We were lucky to catch up with Jade Simmons recently and have shared our conversation below.
Jade , 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?
The truth is that for years, I thought I already knew what my purpose was. I thought it was to play the piano. It would take a bout of unexpected and prolonged stage fright to stumble upon the reality of what purpose really was. To get through this unsettling period that occurred right after my career as a concert pianist was taking off, I started talking to the audience in between the music in order to gather my thoughts and regain my composure. This interactivity across the footlights put me at ease and my audience seemed to enjoy the interaction. Nevertheless, my end goal was to get back to the keys and be impressive. What I didn’t expect is that the audience was becoming even more impressed with the fact that I was connecting with them beyond the Beethoven, They were having another experience apart from the musical one I intended. It took me time to accept that what was happening in them was more impactful than what was happening right in front of them! That is when I realized that my purpose was not to play the piano. In fact, for all of us, our purpose is not the thing we do. Our purpose is the thing that happens IN others when we do what we do. I started sharing this re-understanding of purpose and was shocked to see there instant impact it was having on people’s lives. In 2023, I finally wrote Purpose the Remix which helps readers understand what purpose really is and how it works.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
Today, I’m an acclaimed creator of high-energy, interactive transformational experiences that combine inspiration, activation and entertainment. I spent the first few years of my career performing as a classical concert pianist which is what I went to school for. Following an artistic epiphany around purpose, I pivoted from playing the piano to impress my audiences, to using the piano as the vehicle by which to provide the inspiration, entertainment, and transformation that profoundly moves them instead.
No stranger to pushing boundaries, I try to take my audiences on what I call Keynote Concert Adventures that blend genres, dole out mindset strategy and engage audience members in ways they weren’t expecting to be included. It’s not often that a classical musician is brought in by the likes of corporations like Barron’s, Mass Mutual, Royal Bank of Canada, DOW, Raytheon, the Hershey Company, Genentech, Valic, Pfizer, and Nationwide to redefine purpose, inspire seismic shifts in mindset, and activate audiences to go out and instantly start living more consequential lives of impact.
As well as impacting on stages for Fortune 100 and 500 companies or activating at global conferences, my heart is in seeing breakthrough breakout in the lives of individuals, particularly visionary women of faith. Designer Growth Club is Jade Media Global’s one-of-a-kind, 360-degree coaching communiverse that eggs on growth in 5 areas: personal, professional, emotional, spiritual, and physical. Women join our community to start the process of uncovering purpose and putting together the pieces of their unique breakthrough blueprints, the unique patterns of behavior and belief that will lead to new levels of success across the board. This is some of the most rewarding work I get to do. When a woman breaks a mindset limitation or a glass ceiling professional because of the things she’s learned from us and has put into practice, it’s as good as any personal achievement I’ve ever had…times 10!
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
When you’re early in the journey (especially for us control freaks), you must learn the art of surrendering the outcome. Cast the vision, stick to the plan, but know that the outcomes will likely not look like or arrive like how you imagined. I call those divine detours and the more I have learned to embrace them, the more the journey is exciting and full of expectation. It does not mean there won’t be disappointments, but you will spend more time in a place of observant wonder than in demoralization. Along with the skill of surrendering, I’d add ferocious focus, and an undying habit of asking for crystalline clarity. I teach the women in Designer Growth Club about an activity we call Revelation Walks. It’s as simple as it sounds. You take a walk and you ask questions about what God is clarifying in your identity, your current calling, and your locale, physically and symbolically. What our members are always so pleasantly surprised to find is that they get answers, often quickly, sometimes in unexpected ways. That’s because I believe God craves conversation with us. He wants us to discover His will for our lives, but we don’t have clarity because we haven’t made the time to ask for it.
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
Collaboration is my mode of operation for 2024. I want to be in connection with individuals, organizations and brands that inspire people to believe bigger in their possibility to impact the world around them. This is the season where our uniqueness in terms of individuality will have greater consequences than on just ourselves. Our uniqueness is being called into play to leave a mark in a broader sense.
We have had eras of practicality, when the times required us to play it safe; like coming out of the brunt of Covid-19. My sense is that now we are heading into an era of audacity where people are ready to move on bigger aspirations, in bigger ways. I want to use my voice on stages where the audience is ready for adventure and eager to break records. This year, I plan to be in partnership with people and organizations who believe they are called to impact beyond the borders they have worked inside of before.
I am more open than ever to incorporating my voice, skills and talents into the mission and vision of like-minded brands and purpose partners. If you have wonderfully wild ideas of how we can leave an indelible mark together, reach out to my superstar Berdine Roque at [email protected] so we can get the ball rolling in the direction of impact.
Contact Info:
- Website: jadesimmons.com
- Instagram: @officialjadesimmons
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jade-simmons-pianistceo/
