Everyone Is...with Jennifer Coronado
The intent of this show is to engage with all types of people and build an understanding that anyone who has any kind of success has achieved that success because they are creative thinkers. So whether you are an artist, a cook, a bottle washer, or an award-winning journalist, everyone has something to contribute to the human conversation.
Everyone Is...with Jennifer Coronado
Jessica Manning-Brose- Content and Contentment
Jessica Manning-Brose takes us on a journey through her unique cultural upbringing and creative evolution. Growing up in Sweden with a Swedish mother and a musician father from Harlem, Jessica's family faced significant challenges when they moved to Minneapolis. The cultural differences in family support and financial hardships only strengthened their family bond and set the stage for Jessica's creative path.
Jessica shares how the COVID-19 pandemic catalyzed her shift from live music to becoming a content creator, allowing her to embrace a love for fashion, design, and thrifting. Her aesthetic journey reflects a harmonious blend of vintage and contemporary styles, creating a timeless look that resonates both online and offline. Embracing authenticity, she highlights the empowerment found in building a genuine social media community.
In the realm of business ownership, Jessica candidly discusses the complexities of managing finances and insurance as an influencer while balancing personal and professional life. Emphasizing the power of slow living, she encourages listeners to savor life's small moments and pursue passions at their own pace.
www.slightlyprod.com
You know it's interesting because when I started doing this, the landscape of social media was so different than it is now. There's a misconception that it's just kind of like something you can jump into and it just is like great, and it's good money and it's easy and you get free stuff, and that can be true, but it's also a lot of work and it's a business.
Jennifer Coronado:Hello and welcome to Everyone Is I am your host, jennifer Coronado. The intent of this show is to engage with all types of people and build an understanding that anyone who has any kind of success has achieved that success because they are a creative thinker. So, whether you are an artist or a cook or an award-winning journalist, everyone has something to contribute to the human conversation. And now, as they say on with the show, I think it's very important for the audience to know that I am what one would call a Gen Xer and therefore I am also what one would call old, but I still find the world of influencers fascinating. So I was lucky enough to be connected with Jessica Manning-Brosé to discuss the influencer life and how she got there. So welcome Jessica. To Everyone Is Thank you. Thank you so much for having me. I start off with the same question every time. It's going to get boring for the listeners at some point. But where did you grow up? What was your origin story?
Jessica Manning-Brose:I have kind of an interesting origin story. I think I was actually born in Stockholm, sweden. My mom has Swedish heritage and she studied abroad there in university and then kind of found her way back and planted some roots. And my dad was a musician, growing up in Harlem, new York mainly, and found his way to Sweden as well, playing music with different groups. And, yeah, my brother, sister and I were all born there. So that's the beginning of my story. My family found their way back to the Midwest, which is where kind of our extended family resided, and I grew up, most of from six on, in Minneapolis, minnesota, one of the Twin Cities. The Twin Cities, yes, very cold.
Jennifer Coronado:I know your father is a singer. He was a singer and a chef.
Jessica Manning-Brose:Yes, correct. What did your mom do? My mom did a number of things. When we were in Sweden she worked actually for the Swedish Airlines, so she was a stewardess, she would say, at SAS, and that was kind of what she did predominantly, but then also just raised us in Sweden and then when we moved to the States she found herself in a number of jobs. She worked in the food industry a lot as well as my dad, catering things of that sort. Yeah, kind of mainly around food, I would say.
Jennifer Coronado:I have to imagine. I mean, you're only six, so you're really little right. Yeah. And so you move from Sweden and all of a sudden you're in Minneapolis, and what they have in common is they're both cold, yes, but, and it gets dark early during the winter. And lots of Scandinavians in the Twin Cities too. Lots of Scandinavians. But what were the things that struck you as being different when you first, like, came to this new home?
Jessica Manning-Brose:You know, I think it's funny now I have all of these things that I can really differentiate between the two. Now as an adult Don't know how much I realized that when I was younger, but I do think there was a pretty stark difference in just culture and how people treated families and young families and the care that was given to young families. When we moved from Sweden to Minneapolis we pretty quickly started to struggle just financially. Most of my youth growing up in the States was very riddled with financial struggle, so that was something that I felt for sure. I don't know if I could put a real finger on it Now I can. I kind of understand some of the reasons behind that, but yeah, I would say that just the care for young families and for people was quite different.
Jennifer Coronado:I would say yeah, when you say that, when you say the care for young families, because you mentioned your siblings, are you the oldest, youngest? Where do you fall in? I'm the middle, ah, you're the middle. Yes, how did that manifest in your life and like your day to day, like the care that you saw? That was different.
Jessica Manning-Brose:Well, for starters, I think just availability that my parents had to be really present in raising us shifted pretty quickly just, you know, by way of working many jobs and, you know, making sure bills were paid and keeping food on the table and things of that sort, versus in Sweden.
Jessica Manning-Brose:You know, I don't know exactly how different it is now, but, for instance, my parents had, I think, collectively a year and a half off for each child's birth to really be present and raise the kids, and it's pretty encouraged by the Swedish government that you take that time and really settle in with your family, and then that's just not really something that we do here. So things like that, you know, just having a present family unit at all times was a huge shift. So I really honestly I found myself really leaning on my siblings a lot. We became really close kind of in childhood because of some of the circumstances, and I'm actually very close to both my parents as well and I think it in some ways made us stronger, a lot of that struggle. But yeah, I think that's a huge part of it, you know, just to access, to be together and spend time together and kind of learn how to be a family.
Jennifer Coronado:So you know we talked about the music that your father did, and I know that you ended up doing music yourself. You were a singer and a songwriter. Was that something you shared with your family as a young person, like where did that start? Where did that sort of creative start for you?
Jessica Manning-Brose:You know, I've thought a lot about that. I think it's sort of just in my family, it's just kind of a part of who we are, not just my immediate family, but my extended family Actually on both sides, I would say. But on my mother's side she is the daughter, she's one of five kids, the daughter of a pastor and a pastor's wife. And my grandmother, my Oma, she would have, had she not become a pastor's wife, she would have probably gone on to be just like a world-class pianist.
Jessica Manning-Brose:She was an incredible musician and my grandfather, my Opa, was also an incredible singer and loved the opera. So they had a very musical upbringing and therefore my mother kind of instilled that in us as well. And then my father grew up singing in the gospel church and so it's very much a part of everything in my family. And then I think it kind of became a little bit of a survival mechanism for my immediate family as we went through just a lot of different changes, moving to the States and even in Sweden, I would say. But yeah, it kind of became something that we leaned on. You know, music really pulls people together and that was definitely something that we all shared, shared.
Jennifer Coronado:Yeah, it's really interesting you say that because there's so many communities, when you know, when there's challenges, a line around music to find joy in families, culturally, in different communities, and I think that's really interesting. That was something that your family tapped into and like when did you start? I know you play guitar, yes, a little bit, and I know that you write songs, but when were you starting to put pen to paper and thinking about like lyrics and expressing yourself in that way?
Jessica Manning-Brose:Yeah, this kind of comes back to family as a whole as well, because I was gifted an acoustic guitar by my uncle when I was probably, I want to say maybe around 15, maybe even a little younger, maybe 14. We had been at their house for a holiday and he also is musical, the whole family is musical, people married in and the like. But he had a little guitar that he kind of had out and about just in the house and I would often pick it up when we were at their house and just kind of tinker around and, you know, just see what I could create. And I think he had picked up on that, which was huge for me at the time because, as I said, you know, we just didn't have really any extra to even think about purchasing a guitar in our house or purchasing things that were kind of hobbies. So that really changed a lot for me and it was also just kind of a pivotal point in life.
Jessica Manning-Brose:You know, when you're 14, 15 and you're, you know, going through those hormonal periods and also just struggling in family and struggling with friendships and all these things. So I had a lot of things that I wanted to say and I just kind of started to teach myself how to play. I never took lessons, I just kind of, you know, tinkered around and learned things by ear, learned a lot of my favorite songs at the time, and then I just fell into writing, you know, I put pen to paper and just and had things that I wanted to say, that I don't even think I realized I had a lot to say until I had that vessel to kind of, you know, be the path for it. So Tell me what your favorite songs were Like.
Jennifer Coronado:what were some of the songs that you taught yourself?
Jessica Manning-Brose:I was listening at the time a lot to, like you know, John Mayer was big at the time.
Jennifer Coronado:He was going through his midlife crisis at 25.
Jessica Manning-Brose:Yeah, a lot of that like just kind of acoustic angsty those types of things. But I really did lean towards, I leaned very far into songwriting that was really telling some kind of story. That was always what I gravitated towards, rather than maybe the mainstream pop at the time Although I guess John Mayer was mainstream pop but really just storytelling, kind of heavily lyric, focused music. So yeah, that was really the start of it for me and it honestly in many ways saved me from a lot of pain. At that time I found myself often saying no to plans because I wanted to stay home in my room and just play guitar all night and then my brother would knock a broom on the ceiling from his downstairs bread room for me to be done playing the instrument at two in the morning. You know it's time to go to bed. So so yeah, it really it became my really just a cornerstone of my kind of sanity day to day at that time.
Jennifer Coronado:And when was the first time you actually performed in front of other people?
Jessica Manning-Brose:I would say it started with like little open mics around town, like little coffee shop things that people would say you know we're having, you know we do on Friday nights you can just kind of hop up for 10 minutes and play a few songs. I started playing the guitar around 14, 15. Maybe I performed around 16. It was definitely high school, like kind of beginning of high school, and there were like talent shows. In high school I became friends with, you know, some of the other musician types. Then we would kind of get together and cover things together and hop into talent shows. So yeah, I would say somewhere around 16 is when I kind of started to perform.
Jennifer Coronado:What made you think like OK, I'm going to get up in front of a group of people Because, as you mentioned, like being a teenager, being 14, 15, like you feel so exposed in everything you do, like you feel like everybody's watching you and the reality is nobody's watching you, but you still feel on display. So how did you get yourself up in front of an audience and have that sort of empowerment for yourself?
Jessica Manning-Brose:I really am not sure.
Jessica Manning-Brose:To be honest, I think I've always felt very passionately about connecting with people and kind of getting to a deeper place with really anybody, and that's thanks to my mom.
Jessica Manning-Brose:Like, I'm just a connector and I want to know more and I want to share in our experiences and I think that's always been in me. I was always called the old soul, since I was honestly young six even the old soul since I was honestly young, six even. And you know, I'd be the friend that was in the kitchen talking to your mom all night when I came to hang out and not really hanging out with my friends. So I think there was maybe something in me whether I knew it to be that exactly or not at the time there's something in me that I think wanted to just share my words and share my experience in hopes that maybe that it would, you know, connect with somebody else, especially in high school and those kind of difficult years where you're really just trying to figure out who you are. I was definitely nervous it wasn't without fear, but I think it felt important for some reason.
Jennifer Coronado:What was the first time you felt like you had done it successfully, like what was? There's always a moment where you're like I hit this, you know, when you're a performer, and you're like ah, that's the moment that you're always kind of looking for as well, you know.
Jessica Manning-Brose:I think and this is actually interesting because and we'll get to kind of to this part of it because I'm not really doing much music anymore but the thing that I always connected with the most was the process of writing the music, because it was just a way to get things off my chest.
Jessica Manning-Brose:And then the after of potentially having someone come up to me and say that really meant something to me, like this particular part of this song affected me or I felt so seen because I'm going through something that feels so similar. So I think that was always what I kind of measured the success with. It wasn't really so much like oh, that was just like we killed that performance and that was, you know, the best we've ever played that song and you know, eventually, when I had a band and things like that, you know, obviously there are moments where it's like better than others because you're just like in it and that feels successful. But I think it really felt most successful when I had like some really cool conversations with people I'd never met at like the merch table after, and I really felt like I made some kind of a difference just by sharing my experience.
