We were lucky to catch up with Jess Fowler recently and have shared our conversation below.
Jess, thank you so much for joining us and offering your lessons and wisdom for our readers. One of the things we most admire about you is your generosity and so we’d love if you could talk to us about where you think your generosity comes from.
A lifetime of comebacks and leaning into gratitude. I’ve always carried a big heart that spreads through my family and close circle. Every relationship I develop I focus on being present, emotionally available, and grateful especially because it’s all reciprocated in life. I’ve always perceived harsh lessons and sudden losses to be important and also realize the power that mentality is everything. If I don’t lean into gratitude with everything that I do, I wont be in alignment with the universe and its lessons. Because of this mindset, empathy and generosity come naturally.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I am an artist first. Everything I am invested in is all centered around my artistry which is displayed predominately in my career. I began as a freelance photographer & videographer that expanded over 15 years of traveling, hiring and sharpening the company to be the powerhouse it is today. Its main purpose is to serve the LGBT+ community especially women of color and provide high quality content by highlighting the amazing things queer creatives do in the world. Because of that expansion, I was able to gain a lot of confidence and connections that allowed me to branch out in many other artistic fields. Now I dance on queer stages all over the world, I work full time as a content creator for myself and brands like Taste Entertainment that hosts very successful women only parties. My brand KIILLEM is also expanding from a clothing brand to a name brand and I have big plans to where I can take everything I bring to the table.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Taking the journey for what it IS instead of what you feel it ‘should’ be. Letting the events of life FLOW instead of fighting to be on the imaginary timeline you made for yourself.
Wasting time on anxiety / doubt / stress is quite literally a waste of time! I have internalized the truth about life which is everything that we waste time worrying about is 1000% out of our control. But truly trusting ourselves is the key to removing all the anxieties in order move forward confidently.
In trusting ourselves, we remove expectations on others and in life. Therefore we avoid a lot of unnecessary disappointments which helps fight the triggers of depression.
Getting to this place that I described above is only possible once you push yourself out of your comfort zone, constantly! Find comfort in discomfort.
Do you think it’s better to go all in on our strengths or to try to be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in?
Both are equally important energetically to reach our highest potential (if that even exists). Going all in on our strengths can be one of the most liberating things we can do for ourselves. It shows how capable we are to achieve such things and grants a different level of confidence. On the other side, there are always weaknesses to every strength and realizing that truth creates powerful people who know how to work on both simultaneously. Improving weaknesses is vital to well rounded people which then creates new pathways to going all in on new strengths.
As much as I started as a video & photo creator, something always felt wrong about making that my one and only identity or career. Understanding that I’m an artist FIRST has put every strength & weakness to the test and the expansion of those talents has been beautiful.
Contact Info:
- Website: kiillem.com
- Instagram: jkiillem
- Youtube: youtube.com/jkiillem
- Other: Tiktok: Jkiillemm
Image Credits
Tiffany Jewels Stephanie Felix
