We recently connected with Jesy and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jesy, thanks for joining us today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

Since I was a young girl, I always dreamed of being a graphic designer. When I started college, I planned to finish, work for a big company and eventually create my own enterprise. During my first years of college, I saw a job opportunity to be a graphic designer for the Latinx cultural center of my school. For context, I opened Jesy Decorations even before starting college.

After 5 months into the position, I realized that I wasn’t born to be behind a computer in the same room for the rest of my life. I am one of those people that needs to be in constant change(including my environment). One day, I remember I got home from that job and told my mom: “ I came to this world to do bigger and incredible things.” My mom was a little bit confused. But I am every time more sure that changing lives through Jesy Decorations was more exciting than being just a graphic designer. And don’t get me wrong. I love my career. I actually do a lot of graphic design for Jesy Decorations.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My full name is Jesymar, but I go by Jesy. I can say creating art with my hands started back in my native country, Venezuela. I was very close to my cousins, so that in our birthdays, we would make custom posters, and decorate our rooms with flowers, balloons, and more. In 2016, I moved to the United States, but it wasn’t until 2018 that my mom encouraged me to start offering handmade gifts to the public through Marketplace on Facebook. By that time, I would only make personalized boxes with pictures, phrases, and chocolates. Eventually, I started working with natural and artificial flowers as well as balloons. Nowadays, I also share my knowledge through classes both online and in-person. I currently have helped over 150 national/international entrepreneurs who want to be better and grow in this industry. I have worked with amazing businesses and brands such as Don Roberto Jewelers, Gemar Balloons, Pro Tapes, Novedades Peyma, Colombina, and LA Balloons, among others. All I know is that I impact lives through my custom gifts, classes, and art. That is my purpose and what I see myself doing for a long time!

By the way, my next in-person class is coming up on June 16th in Los Angeles, go to my social media for more!

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

Non-creatives and anyone who is not an entrepreneur or even traditional-minded individuals will struggle to understand my process. I personally deal with people telling me: “What are you doing when you graduate from college?”, “ why are you taking so long to graduate?”, “You need to start finding a job in your field,” Is that an actual business?” Well, these are the worst questions you can ask an entrepreneur because we are creating the job of our dreams already. I am not going to lie; some people from my circle still think I am playing with balloons and flowers and don’t see it as a” safe option.” But they do not know that I don’t want the “safe option plan.” As I mentioned before, I know I can do bigger things, and every day I show myself with facts that I can do a business out of passion.

My conclusion is that we are hard to understand as creatives and entrepreneurs. Sometimes we are extroverts, other introverts. We are crazy! We are crazy about our goals, ideas, and plans. This is something not everyone is going to understand, and that’s okay.

How did you build your audience on social media?

If I could make a dollar every time someone asks if I’ve bought followers, I would be a millionaire. I am a testimony that you can build an Instagram or any account from zero and create a solid and loyal community. I opened my Instagram in 2019 because I couldn’t afford any other way to showcase my art. The only likes I got were from my mom and 2 friends. And honestly, looking back at those posts, I wouldn’t like them either(They’re still in my Instagram account if you’re curious, lol). The lighting was terrible. I would put my logo so big that it would compete with the gift I was showing. Those are just a few of the mistakes I made. The good thing was: that did not stop me from keep posting.

My turning point was when I realized that people buy stuff from other people. There is a higher chance for someone to purchase from me if they know my product was made and is being sold by me. From that moment, my business became a personal brand where I would show my processes, products, tutorials, and more. As a fun fact, my account reached the first 10k thanks to a tutorial video.

If I could make a list of things I recommend based on my experience, it would be:

– Post something shareable. Ask yourself: “If you see this post in your feed, would you share it?” If the answer is yes, then post!
– Show you! Your processes, your struggles, achievements, and backstage stories. Make your audience empathize with you.
Post stories every day. I can guarantee most sales on Instagram happen through stories. They’re a very noninvasive way to sell something.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jesydecorations/
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@jesydecorationss/

Image Credits
@virgoprod21- Edward Valenzuela