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In this week’s episode, Geoff chats with Jazmyn Smith, Winner – 7NEWS Young Achiever Awards QLD. Queensland Small Business Commissioner’s Small Business Achiever Award 2023.
Jazmyn has made strides in the Australian Music Industry within the first three years of her career, with a diverse array of clients ranging from Murray Cook and Lee Kernaghan to Hayley Marsten and Melody Moko. 2023 saw Jazmyn receive Channel 7’s Small Business of the Year award for Queensland for her music media company, Jazmyn Produces. At just 28, Jazmyn is a self-taught filmmaker and photographer and has travelled across Australia, New Zealand, and America for her creative endeavours. She employs young regional creatives in her hometown of Gympie as production assistants, giving them the opportunity to work in both the arts and the music industry. Jazmyn also runs a sister brand, Calamity Jane Music Management, where she has worked extensively with artists from Murray Cook to Vixens of Fall, supporting them with social media management, content creation, press, fundraising, and marketing efforts. Jazmyn has been recently shortlisted for ABC’s Trail Blazers program, which would see Jazmyn and her team travel to Canberra to address Parliament House. Jazmyn is a single mother, a member of the LGBTQ community, and has found her success despite trying beginnings, including moving out of home at just 15 to a women’s shelter, and independently putting herself through the completion of high school, graduating with a scholarship to Griffith University.
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Transcript
[00:00:08] Geoff
Welcome to inspirational Australians, where we share stories of Australians making a difference in their communities and in the lives of others. We at inspirational Australians acknowledge the will, one dry and vulnerable people of the poor nation as their traditional owners and custodians of the lands and waterways on which this podcast is produced. We pay our respect to elders, past and present, and those who are emerging and extend our respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and inspirational Australians. We are inspired by the world’s oldest living culture and pay homage to their rich storytelling history. When we share stories on our podcast,
[00:00:58] Geoff
Our podcast guest this week is the extraordinary jazmin Smith, who won the seven years young achiever small business award for Queensland earlier this year for her extraordinary achievements in the Music industry here in Australia. Jasmine, welcome to the inspirational Australians podcast.
[00:01:19] Jazmyn
Thank you so much for having me. I’m delighted to be here. Well, it’s really, really great to talk to you. You have achieved so much over your short journey so far. And I’m not going to steal any thunder by talking through what any of that is. But you certainly are an inspiration and you have a passionate love for the arts and Music, which is wonderful. I don’t have an artistic bone or notes in my body so I’m always really thrilled and inspired and overawed by people like yourself who are extraordinary. So when did your interest in the arts first start and where did it come from?
[00:01:58] Jazmyn
You know, I get this question a lot and it’s kind of just one of those answers where I feel like it was just something intrinsic in me. A part of who I am as a person. My family wasn’t particularly artistic in any sense, although my grandmother was a painter. But I think just just my love for Music and books and all of that good stuff. I just always wanted to access it and be able to make that a big part of my life.
[00:02:26] Jazmyn
So yeah, we probably did a little bit tougher than many because you hear the story of people saying, oh my mom, my dad and I’m on to was this extraordinary singer and her great success, or I, or a violinist or whatever it was. But you really started from just an innate passion, so that would have been much more complex or difficult. I imagine.
[00:02:53] Jazmyn
Yeah, I suppose the, you know, being void of it kind of made me more hungry for it and you know, the people and that the modes that I look to for inspiration were everything I was watching on rage TV on a Saturday morning or all of the books that my granddad would leave for me to read at bedtime, so I had lots of inspiration, just not physical people right there. At what point did you realize you had a real musical talent?
[00:03:24] Jazmyn
I’ve been songwriting actually since I was tiny, as long as I can remember. I just wanted to replicate everything I loved about Music and just a chronic writer. So writing poems, stories, and songs just naturally came on from that. It’s fascinating. So you, you put your thoughts into words and then into Music.
[00:03:47] Jazmyn
Yes. Yeah. What, what type of Music did you write? Was there a theme or just anything and everything? Well, when I was younger, I think I definitely used it as a cathartic process to kind of articulate a lot of the more difficult things that I was surrounded by in my younger life. And then so a lot of that earlier writing was quite, you know, sad or angsty or what have you. But I’m definitely happy now that the Music that I’m actually releasing to the world is kind of on the other side of that journey. And so the Music I make now is kind of folksy. I love like Peter Paul and Mary Simon and Garfunkel, that kind of Music. So I like to think that it now comes with a great deal of light around it.
[00:04:35] Jazmyn
And you know, positive messaging, although not trying to negate, you know, where all of that positivity and Gratitude was born from having to go through all the hard yards to find a
[00:04:48] Geoff
that’s really fascinating because we hear constantly the value and importance of talking with someone about your worries, the things that concern you in life and just getting it out. And I think there’s
[00:05:04] Geoff
a lesson there for all of us. If you don’t feel comfortable at a particular time to talk to someone,
[00:05:09] Geoff
you don’t have someone to put your thoughts on paper. And I imagine that was very
[00:05:15] Geoff
helpful, helpful for you in your early days.
[00:05:18] Jazmyn
Yes, absolutely. And you know,
[00:05:21] Jazmyn
even even when I was younger and that was kind of the way that I was doing it,
[00:05:25] Jazmyn
you know, the validation,
[00:05:26] Jazmyn
even just from teachers who I’d be able to sort of share my writing with that was
[00:05:31] Jazmyn
what propelled me to keep pursuing it. Into my adult life because they vouched for
[00:05:36] Jazmyn
me so much of my writing back then. And then now getting to release Music to the
[00:05:40] Jazmyn
world. It’s just you feel seen. And you also have this beautiful flow on effect
[00:05:47] Jazmyn
where the Music that you’re making is helping other people to feel safe. So it’s
[00:05:51] Jazmyn
this beautiful holistic event where, you know, I’m able to connect with a community,
[00:05:58] Jazmyn
But they’re also finding something that they can connect with in return.
[00:06:02] Geoff
And I imagine it would be hard to even understand or appreciate yourself,
[00:06:07] Geoff
the value that you can offer and how far reaching your service to the world is
[00:06:14] Geoff
or makes because of what you do.
[00:06:18] Jazmyn
Yeah, I mean, look, I am a big data analytics type of
[00:06:23] Jazmyn
a person despite all the artistic background. And it’s really interesting actually, you know, when you release Music,
[00:06:30] Jazmyn
you get all your stats back from Spotify and Apple Music and whatnot. And it’s so
[00:06:35] Jazmyn
interesting to actually watch it spread throughout the world and all the different folks in different countries, you know,
[00:06:40] Jazmyn
picking it up and participating in it. But yeah,
[00:06:42] Jazmyn
I guess I’m really excited to lean into touring and playing more live Music to
[00:06:48] Jazmyn
actually have that direct connection with audiences and hear the feedback in person
[00:06:53] Jazmyn
I suppose is what’s just kind of missing from the equation at the moment.
[00:06:58] Geoff
Why make sure you admit to your, through your mailing list,
[00:07:02] Jazmyn
you’ll be on the VIP guest
[00:07:03] Geoff
list.
[00:07:04] Geoff
Oh, even better sounds perfect. Can you give us
[00:07:08] Geoff
a brief outline of your journey that led to the birth?
[00:07:11] Geoff
? And I guess you just started that But led to the journey or the birth of your business. Jasmine producers.
[00:07:19] Jazmyn
Yeah, absolutely. So yes, Jasmine produces is my bread and butter. So that’s what keeps it all ticking. I’ve
[00:07:26] Jazmyn
always had that entrepreneurial bone in my body.
[00:07:29] Jazmyn
You know, always the kid handing out flyers, riding my bike around,
[00:07:32] Jazmyn
trying to get people to let me bird sit. I think at one point was somewhere I don’t
[00:07:37] Jazmyn
know what birds I don’t know how many minded But anyway,
[00:07:41] Jazmyn
we learned from my when I was twenty one. I dropped out of my Uni degree. Had just
[00:07:47] Jazmyn
had my first son and I started. Oh, well, actually I bought
[00:07:52] Jazmyn
a secondhand camera off of Gumtree and just decided that, you know,
[00:07:57] Jazmyn
I’d always loved photography and filmmaking had no formal training, But I thought,
[00:08:02] Jazmyn
I wonder if anybody would, you know, pay me
[00:08:03] Jazmyn
a little bit of money to do this. And so I actually started my first business,
[00:08:08] Jazmyn
my first serious business was a wedding media company, and it just, it became so successful,
[00:08:15] Jazmyn
so organically and so quickly. We actually ended up shooting over one hundred
[00:08:20] Jazmyn
weddings. In a few years.
