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

Jessica, appreciate you joining us today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

I’d say the biggest risk I’ve ever taken was going to my alma mater, The Savannah College of Art and Design. When first looking into colleges, it was difficult to fully understand the weight of my decision. I was 17 years old, a junior in high school, and I had no idea what my future might look like. I’d always known I was a creative person, bouncing from one art project to the next my entire high school career, but there was no real pathway into the arts from my Georgia hometown. SCAD provided me with the pathway I had been looking for, showing me that there was another way besides the classic “starving artist,” a concept the university was wholly against. My first year there was hard, as with most new things, but as I continued into my second year, and then into my third and fourth, I realized I had found my creative niche. Surrounded by peers who shared my passion for art, I understood my risk has payed off.

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 always knew, even when I was young, that I wanted to be involved in the fashion industry. From the time I could figure out how to work a sewing machine I was creating and designing everything that popped into my head. Now, as a recent graduate with a major in Fashion Marketing and Management, I have taken that love of fashion and turned it into a career. Beginning in March of next year I will be working for Neiman Marcus in their Executive Development Program as an assistant buyer. Being given the opportunity to work for such a prestigious and influential company has been a dream come true, and I can’t wait to make my mark on the industry one step at a time.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me, the most rewarding aspect is creativity itself. Being an artist means every day I have a physical, or now more often digital, version of something that started as just an idea in my head. It may not be perfect or the best in the world, but I can look at my designs or my campaigns and I see every version of them from the rough cut to the final print. The work that goes into art is oftentimes not as appreciated as it could be, but as a creative, I look at my peers and their work, just as I know they look at mine, and I know we all recognize all the effort that went into it.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

When I think back on all the self-help and motivation books, TED Talks, and Youtube Videos I consumed trying to understand my industry, one book stands out: Herding Tigers: Be the Leader That Creative People Need by Henry Todd. This book, in particular, has stuck with me because it’s message of understanding your peers not only as co-workers but as fellow artists is something I feel all creatives need. As creative people, specifically young ones, we forget that we aren’t the only people that do what we do and this book does a great job of bringing the reader back down to earth. It illustrates the finer points of working with both creative and noncreative brands and how to navigate them as we grow.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sstrupp9156.wixsite.com/portfolio
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jessica_strupp_business/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessicastrupp/