We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jess Felix a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Too often the media represents innovation as something magical that only high-flying tech billionaires and upstarts engage in, but the truth is almost every business owner has to regularly innovate in small and big ways in order for their businesses to survive and thrive. Can you share a story that highlights something innovative you’ve done over the course of your career?
Not me.
As a ghostwriter, I am never the same writer twice (unless you hire me for a series, which occurs). AI can generate content according to a pattern, but human lives don’t unfold that way, and human audiences don’t resonate that way. It’s the unexpected departures and crescendos that make an impact. Straying from the previously established pattern is what makes a story worth paying attention to. When you realize human beings are processes, not products, you can breathe a sigh of relief into the cloistered notion that things have to be perfect and polished. There’s no connection in sterility. I market myself as a bloodhound of prose. Any human, any collective, any brand… All I need is a few phrases of the concept, a feel for the heart behind the mission, and I’ve got the scent. I’m on the trail.
The world is a vast, endlessly-engaging playground. What I do enables me the opportunity to try on more than my fair share of identities and experiences, to get in the mindset of a NorCal Muslim college student navigating the socio-political aftermath of September 11th, or a divorced woman in her late 60s embarking on the self-liberating pilgrimage of the Camino de Santiago. Whether you’re trying to get a job, launch a business, honor a loved one, or put words to your life’s journey, my purpose is to reunite you with your story. I do that by never limiting my personal definition of myself. I’ve never been afraid to pivot, to dive into something I’ve never done before and soak up all I can. When it comes time to write and slide into the groove of another, there’s no friction. I’m better equipped to express what they need the world to hear.
Wow, that’s some really eye-opening perspective. Thanks for sharing! We’ve got a few more questions, but before that, can you introduce yourself with a little backstory?
Previously, I lived in Los Angeles for 13 years studying, writing and performing comedy, working as an executive assistant at major television networks, getting staffed on film and tv productions, interning in the writers rooms of The Colbert Report and The Daily Show, and apprenticing under a major children’s author. I had just started branching out on my own with WrittenWell when 2020 came along.
When the pandemic lockdown hit, I realized I had every “thing” I wanted but was still angry and unfulfilled. It was time to wake up, unravel that false life, and find my soul again. I read. I learned to meditate and play piano. I danced. I attended support groups. I dove into astrology, and reconnected with my family in San Diego. Most importantly, I rediscovered how to BREATHE. I realized that effective, authentic communication is the heart and soul of happiness, and it’s a pleasure to support and enhance others’ voices.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey? You never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.
Everyone is here to say something, but not everyone is great with words. Unfortunately, words and writing are essential for securing validity and respect in the marketplace. Humans are communicative, expressive beings. Some express through numerical formulas, assembling wires, circuits, and springs. Some express through cultivating and crafting food and plants. For those who perfect their art in other ways, I help perfect the message they need to broadcast.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
It’s a special challenge selling myself as a ghostwriter and not being able to point to any of the bigger projects I’ve completed for happy customers. My job is to anonymously step in, write the thing, and disappear! It’s not my story, it’s yours, and I get out of the way to make sure it’s yours. If the words you pay for don’t 100% reflect your intention, I rework them until you’re comfortable calling them your own. I do write for a magazine that’s sold in major grocery and book stores across the country, so that’s great for visibility.
Otherwise, my client base is built mostly through word of mouth, following my joy to be in the right place at the right time, and trusting that the right connections will find me. If you feel a spark, reach out! It’s my honor to help you tell your story.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.jessrose.org AND www.writtenwell.org
- Instagram: @JessRoseMe
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jess-felix-5aab06a0/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxECyP1_ybsaxdX7u2qZmNw
- Other: My debut novel: From The Throat (the only book with my name on it!) Marissa Ramos is a musical, middle class, Mexican only child who is more bulimia than being. When she lies about her age to get a recording contract, her world opens up – and she falls straight through to the bottom, where she surrenders to find her way out of the darkness, throat first. Companion album featuring all original songs from the book available on Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple, Youtube, and other favorite streaming services. “When you dare to be the light in the dark, you see how many other unlit candles you’ve been surrounded by all along.” https://www.fromthethroat.online/