Jennifer Coronado:So it's almost the after and the interaction that meant the most than the performance itself to you.
Jessica Manning-Brose:Yeah, it just felt like it meant something bigger than me. Yeah.
Jennifer Coronado:You know you mentioned you don't do music as much anymore, and I'm curious what made you move away from that and do you miss it?
Jessica Manning-Brose:It's such a mystery to me still. Actually, it was never really a conscious decision, but I've done a lot of thinking around it because essentially when COVID happened, you know, there was an abrupt halt to any performing and any of that. So that was kind of the like catalyst into a pivot in my life. But I think I'm just realizing now that it was maybe just for a season and it was the purpose of it for me was to heal through some things and to navigate things in life that I've now kind of gotten through and I don't really miss it.
Jessica Manning-Brose:It's bizarre, it's a very bizarre thing because I was doing it so intensely, trying to make it a full time thing, and it was such a beautiful experience. But I do think it wasn't specifically the performing and being a performing artist. That was the thing I was passionate about. It was the deeper connection with other people and also just the practicality of kind of healing through my own stuff and getting things on paper and getting it out of my vessel and into the world, and I sort of feel like I accomplished that and maybe that was all it needed to be. So I mean I never say never. I'm you know, maybe I'll be called one day to just sit down and write some more and I'm about to have a kid, so maybe that'll inspire me to want to write some more for that phase of life. But I feel very kind of satisfied with how that chapter tied up.
Jennifer Coronado:It's great to hear that, because so often performers, when they let go of performing, it isn't necessarily because they've wrapped that chapter. It's because that chapter didn't work in the way that they had hoped it had, so that's wonderful to hear. Yeah, I want to move into the influencing of it all now, because I wanted to start with. Where did you come from your creative base, right? Yeah, so in your mind, what does being an influencer mean, and would you even call it being an influencer?
Jessica Manning-Brose:Great question. I don't love that word. Yeah, I think a lot of. I think you probably hear that a lot. I think a lot of people say that, yeah, the influencer thing number one. I think you know it's fair. I understand where that comes from, but everybody has influence and I think it would be naive to say that we didn't. I think it's important to know that in the world, if you show up in front of other people like you have influenced.
Jessica Manning-Brose:And I tend to call myself a content creator and that graduated high school, I actually always had a big love of design and fashion and I love New York City, and so I went to college for a short time because I couldn't afford to stay for the full degree. But I went to college at Parsons in New York City for a year. I couldn't believe I got in and I was like I'm going to make this work and I really wanted to work in fashion. That was my dream. And then when that didn't work out, I was back in the Twin Cities and I kind of leaned into music because that was the other thing I had and that's sort of how that snowballed.
Jessica Manning-Brose:So when the influencer world kind of blew up, I had already been utilizing my social media, namely Instagram, for kind of a visual diary of my life. I'd always done that because it was just kind of something that I enjoyed prior to doing music as well. So when I did music I incorporated a lot of that. You know, the styling elements and the creative direction for all my music videos. That was some of the most fun that I had was styling and creative directing my music videos and coming up with concepts and storyboarding. So in many ways I feel like I've always been doing some of this content creation just through different mediums. And then when COVID happened and I wasn't doing music anymore, I kind of just got a few opportunities from brands who had to take their productions from large productions to individual creators while still trying to keep a business afloat and launch products and things like that. So I ended up getting more opportunities by way of COVID, which is really interesting, and was able to kind of dip into that more from home.
Jennifer Coronado:You went to design school at Parsons, so you have for you an aesthetic is important. How would you define your aesthetic, or would you, and how does it evolve for you as you go through different phases?
Jessica Manning-Brose:I definitely think it's ever evolving and I definitely think I pull a lot from a lot of different places I love. I would say the cornerstone of my aesthetic or my style, whether it's my home or my personal style, is classic. I like to lean into classics because I just I'm not huge on trends in general. I think they can be very fleeting, obviously, but yeah, I would say classics. And I actually think a big part of that is because growing up we really didn't have much.
Jessica Manning-Brose:My mom was like the most amazing thrifter you've ever met in your life and so I really grew this huge love for thrifting and finding things secondhand and antiques and vintage things and things that other people didn't see the value in but I could really reimagine in a new way. So that, I feel like, is kind of a long-winded answer, but that's sort of how I would define. My style is that I feel like I pull from vintage, thrifted older items paired with newer items that are more modern to maybe create something that's a little more eclectic and new, but yeah, I would say clean lines. I like to lean into neutrals, with pops of interesting colors and shapes and things like that, but I would lean into classic.
Jennifer Coronado:I've looked at your social media and some of the things that you put forward and you have such a. There's such comfort in the things that you have too. There's some beautiful classic design elements to it, but it doesn't. You know how sometimes you can walk into like the MoMA, and you're like this is all angles and hard edges and I can't sit anywhere and it's not very inviting, but it's not. I don't feel invited in.
Jennifer Coronado:I feel a little bit attacked by the museum so your stuff is very beautiful and very inviting and invites you in. But I'm curious, cause I've noticed the products that you share on a weekly basis. You know some skincare lines and some accessories and I just want to know how do you decide what you want to showcase Like? How do you make your choices?
Jessica Manning-Brose:That's a that's also a great question and something that I'm constantly coming back to. It's something that I have to sort of like level set all the time. I'm now working with a manager for the past year and a half or so, and it's a conversation we have often, probably once a quarter even, to just make sure that I'm staying true to what I actually want to talk about, what I actually care to share, what I actually think is valuable. You know, it's no secret that you know, in this industry in general, it can be very much centered around overconsumption, and that is something that I think about all the time, because that doesn't sit well with me and so that's a struggle that I have with this industry. So I try to be really mindful, when opportunities come in, about whether or not period of time to actually try the product before I talk about it, to make sure that it works for me Things work differently for other people as well but to not blindly Well your skin looks great.
Jessica Manning-Brose:Thank you, thank you, thank you. Yeah, so it's. You know, it's definitely trial and error and it's something that I always have to come back to, but I do try to be mindful about only saying yes to things that really feel authentic to me and kind of recentering with myself every so often and making sure I know what that even looks like Definitely not perfect on it. There are many things that I say no to because it just doesn't feel like a good fit and it may feel like a good fit for somebody else, but that, I think, is important because, at the end of the day, the job is the connection that you have with the community that's there and if you aren't being authentic like they'll sniff that out right away and that's not. It's not worth risking that. That relationship that's the whole reason you have that job in the first place is that people want to be there and support the things that you're sharing. So, yeah, I try my best. It's definitely a work in progress.
Jennifer Coronado:I want to go back to something you said just a few sentences ago, and it was once a quarter, and I want to bring that up, because when did you realize that, oh, this is a business that I'm doing now, like I've started dabbling in this, but now I get it. I have a manager and I have quarterly reviews and financial statements I got to look at.
Jessica Manning-Brose:When did you realize that? You know? Actually, funny enough, that's just kind of my brain. I've always been that way. I'm a very I'm a Virgo. Not that I don't know if that means anything to anyone. Honestly, it doesn't even mean a whole lot to me. I don't know anything except my sign, but I'm very much a Virgo, I hear.
Jessica Manning-Brose:I'm very regimented and organized and I like for things to be clean and laid out properly. So even at the beginning of this journey, when I started to get a little bit of opportunity from brands and I said to myself, ok, maybe there's something here like I should maybe tap into this a little bit, then I like I went and bought a binder and I made spreadsheets of different brands that I would feel aligned with and I would search the Internet for the right PR contact and I would email 50 different people a day and you know, and really keep things organized and treat it like a business, whether it was yet or not, and so I've always kind of been that mind around it. It kind of helps me keep things in order. But I would say, yeah, I mean the past really moving to LA, I guess I haven't even mentioned that, but I moved to LA four years ago, october of 2020. So kind of the tail end of COVID, yeah, end of COVID.
Jessica Manning-Brose:And when we moved to LA, that made it very clear to me because it was number one.
Jessica Manning-Brose:The chance to do it at all, to be able to feel comfortable coming here at all, was definitely hinged on wow, this is working Like I have stuff coming in all the time there's people that want to work with me, people see my vision, you know. And then being in LA, being on the ground in this city, definitely also helped to kind of ramp things up and and I mean I think sooner or later you, you have no choice but to really treat it like a business. I think that is kind of the difference between when, when you can have success in this and when it doesn't work. I think there is for sure a misconception that it's just, you know, kind of simple and you get things and it's that easy and you can charge a lot of money for it and that's it. But there's a ton of accounting that goes into it and a ton of time in front of the computer and relationship building and emails and negotiating contracts and legal things, and I think I benefited from seeing it that way pretty early on.
Jennifer Coronado:Do you ever think about how a role like yours has really fundamentally changed the advertising world? Is that something that ever occurs to you?
Jessica Manning-Brose:Fully fully. Yeah, I think about it all the time. I think on a practical level, how it has really shifted in. Like advertising agencies, I would be curious, but it certainly has. I know that brands allocate a huge portion of their budget to individual creators was not a thing in the past, so for sure it has shifted and it's in many ways. It's very cool because I think it.
Jessica Manning-Brose:You know, it allows people to potentially build a career that's incredibly flexible and possibly very centered in something that they care about If you kind of have a specific niche, or if, you know, want to talk about mental health on the internet, if you want to talk about home. It certainly has given me incredible flexibility and although I have certain, you know, aspects of the job that I'm like, oh I don't love this or I don't love that, I don't know that I would trade it for anything else at this point in my life, because it allows me to be so flexible and to really say yes and no to the things that feel important to me or that feel aligned, and that's a huge privilege. So it's really cool. You know, I think it's been really huge for a lot of people and you get to be the boss of yourself which is pretty cool too.
Jennifer Coronado:That's the best, and so the arguments you have about well, I think I need a raise. Well, it's with yourself, exactly. Yeah, we can negotiate that.
Jessica Manning-Brose:Yeah, exactly.
Jennifer Coronado:Have you ever been surprised by a product that someone wanted you to share? That is a really good question.
Jessica Manning-Brose:There have been, maybe, certain things. I've been surprised how much I loved them. I'm trying to think if there's anything specifically that's coming to mind. I don't know if I can think of anything specifically, but every now and then something will come up where it's, you know, the product feels aligned and it's all fine and great and we agree on a partnership. And then when I receive it, I don't anticipate it incorporating into my life like it does and being as impactful. Impactful. So that is always fun when you feel very pleasantly surprised and your expectations, kind of, are met and exceeded.
Jennifer Coronado:But yeah, I'm not sure if I can't think of anything specific I want to ask about the internet, of it all, because the internet is not always kind, particularly to women and particularly to women of color, which you are both. So how do you protect yourself against some of the sort of darker things that happen on the internet, or do you actually experience that as a content creator in the space that you're in?
Jessica Manning-Brose:I have been, I would say, very lucky with my community. I would like to say that part of that is because I try to be very authentic and very open and very real, so I think I invite that to my page and to my community. And so mostly I have had just really wonderful people in my space and so many, so much so, that I feel like I have all these friends that you know. If I saw them in the real world I would almost know who they were as well and we, you know, would get along and we would have these, have had these conversations and DMs and stuff, which is so cool, and many of them I have met and have some people from the internet have become my friends here in LA and it's been amazing.
Jessica Manning-Brose:This is something I struggle with sometimes as well, which is the sort of the duality between work on your social media and just things that you care about socially that you want to share on social media because you have a platform and I feel a responsibility in many cases to talk about it. That always invites a little bit of discourse. I wouldn't say it's necessarily a bad thing. I've had some really amazing conversations with people privately and messages around things happening in our world and the like. So, yeah, I don't think I've ever really had it super negatively. I'm grateful for that, and who's to say that won't come?
