We were lucky to catch up with Jewels Bright recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Jewels thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to have you retell us the story behind how you came up with the idea for your business, I think our audience would really enjoy hearing the backstory.

7 years ago, I was laid off of my job in a corporate bank office. While dismally searching Craigslist for jobs, I came across a fairly random wanted ad for a local business seeking a fine art painter. I showed it to my husband, who told me to just take a chance and apply. I had no expectations on actually getting the job, but to my surprise, they hired me!

Working as a full time paid artist for them gave me the confidence and inspiration to take the plunge with my own art company. The first few years, I struggled with what exactly I wanted to create. After more than 30 mediums and several business themes, I began focusing on “women empowerment” and “feminist” themed art, as I realized that my own experiences gave me a powerful perspective and a fire to create change however I could.

I am a domestic violence survivor, and survived 10 years and 2 marriages filled with abuse. I realized that the most important thing that was taken from me was my voice, and art was a way I could slowly get that back. After being a DV advocate myself, I realized that the hardest part of the issue was the silence and misunderstanding of the issues. Sharing our stories is difficult but so important.

After I came out of my life of abuse, I found myself with crippling social anxiety. Once an extremely outgoing social person, I now found myself too nervous to barely leave the house or answer the phone, let alone run my own company! So I started with online selling and sharing my art on social media. Over 4 years that grew to me enjoying showcasing my art at galleries, selling at events, collaborating with stores, and being the proud face of growing business and social movement.

I used my art to share my story, share my passion for change, and connect with people with similar interests and business ideals. Every time my art prompted a conversation about these hard to talk about issues, or my story inspired other people to share, I knew I was in the right place. On a whim, I created an adult coloring book called “Oh Shit! I Think I’m a Feminist.” It was a somewhat sarcastic and humorous take on my slow realization of my own feminist alignments. To my surprise, that coloring book became our best selling artwork, and we have sent copies to men and women all over the world!

I saw that my unique experiences and way of seeing things were not only wanted, but needed. I didn’t expect my sarcastic sense of humor, propensity for profanity, and feminist rage to be something the world needed. But every time I sent out my creations, I saw another connection being made and knew that my art and voice had a purpose.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My mom, an artist herself, always told me- “There’s a reason they call them starving artists.” After all but giving up on my own art career, I fell backwards into a fine art job painting for a local company when I was 30. It literally took me using art to pay my bills for years before I realized that art was a career like any other and I could find success and fulfillment with it.

I know I was born to create things with my hands. And I want to use those creations to tell a story. A story about my experiences, our shared connections, and use my art to create a positive change.

Women empowerment is our main business focus. Talking about these issues, sharing in a way that can be relatable, and just creating conversation pieces helps us share our message through fine art, fun gifts, and coloring books.

Feminism isn’t our only concern. Our family has always been a big supporter of local animal shelters and adoption programs. A portion of our business proceeds goes to helping out our amazing local shelter. Over the last 3 years, we’ve been able to foster over 30 dogs, most of them sick young puppies. Most shelters don’t have the resources to take on litters of puppies, and usually being sick and frail, the puppies don’t fair well in a stressful shelter environment. Working from home has helped me be able to take on these fosters and give some dogs in need a second chance, as well as adopt 3 for ourselves!

To honor our passion for dogs, we offer custom pet portraits and use some of the proceeds to donate our time and art for the cause. #adoptdontshop

I, and our business, is vegan, and we work everyday towards our goal to be more sustainable. We also love collaborating and sharing with other small businesses. It’s important to see like minded businesses as collaborators, not competition. We believe that women-run eco friendly and socially conscious businesses are the future!

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

As a self taught business woman growing a business during a pandemic, I relied heavily on books to educate myself about the fine art of running a business and about a career in the fine art industry. I found that a combination of practical business books, personal growth books, and books about selling art was what I needed, as each one gave me a crucial piece of knowledge to help my unique business venture.

You may not immediately think of turning to personal development books when you start a business, but I think it’s so important to start a large endeavor with a good mindset, and a healthy relationship with money and business practices.

As a person with ADHD and the ability to listen to things while I work, I used my studio time everyday to listen to audiobooks while painting, so all of the suggestions below can be found on Audible.

For Business/marketing:

Etsy Marketing: How to Promote Your Business
Instagram for Business
The Entrepreneur Roller Coaster by Darren Hardy
Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert T. Kiyosaki

For Personal Development:

Lucky B*tch by Denise Duffield-Thomas
Chillpreneur by Denise Duffield-Thomas
Lean In by Sheryl Sandburg
You Are A Badass by Jen Sincero
You Are a Badass at Making Money by Jen Sincero

Art Centered Books:

The Rogue Artist’s Survival Guide by Rafi Perez
The Steal Like an Artist Trilogy by Austin Kleon
The Creative’s Curse by Todd Brison
Art/Work by Heather Darcy Bhandari
Art, Inc by Lisa Cogdon
Real Artists Don’t Starve by Jeff Goins

Any fun sales or marketing stories?

My favorite sales stories usually involve a customer completely surprising me and going for something I wouldn’t have judged them to like. I really have learned to not judge a customer based on gender, age, or supposed conservatism.

Just last month, I sold a little old lady in an afghan a pair of my Ouija board Planchette earrings at a Steampunk Soirée because they “spoke to her.”
I’ve sent countless men our Feminist coloring books. Although most are probably gifts, I’m always pleasantly surprised when it happens since most of our customers are women. I’ve actually sent one of our coloring books to my own grandma! Watching people laugh at and enjoy our more profane and controversial artwork is always a fun surprise. It doesn’t really matter what you make as long as you find your audience!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.etsy.com/shop/JewelsBrightArt?ref=search_shop_redirect
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/JewelsBrightArt/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JBrightArtGallery/
• Other: Sign up for our newsletter: https://jewelsbrightart.myshopify.com/pages/sign-up-for-our-newsletter Email- [email protected]