[00:08:21] Jazmyn
I travelled internationally for weddings and had
[00:08:24] Jazmyn
a team that I was able to build in to meet you know,
[00:08:27] Jazmyn
the demand and then covid came along and suddenly all the weddings were off the
[00:08:33] Jazmyn
table. And at that point I was actually feeling quite burnt out from, you know,
[00:08:38] Jazmyn
the amount of travel that I was investing in having to reach people far and wide
[00:08:43] Jazmyn
that wanted us there. And also I think I just really was craving
[00:08:47] Jazmyn
a change of pace to be able to lean more into the artistic side of the shooting. So
[00:08:53] Jazmyn
Jasmine produces is a brand we exclusively work with musicians and artists. And you know, I actually didn’t put
[00:09:03] Jazmyn
a lot of forethought into moving in that direction. I just knew that Music was my
[00:09:09] Jazmyn
biggest passion is my biggest passion. And so I thought it just makes sense to
[00:09:13] Jazmyn
transfer the skillset from here to here. And then thankfully I got very lucky and
[00:09:18] Jazmyn
it took off equally in just as successful way and I’ve been able to pursue it and
[00:09:24] Jazmyn
you know, round out the edges and yeah it’s, it’s great.
[00:09:27] Geoff
Now fantastic. Is that so you really, I mean, the lesson there for all of us to,
[00:09:33] Geoff
I guess innovate constant look at what we’re doing, how we can do it better, what we’re in,
[00:09:38] Geoff
what we are enjoying and gives us joy and satisfaction collect
[00:09:46] Geoff
collectively with how can we grow our business, you know,
[00:09:51] Geoff
be the one to many as you say, traveling to each event or
[00:09:56] Geoff
a wedding or whatever it is that you’re doing is pretty tough work. So the way you
[00:10:03] Geoff
turn that into something, even more special was really cool. And I think that’s, as I said,
[00:10:08] Geoff
a lesson for everybody to just constantly be re rebirthing or relooking at yourself
[00:10:13] Geoff
and how you doing things and what you’re actually enjoying and hey,
[00:10:16] Geoff
can do it better and reach more people. Well, some of the all of your clients, no doubt,
[00:10:25] Geoff
a very special who are some of your clients that you’ve had an amazing moment with
[00:10:32] Geoff
or that people would know.
[00:10:34] Jazmyn
Yeah, I have had the opportunity to work with so many incredibly talented individuals.
[00:10:40] Jazmyn
Definitely a highlight for me has been when Mr. Murray Cook, the erg red wiggle,
[00:10:47] Jazmyn
actually found me on Instagram. And I actually after
[00:10:53] Jazmyn
a couple of years of just watching each other back and forth on their and having
[00:10:56] Jazmyn
a couple of chats because they’re based in Sydney and I’m up in Gympie,
[00:10:59] Jazmyn
Queensland. They actually just pulled the trigger and said we would like to
[00:11:05] Jazmyn
basically put me on retainer and I have a sister brand called Calamity Jane,
[00:11:09] Jazmyn
which is my management company.
[00:11:11] Jazmyn
So they signed on to that and I had the opportunity
[00:11:14] Jazmyn
to work with them for multiple film clips photoshoots coming up to the release of
[00:11:19] Jazmyn
their most recent album. So that’s definitely been a highlight. I’ve also yeah, very,
[00:11:24] Jazmyn
very cool. Just so awesome to learn from people and be trusted by people that have
[00:11:29] Jazmyn
been in the industry for so long and worked with so many people who provide the
[00:11:34] Jazmyn
same service as me. But yeah, it kind of
[00:11:37] Jazmyn
it kind of also forces me to give up a little bit of the imposter syndrome,
[00:11:41] Jazmyn
which I was definitely still carrying around. But you know, in hindsight,
[00:11:46] Jazmyn
I think it is always that it’s a lesson that true that I should have just,
[00:11:52] Jazmyn
I should have just trusted myself without that validation. And I think I’ll take
[00:11:56] Jazmyn
that lesson going forward for sort of any other moments where I am doubting myself. But yeah,
[00:12:02] Jazmyn
I’ve also worked with incredible country musicians. A lot of my artists that I work
[00:12:07] Jazmyn
with actually are in the country genre, which is nothing intentional on my end,
[00:12:11] Jazmyn
But just word of mouth. It kind of gets around in circles. So Lee kernaghan is
[00:12:16] Jazmyn
probably the household name that everybody is aware of. So, yes, so lots of great,
[00:12:22] Jazmyn
incredible people in between. But yeah,
[00:12:25] Geoff
and every client, every person that you work with is special, because you’re helping to make
[00:12:31] Geoff
a difference and become part of their journey. The imposter syndrome is really, really real for all of us. Well,
[00:12:41] Geoff
I reckon nearly every single person suffers from that,
[00:12:45] Geoff
and I was really intrigued when you know you said that having
[00:12:49] Geoff
a key moment helped you overcome that and it is something that many of us don’t
[00:12:56] Geoff
ever overcome what’s what’s your thoughts putting you on the spot about how
[00:13:03] Geoff
we can do that is you talked about there was
[00:13:05] Geoff
a moment in time that you realized that you are worthy. Yeah.