Jessica Manning-Brose:But for the most part I think if you invite a conversation around things, it usually diffuses any issue. I think that, yeah, in my experience that's been the case. I will say there's been like one really strange thing where someone made a fake page pretending to be me and that felt very bizarre. You know where you go to like this page that's literally, you know, just pulled images and pulled video of my family and my husband and pretending to be me, probably in the hopes of reaching out to brands from that page and getting product or getting paid or something. So things like that have popped up here and there, but for the most part it's been really enjoyable and any sticky sort of conversation I think can really be kind of navigated through conversation and oftentimes I feel like I learned something too, if there's something that I said that didn't feel like it resonated with somebody.
Jennifer Coronado:Well, you come across as very empathetic to the feedback that they're providing you. You seem to be really open to at least listening, and do you find that something that has been helped you be successful is that you talk about when you were on stage and you would come off and you would talk to people after a performance and you would hear them. Do you feel like that's something that is part of your brand?
Jessica Manning-Brose:Absolutely and I think beyond yeah, being part of my brand, I think it's just who I am. I think you know, again, I owe a lot to my mother. This is kind of just who she is as well. She's a very empathetic person and I think you know. I think when you go through a lot at a young age and my mom went through a lot for a lot of her life raising three kids somewhat on her own, I would say and really having a hard time navigating that and, you know, moving back to the States and all of this and I think it humbles you and I think it hopefully kind of forces you into empathy, because you really don't know, you have no idea what people are going through or what experiences they've had that they bring to each moment.
Jessica Manning-Brose:You know, I can't assume that anybody's you know, criticism or judgment or anything like that is me. You know, I kind of assume that it has something to do with something else that has been part of their path. I mean, I think it's only beneficial to show up with empathy as much as we can and I'm certainly not perfect either, but I think I owe it to the people that show up for me every day and have pretty much provided me with a job, not single-handedly, but partly. I owe it to hear people out and have discourse around things. And again, I need to remember often that I'm just a person that ended up in this space on the internet. I'm just like anyone else and I don't have all the answers. And just because I'm the page that they're following along with doesn't mean that I'm correct all the time, so I need to remind myself of that. I think my community kind of knows that about me too. So that's I feel like that's always good.
Jennifer Coronado:Yeah, how long did it take you to build your community to a place where you felt like it became a community and not just like individuals?
Jessica Manning-Brose:I would say a while and also, just to be very blunt, I don't really even have a very large community in comparison to many folks who do this job on the internet.
Jessica Manning-Brose:I sometimes find myself very dumbfounded by how this is all working with a very, quite small community, but I would say, maybe it probably took me five, six years to really build it. Mind you, I was also, you know, for some of those earlier days I was really pursuing music, still heavily in the Twin Cities and I was using my social media as a tool to promote the music and, you know, share about being in the studio and talk about, like you know, my mood boarding for the next music video and all of those things. So I've always used Instagram as a tool for marketing and visually showing the things that I'm interested in and working on. When it kind of started leaning into the influencer space, I just kept using it, but it, you know, the content shifted a little bit. But yeah, it really has been even since music. So it's probably been seven, eight years maybe somewhere in there.
Jennifer Coronado:It takes time to build things, as they say. I'm curious cause you mentioned Instagram. I know you're on TikTok as well, but for you, what's your? Do you have a primary platform that you focus on, or what are you thinking about that?
Jessica Manning-Brose:It's definitely Instagram I'm. So. You mentioned your generation at the beginning. I'm very much a millennial and I almost feel like I could be older than that. I, as I mentioned, like I'm just such an old soul and so even like, like any new kind of like pivot in social media is always like kind of challenging for me and I don't really jump towards it. I wait and figure out if it's necessary.
Jessica Manning-Brose:So yeah, tiktok, I'm on because I am. I have an account, but I put almost no energy into it, which maybe is a conversation I need to have with my team. Maybe I eventually should dip a little bit further into that. But I also kind of am of the mind that you know if something's working, it's working and I don't think we have to do everything. Mind that you know if something's working, it's working and I don't think we have to do everything. So yeah, so Instagram is my main platform. I often thought about, too, if I ever wanted to like launch a blog or like hop over to YouTube or do something like that. But I've, it just kind of works for me on Instagram and it feels authentic still and it feels like a place that I'm excited to show up every day and just kind of share bits of my life. So, yeah, I feel like in my mind, if it's working, I'm just kind of going to keep running with that.
Jessica Manning-Brose:And I'm also really I'm not super interested. This might sound strange, but I'm not super concerned with growth all the time and you know I have my seasons. Obviously, I want to do well financially every year and I'd like to grow financially and grow in how I create content and how I see things online. But I don't feel super concerned with numbers and I don't feel super concerned with how many platforms I'm on or if I'm on to the next new thing. And that feels really. I mean, that's a huge privilege to even be able to say that. But I think that feels really good for me and that feels authentic to me, which is the thing I'm always trying to kind of tap back into is what feels right for me in this job, because if I ever feel like it's starting to feel inauthentic, then I don't want to be doing this job. So, yeah, so I Instagram all that to say. Instagram is my name.
Jennifer Coronado:Yeah, I mean, why be on TikTok? They show the reels from TikTok on Instagram two weeks later.
Jessica Manning-Brose:Right, it's the same thing. Occasionally I'll have a job, come in where they want me to post on both and kind of cross post. You know, do the do create a video that goes live on both. Occasionally someone just wants TikTok, which I'm like are you sure there's not a lot of people over there? But yeah, so I kind of I do what needs to be done, but it's definitely not the focus on TikTok for me.
Jennifer Coronado:What for you, like other other content creators that you follow, that are that you admire or that made you start thinking about this?
Jessica Manning-Brose:I feel, like people probably say this all the time, but I really do feel like I just fell into it because I was kind of already occupying space on the internet in a somewhat kind of curated aesthetic way and it just sort of happened.
