Meet Jd Dotson

We recently connected with Jd Dotson and have shared our conversation below.

JD, so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.

Developing confidence and self esteem is a life long and ongoing process. I still have moments where my confidence levels are as low as they can get and my self esteem has tanked. I have learned to deal with that creeping doubt somedays and some days it’s a struggle. I’ve always suffered from low self esteem growing up, no confidence and I used to sit in that despair, self pity, beating myself up. I was pretty aimless and lost for a long time. It sounds so cliche but things come to you with age. I care less and less about what people think, about keeping up with trends or people and more about listening to my heart and my gut. In our retail life of 24 years, we have always wanted to have stores that reflect who we are, lines that we love, things we would have in our home or would gift to someone. I never wanted to sell anything because it was trendy, but was always full of products that were ahead of the trend, or appealed to people like ourselves. And I wanted a place that people would feel at home and safe in. We carry items from women and people of color artists, queer owned companies, things that make us laugh and smile and spread that out into our community. Some days that merchandising is met with hostility and some days it is met with someone telling me that their trans son loves coming into our space because he feels seen. That gives me confidence that I am doing the right thing for my community.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I have had a lifetime of doing a bunch of things professionally, jack of all trades types of careers-it keeps me active and the work is always different and exciting. Currently, my focus is my retail shop, Regalo, in New Albany, 24 years of small owned retail shops in the area and I still love doing it, I currently co-direct a non-profit Recovery Cafe Louisville, supporting people in recovery and working with Recovery Cafe in Lexington to open cafes in towns lacking in recovery services, and I got certified to coach and train so I have a few clients I help with their workout goals. I also am a freelance photographer with some work being shown locally and some projects on the horizon as well as some styling work with an architectural photographer when those opportunities present themselves. I love all this work and it keeps me from slowing down. The most exciting part about working like this is the people who’s loves intersect mine on this journey and how much I learn from interacting with them. We just opened a state pride centric pop up gift shop in Jeffersonville Indiana at the SoIN Tourism Center so I am really excited to be sourcing as many local makers and artists as I can and showcasing the work they do in our hometown.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

Looking back I think the most impactful quality in my journey is the jump in feet first mentality about everything. What could go wrong? I am willing to throw myself out there for an idea or a project and see what sticks., so the advice I would give to anyone is to not overthink yourself, believe in what you do and get there and do it. I am sure some people think i can be impulsive and there is this mentality that impulsive equals bad and I think the exact opposite. Be impulsive, take a risk, be the boss of your own destiny. Every once in awhile I think what it would be like to have a job that I just clock in and out of and get a good paycheck but then five minutes later I come to my senses. Do I have a lot of money? No. Do I work constantly? Hell yes. Am I answering to someone else? Not in this lifetime. Have a little faith in you- you will be ok.

As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?

So not specifically a whole book but I was reminded of this just this week. Thirty five years ago, a man I looked up to, a mentor who has become a dear friend handed this newspaper clipping to me after a bit of an emotional struggle I was going through. This person that I looked up to so much, had taught me so much about what it means to be a good person hands me this clipping and says that when he read it, it reminded him of me. Of me? Surely he was mistaken, I felt like such a mess all those years ago, how could he think of me? I’ve carried that little clipping around in the corner of a sketchbook and I think the fact that someone thought that of me made me want to live up to that description. It blew my mind and still blows my mind. This “mantra” has become a goal way to live-I’m not sure I always succeed but I always try to be the person he thought I was. It is a quote from an old literary critic and author named Van Wyck Brooks:

How delightful is the company of generous people, who overlook trifles and keep their minds instinctively fixed on whatever is good and positive in the world about them, People of small caliber are always carping. They are bent on showing their own superiority, their knowledge or prowess or good breeding. But magnanimous people have no vanity, they have no jealousy and they feed on the true and the solid wherever they find it. And, what is more, they find it everywhere.

I did not at the time think of myself as that person, as a magnanimous, as generous but I really took that moment to heart that if this person thought this of me then I am going to fight to be exactly that. That moment shaped me, my outlook back then and still to this day. Am I successful all the time? Probably not, but i work at it and I guess that is a nugget I would pass on- find the good, find the true and solid and at some point you will find it everywhere because it lives in you.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://jddotson1.myportfolio.com/
• Other: I’m currently off the socials, meta and x but can be found at bluesky @jddotson.bsky.social, www.regaloart.com and www.recoverycafelouisville.org

Image Credits

Sarah Charmoli