Meet Jen Arvay

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jen Arvay. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jen, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?

While I live in New York City, I’m still a Midwestern girl at heart. I grew up in Ohio, and my work ethic comes from my parents and my Ohio roots. I started working the summer I turned 12. I took a babysitting certification course and my mom helped me print flyers on our dot-matrix printer advertising babysitting services. We delivered them around our neighborhood and I got a few clients right away. I started working for a paycheck at 14 at a local amusement park, again at the insistence of my parents. They believed that knowing how to work and making your own money instilled good values and good social connections.

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 have 4 main jobs: I’m the Executive Director of Concerts and Music Administrator at the Church of St. Ignatius Loyola in Manhattan (non-profit), I’m the Executive Director and Co-Founder/Alto of New York Holiday Singers, Inc. (holiday entertainment company), I’m a self-employed voiceover artist, and I’m a part-time day-of wedding coordinator at the same church! My background is in performance and the hospitality industry and my current slate of work bring together just about every skill I learned in school and on the job. I love working with artists to help create amazing performances and working with patrons to enjoy said performances. The musicians and conductors I work with daily and at performances in the concert series are incredible and kind. I also love working with my holiday clients to give them a wonderful holiday memory. Voiceover work is great fun, especially since I work from home on my own time. Currently my work is educational – I do VO for Quickbooks training videos. Working the weddings has been like stage tech or being a maitre’d… both of which I’ve done! Right now I’m in the process of scheduling auditions for our upcoming NYHS season. We’re scheduled to see nearly 150 singers in one day. It’s very exciting!

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

Listening, not being reactive, and being willing to take risks.

Really listening – whether it’s to your boss, employees, or coworkers – is the best way to learn on the job and to learn that not everyone is the same. It’s incredibly important to understand that just because someone doesn’t have the same patterns of thought that you do, it doesn’t mean they are wrong or less valuable. Nearly everyone has something to contribute to help others learn something new.

I learned how to not be reactive from one of my mentors. There is no reason that you have to solve everyone’s problems yourself and/or immediately (unless you work in an emergency room!). Did that email or voicemail upset you? Read it through, and wait an hour or two to respond. Make sure you have something in your belly too! Answering requests while hangry benefits no one. Is a coworker being unreasonable? Take a quick walk or a few deep breaths, and maybe talk to your boss or a trusted friend about it first. That short period of cool-down time will benefit everyone in the end and you are less likely to make rash decisions or mistakes.

Take some risks! No one ever accomplished anything by sitting at home and not putting their work out there in some way. I did the audition circuit in NYC and it was brutal. But if I hadn’t taken those risks, I wouldn’t have the confidence I have today. Even just changing a little thing in your routine or “the way it’s always been done” is a helpful way to learn. Yes, there are consequences to risk, but there are also consequences to never discovering your potential.

Awesome, really appreciate you opening up with us today and before we close maybe you can share a book recommendation with us. Has there been a book that’s been impactful in your growth and development?

The Creative Habit by the choreographer Twyla Tharp. It goes through her career and delves into the creation of many of her seminal works. It’s fascinating! It also includes creative exercises that anyone can do, whether you’re a mover or not. As a former dancer, the advice that resonates the most with me is simply to get up and move around when you are creatively stuck. Get the blood flowing. Move to a different room, a different position, or a different environment. A slight shift in perspective does wonders for changing your mindset. There’s also a small exercise involving tossing a handful of small objects on your desk (paper clips, coins, candies, whatever) and moving them around into different shapes. It activates a different part of your brain to make and look for patterns.

She also says the fear of not saying something new is silly: everything has been said and done already so get over yourself and DO.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Bernie Reilly, Greg Kefalas

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