Jessica Manning-Brose:So in that sense, no, but there are plenty of people that I love to follow, many who have become friends. Of course, I'm like going to blank now on who those people are, but, yeah, I actually will say I really enjoy being on TikTok as a viewer and I have found a lot of interesting creators on there that I have loved following along with. So, yeah, and then on Instagram, there are plenty that I follow and love and have since also become friends, and I find myself really leaning into similar content that I create, which is just kind of like lifestyle as a whole. That's really what I'm interested in and passionate about. I have a huge love for interior design, so much so that, honestly, when I think back on my life, I'm like I maybe should have done that. I really probably could have gone that route and been really happy. But yeah, so I follow a lot of interior design pages and just kind of people who talk about kind of slow living, which is really something that I feel passionately about.
Jennifer Coronado:Tell me about that. What is slow living?
Jessica Manning-Brose:I guess it's kind of become a little those words have become a little trendy but just sort of Live in slow, just sort of appreciating small moments and not really being so quick to grasp at the next thing.
Jessica Manning-Brose:And I'm a huge homebody and, as I mentioned, I love interior design and I love to just like putz around my house and kind of rearrange things and finding you know something at the flea market that's going to fit this corner perfectly, and then styling that and then capturing some pretty imagery of that and I just I feel very content in taking things at my own pace and sometimes I think that can be very challenging, especially in this industry, because it's a lot of, you know, everything's quick and fast and it's a lot to keep up with and being in LA similarly, I'm very proud that I have actually leaned more and more into that part of who I am and not felt like I have to change who I am to be in this industry, because I do really just appreciate, you know, just slow days if I have the option for that and not a lot on the calendar, and just the simple moments being really impactful.
Jessica Manning-Brose:And I think a lot of that appreciation for that comes from my family as well and just my upbringing. Yeah, that's sort of a that's how I would describe slow living, just kind of.
Jennifer Coronado:You can be an interior designer if you want to. Yeah, you're in the in just the freshest part of your life. You could do anything you want to do, right? This is just a chapter you know Exactly. I'm not going to ask how much you make, because that is a rude question, but what I do want to ask you is do you feel like you make a comfortable living doing this?
Jessica Manning-Brose:I do.
Jessica Manning-Brose:I really have to kind of check in with myself often, because I sometimes I find it very bizarre that I'm in the position that I'm in financially, and especially because I grew up the way that I'm in financially, and especially because I grew up the way that I did and we really just didn't have much.
Jessica Manning-Brose:And then going to college and, you know, getting into the school, that was such a dream for me, but only being able to stay a year because I couldn't afford to pay enough to register for the next year, and, mind you, I'm still you know, I have like loans from that one year still at this crazy expensive school in New York. But, yeah, it's pretty mind-blowing to me that I've been able to build this to where it is today and I definitely don't take it lightly. I feel very proud of myself, I will say actually, because not having finished college was something that I held on to for quite a while and it bothered me, you know, like just oh cool, like I wasn't able to do that either, I wasn't given the opportunity to even do that, and yeah, so I think, despite it, feels very cool to have kind of creatively put together something else that is working and that is providing me a life that I was not expecting for myself or wasn't expecting was an option for somebody like me. So, yeah, I'm doing good.
Jennifer Coronado:Two things I want to ask you, and you can also say nah, Jen, I'm not going to answer this question. You said there is something else I wasn't allowed to do, or someone like me. What do you say that? Something else I wasn't allowed to?
Jessica Manning-Brose:do, or someone like me. What do you say that? Well, I think, when you grow up, number one core, I mean just to put it in words and also a person of color, a black woman, in a community that doesn't look like you. You know, minneapolis, minnesota, I grew up with just with no black peer. I mean I was gonna say no black peers. There were some, a few people in my school, but very few.
Jessica Manning-Brose:So you, just when you grow up in a community that doesn't look like you and that doesn't necessarily have the same experience when they go home that you have, it's you just subconsciously put yourself in a bit of a box.
Jessica Manning-Brose:And again, I don't think it was intentional, it wasn't like a very curated thought, I guess, but it was. You know, it's what you see and you imprint that on what you feel your value is. Yeah, it's certainly structural, yeah, it's a part of what shapes you. So I mean I would say I owe so much to my brother and my sister really my brother, my older brother for kind of setting the example, to just go for it, feel very grateful for that. And then my mother as well, because she just worked her ass off to make it all work for us and we ended up being okay because of her. So, yeah, I think it is very humbling to get to a point in life where you kind of feel like, oh, wow, like I actually got through that, like I'm kind of on the other side of it, but it, yeah, but it's a lot of shedding of just you know, all of your experience that you bring with you. What does your family think of?
Jennifer Coronado:you doing this?
Jessica Manning-Brose:They love it. My mom loves it. Yeah, my mom loves it Cause she gets lots of good extra skincare and clothes and no, they all love it. My, my family as a whole is very creative. I learned how to be creative at all from my mother, for sure. Just her efforts of you know, like constantly having to think creatively about how are we going to make this work, that is to me like where I got it from. My family has always kind of like shifted and pivoted and done this and then done that and then had another idea for this. So they're very they're into it. Everybody's kind of doing interesting things.
Jennifer Coronado:So that's great. You know you mentioned earlier you're about to be a mom for the first time. You're going to have a little girl.
Jessica Manning-Brose:Having a little girl.
Jennifer Coronado:Yeah. Has that made you think about different ways to approach this role, this job, in the future, or is that something that has even come to mind?
Jessica Manning-Brose:For sure. That's a fantastic question, something that I've something I thought a lot about. Even before getting pregnant, I we knew that we wanted to have kids and I've always known I've wanted to be a mother. I grew up nannying a lot and taking care of lots of kids and but yeah, it's certainly something I have thought a lot about because I around it still.
