Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jasmine Sara. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jasmine, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Any advice for creating a more inclusive workplace?

Dominant culture is full of harmful narratives that we have to work to dismantle in ourselves and in our own approach to business. Running an ethical business that challenges the status quo means speaking up against things like ableism, and embedding accessibility and inclusivity within our workplaces.

As a small business owner who has chronic illness and hidden disability, I know from my own lived experience how important it is to make workplaces inclusive. One of the biggest lessons I have learnt as a service provider, is that the systems and processes I design to support clients, must also be designed with my own needs in mind. It might seem obvious, but it can be so easy to forget about ourselves and put project needs above our own.

Centring choice, consent and agency in our processes is essential for both clients AND service providers. We must include ourselves in this idea of inclusivity. This can be about the working hours we set, the vacation time we plan for and/or our pricing models. By including my own needs in the picture, such as taking a day off when I have a tiring medical appointment, I am helping to make sure that my clients get the best of me where possible.

An example of how to be more inclusive with clients is to discuss any access needs or further ways you can support them during your onboarding process. For example, someone with chronic fatigue might need the project timeline to go at a slower pace. Someone with ADHD might appreciate reminder emails before calls. There are all kinds of different ways people work, and providing a service shouldn’t be a one-size-fits all.

Jasmine, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am an ethical copywriter specializing in writing for social and environmental impact. I’m a big believer in the power of storytelling. It’s been 15 years since I first started writing for publication, and I’ve been writing stories/poetry from as young as 5! I believe that words connect, move, inspire and engage people. They have an impact, and that impact matters.

I co-founded ARDEA CREATIVE in 2018, a remote branding studio that helps make disruptive businesses visible. I currently direct ARDEA, partnering with different impact driven professionals to support values-led clients with their change-making mission. We design websites, write copy and consult on ethical marketing.

An aspect of my work that I especially love is supporting clients 1-1 with consultations/ mentorship, as well as teaching and facilitating group training. I recently taught a workshop on Trauma-Informed Marketing + Ethical Copywriting as a guest teacher in a 6 month trauma-informed certification program for entrepreneurs. There’s an exciting shift happening across industries towards a fairer, more human-led way of doing business. I’m happy to be part of shaping that!

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

This is a perhaps unusual way to go about things but here’s our story!

I co-founded my business back in 2018 whilst ARDEA’s other co-founder and I were working together in the marketing team at a retreat centre as part of a work exchange during a travel trip. After 3 months of working together, we decided to join forces and start our own brand. By using her design skills, my writing skills and our joint experience in communications, we created our own remote branding studio!

After a few months of sewing seeds and ideating, we hit the road and found a Workaway stay to buckle down and work on our website launch whilst being housed and fed, with time on the land to balance out our laptop work.

For those of you who don’t know, Workaway is a site connecting hosts around the world with travellers who want to exchange their time and skills for food and board. It’s become a global community based on a philosophy of fair shares. Other work exchange sites like this include HelpX, WWOOF and Woldpackers.

We spent the days working on the land of an eco tourism business and the rest of the working days were spent doing projects for our first clients and building our website. This meant we could pour our time, energy and effort into brand building without having to worry about paying rent, bills and food – thanks to the work exchange.

Working for new clients also helped us to gather money to pay for our website and other expenses. Luckily, as our business involved providing services (web design, copywriting, marketing support etc) we didn’t have many initial costs and the big main cost was all the unpaid time we were pouring into business and brand development.

As neither of us had caring commitments back home, and were able to travel, we had the privilege of this opportunity that supported us to build the beginnings of a now 4.5 year old business. It was an unconventional start which is perfect because our brand name is a symbol for carving out your own path.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Word of mouth referral, we’ve had lots of really powerful testimonials and reviews over the years so people are often more than happy to recommend our services to others. We’ve also found SEO blog posts on values-led topics have been particularly helpful and bringing in new people totally outside of our existing network.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ardeacreative.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ardea_creative/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasmine-sara-w-irving/

Image Credits
Saya Rose Media (all photos in studio) Ana Marta Dias (all photos outdoors)