We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Vanessa Jordan a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Vanessa, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One of the things we most admire about small businesses is their ability to diverge from the corporate/industry standard. Is there something that you or your brand do that differs from the industry standard? We’d love to hear about it as well as any stories you might have that illustrate how or why this difference matters.

I always have prided myself to take the time to learn a skill and hone in on it. I am in a constant state of learning which I feel sets me apart from others. Also whenever I work with clients I always do my best to really listen and understand what they need. Sometimes it may not even be something I offer which is totally ok! I’ll then steer them in the right direction to someone who can do that. Often professionals try to convince any client to go with them. Sometimes the best thing to do is to let them go so they can get what they really want.

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

I am a UX/Visual Designer and Photographer in the Greater Orlando area. Projects I often work on are branding, campaigns, campaign strategies as well as many different types of photography shoots. The way I approach working with someone is fully understanding what they are looking for and if we are in the same ball park price wise. Sometimes we aren’t and that’s ok. When it works it is a perfect fit. I am currently working on a Photowalk Tour through Air B&B that will be offered on their experiences soon!

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

Really what it boils down to is the love of the craft and the work I do. I don’t take on every little project because I have learned that can burn me out real quick. I take on projects that I really connect with, get excited about and have this drive to make it amazing. My goal is to continue to grow, thrive and learn in my craft and create amazing things with incredible people along the way.

Have you ever had to pivot?

At the beginning of covid I was let go from an incredible job with an incredible team and I was very hesitant to get back in the creative field that way again. I invested all of my blood sweat and tears in my photography business I had (which looked very different to what I have now) as well as full time content creation. It got to the point where I had to pick up a customer service job to pay the bills. Through that job I learned a lot about myself that really gave me the drive and confirmation to get back into design again. I took the time to up-skill myself and get back into it because being so far removed from design I discovered how much I missed it and knew that is where I belonged.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.vanessajordandesigns.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vanessaadventures/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessa-jordan-b47743a7/