Jessica Manning-Brose:I think I kind of have to experience motherhood while doing this job to figure out exactly what my approach will be. But yeah, I'm definitely cautious about sharing my kids on the internet too much or at all. But then I also know that kids nowadays are growing up in an internet age that I didn't grow up in in the same way, and so that's just part of it as well. But I'm very mindful of not ever using my kids to benefit my job and if ever they are involved in some way, that would be negotiated beforehand and they would be compensated and it would be put aside in a fund for them that's already created and things like that. But yeah, it's something I think about a lot and I think that I will just kind of have to navigate as we get there.
Jennifer Coronado:Here's a question for you, because you're, you know, obviously you have your own business and this just made me think of it, since you, you know, you're obviously going through, you know, the care that a soon to be mother needs to go through from a medical standpoint. How do you cover insurance, Like all that stuff? Did you have to figure all that stuff out for yourself as well?
Jessica Manning-Brose:Yeah, so well, now I'm married and my husband works a corporate job, so our insurance is through him now. However, before that, I cover my own insurance. So I've been married for only about a year, a little over a year, but yeah. So before that it was, you know, just going on the marketplace and getting my own insurance and paying that every month, and you know just that, alongside all of my other accounting and my taxes for the year and all of that, and to this day it's potentially something that would happen again. You know who knows how long. My husband's also a musician and that's how we met years and years ago. Now he works a corporate job and does music as well and, who knows, in the future if he may be dipping back into working for himself, and at that point we would, yeah, we would have to navigate that as well. But I will say I'm grateful for some corporate insurance for this first pregnancy. It just kind of eases things a little bit.
Jennifer Coronado:But yes, I know it's a strange question to ask, but those are all the little practical things that people don't think about.
Jessica Manning-Brose:Right, it's definitely a lot and I think I will say you know, being a business owner in any capacity is a lot to take on financially. I think it can look really dreamy on the outside, but it's a lot of moving parts and a lot of things that you don't necessarily account for when you're starting. But for the most part, I feel lucky that my expenses are pretty low because my office is my home, which is great. But yeah, there's all those little things that and even management. Right, it's like I pay a percentage of everything that I earn to my management, which is so worth it for me because it really frees up my days to not be coming through contracts and legal things and all of that and negotiating, and I know I'm going to be grateful for that the second I have this baby.
Jessica Manning-Brose:But yeah, there's a lot of moving parts and it's always shifting and changing. Prior to this year I was just a single member LLC and prior to that I was a sole proprietor and then single member LLC and now I'm an S-corp. So there's different paperwork that goes in with that and just discussing with my team and my CPA and all that. So it's a constant for sure.
Jennifer Coronado:So, just for the baseline listener, what's the difference between an LLC and an S-Corp and why did you shift between the two?
Jessica Manning-Brose:They're both LLCs basically, and S-Corp is like something that you can elect within an LLC where you can kind of divvy up. Instead of being, like, taxed on your entire annual lump sum of what you brought in, you can essentially become an employee of your own company. So as an S-Corp I am an employee of Jessica Manning LLC and I pay myself a salary for the year. So I'm technically now a W-2 employee for my own company. I'm the only employee and then you just get taxed a little bit differently. There's some benefits with that, because you're taxed on your salary and then you're taxed a little bit differently on the remainder of what your company is earning as a whole for the year. So it kind of is just a nice way to divide it up and it's nice to be a W-2 and kind of have that like regular coming in and just see that and count on that.
Jennifer Coronado:So yeah, that's as far as I understand. How are you as a boss? I'm great.
Jessica Manning-Brose:Very understanding and, you know, open to time off.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, what was the moment, or like one thing that happened with your social media that you were like that was the biggest poster. Was there one kind of like big, pivotal turning point? Yeah, something like almost like a viral moment or something, yeah and do you get those often, or are you always surprised by like the ones that you get?
Jessica Manning-Brose:I think you know it's interesting because when I started doing this, the landscape of social media was so different than it is now.
Jessica Manning-Brose:I think, honestly, even just since like TikTok came out and everything like things have shifted so much since then and the like virality of things is different than it used to be, I really feel like I've kind of always just had like a slow, steady climb.
Jessica Manning-Brose:There are definitely certain things that I see perform even to this day, like I kind of know what's going to perform really well or what might not and you might hear this from a lot of people who do this job but, surprisingly enough, often well, it's actually maybe not that surprising, but often the like paid sponsored posts, like a skincare thing or something those are the things that don't do as well and brands even know that like people really want to just see, like me and my husband and like me pregnant, like that stuff really lands with people, because I think it just feels real and authentic and like they really get a peek into your life.
Jessica Manning-Brose:But yeah, I don't think I've had any like big moments like that. I will say the things that have been really huge in growth are like the moments that I've joined certain ambassador programs or things like that. So I guess we didn't even really talk about that but and that's like nitty gritty of this industry. But there are certain brands that I work with on a regular basis that I'm sort of like an ambassador for or and that's kind of what does ambassador mean?
Jessica Manning-Brose:So it's kind of you're kind of just a representative of that brand. You're sort of within the community of the brand, closer than just like we gifted you something. For instance, I work with Jenny Kane very regularly and I've been working with them for I think probably four years, probably about since I moved to LA. So I work with them on a monthly basis. They send product monthly. I share about it monthly. I have a discount code with them that my community can use at any point and I earn affiliate commission from that. From anytime people use that code and then occasionally they'll hire me for like a specific job where I'm also shooting specific content for them and then there's a rate associated with that. So when anytime I've joined like communities like that where I'm more a part of their internal team, almost I feel like I see kind of like I see more engagement in that wake because you just kind of it gives you a little validity that you're like really in with this brand or really you know you're kind of more part of something.
Jessica Manning-Brose:And I would say maybe the first time that happened was when this was early days, I was still in Minneapolis and I was actually this was probably pre-COVID I was doing some influencer stuff in tandem with music. But I started working with Outdoor Voices, which was like an athletic brand that launched years ago I feel like. I think they still exist, but it's like shifting. But they were like very popular for a time. It started in New York by a woman that actually went to Persons as well and it was kind of just like the first like activewear brand that was like the activewear for everybody, you know like just like their slogan was like doing things and it was just like get out there and do something.
