We were lucky to catch up with Jennifer Messina recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Jennifer thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you wish you had waited to pursue your creative career or do you wish you had started sooner?

Yes! throughout my childhood and early 20s, I had to learn self confidence. That did not come overnight. It took a lot of failure and rock bottoms to get to a point of “not caring what anyone thought” and loving myself to its fullest. For me, I ended up in an outpatient rehab program to learn self love and boundaries. Though not everyone needs as extreme as a rockbottom, the lessons I learned jump started me to successful and motivating career where Im flourishing

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

I am a singer, actress, model, producer, author, and entrepreneur. Aside from music and acting, my latest adventure has been starting a lipgloss line. Messina GLAM at messinaglam.com. Jennifer Caroline Messina is an American singer, songwriter, actress, model, producer and author. Born in White Plains, NY, and lived half of her life in New Rochelle, NY, and Derry, NH, she started her career in local New Hampshire productions before moving to Los Angeles. She is of Sicilian descent. Growing up, she was very active in singing solo and in choir as well as acting. She competed in Miss America pageantry throughout her teenage and young adult years. At 17 years old, she enlisted into the US Army and after completing her Bachelor’s, she commissioned as a Lieutenant into the military. Jennifer is a graduate of the Berklee College of Music in Boston, MA as an Electronic Production Design Major with a Voice Principle.

With over 500K streams on Spotify for her music, and 100s of thousand followers on social media for modeling and acting, Jennifer has be in TV Shows such as HBO’s Euphoria, and movies such as Top Gun 2 starring Tom Cruise. She has been featured in Investigation Discovery’s “Man With a Van,” TV Talk show “The Doctors” and “Let’s Make a Deal” to name a few. “Aggressive? Honey, it’s Assertive” is Jennifer’s published self-help book on blunt confidence building. Jennifer also in a line producer of an Animation show called “Sirius Artificial Intelligence: a Postpartum Musical.” She has produced podcasts, voiceovers, reality tv.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Go out there and fake it until you make it. I’m not saying go buy millions of fake followers, but you find a popular product in your home and take pictures with it and post it. Pretend that brand is paying you to post the item until someone actually pays you to post it. Time and consistency. Also doing cold calls and reach out to brands is helpful too. Put yourself out there. Find your niche you resonate with. Show the world your true sell.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Share their contents, Share their products, invest in their paterons, and buy their merch. Talk them up. Word of mouth wins

Contact Info:

• Website: jennifercmessina.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/jennifercmessina
• Twitter: twitter.com/jennifercmessin

Image Credits
Black dress and group shots Photos by Ana Victoria Torres @shotsbyvictoriaxx Directed by @darkchocolatebittersweet Jenna Steinkamp Executive Producer @ms.byoung Bettania Young Filmed by @kylahvisuals Kyla Horgan Choreographed by @itskatiebearr @m.noire_ Hair by @studioa_ _hairsalon MUA @brandonnbutt and Cynthia Location @studio.co.dash Dancers @dezinicole_ @groovyhanita @sabrinacenterstage @theailynduran @sso.f.iaa @kayla_smithers Assisted by @saraaaleerivera and @chloenandez. Outfits by @fashionnova Hair pieces by @insertnamehere Shoes by @burjushoes Lipgloss Pics Productions Company @shinetv__ Creative Director Jenna Steinkamp @darkchocolatebittersweet lipgloss @messinaglam