Hidden Gems: Meet Jamé Jackson of TheBlondeMisfit

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jamé Jackson.

Hi Jamé, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
So I’ve always been a storyteller. I grew up an only child, and I needed to find ways to keep myself entertained. I would do everything from writing my plays to playing the piano (yep, I’m classically trained), pretending I was in a Missy Elliott music video as a backup dancer, or even playing the lead in these fake movies that I would make up and produce in my bedroom. I was a loner and was always called “different” or “strange” by other kids.

Looking back on that time, I was just a very creative kid who didn’t know how to channel her creativity. When I got into middle school and even high school, I realized that so much of my individualism and identity developed by what I wore. If I felt super excited in the morning, I would dress to represent that. If I felt like being more calm, cool, and collected, my outfit reflected that style as well. Plus, I loved thrifting and the art of finding ways to style and transform a garment. That was really when the seed was planted for me that clothes were not just clothes, but the things you put on and how you present yourself to the world send messages to other people.

So I thought nothing of it and went about my time, being in the arts and pursuing acting and entertainment. When I got to Howard University, I knew that I wanted to work to have extra spending money. Something about me is I’ve never liked someone telling me what to do with my money, so I always said, “Well, if I make my own, you can’t tell me what to do with it!”

I found this website, Ed2010, which had many internships, both paid and unpaid, posted on its boards. I scoured through all of the paid internships pages and eventually found one or two based in Washington, DC. I worked at AARP the Magazine, and I fell in love with journalism. Towards the end of my senior year at Howard, I realized two things. 1) I wanted to work in journalism, and 2) I wanted to use the medium of fashion to talk about the things that we saw in society, such as race relations, or gender issues, or socioeconomic inequities. At the time, I did not know what that job was. I simply remember looking at people like Terry Agins, at the Wall Street Journal, or Robin Givhan, at the Washington Post, thinking that their jobs were fabulous and how they analyzed something as simple as a piece of fabric and made it about so much more. Here’s the thing, though: I hadn’t interned in NYC while in school, so I immediately felt like I was behind my peers. So I decided to start a website to show employers that I could read, write, and research.

That was the beginning stages of my brand, TheBlondeMisfit. When I started TheBlondeMisfit, I started sharing these more significant concepts around race and gender and life and culture, using the medium of fashion and beauty. I used my blog to get my foot into New York Fashion Week and work with different designers, stylists, and media outlets. And often, it is what I depended on to get into the doors of places that I worked at, including InStyle, Yahoo, and BuzzFeed. To make an extremely long story short, I continued to keep up my site and continued to grow and evolve in the digital media space.

I don’t want to be too polished or too proper for people not to catch the messaging behind what I’m doing and the different things I work on. I amplify the voices of marginalized communities and uplift the work in the art of Black women. My journey has certainly not been the easiest or even the most glamorous, but my journey is based on resilience and allowing God to guide my steps.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
My journey has been anything but a smooth road. It’s funny because I can see how, if you were an outsider looking in, you would naturally think that everything just fell into place for me, or I just always got the job and always got the money and always did this and always did that. But a lot of the things that I did, especially when I first started, I did with the expectation that it would work in my favor one day. So there were many days where I may only have $30 in my bank account, but you wouldn’t know it because I had this beautiful, glamorous photoshoot with my photographer. And it looks like I’m taking New York by storm. Or, you know, and see on Instagram that I have had three or four different speaking engagements. But little do you know that I’m not getting paid for any of them at the time. Or the outfits I’m wearing have been thrifted because I’m trying to save as much money as possible to pay rent. These are just a few of the obstacles or challenges that I’ve faced along the way.

Not even mentioning the bigger ones like getting your actual foot in the door, fighting for respect, growing and scaling, your brand, wanting more opportunities, the financial stability, or lack thereof. And just so much more. Many of the struggles I had were also very internal. When you work in an industry that is so front-facing or feels almost like you’re living under a microscope, there’s this need for perfectionism.

It triggers a response for people like me who are recovering perfectionists and people pleasers.

