Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Maya Jarrett. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Maya, thanks for joining us today. So, let’s start with a hypothetical – what would you change about the educational system?
An aspect of the educational system that I wasn’t fortunate enough to experience, but admired are workshops! Even if it wasn’t a skill you were interested in, like woodworking, you were exposed to an art form that you may not have came across on your own. Its unfortunate that art programs are usually the first to get cut in underfunded communities when its actually more of what’s needed. I rarely felt a since of ease in school because I wasn’t interested in my environment nor my peers. Often times school felt like imprisonment because I wasn’t around energy that fed my creative interests, only college, work and military being thrown in my face. At the very least programs that taught social & financial skills would have been more beneficial to me personally than halfway learning math, science, history, and reading courses every single year of school until graduation. I feel like there’s no spiritual and mental growth in school, only indoctrination. Education is aimed at making you a “fit” for society versus soul discovery, life is so much bigger than working for someone else….. serving someone else. Art programs help to expand a child’s mind and limitations, they’re aimed to feed and inspire greatness, while typical education systems aim to make you workplace ready. Keep your head down and work type energy, big slave energy. In order to prepare students for a more fulfilling life, honesty and realism should be the approach of educating. It took a few years after graduating highschool and leaving the college route behind for me to attempt to reach some sort of center within myself and figure out what I want out of this life if it isn’t the options that have been spoon fed to me since I was old enough to get serious about maintaining my school grades. You go from being all about your grades to avoid trouble with parental figures….. to getting into other trouble that they have no idea about, simply because of ignorance and lack of that spark of interest that can lead you to your dreams. There are many faults to the education system but incorporating more art and real world activities, I feel is a great start to repairing them.
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 name is Maya Jarrett and I’m a 22 year old multifaceted artist from East Atlanta. I came out the wound creatively inclined, always cutting, drawing, or glittering something up. I’m not always inspired to draw specifically when I do get an idea, but being able to draw so well was initially what I resonated with as an artist and what I was credited for. It wasn’t until dropping out of college that I explored the depths of other mediums of art such as resin, clay, paint, music, videography, and fashion. Now that I’ve been playing bass for over a year and have a few collabs under my belt as far as modeling, I’ve been more open to letting people know those are hobbies I’m into as well. I just love to create and help bring visions to life, so anyway I can aid in that I’m down as long as it makes sense! A solid business plan is still in the works since I do so much as an individual, I struggle with picking a focal point; but my latest venture as far as art goes will be custom clothing. God blessed me with hands and the ability to do anything I put my mind to, if I can’t help you I probably know someone that can. In the future I hope to own a creative safe space where me and my peers can help destroy limitations of the mind in every aspect of the statement…. be it creative, societal, financial, or simply the constraints that come with ignorance.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
Most of the time when I’m looking to collab its purely because it’s a project I’d love to be apart of, regardless of compensation; so I’m heavy on the help you bring ideas to life whether I inspire you or can point you in the right direction. Since that’s something I stand on, obviously the money isn’t coming in right away; that’s why I’d rather be on my p’s and q’s when it comes to whatever I’m working on so when I do give a price, my work and rep can speak for itself. So definitely a goal of mine will continuously be not to put more work into other’s passions than I do my own.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
Getting over and continuously working on different forms of people pleasing and codependency are definitely two lessons that have catapulted my growth. Not going to get too much into the backstory because those are HUGE lessons that used to consume my daily life and self-esteem for most of my life. To keep it brief most lessons truly have to be experienced for it to get through to you, and often times God will continue to give you the same problems/lessons/people until you’ve gathered what you were meant to learn. Being a people pleaser aka just having poor boundaries invites a lot of snakes, vamps, and unnecessary problems into your life. Being around people with the same goals and those who’ve even achieved some of your goals is definitely a great way to avoid those types of problems. You know the saying – if you’re the smartest in your group, you probably need another group. Reaching new levels of self-awareness is what I feel the whole point of this life is. So the more you get to know yourself, the more compassion you’ll have for others’ and appreciate this life. Striving to be the best me is what allows me to show up for others’ how I should and showing up for myself is how I can even learn how to show up for other people.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @veenomadeit
- Youtube: youtube.com/@veennomis