We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jada Williams. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jada below.
Jada, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
Purpose: The reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists.
I think that it’s safe to say that we have all pondered over what we believe our purpose to be within life. It’s daunting, exciting, ever-evolving, and existential. To some, purpose is everything, yet nothing to others. At a very young age, the question of “what is my purpose?” arose, and the exploration of my soul’s purpose was embarked quite early on. It wasn’t a lightbulb moment, nor was it a definite answer to a problem I had been trying to solve. Instead, it was more so of a realization that was intricately strung together by a culmination of my life experiences. Through adversity and challenges I faced growing up, I too, like many others, had to quickly become acquainted with three friends: 1. Perseverance, 2. Resilience, and 3. Faith. Other peers being sadness, doubt, uncertainty, anger, anxiety, depression, and an array of other conditions of the human experience. In further detail, I was raised by two parents who deeply cared about their children, yet seemingly despised one another (at least in my eyes growing up). Being raised within a split household and shared custody felt as if having duel citizenship with two countries who unfortunately happened to be at war with one another. In turn, resulted with children who then were at war within themselves. I would also like to state that in no way am I discrediting the blessings I did have or the hard work of my parents to provide and give my siblings and I, a better life, but it was not easy for any of us. It was a struggle to have gone through so much hurt, yet remain soft despite the temptations to allow my heart to harden. Nonetheless, I love my family with all my heart, and they are my rock and one of my greatest blessings. I would not be anywhere near where I am, nor who I am today without them. All in all, what remains is this– I am light and I am love. I am made of experiences that have shaped me, but don’t necessarily define me. I am constantly growing and changing. My purpose is to simply be and exist, to find or create beauty in the mundane, to love, to feel, and much more. I want to ensure that others feel loved, feel seen, feel valued, important, and understood. More than finding, my purpose was created and established. I wish you well in your journey of aligning with your own.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
Helloooo lovelies!! Currently, I am a third-year college student working towards earning a B.A. degree in Psychology. Aside from school, I am a model working to get signed to an agency. Ever since I was a child, fashion has been something I deeply loved and turned to as a form of self-expression as I’ve continued to get older. Although not always glamorous, modeling has pushed me to step outside my comfort zone, gain more confidence, and embrace the sense of rejection being redirection. To follow up, I am also a content creator. The type of content I create coincides with my journey as a model, fashion, beauty, and inspirational media. In all honesty, I have been feeling a bit stuck within a creative rut as I have been navigating what I want to share with the world/how I want to go about doing so. However, taking a social media break has allowed me to gain clarity with the uncertainty and doubt I have been dealing with. Truly, I am just working to get out of my own way and simply allow myself to create! As for what you can excitedly hope to see from me, are more fun videos similar to what I have previously posted with modeling, fashion, and beauty. Alongside that, more videos encapsulating the experience of being a “20 something”, as well as the life lessons learned I wish to share. On an exciting last note, I do have upcoming music that I hope to release by the end of this year!! So be on the lookout 🤭
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?
In my journey as a creative, the top 3 qualities, skills/areas of knowledge for me would most definitely be perseverance, having faith, and self-love. As mentioned within parts of my shared life story, life has a way of knocking us down and moving forward with no regards of whether we want, or need, it to momentarily stop. Even though younger me used to wish my life away at times, it was during my moments of adversity that I had realized that I wanted to live so bad… I just didn’t want to hurt and struggle. If only I could sit face-to-face with younger me, to tell her how far she has come, how far we have come! However, it was was through perseverance that this was possible. To get up despite feeling the weight of my world crumbling, to keep moving forward even if that looked like fighting, crawling, or crying my way out of my darkest times.
Which leads me to my next point: having my faith. No matter what, it has been vital for me to lean into faith. I always work to trust that whatever may be happening within my life, that things will be okay and work out in the way they are meant to be. Alongside circumstantial faith, is faith within myself!! As creatives, we absolutely MUST have faith and believe within our abilities and ourselves. The faith I have in myself has been the fuel of my existence. On top of that, I place my trust within God. There are things that are incomprehensible and out of my control, which I then leave up to God to handle. More than simply just overcoming challenges, I place my trust and praise in Him for the good within my life as well.
Lastly, self-love. Sadly, I haven’t always loved myself. I can vividly remember the times when I avoided looking in mirrors, because when I did, two things would happen: 1. I would cry and 2. In a trance, I would then further spiral into a void of self-loathing. This went beyond the surface of physical appearance, but into how I felt about myself or the importance of my existence. In addition to self-love, I have an honorable mention, learning to give myself grace. My best friend, still to this day, once told me in high school that I was too hard on myself and needed to give myself grace. Retrospectively, I then had to see the unfair treatment I was giving myself. I mean I was giving kindness, love, care, and grace to everyone but me, which is an uncomfortable truth to sit with. Ever since then, implementing grace into my everyday life has been a necessity, which has aided in the growth of the love I gained toward myself. With self-love, I have flourished as a person as well as a creative.
As for advice in developing any of these three things, the only thing I can say is don’t give up. Try and try again, because truthfully these are not overnight abilities. They are built after falling short, yet still choosing to keep trying your best. For perseverance, take life one day at a time and celebrate the small progress you make. Think of what it’s like trying to solve a puzzle, it takes time and effort, but the pieces start falling into place and the overall picture starts coming together… this is what our life journeys and being a creative is like! Secondly, for faith, there’s no shortcutting this. You have to relentlessly trust that things will work out for you. Even if no one sees your vision or think your dreams are unattainable, you have to bet on yourself. Whether your belief is in God, the universe/other higher powers, or anything else, you just have to believe even if you may not completely within the moment. In fact, go watch videos on quantum leaping and the power of our minds shaping our realities, and I promise you’ll see just how much life wants to favor you! And last but not least, SPEAK LIFE and practice gratitude!! There is power in our thoughts and words, so I suggest you start saying daily affirmations and make gratitude lists. For example, “I am loved”, “I am a brilliant creative”, “I am grateful for…” , etc. Looking myself within the mirror and affirming positively to myself is what has helped grow my sense of self-love, while gratitude has helped me be present within my life. Although I am unsure of the original author of this quote, I tell myself, “Everyday, I open two gifts, which are my eyes.” Not everyday is promised, so allow yourself to make the most of this one life you have been given!!!!
Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?
I think this past year has been the most transformative year of my life so far. In terms of growth, my main focus has been prioritizing myself and my overall well-being. As someone who has grown up with the tendency to people please and live life as as a “doormat” or put myself on the back burner, this past year has forced me to break free from those dysfunctional ways of living. Truthfully, I wasn’t living at all, but rather just coasting by. It was when I made the decision to finally choose myself that my life changed. Of course, I still have my struggles, but I can confidently say that I am in a much better place within my life than where I was half a year or even up to a year ago. Because I know what it feels like to lose myself, to not want to get out of bed, to cry myself to sleep night after night, or to think as if I don’t matter, I’ve realized this: if it comes at the cost of my peace, my joy, my health, or myself… it is not worth having. From now until the day my time on earth comes to an end, I decided to only accept what is best for me, which goes for the people, places, things, and experiences within my life. I know my worth and what I deserve, so anything not in alignment with that, can move along!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jxiomaraw
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7QoakMe4hzRPcRGxDB395g
Image Credits
– Jayden Sun
– Mikhail Liauchenia
– Esther Mawi
– Throwback Photography
– Josh Odra
– Thomas Almholt
– Evens Léandre
– Josh Tran
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