[00:13:12] Jazmyn
I think that, you know, I don’t always feel this way. And I definitely have to keep practicing what I
[00:13:18] Jazmyn
preach.
[00:13:19] Jazmyn
But imposter syndrome is one of those things that it’s kind of
[00:13:22] Jazmyn
a luxury for us to dwell in that. And I think it’s also just almost
[00:13:27] Jazmyn
a tool to stop us from working as hard or dreaming as big as we could. And suddenly
[00:13:33] Jazmyn
in Australia we have this, you know,
[00:13:34] Jazmyn
the tall poppy syndrome where we kind of have this strange attitude toward people that you know,
[00:13:42] Jazmyn
believe in themselves or want to stand up tall and strong and proud. And I think it
[00:13:46] Jazmyn
holds all of us back and especially, you know,
[00:13:49] Jazmyn
working in the Music industry in Australia. A really big issue that we have is that there is kind of
[00:13:54] Jazmyn
a ceiling to what artists can achieve. Because we don’t have the sort of media loop that the US has,
[00:14:01] Jazmyn
and we don’t have the kind of awards with the prestige that the US has. And I think
[00:14:07] Jazmyn
a lot of that has to do with us all keeping ourselves in these smaller boxes and
[00:14:13] Jazmyn
being scared to kind of take up more space and have the bigger voice and you know,
[00:14:19] Jazmyn
beat our chests a little bit more. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, and in fact,
[00:14:23] Jazmyn
I do actually think that we owe it to ourselves and we also owe it to whichever
[00:14:28] Jazmyn
industry we are passionate about and working inside of to actually think well is
[00:14:33] Jazmyn
this serving me in any way to have to sit inside of this imposter syndrome and put
[00:14:39] Jazmyn
energy behind it and let it kind of Be available in front of whatever I’m doing is
[00:14:44] Jazmyn
that serving me in any way. And if not, you know,
[00:14:47] Jazmyn
I think it’s just always the choice to choose bravery and courage instead. Even
[00:14:53] Jazmyn
though it is scary, I think it just,
[00:14:55] Jazmyn
it has the potential to propel us and our industries to bigger, bigger Heights,
[00:15:01] Jazmyn
bigger potential. Once we get rid of a lot of that fear, so yeah, I think, you know,
[00:15:07] Jazmyn
it’s not always something that we feel comfortable choosing to just believe in ourselves,
[00:15:12] Jazmyn
dropped out. But I think it is worthwhile.
[00:15:15] Geoff
I think the last couple of minutes we’ve
[00:15:17] Geoff
just captured is probably something we should bottle for all generations of the future. Put it in
[00:15:24] Geoff
a time capsule. A copy for every generation to come. It’s just Brilliant. So I think you absolutely nailed it,
[00:15:33] Geoff
and we really need to be aware of how much energy it costs us each time
[00:15:40] Geoff
we spend thinking we’re not good enough. So just great words of wisdom. Jasmine, thank you so much. Really,
[00:15:47] Geoff
really cool. Now you mentioned that you’re in Gympie and I know you have
[00:15:53] Geoff
a number of local staff. Is that a disadvantage for you?
[00:15:57] Geoff
How do you, do you being outside of the metropolitan areas?
