Today we’d like to introduce you to Jenná Wallace.
Jenná, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
As an artistic child, I danced and sung around the house and performed sketches from In Living Color for my family. I have always been a bit of a comedian, as the entertainer of the family. It has always been my nature to want to lighten the mood into something joyful.
I was born with a boldness and a big imagination. As soon at I was able to hold a pencil, I started drawing. I have always been a self-motivated artist. My first drawings were fancy ladies in dresses with puffy sleeves. I drew a variety of women in dresses, all with snatched waist, cleavage, and of course puffy sleeves. I imagined the dresses flowing as the women glided past their admirers. The outfits that I drafted were a mix between victorian and grunge stylized outfits, complete with jewelry and boots. From an early age, my sense of fashion has been unique. I have never been satisfied with the looks presented on the mannequins. I did not have the money for designer gear, so my solution was to teach myself to sew in order to make my clothing more stylish. As a young girl of about ten years old, I made a habit of cutting my jeans into shorts and using puff paint to artistically place designs on them to better fit my style. When others see problems, I see opportunities to make creative solutions.
Driven by my constant yearning to learn and desire to succeed, I earned straight A’s from 7th grade until graduating High School. In my senior year, I was interviewed for The Los Angeles Times and the Daily Bulletin for my scholastic accomplishments. The article highlighted my acheivements and academic scholarship to the University of Southern California (USC). While at USC, majoring in Political Science, I became known for remixing clothing and my poetry (which I have been writing and performing since the fifth grade). I continued to practice the art of cut and sew to create unique pieces for USC students, faculty and friends. It was all word of mouth, and word spread quickly. My process included bleaching, painting, dying, shredding and beading on outdated denim pieces to turn them into avant-garde newness. I had no machine and everything was done by hand, making me a quick sewer. My fashion line was called Donët and I was featured in the Urban Fashion show, along with the most popular brands of the time like Karl Kani, Ecko and Enyce. It was amazing to see all friends rocking my creations on stage and I gained valuable exposure. I was shocked when Karl Kani sent his assistant to set up an interview after seeing my clothing at the USC Fashion Show. Although, I was only a sophomore and couldn’t take the job, I met at his office to be interviewed as one of his designers. To hear this mogul tell me he loved my work and encourage me to keep creating was a magical moment. This meeting with Karl Kani was one of the many moments of synchronicity that have served as encouragement to keep me creating authentically.
While in college, I spent a semester in Washington, DC as an intern at People For the American Way (PFAW). I spent my days at PFAW reviewing how injustices are written into the laws affecting minority and LGBTQ communities. We made frequent visits to the White House to speak to congress and lobby for minority rights. I loved the richness of culture and the poetry of the area. When I returned to sunny Los Angeles, I needed a job and I landed a paid internship at PUMA working in the Entertainment Marketing department. Before the days of Facebook, marketing was face to face and word of mouth. I was the one audacious enough to walk into any place and up to anyone to get them to wear PUMA for marketing purpose. I recall approaching Alicia Keys and Jamie Foxx in order to pass them my business card and snap a flick of him wearing the PUMA suit. While at PUMA, I would cut up the oversized men shirts to make cute tops for women in order to get more editorial press. Many wardrobe stylists didn’t like large logos and some of the boxy t-shirts we had in stock but loved when I reworked them. My cut up tops were featured in a few magazines and even on Serena Williams (who was sponsored by PUMA at the time). I even made a copy of her infamous catsuit for her dog all by hand. She loved it! After working at Puma for two years, I was offered a position at Ecko. I became the West Coast Regional Entertainment Marketing Coordinator, all while attending USC. I made many more connections with Costumers, but it wasn’t until after I graduated that I started to do Wardrobe Styling. Little did I know, I would be in Wardrobe for the next 11 years.
Growing up a Cali girl, I had a dream to live in New York. One summer, I decided to visit New York for a month or two. But my trip was extended drastically as the city felt like it was calling to my soul to stay. From day one, I experienced so much synchronicity. In less than two weeks I landed a gig. I ran into some people I had worked with previously for Tyra Banks in LA. They told me of an open position working for the newly relocated show and I started working on the Tyra Banks Show in Wardrobe department. The dream of moving to New York quickly became a reality and this was just the leap of faith I needed to move. A month turned into a nine year stay on the east coast.
I started to paint consistently the year I moved to New York. It was right after my father passed from cancer. Knowing months in advance of his condition, I began to paint to deal with my complex emotions. I preferred painting on recycled wood that I found in my neighborhood in Brooklyn. It was my way through the depression. When he passed, I painted through the night and day in my grief. I created the most colorful pieces on the wood I found. I have been blessed to show this art at exhibits in New York, where I was able to spread my creative wings more fully.
