I’m Jenni!
TL;DR
I’m an artist with a background in fine art, branding/web design and tea shop ownership. Storytelling is the magic behind everything I create.
At my day job, I am a creative project manager; I translate vision into execution and keep everyone aligned along the way. Communication is one of my superpowers!
Outside of work I’m usually out and about with my son, hosting tea for my friends, or doing some sort of home project.
I truly believe that with passion, purpose and drive anything is possible. Let’s collaborate
If you’re interested in my story, follow my journey below.
Fine Art
Fine I’ve been an artist my entire life. It may sound weird, but it’s always come completely natural to me. As a kid I spent tons of time drawing, making little worlds out of modeling clay, painting, collaging, sewing… I customized pretty much everything I owned; it just felt like the best way to express myself (and it still does!). So it only made sense to study fine art in college. I went to SJSU and got a BFA with an emphasis in Pictorial Art.
I never thought I’d be a classic working artist; making paintings, showing in galleries and selling to collectors did not sound appealing to me. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to truly do, but what I did know is that I had to continue creating. I taught painting and drawing for a while at a private after school program.
Entrepreneurship
I opened my tea shop, Luna Tea Co, when I was the ripe old age of 26. The 5 years I owned and operated it are some of my fondest memories. My mom was one of my longest employees, and working with her almost everyday for those 5 years is an experience I will cherish for the rest of my life.
I built the shop from the ground up. I worked with the city and county to do licensing and build-out and so many friends and family came together to help make my dream come true. I created a line of my own proprietary tea blends and packaged them in-house. I also created an entire line of proprietary tea drinks based on my tea blends including hot tea, iced tea, tea lattes, sparkling tea elixirs, and tea infused cocktails.
In addition to the cafe, I retailed and wholesaled my tea blends online, becoming a top 1% Etsy seller and maintaining 20+ wholesale accounts nation wide. Needless to say, I was busy AF.
Eventually, I got entirely burnt out from running a business by myself and decided the part I loved most was the creativity, not running the day-to-day of the business. I decided to close the shop (one of the hardest decisions of my life) and move into brand design.
Brand Design
About 6 months after I closed my tea shop, the Pandemic happened. It created the perfect time for me to learn design; I taught myself Illustrator and Photoshop more in-depth; I learned how to design websites in Squarespace, and I eventually started taking on freelance clients as a brand designer. I did a ton of logo and website design, but I also did many freelance illustration projects and developed my lettering artist skills. I had the opportunity to do some commercial illustration for Almanac Beer, Livermore Pride and Cornerstone Doula Trainings to name a few. I worked with tons of local (and non local) businesses doing branding, graphic design, illustration, and packaging design.
I learned that while I truly enjoyed working with small businesses, I especially loved the projects where I got to be a bit more creative with my own preferred style. I found that businesses that wanted to work with me because of my style made for a much more fulfilling process, experience, relationship and outcome. So I eventually moved into illustration rather than graphic design.
