We recently connected with Jen Bowen and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Jen thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. One deeply underappreciated facet of being an entrepreneur or creative is the kind of crazy stuff that happens from time to time. It could be anything from a disgruntled client attacking an employee or waking up to find out a celebrity gave you a shoutout on TikTok – the sudden, unexpected hits (both positive and negative) make the profession both exhilarating and exhausting. Can you share one of your craziest stories?

One of the craziest things that has happened to me in my business is that I was Googled by Google!

I teach in-person calligraphy workshops at various location around Houston/The Woodlands areas. At the beginning of this year, I received an email from a Workplace Program Coordinator for the Arts at Google program! This coordinator asked if she could bring me on to teach a calligraphy and Valentine’s Day card making workshop for their Googlers! I was shocked and surprised that someone from Google would find out about me and ask me to teach a virtual workshop open to all their employees around the world. When I asked the coordinator how she found me, she said she’d Googled me!

This great opportunity was far outside my comfort zone but I said yes and did it even though it involved creating a brand new workbook, figuring out how to teach virtually from a remote location (I already had a family ski trip in Colorado planned for the date they hired me), and teaching a much larger group of people than I’d ever taught before! I was terrified leading up to the workshop but everything went really well and Google hired me to teach another virtual workshop for their employees a couple of months later.

There have been many moments since starting my business where I’ve been approached with projects that felt scary and were a stretch beyond what I’d done before. When I’ve taken the leap to say yes and then work hard to learn what I needed to provide great results in the time given, those are some of the projects I’m most proud of! Rather than ready, set, go, it feels like I’m often running with GO, SET, READY!

Jen, 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 graduated from college with a degree in speech therapy but once I started having kids, chose to be a stay at home mom. I’ve always loved designing, creating, and beautiful lettering. In the beginning of 2020, I signed up for an online calligraphy class. I fell in love with calligraphy right away and due to the pandemic closing everything down, I had extra time to dig in and really practice the art.

I started the She Made It Like That Instagram in April 2020 as a way to share the calligraphy I was learning plus craft projects I was working on with friends and family. Through my account, I started connecting with other calligraphers, creatives, and local wedding professionals. Three months later I had a business coach, booked a 4-figure wedding job, and started participating in a few styled wedding shoots. In January 2021 She Made It Like That officially became an LLC and the business has continued to grow from there!

Many people associate calligraphers with wedding stationery but that is one of the few things I don’t do! I create the day-of wedding signage like seating charts, welcome signs, bar signs, and place cards. These signs add to the beauty and unique ambiance of the wedding, while also serving the practical purpose of helping guide guests know where to go and what is expected. I love paying attention to current trends and finding ways to put a unique spin on them!

I also offer hand engraving for customizing wedding perfume, engraving fragrances in stores like Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus for their events, and for adding personal details to special gifts. Engraving uses a special drill to make shallow cuts into the surface making the designs permanent. This enables me to turn items like perfume bottles, wine glasses, or ornaments into special keepsakes and heirlooms.

The genuine connections we make with family and friends are some of the most priceless things in life. I absolutely love getting to learn people’s stories, talk about what’s important to them, and then find ways to incorporate those details into what I create. Connecting with clients, wedding vendors, and businesses to add beauty to special moments brings me so much joy. I am incredibly careful and detail-oriented in what I create, often putting in some extra time (without changing the invoice) to make sure the end result is as we imagined or even better. The happy reactions I receive when I share my designs and final products with each client mean the world to me.

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

In the months leading up to September 2019, I spent a lot of time learning about, experimenting with, and baking cakes. I loved bringing beautiful and sometimes elaborate cakes to parties and events and was starting to think about creating a cake business. At the same time, I had been feeling sick for a few months. I finally got answers and in September 2019 I was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. No more gluten, which is in flour, a key ingredient in baking.

While it was an incredibly hard transition to go gluten free and have my cake baking dreams derailed, this challenge forced me to pivot in another direction. No longer baking cakes opened up the time to start experimenting with calligraphy which I fell in love with almost immediately. From there things have progressed into a calligraphy, engraving, and teaching business that I love and that has led to so many amazing opportunities I never would have imagined.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

I’ve worked to build my reputation by finding ways to connect with other amazing people around town, then being true to myself and working with integrity when I have an opportunity.

Alyncia of Senae Photography had this to say about working with me: “[Jen] is so kind, passionate, creative, and talented. Her work is second to none. If you haven’t met Jen with She Made It Like That you need to meet her. She things outside the box and comes up with the most unique designs. She always always always goes above and beyond. If she’s expected to do A B and C…She always does A B C D E and F and does it with a smile on her face. Also, when it comes to being prepared, she is the definition of prepared. I’ve been on several sets with her when something has gone wrong and she immediately has a back up, a solution, an extra… like what??? Just professionalism at its finest! She truly is all about community and helping those around her as well as serving her clients with everything she has. Give her a follow and go check out some of her amazing work!”

Contact Info:

• Website: https://shemadeitlikethat.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shemadeitlikethat/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-bowen-83b55624a/

Image Credits
Alicia Yarrish Photography, She Made It Like That, LLC