Living in NY allowed my creativity to grow into the realm of visual and performing arts. Soon, the poetry I used to write changed into raps and I ended up performing with a live band alongside Talib Kweli at clubs like BeBe Kings NYC, Yoshis in San Francisco, The Roxy LA and in Rotterdam, Netherlands. It was not only fun, but an amazing way to get some great coaching on the art of performing.
New York energized my creative force, for which I will always be grateful. When I moved back to California in 2016, I returned a multi-faceted artist.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
I will begin by saying that I believe there are no mistakes and obstacles are put before us are a way to strengthen us. My challenges have made me a grateful human being. Growing up, I didnt have the resources some of my other friends had and my mom worked three jobs. Most of the time, I was left home alone to care for myself. My ingenuity developed quickly and I began to create a world more joyous than the one in which I was living. The gift of using recycled items to make something new has been cultivated from growing up with a lack of resources. Even today, I enjoy the challenge of creatively making something beautiful out of scraps and recycle items.
It has not been an easy road for me at all. However, I have this uncanny ability to see the silver lining and growth in each back breaking moment. Nevertheless, Losing my father was very difficult for me, even to this day I wish he was here to make me feel safe. He was my superhero, like Luke Cage, he was a big strong handsome black man with an enchanting smile. I miss him very much.
Another challenge for me has been the politics of each industry that my artistry dips into. I consider myself a hybrid in every way and in a world that relies on putting everything in boxes, it’s difficult for those who do not fit into a designated category. I feel this world applauds carbon copies and things that can be easily categorized, making it difficult for authentic artist to break through at times. I know the fashion world, but the art politics are more foreign to me. I am a self-taught artist who does it out of the necessity of my soul, but I would like it to be a lucrative activity. For me, the biggest obstacle is having galleries to exhibit my art. I have so much art and wisdom to share, but not much guidance on how to take it to the next level.
Life has also presented its systematic challenges. I have struggled from the ups and downs from abandonment to betrayal, PTSD to depression. Moments that make it difficult to be creative when you simply want to crawl under a rock and disappear. A few years ago, I suffered from the worst depression I have ever experienced. It was sparked from a traumatic assault that I am still to this day recovering from. I felt crushed completely on the verge of not wanting to be here anymore. During this time, I dipped into the world of insanity. On the flip side, coming out of this experience, I have reached another level of empathy. I feel my creativity has “leveled up”; my art, my music and my overall personal expression. But like many artist, I struggle between creating and trying to find avenues for more exposure.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with Glow Society – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
I named my company Glow Society because I was inspired by The Last Dragon movie (one of my favs of all time). The theme song of the movie “The Glow” by Willie Hutch is my theme song. G*L*O*W* is an acronym that stands for God* Love* Omnipresence* Wisdom*
I created Glow Society LLC to support artistic expression and growth in myself and others. Attaining the G*L*O*W* is about overcoming obstacles as a source of power and light. I know first hand how art heals. My mission is to help people turn their downfalls into creative inspirations and better decisions. I want to show others how to be the light that creates the sliver of light shining behind the clouds, the silver lining. I would like to use artistic expression as a means of healing for anyone who has gone through trauma. At this point, we are all in need of healing. I have a vision to help raise the vibration through art.
I am most proud of the fact that people who have viewed my art at art exhibits have seen the energy of healing and creativity that is placed in my work. I am grateful that the messages I want to convey in my art are the themes that are perceived in the viewer.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
In the future, I see myself traveling the world to make art and publicly speaking to inspire others to walk the artistic path to healing. I see myself working alongside a group of creatives, specializing in various mediums, with the goal of exposing works and content that inspires with a mission of spreading light. There is so much talent hiding with no support or platform to speak on. I would like to create that platform, being a curator for “the GLOW”. That is why I called my business Glow Society because I believe it takes collaboration to really make changes in society. Artists are always on the front lines of this movement. The Glowvolution is a revolution to glow to combat all the craziness and negativity compounded in the world today. I believe each of us are Lightworkers and if you follow the light you will GLOW! ***SHINE ON!***
Contact Info:
- Website: http://glowsocietyllc.com/
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: http://instagram.com/glowsociety
- Facebook: facebook.com/Glowllc
- Twitter: twitter.com/glowsociety
- Other: https://linktr.ee/glowsociety
Image Credit:
Customized shirt for Serena Williams for ESPN Magazine, Wardrobe Stylist for Roy Jones Jr, Photographer Michelle Lawson
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