Meet Jennifer Andresen

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

Jennifer , we are so appreciative of you taking the time to open up about the extremely important, albeit personal, topic of mental health. Can you talk to us about your journey and how you were able to overcome the challenges related to mental issues? For readers, please note this is not medical advice, we are not doctors, you should always consult professionals for advice and that this is merely one person sharing their story and experience.

I can definitely attest to persisting during onslaught of mental health issues. I feel extremely blessed that I had music in my life at such a time as this past year which has been extremely difficult for me. Music and DJing, was my stability when the chaos around me seemed to be too much. No matter where I was at physically, whether it was in a hotel, or at my moms, or at a friends house…I never missed a gig. Except for when my car was in the shop due to being broken into-I missed a live gig I was scheduled for in Houston because the car shop was so back logged with repairs. I lost my job, I lost my safety, I lost my apartment because it was no longer safe for me to live there-I was being attacked and my apartment was broken into when I was out of town at a gig in Austin TX. All of this loss and change happened so suddenly that music pulled me through because it was something I could depend on. Friends who said they would be there for me were not when I tried to get help. Only one person was my close friend Caleb Scott. There was so much happening and it is all still very confusing as to what happened. I have ptsd now. It is the first time I have ever had to really learn coping skills on how to deal with this. I am currently learning these things to try and begin participating again in life outside of my creative pursuits. Right now, sadly, I am out of control of my triggers and it all boils down to the fact that I tried to stand my ground and not be bullied out of my home and safe space but I had to let go and pack up and move. Which is a very hard pill to swallow. That loss of independence and everything you have built over the past five years just gone. I continued to focus on music and remind myself that at least if everything else seems hopeless that I still bring joy to people by playing music. I played out of hotels a lot while I was trying to find a safe place to put roots down. Even trying to move to a different city fell through- but I was unaware that ending up at my mothers with my family was something that just a few weeks later was very much needed because my mom needed my help getting better after surgery. I am still trying to get back on my feet with basic life needs. Music though, is where I shine and have never faltered. I am doing really well in this area of my life and that gives me hope and gives me peace.

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?

Pinky began in 1999 at an early age where I wanted to be a part of the music process at events I felt so alive in. Raves back then were in warehouses and slowly drifting into event centers and clubs. I played often and I specialized in a niche sub genre of electronic music. I chose the name Pinky because I wanted to represent women in a field of artistic expression that was not heavily saturated by women. DJing like anything in the music business is not easy. I honed my skills and did well. I had to take a hiatus to focus on school. Then life happened. Twenty years later almost to the month I started DJing – I came out of retirement to play again. So much had changed. I had to adapt to new technologies and new promoting. You were not just handing out flyers and mixtapes anymore and this is where my journey began in 2021. I had to learn everything and I was lucky to have tons of support and find the help I needed to build my name back up and grow as an artist. Then I turned my attention to giving back. To help continue the growth of electronic music and putting very positive elements that I saw were missing back into rotation in our local scene. I started a collective , a network across Texas, a mentoring program, and I had skills and understanding of social media to help these respective groups get off the ground and start growing exponentially. I believe in one on one mentoring. This is a huge part of what I do day in and day out. If I don’t have the knowledge needed I can find it fairly quickly. By day I am a library specialist. I am all about freedom of information and not keeping information that would help anyone grow from that information. I think of it as anti-gatekeeping. Helping new artists with tips and tricks and setting them up with people that would most definitely be beneficial to their development. I network globally so in order to help my teams I have to make sure Pinky is out there as a brand and my skills have to be on point in order to get the connections I need to connect others. Most of the time it feels like I work three jobs but I have learned how to rotate and balance projects and objectives. Most of all I have learned that it can wait and I have to take care of myself.
I am truly excited about some new projects I am working on .
I am playing at my first ever big festival called the Nova Festival in Midway Texas put on by the Terranova group.
I am excited about learning to produce my own music as well.
I have been working with several groups which hopefully you will be able to see in my bio.
I am looking to grow my streaming community as well this year so lots of work put into being able to log on in twitch and play music every night for people. On Twitch my handle is pinkys_puzzle_pieces.

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?

Learning social media and all the ins and outs of it was a huge undertaking. I worked closely with someone who taught me what grabs an audience and where to build. It is very easy to get burnt out on things and it can be super overwhelming for a music artist who is doing this on their own. I had to learn to focus on building one platform at a time with content and then moving on to the next platform. Trying to do it all at once will never work. You have to meet your audience where they are at. This means check to see where you get the most interaction and build on that. The best thing to do is to get with someone who knows what they are doing such as myself and learn with them. I do consulting through super prof a platform for tutoring. This has impacted my journey in such a huge way it is almost impossible to play without knowledge on how to run things digitally on these platforms.

Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?

There is actually two individuals that have come into the Pinky journey that have been invaluable in helping me get through some difficult times with my artistry.
Flexxas is a producer of a blend of country music and house music. As far as professionalism goes and marketing he is a genius with ideas and brand recognition. He is amazingly talented as a producer and he is who is going to teach me the ropes alongside my next huge influence mentioned here.
Big Techs is a music industry veteran who has started producing liquid dnb and has brilliant skills and new input into the genre that in my opinion is so needed. He is bridging the gap between regular radio played tracks and drum and bass music. He is beyond unique and brilliant he is a shining star in the industry.
I face a lot of challenges and these two artists are my closest friends and support team. I cherish them. They have made such a huge difference in my life here.
There is a hundred other people who feed support into me but as far as people I am working alongside currently on the day to day Flexxas and Big Techs are the people who have impacted my journey heavily.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/.pinky_333
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/pinky_333_music
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/pinky333musically
• Youtube: @pinky3332
• Other: mixcloud.com/pinky333
  terranovatx.ticketspice.com/nova-music