[00:16:03] Jazmyn
Yeah. You know, there are moments where it definitely feels like it has its weaknesses. Over its
[00:16:10] Jazmyn
strengths, we’re obviously disconnected from the major Music hubs and you know,
[00:16:15] Jazmyn
a bigger population to have instant access to. But you know, in, in being in Gympie,
[00:16:22] Jazmyn
there’s so many beautiful things that come of it. One of them that you touched on
[00:16:26] Jazmyn
is being able to employ young staff here who otherwise wouldn’t have the
[00:16:30] Jazmyn
opportunity to work in the arts or in the Music industry.
[00:16:33] Jazmyn
So that’s
[00:16:34] Jazmyn
a really special thing to me because I feel like I’m directly impacting, you know,
[00:16:39] Jazmyn
these folks lives in ways that they wouldn’t otherwise have access to,
[00:16:42] Jazmyn
which has flow on effects to our community as
[00:16:45] Jazmyn
a whole. So being able to sort of participate in shaping the culture here is
[00:16:50] Jazmyn
a really interesting kind of experiment to be a part of. And beyond that,
[00:16:55] Jazmyn
I think it’s caused me and forced me to have to innovate and think outside of the
[00:17:00] Jazmyn
box. And those things have actually become our strength. So for example,
[00:17:05] Jazmyn
one way that we tackle this is we now do tours, which is not
[00:17:09] Jazmyn
a typical thing that you hear media companies, you know,
[00:17:12] Jazmyn
kind of participating in. But we decided to do tours. So we do
[00:17:17] Jazmyn
a couple each year where we travel interstate to service multiple clients at once
[00:17:22] Jazmyn
in those bigger Music hubs. And they can share the travel costs between, you know,
[00:17:27] Jazmyn
a number of them.
[00:17:28] Jazmyn
So it’s not exponentially more than it would be just hiring
[00:17:31] Jazmyn
someone locally because obviously social media is
[00:17:34] Jazmyn
a massive tool for us. And so we get followers from all over Australia all over the
[00:17:38] Jazmyn
world. And, you know, they see our work and they want to work with us,
[00:17:43] Jazmyn
But we try to make it as easy and accessible as possible. I suppose. So. Yeah,
[00:17:48] Jazmyn
the innovation factor I think is what keeps me not resenting me. Like I really try
[00:17:54] Jazmyn
to look at it as a tool to just work that little bit harder and think that little bit more
[00:17:59] Jazmyn
creatively about how to overcome these problems,
[00:18:01] Jazmyn
to hopefully also solve those problems for people that come after me who want to do
[00:18:06] Jazmyn
similar work in the same industry, so
[00:18:09] Geoff
be a great role role model for communities that have young people that stay or
[00:18:16] Geoff
going to thinking about leaving. And can I make it likely to showcase that you can
[00:18:23] Geoff
if you work hard and the world is your oyster?
[00:18:26] Geoff
And you have shown that because you have undertaken quite some extensive travel, having you to
[00:18:34] Geoff
a number of locations. Can you tell us some of those locations and what that so look like.
[00:18:41] Jazmyn
Yeah, absolutely sir. We’ve done all our Australian rounds.
[00:18:45] Jazmyn
We’re frequently in New South
[00:18:46] Jazmyn
Wales for either, you know, our Music festivals or Sydney is
[00:18:49] Jazmyn
a really big spot for us. But we also had the opportunity to travel over to
[00:18:54] Jazmyn
Hollywood and to Los Angeles,
[00:18:56] Jazmyn
to film some behind the scenes for one of our clients who was recording the album
[00:19:01] Jazmyn
over in Nashville. So that’s been a really exciting experience for me. I think it’s definitely something that I want
[00:19:09] Jazmyn
to factor into our year ahead. Also, we’re really trying to plan another Nashville trip as
[00:19:16] Jazmyn
a team to service American artists over there. Not just because it’s obviously
[00:19:20] Jazmyn
a great experience for my team and myself to kind of Be absorbed in these other cultures and, you know,
[00:19:26] Jazmyn
meet and connect with new artists and the industry over there. But also because Nashville really is
[00:19:33] Jazmyn
a big feeder community and culture for the Australian country Music scene. A lot of
[00:19:39] Jazmyn
our artists actually frequently travel to Nashville to co-write or to record. And
[00:19:45] Jazmyn
so it’s really important to us actually to understand what’s happening over there
[00:19:49] Jazmyn
and get that real sense for it to be able to bring that back into the work we do
[00:19:53] Jazmyn
here. So yeah, international travel, I mean,
[00:19:56] Jazmyn
it has all its obvious benefits for expanding horizons, But yeah, I think that’s
[00:20:01] Jazmyn
a really important thing for us to have a point of difference in actually understanding that culture.
