We were lucky to catch up with Jessica Graham recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jessica, appreciate you joining us today. Let’s kick things off with your mission – what is it and what’s the story behind why it’s your mission?

I am on a mission to empower solopreneurs to share their truth and lean into what makes them truly unique so they can build meaningful and magnetic personal brands that make a real impact.

This mission evolved after spending much of my life hiding behind the shame of my experiences and stories. I realized that this shame was not serving me professionally or personally, so I started to reframe the narrative around my story.

Now, I’m determined to help others integrate all the magic, flaws, and messiness that makes them unique, and leverage it as their superpower. It’s time to believe that our stories matter and make an impact.

Jessica, 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 became a personal brand strategist after leaving a decade-long career of teaching Primary school. I was an international school teacher who desperately wanted to feel called to do something that felt purposeful and important. But after three years of teaching, I knew that teaching young people was not my passion, and failed to utilize all of my gifts in a way that lit me up.

Like most things, there were a few parts of this job that I loved. One was building a classroom community that was inclusive, collaborative, and caring. And the other was fostering an environment where they had the freedom to express themselves through storytelling, art, dance, and play.

It wasn’t until the global pandemic gave me a ‘now or never’ opportunity to make a career pivot. Although I was still unclear on exactly what I wanted to do, I knew that I could leverage my love of writing and storytelling to at least get started going in a new direction. So I started my copywriting business in 2021.

After getting more experience working with a number of clients in all different industries and organization sizes, I started to see how I could support them on a deeper level. Beneath the surface, it was doing more than writing good copy to sell their services — it was about getting to the heart of why they started this business and helping them build a brand around that mission.

This revelation led to me building Jessica Graham Brand Studio, helping brands articulate the purpose behind their mission through storytelling and strategic messaging. Now, I offer brand messaging strategy and storytelling coaching, guiding clients in cultivating their unique brand stories so they can use their voices to make change and show up feeling empowered and unmasked.

The biggest problem I solve for my clients is articulating the things that make them and their processes unique, often by finding the golden thread in their experiences that weave into their business. Most of my clients come to me feeling like they need to hide an element of their story — it might be embarrassing to them or to someone they love. They fear being judged or ridiculed for their experience.

However, this part of their story is normally the key to connecting with their audience and demonstrating their expertise. So together, we work on uncovering why they feel like they need to hide this part of their story and reframe the narrative, resulting in a feeling of empowerment and confidence in what they offer and why it matters.

The best part of this process is when I see the confidence level rise and they start sharing their stories in their social media and see the engagement grow immediately. It’s like the light inside turned on and they’re glowing. And this glow is magnetic — my clients have spoken on stages, showed up on podcasts, and had opportunities for meaningful collaborations that they didn’t have before. Because when they feel confident to share what it is they do and why they do it, they attract the right people to them. As they say, like attracts like.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

After my first marriage ended suddenly in 2018, I was left feeling very lost and broken. I didn’t trust myself and my decision-making and felt like I had betrayed my worth and not advocated for myself. At the same time, I was moving to a new country alone for the first time and was terrified of what was on the horizon.

But I knew deep down that this was exactly what I had been needing and asking for for years — I had been begging for relief from the loneliness and disrespect of my marriage. And now, this was a chance at a clean slate, a new beginning, and making a life for myself.

Honestly, I had no clue what I wanted, so I had to start this journey by going inward. I spent a lot of time alone, getting to know who I was and what I really believed and valued. And I learned to forgive myself for betraying myself over the past seven years.

Slowly, I started to emerge from this broken place as a strong woman who was reconnected with her inner spirit — I was laughing again, I was confident in my decisions and choices, and I was attracting really good people into my life. This bounce-back could only happen because years before, I had experienced the end of myself and the self-destructive behavior that had me stuck in a loop that was going nowhere. By surrendering and getting help through therapy and Al-Anon, a 12-step program, I filled my toolbelt with things that ultimately saved my life back then.

So I dusted off what I had learned before and started to choose myself again. This ultimately led me to entrepreneurship, following what I believed was my purpose and what I knew I was capable of. This season was crucial in the success of my business. It’s where I laid a stronger foundation so that I could then press forward on a challenging journey and not give up.

Unlearning the behaviors and beliefs that I adopted to cope with life’s situations is not easy, but it’s so important. I’ll forever intentionally work on my personal growth, because the healthier I am, the happier I am, and the more I can be of service to others, both in my personal relationships and in my business.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

One of the biggest lessons I had to unlearn was that no one was coming to save me. I’ve always sat in a pool of hope that one day, someone would come along and give me the chance that I wanted and knew I deserved.

I dreamed that they’d give me a chance at my dream job. The opportunity to experience living in my dream city. They’d really love me for me.

But after my divorce, I realized that no one was coming to save me. I had to save myself. I had to make the choices to take the aligned action to get what it was that I really wanted. This ultimately led me to eventually start my business, where most happy-ending stories tend to end.

But the truth is, starting my business was the most vulnerable thing I’ve ever done.

Being the sole decision-maker — the one who decides if it’s a success or not, and taking the risk with creating offers, marketing and selling those offers, and knowing when to pivot if it’s not working — is a lot of pressure, especially for someone who has had the lifelong fantasy of someone coming to rescue her.

So now, my business has become my reason for growing confident and learning how to save myself. I no longer have the luxury of blaming other people for my shortcomings, my hang-ups, my downfalls. I have to take ownership of my behaviors and choices and work on building my trust muscle — trust in myself and in my higher power.

Much of what is helping me unlearn this lesson is learning how to love all the parts of myself, even the parts that make me cringe or that I’m embarrassed to admit. I’m learning to integrate everything that makes me me and it’s shown me how to be really compassionate not just towards myself but also towards others.

Believing that no matter how flawed I am, I can still do big and amazing things. I don’t need to be ‘fixed’ and perfect before good things happen — I am deserving of all the good things and am proud that I can give myself what I need.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jessicagrahambrandstudio.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jessicagraham.brandstudio/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jessicagraham.brandstudio
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-graham-brand-studio/

Image Credits

Happy Hubbub Photography, Steph Allard