We were lucky to catch up with J.P. Mitchell recently and have shared our conversation below.
J.P., we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
This is a beautiful question, and pondering it has led me to the most simple explanation I have found yet to describe my purpose. My purpose is to teach, create and teach to create. I think like many of us, I kind of stumbled into an understanding of who I was and how I was meant to best contribute in the world, through the things I explored as a child and where I found my fit. When I was young, I didn’t have a strong understanding that you could be the science and math person and at the same time strong in English and language arts. I picked a side–or rather, a side picked me. I found myself really interested in words and wordplay and reading and writing and drawing. Now, backing up, I have to give credit to my mother for being my first teacher and setting me up for success in this realm. She spent a lot of time teaching me and positioning me to be accelerated in the realm of reading and writing and language arts. So when I got to school it was clear that I was a kid who loved the life of the mind. I was placed into the Gifted program, relished opportunities to use language, entered and won writing contests and so on.
Also like many of us, as life went on, I noticed the things that other people said about my writing and speaking and reading. I think that’s that second layer of developing purpose when you are young–what you see in the mirror of other people’s expressions of you. Of course this can be tricky because sometimes people can be completely off and box us in too much–but when it came to this,I do feel like the feedback I got from adults and peers was affirmative and helped to solidify my place here.
What is kind of ironic is that along the way I also learned that society does not highly value artistic people when it comes to career choices, and so the fear of that kind of pushed me away from writing, as I shared in my October 22 TEDx talk “Failure Can Fuel Us: a Case for Stamina Stories.” But the beautiful thing is that having discovered my purpose and then only stepping into to part of it (as an educator), I have found that in life’s seasons we still have the opportunity to recapture all of the parts of us to fulfill our whole purpose along the way.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I am building an umbrella brand for my creative work called J.P. Mitchell Creative. In this space I will continue to write and publish, create speaking experiences, and even generate merchandise that affirms us and reminds us who we are and what we can be. Eventually I will also offer online courses that help people to independently publishe picture books and write the vision for their lives. For now, we are focused on the work I am doing under the DBA of FreedomSong Press. This is the imprint under which I published my first picture book, Sweet Fire, in May of 2023. (For the purposes of booksellers, my publication date was December of 2023 since that’s when it became available for widespread distribution through ingram.)
Approximately 6 years ago, I began to get the itch to turn my daughter’s nickname into a message for the world. It became a message that I now am actively sharing wherever I go.
Sweet Fire is a poetic book anthem encouraging girls to let their “fire lght up the world”. This means naming and resisting limiting narratives aimed at shutting down their uniqueness and then reframing the narratives in more healthy ways–and rehearsing the life-giving reframe. Sweet Fire was a 6-year journey in the making. So far it has received a Kirkus Star (a distinction given to only 10% of books and 2-3% of indie titles) as well as a Five-Star Review from Readers’ Favorite. The book was also named as one of the Best Indie Books of 2023 by Kirkus Reviews. Accomplished names such as Tabitha Brown, Nicole Walters, Marshawn Evans Daniels and actress Kerry Washington have expressed their love of the book on social media. Young and old are moved by the Sweet Fire message, and more libraries are picking up the book daily.
Continuing to nurture and grow Sweet Fire has been a beautiful journey thus far. It is a picture book that does what we would expect that genre to do – inspire young people and build relational bridges to the adults who read with them. Along the way, however, we discovered that this book is much more than that. Really, its purpose is to bring generations together to unpack the challenges of girlhood in the world. We all need language for how girlhood can be complicated and also how we collectively can make space for the voices of everyone. I have shared this message so far with children, teenagers, and adults in speaking venues with very positive feedback. I also have other visits scheduled with local library systems in days to come and I will also join my local YWCA in nurturing young writers through its programming. I was excited to also be invited to facilitate a session around the book at the TED Women Conference (although I could unfortunately not attend due to a work conflict that arose.) Further, the song soundtrack I have been creating for this book is also 99% finished.
The next step is to take all that Sweet Fire has become and craft what I am calling the Sweet Fire Experience, in which multiple generations can come together to enjoy the book and engage in meaningful intergenerational dialogue about what it looks like to teach our girls and all young people to let their fire light up the world. What were the challenges different generations have faced in stepping into their own unique fire? What barriers did they overcome, and how? What new challenges do our young people face today that need to be visible to the older generations supporting them? How can we ensure that everyone gets their best shot at being their best selves? These are all questions that I want to make space for in the Sweet Fire Experience. Currently, I envision organizations bringing these conversations into their spaces, whether as supports for youth programming, women’s events or DEI&B initiatives. Organizations and individuals can weigh in on the building of this programming by reaching out and sharing what their needs are and what they could envision in such spaces. I also had one small business sponsor provide a set of books for a local teen girls’ leadership nonpropfit. This past summer’s group of leaders each received a signed copy of my book and an author visit. This was a great philanthropic model for us and a win-win for all. I would love to do more of this in order to help this message reach the world.
You can learn more about the Sweet Fire book at www.ohsweetfire.com
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?
Three qualities that have been central to my journey are curiosity, teachability, and perseverance.
First, I have observed that few people in the world truly understand how to listen, observe people and respond accordingly, and to hear and see what is both said and unsaid. This is an enormously valuable skill that only those who are truly curious about other human beings can master. I have tried to nurture this ability through the years, fueled by my own observation of people who are masters in it.
Secondly, teachability and humility involve being able to ask a good questions and be completely comfortable not knowing and not being the expert in the room. In my experience, without this humility, it is impossible to learn and grow. Yes, we have areas that we master and I know that this is important–but knowing how to learn is equally so. This humility also opens doors to model for others that being a learner is important and worth pursuing.
Finally, the importance ofperseverance cannot be overstated. I think it is important that we constantly ask ourselves, is my story over here? Is there more I need to do to finish this journey? And whether or not there have been losses or embarrassments or failures along the way, if the answer is “there is more yet to do,” it is our responsibility to pick up the mantle and keep pushing. Everyone wins the more we can live in that place.
Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?
The book Crucial Conversations by Joseph Grenny and Kerry Patterson has been instrumental in my personal and professional lives. The book basically posits that most of us believe we can only be kind or honest but not both–but that this is a fallacy. The best communicators, they say, find a way to be respectful and truthful at the same time and it yields powerful results for relational and organizational results. I was so intrigued by this concept that I went on a journey to get the opportunity to train in this content so that I could have access to the skills from the book. I was able to bring crucial conversations into my organization, become certified to teach the content and get six more colleagues certified across the organization. It has been life-changing, and I continue to recommend the book and to learn an ongoing way from its principles.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.ohsweetfire.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/jpmitchellwrites/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JPMitchellwrites/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/JPMitch90526845
Image Credits
Blue and yellow image–credit: Jehan Photography
