We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Laura Jane Jones a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Laura Jane , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?
It is interesting the discussion of parenthood and parenting. I want to be completely transparent and let people know that i am not a parent. I have the utmost respect for parents who dedicate their lives, spirit and heart to develop a fully fledged healthy human. My Parents like did a lot right and did some things wrong. The best thing my parents did was encourage us to be individuals and let go of fear. I think there is a blurred line though when people say or elude to being an “individual”, because i do think that concept is also been exploited. Being an individual within the realms of being a supportive human in society, a responsible human in society and wanting to integrate into the fabric of society. My parents constantly forced us to “think”, analyze and discuss things. They taught us compassion and kindness. They also fought against fear, fear of other people, other races and religions. Fear is the enemy you know! The other thing my parents helped me tap into into is pursuing my passion. That is what led to my life living as an artist.
Laura Jane , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I am artist, singer songwriter, vocalist first and foremost. Music really is my life blood, i am not the same person without it. My passion for music has evolved into a full fledged career as a musician, vocalist and contractor. My entire journey has been organic and evolved naturally. What started with getting a record deal when i was a teenager and again in my early twenties, and then getting dropped from the label, i have then toured, sang and recorded with numerous A- listers and superstars. I am also a songwriter, a playwright and i run my own company called the Laura Jane International Vocal Studio. i have my hands in many projects in many different realms. I love helping people, helping my music community. I am grateful for my journey up and down.
How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?
The best thing society can do to best support artists, creative and create a thriving ecosystem is re-invest in the arts and music in our public schools. There is a direct significant decline in our society as a whole when the arts was taken out of our schools. Our young minds have suffered and you see the aftermath in almost every aspect of society. Young people have little knowledge of music history, art history and the importance of a creative movement. What people fail to realize is that music and arts literally nuture another side of the brain. While sports is important and can teach a healthy competitive spirit and learning how to work on a team, arts and music teach cooperation, collaboration, and harmony, listening to each other, hearing each other. Once you nuture this ideology in young people it will manifest into society as they become older. There is no doubt that there is a direct link to the decline of our society when they took the arts out of schools.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
Social media is a crazy little matrix and can be a hard nut to crack. I think to build your initial social media it must be organic and through real interaction with people, not paid campaigns and not “bots”….so in other words it is not about the quanitity of followers of likes it is about the quality of followers and likes. I think to start you must participate in the social media matrix, share posts, tag people that are in connection with what you may be doing, or posting. Patience is key. You need to engage with real people and treat other people’s social media as real people to initially build your following. I have been lucky to be in some pretty high profile situations with people which is why i have been able to get a real organic following. You really must start there before doing sponsored adds, and boosts and purchasing a bunch of things.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.laurajanemusic.net
- Instagram: @miss_janejonez
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mizzlaurajane/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-jones-b436b18/
- Twitter: @sweetlaurajane1
- Youtube: @laurajanesmusic
- Instagram: @KingColeLegacyExperience
- Instagram: @musicby.laura
Image Credits
Photography by Mike Quain Photos Photography by Michael Hart Photos Artwork by Mike Quain