Meet Jennifer Bush- Harris

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jennifer Bush- Harris a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Jennifer , thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
I believe I get my work ethic from my father. He was innovative and creative—never afraid to take risk and see what was not there: that needed to be.

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?
In asking me what I do, you’re asking me what it is I love to do. I started my writing career a decade ago in 2014. I have been writing since I was about eight years old. And what I do now all falls under the title of artist, and social critic. I have a blog that I started in 2016, which will be eight years old this year. This brand I am Fall under the heading of The Ideal Firestarter., Has come invitations to do other social analysis, including the realm of self publishing, and a chance to perform more of my poetry in the public sphere! What I think makes what I do so special is that falls under James Baldwin, “Black people witnesses in the world that thinks everything is White.” I believe that a portion of my brain, which is what makes it special, is I am doing the work of being a witness… While under the complete understanding that I would’ve been murdered for what I do a century (or less!) ago.

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?
One of the things I take with me on this journey is the words of my mother who turned 74 in March. She has told me from the time I was a little girl “Don’t die with your dream in you.” I believe the qualities and skills that allow me to do the work. I believe I have been graced to do comes down to compassion, creativity, and being inquisitive about the world around me. I believe that in order to be a good writer, you have been an avid reader… and not just a reader of things that are easy. A lot of things that are happening now, and yet have happened before. The only advice I can give for other writers who desire much like myself to change the world is you have to be willing to engage the culture that you were in, while being a student of history at the same time!

What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?
When I’m overwhelmed, I am learning to walk away from things which I’m trying to figure out. Rest gives new perspective. I also exercise or listen to music to allow my mind to drift to other places to begin to uncoil. What that does for me is an opportunity to think of other things, which makes needed safe to do other things!

If I can’t solve it directly, I see what I directly can do to solve around it!

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Photo by Author (JBHarris) and Southards Art Studios

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