Inspiring Conversations with Jessie Nicely

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jessie Nicely.

Hi Jessie, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
For as long as I can remember, my life has revolved around food. I come from a big Burmese family and every event involved a huge spread of Burmese and American dishes – even on Thanksgiving we’d have curry and rice alongside turkey and gravy. In my community, to cook for someone was to love and care for them, and that has carried over into my professional and creative endeavors.

All of my projects are still mainly family affairs, I run Compound Butter Magazine with my cousin Jaya and my pop up Burmese, Please! with my partner Eric. Jaya and I created Compound Butter in 2014 when we were still getting to know each other better and exploring each other’s interests. Jaya was in art school and I was just finishing culinary school. We had always been intimidated by the other’s industry and decided we wanted to find a way to learn more while also making art and food more accessible to other people like us. I wanted people to know that they didn’t need to be ‘foodies’ to enjoy eating and to share in the benefits of cooking and eating with others. We also wanted to fight the ‘bro’ culture that was so prevalent in both industries and elevate work by people that were usually shut out of food and art media.

Similarly, Burmese, Please! was born out of my desire to better understand myself. I had grown up eating Burmese food but I hadn’t really learned how to make much of it, nor did I know any other Burmese people outside of my family. As I got older, I met more members of the Burmese community and learned how to make dishes beyond what I’d grown up eating. I realized that all my life I’d told people I was Burmese but I didn’t really know what that meant. The only true connection I’d ever had to Burma was through the food my grandparents and aunts made, so I’ve tried turning back to that now to explore the flavors I grew up with while also reimagining dishes to suit my life here in California.

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?
Nothing in life is easy and I’d be lying if I said I haven’t thought about running away from it all to live in the woods. It is incredibly difficult to thrive in the print or food industries. Making a magazine, even quarterly, is incredibly demanding and we run Compound Butter as a passion project which means working on it around our day jobs. The situation is the same for Burmese, Please!, I fit in pop ups and recipe development where I can and it’s hard but it’s also worth it. Juggling projects and work can be exhausting but at the end of the day I want to create and I want to do it on my terms, whatever that may require.

We’ve been impressed with Compound Butter Magazine / Burmese, Please!, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I run two separate projects as side businesses with both being directly or tangentially related to food.

Compound Butter is a contributor-driven magazine featuring art and writing inspired by food. Each issue focuses on a different theme and contains a variety of mediums from a range of incredibly talented people. When we first started the magazine, almost all of the content was create by Jaya and I, and as time has gone on we’ve gotten more and more submissions. Over the years we’ve been able to build an incredible community and have featured tons of first-time writers, illustrators, photographers, etc.

One of the most important aspects of Compound Butter for us has been providing a platform for creators that would otherwise be shut out of food/art media and ensuring that they maintain full creative control over their pieces. I am editor-in-chief and go over all of the pieces for each issue. Working with writers of different levels of experience and styles means I never get bored of editing and am constantly expanding my own expectations of what it means to be a writer. I’m so incredibly proud of our magazine, every time I pick up an issue for the first time I’m overwhelmed by the beauty of the culmination of so many people’s work. I love the stories we’re able share with our readers and the community we’ve built around the magazine.

My pop up Burmese, Please! is a true labor of love. I grew up in the Bay Area where there were tons of Burmese restaurants to choose from and when I moved down here I found myself missing the food I’d eat with my family at home and our favorite spots. I had worked in kitchens up in the Bay but had become burnt out and had pretty much convinced myself that I’d never cook again, especially not my own concept. That obviously didn’t last.

At the moment, Burmese, Please! has mostly been an exploration of traditional Burmese recipes, specifically curries and salads. The most popular item we make is tea leaf salad, a very unique and earthy mix of fermented tea leaves, cabbage, and lots of fried beans and seeds. I love everything we make and am so grateful that I get to share my food with my customers. I’m hoping to expand the menu soon to include some less traditional items that play upon the everyday things I like to eat and the Burmese ingredients I grew up with.

Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
Be patient and be kind.

Things don’t happen overnight and you can’t push yourself too hard or you’ll flame out before you can see things through. In the moment it’s easy to be frustrated with the growth, or lack thereof, of your project or business, but looking back now I’m glad that things always stayed at a manageable rate. We never scaled beyond what we could handle on our own and that allowed us to retain control while still producing products we were happy with.

Along with being more patient, I wish I had known how to be kinder to myself earlier on. It’s something I still struggle with now. Sometimes there are days where I just can’t get things done and there’s no point in getting angry with myself or trying to force things. Taking time to rest and recognizing my own limitations is imperative to being able to continue creating and seeing these projects through.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://www.compound-butter.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/youngpoorhungry/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/burmese-please-los-angeles