And I realized years later that within myself, there was this feeling of inadequacy that I was never doing enough or being enough or that who I was was not enough. And that ultimately then pushes you even more. On the outside, you look like you’re working hard. But on the inside, you’re killing yourself to prove something to people. I look back on that time. And I am thankful for the sacrifices that I made, but I don’t set myself on fire to keep other people warm anymore. I had to let go of this need for validation and confirmation. Because at the end of the day, I remember that the only person whose confirmation I should seek is God’s. And as long as I have that confirmation, anything anyone else says is irrelevant or just the cherry on top.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
I am many things. But I am the founder and EIC of TheBlondeMisfit, an award-winning fashion and beauty lifestyle website focused on multicultural women. We also have a podcast under the same name and social media handles, including a YouTube channel. Everything centers around my life and random musings as a content creator and entrepreneur. My content focuses explicitly on amplifying marginalized communities. However, I try to create content that multiple people can see themselves in. My sweet spot is being relatable and inspiring to other Black women who want to work in the fashion, beauty, or tech space. I believe what sets me apart is that I’m open and honest with the journey.

I don’t try to sugarcoat the struggles that I endure or try to make it seem like I have it all together when I don’t. I’ve shared in the past different things like me being a team of one and all of the things you have to get done that people don’t see. Even though it takes away a little bit of that glam that you would maybe want your brand to be known for, it also earns a level of respect from people because they now see themselves reflected in your content. And they know that the social media facade of having everything put together is just that… it is a facade. We are not fantasy; we are real people creating real change and trying to do real things and figure it out along the way.

I am most proud of the fact that I did not give up. There were many days and nights and months that I did not see any traction with my brand. And I felt like I was a failure. I felt like I was not operating in the fullness of what God wanted for me. That I wasn’t doing everything that I was supposed to be doing based upon the vision that I felt he had laid on my heart. And when you are an entrepreneur and trying to create something, it is hard because you cannot say that you will immediately have results if you do X, Y, and Z. Or you may have to see as the people around you scale two and three times faster than you do. Now you’re wondering what you’re doing wrong. I’m really proud that I have decided that running my own race is the only race that I want to be part of and that no matter how hard it got, and how hard it still gets, I’m willing to put in the work and showcase that the life of your dreams is a life worth fighting for. It’s something that I like to lean into to keep me inspired to keep going even when I have bad days.

Of course, there are ways to connect with TheBlondeMisfit no matter where you’re at or what you’re interested in. If you like video, check out our YouTube and occasional IG content. There’s a website if you like to read or shop. Our podcast spotlights entrepreneurship and really walking in faith. I consult with Fortune 500 and Fortune 100 companies, as well as the small-owned business getting started. I do hosting and panel moderation and keynotes and plan to be on the big screen one day. I’m working and building out something that will outlast me and, most importantly, show people that their dreams are never unattainable.

We’d love to hear about how you think about risk taking?
I believe to be successful, you have to take risks. And taking risks doesn’t mean that you have to jump ship from your job or pick up and move to an entirely new city as I did. Taking major risks or risks at all simply requires you to be open to the experience that you actually could be successful on the other side of whatever it is that you’re trying to do. I have found in my life that I naturally progress because I work hard and I stay positive. I pray, and I show up. But the best things I have ever gained in life have come from taking risks. It’s something that I can see from both perspectives, why people may not want to do it and why it is needed for you to go to the next level in your life. I have taken many risks, the first one and probably the biggest one being moving to New York. I was 23. I knew that living in D.C., where I’m originally from, was no longer serving me in the way it needed to grow in my career.

I packed up my things, and I moved back home with my mom to save up some money. But ultimately, I moved to New York with just a couple hundred dollars and a few totes/suitcases to live out of. It doesn’t always look glamorous. And it isn’t always a situation where you have a job lined up or have an extensive network of people you can depend on to take care of you. Many things were based around trial and error and simply saying that I could take the risk. And if everything worked out, well, I would be proud of myself for doing it. But if it did not work out, at least I would have tried. It was very much so the scariest thing I’ve ever done. I had only been to New York a few times before moving. But I knew in my heart that if I wanted to pursue media, and pursue the dreams and the passions that I had, that I needed to do it.

It’s always interesting because I have moments, especially nowadays, where I don’t want to take risks because I’m afraid of failing. And it is not necessarily the fear of failing. But it’s more the fear that it will completely unravel everything I have gained up into this point if I fail. When I have those moments, I have to sit in that reflection and think that I have never done anything in my life that I have not benefited from in some way, shape, or form. And the benefit comes from developing a sense of discernment so that you know that no matter how something turns out, it was for your good.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: www.theblondemisfit.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/theblondemisfit
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/theblondemisfit
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/theblondemisfit
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxfwWZoPy0w8OGJai3rZkIg
• Other: anchor.fm/theblondemisfit

Image Credits:
Photos by: Marta Skovro (not photo of me in yellow dress or straight on headshot) Headshot: Thomas Kirk Yellow: Jamé Jackson / TheBlondeMisfit