lorde, and Elizabeth De La Piedra