Jessica Manning-Brose:So I was part of that ambassador program and involved with them pretty closely and I feel like that gave me some, you know, some eyes on my page and some recognition. And then the brands feel more compelled to post like some of your content on their page and kind of that cross promotion. So yeah, I think in waves like that, but I've never really had the big viral thing. Every now and then you'll see like a big uptick from something, but it's been, like I said, just kind of like slow living on my page, very slow and steady, which I honestly love. It gives me a little anxiety to think about one day, like waking up and having hundreds of thousands of people's eyes on you and your life.
Jennifer Coronado:I don't really know if I would do well with that, so yeah, I would also say if you want to be an interior designer I brought it up before be an interior designer because you like it, and if that can bring you joy and it's something that you can start setting the stage for right, you should do it yeah, I think about it a lot.
Jessica Manning-Brose:I talk about it with my husband all the time because I swear every other day he's like you should do this. Like our house is you should do this. Like that's. All I want to do in my free time is like put the home together. And I definitely like have helped friends and I've helped my mom design things. She does airbnb property management now and she's pivoted a million times but she's amazing, so I've helped her like do Airbnb properties and things like that.
Jessica Manning-Brose:My hesitation is always a couple things. One do I want to turn it into a career, because I'm starting to be really mindful of like not everything that I love has to become a career. Maybe it would be better suited to just be something that I love and that I can like help friends and family with on occasion and take the odd job here and there. I've done a little bit of prop styling, which is in that realm. I've taken some jobs like that or do I just want to like keep it for myself and it's just fun and sweet and like low pressure?
Jessica Manning-Brose:And then the other thought I've had is I love how flexible my life is, yeah, and I love that I don't have to leave my house if I don't want to most days, and you know. So I think about that and I think that's really the big thing with this job that I'm like I just love that I get to just kind of make all the calls and I don't really have to answer. I mean, I have clients because I have brands, but it's all sort of on my terms in many ways still. So yeah, I think about that.
Jennifer Coronado:I have to tell you my TikTok experience because we have a TikTok account for our production company, except the only thing I do is post on it. I don't really follow anything, oh nice. Yeah, and we've got no followers, so it's fine. But the thing about it is they can't figure me out. They just push like. I get random things like I kid you not, babies with fur will show up in my feed or like noodles and I'm like why are these two very disparate things? Because you're trying to figure me out and you can't.
Jessica Manning-Brose:Yeah, they're trying to figure out. Yeah, they're trying to see. Like, what do you linger on? What do you like? Are you commenting on anything? Yeah, like, yeah, totally. I mean, my current page is pretty much food and babies and pregnant ladies, so it's figured me out a little bit. Tiktok is wild. It can be really fun, but you can kind of fall down a bit of a hole on that platform. That's for sure. Yeah, for sure, yeah.
Jennifer Coronado:Would you advise someone to follow this path, like if you were talking to someone who was about to embark on it.
Jessica Manning-Brose:Yes, with a little asterisk, because I've actually been asked this question a lot. I've had many people you know pop into my messages and say like I want to do this, like how you know where do I start. I think I said this earlier too. But there's, there really is a misconception and I don't want to give you know, I want to give people the benefit of the doubt, but there's a misconception that it's just kind of like something you can jump into and it just is like great and it's good money and it's easy and you get free stuff, and that can be true, but it's also a lot of work and it's a business and there's a lot more kind of the basic business stuff, the boring business stuff that goes along with it, than I think people really realize. So my answer to people is always absolutely like there's always space for people. I think that everybody has such a unique individual experience and voice and I think that's what makes the world of influencer marketing and just the Internet in general very valuable, internet in general very valuable.
Jessica Manning-Brose:But I do think that it would be beneficial to really think about if you're willing to do all that it takes to build it. And, like I said, you know I've been doing this in some capacity for many years and building that comfort and relatability and, yeah, just connection with the community of the people that show up. For years it took, you know, it took me a long time to build that. That's huge. You know that's part of the people that show up. For years it took me a long time to build that. That's huge. That's part of the reason that you have this job in the first place. If people aren't going to show up and trust you and be interested in your life and the things you have to say, then there's no industry. So, yeah, I think yes and no. I think treating it like a real business and recognizing that it is one is the first step to kind of deciding if that's something that you'd be willing to put time into. But I say, come one, come all.
Jennifer Coronado:So one of the questions that I'm asking you a few people this round is something that we asked. We interviewed a bunch of little kids and asked them what do you want to be when you grow up, and what does imagination mean to you? And the reason that we did that was because it all starts there, right the things that you pick up on as a little kid and what you take through your life. So I think the question I want to ask you now is what does imagination mean to you? What does creativity mean to you?
Jessica Manning-Brose:far beyond what we maybe initially think of creativity, or what we think creativity is. I think it is, as I mentioned before, just keeping an open mind, honestly, and being willing to pivot and being willing to welcome a new idea or being willing to make something work that played out differently than you thought it would. I really think I mean I mentioned this before, but I really I learned creativity from my mother and although she didn't necessarily work in the most kind of quote creative fields all the time, she's certainly the most creative person I know to this day. The way that her life has played out is a huge testament to that. She is the most creative thinker and problem solver that I have ever known. And I think the second we start searching for, the second we start looking for creativity in just everyday experiences. That's when I think you can really tap into some real creativity.
Jennifer Coronado:Well, that's wonderful to hear about your mom, and also because of her daughter, her skin looks fantastic, I'm sure.
Jessica Manning-Brose:Yes, she's glowing, she is glowing.
Jennifer Coronado:Well, thank you, jessica. This has been a really enlightening conversation and we so appreciate your time today. Thank you so much. I really appreciate you having me. This was wonderful. Thank you for listening to Everyone Is. Appreciate you having me. This was wonderful. Everyone Is is a slightly disappointed productions production Dropping every other Thursday. Wherever podcasts are available, make sure to rate and review and maybe even like and subscribe. Thank you for listening.