[00:20:06] Geoff
It’s great to have Nashville as a mentor, in a sense. Speaking of mentors, do you have a mentor?
[00:20:13] Geoff
I mean, you’ve done so much. You’ve really changed outstanding results to have
[00:20:19] Geoff
a mentor or someone that you look up to.
[00:20:22] Jazmyn
You know, I wish that I had, I really wish that I had found at this point someone in
[00:20:28] Jazmyn
a similarly industry that I had connected with and would immediately sort of relate
[00:20:33] Jazmyn
to that mentorship title.
[00:20:35] Jazmyn
I think my,
[00:20:37] Jazmyn
the way that I’ve learnt from people is like all of my clients in various
[00:20:42] Jazmyn
capacities. And I would say that, you know, my biggest inspiration just as
[00:20:47] Jazmyn
a human is my grandmother and my grandfather. Just people that have taught me all
[00:20:51] Jazmyn
the core foundational skills about how to be a good person,
[00:20:55] Jazmyn
how to look after yourself and how to look after others. So it’s not necessarily connected to the industry,
[00:21:00] Jazmyn
But I think it’s all those foundational things that have, you know,
[00:21:04] Jazmyn
given me the opportunity to be successful because I’ve set myself up internally for
[00:21:09] Jazmyn
success. So yeah, definitely Grandma and granddad, little shout out.
[00:21:14] Geoff
Good. Grandma and granddad. And I think we need someone to look
[00:21:18] Geoff
up to or to fall back on when times are tough. Just to think about the things that we’ve learned,
[00:21:25] Geoff
no matter what that is. Values are really important. And it sounds to me without
[00:21:32] Geoff
putting words in your mouth that the Values and the life experiences that your
[00:21:39] Geoff
grandparents have taught you have held you in really good stead because you haven’t
[00:21:43] Geoff
always done it easy. Have you you had a pretty tough teenage years. Are you comfortable to tell us through,
[00:21:52] Geoff
you know, to put some context in place, you don’t have to of course,
[00:21:56] Geoff
But put some context around our listeners understanding just how far you’ve come.
[00:22:02] Geoff
You really did do it tough through those high high School and early, tertiary years, didn’t you?
[00:22:08] Jazmyn
Yeah. You know, I have this, I have
[00:22:12] Jazmyn
this trait that I’m not sure is a blessing or a curse, But I like to think it’s
[00:22:15] Jazmyn
a blessing that I actually do feel very comfortable and actually relish in the
[00:22:19] Jazmyn
opportunity to tell these stories. Because I would really like it to reach somebody who is in
[00:22:25] Jazmyn
a similar circumstance to really like know that it is very possible to overcome all
[00:22:30] Jazmyn
the statistics that come along with these things. But yeah, I mean, not even just my teenage years,
[00:22:36] Jazmyn
I guess the story that I most publicly share most frequently is that I moved out of
[00:22:40] Jazmyn
home into a women’s shelter. When I was fifteen, put myself through high School independently,
[00:22:46] Jazmyn
got myself there every day bought all my books, you know,
[00:22:49] Jazmyn
packed all my lunches. And I graduated with a great o.p.
[00:22:53] Jazmyn
and a scholarship to Griffith University, which was, you know, just beyond my wildest dreams.
[00:22:59] Jazmyn
But you know,
[00:23:00] Jazmyn
everything that led up to me needing to move out of home into a women’s shelter,
[00:23:05] Jazmyn
I suppose are the stories that are less told. But you know,
[00:23:09] Jazmyn
I sometimes if I go and link up with
[00:23:12] Jazmyn
a psychologist from time to time when I just need that little bit of, you know,
[00:23:16] Jazmyn
connection there. When I’m meeting somebody for the first time and listing it all
[00:23:21] Jazmyn
off, they kind of sit back and they’re like, well, you just tick all the boxes. You know,
[00:23:27] Jazmyn
I feel like I’ve overcome so much of that and I’ve done
[00:23:30] Jazmyn
a lot of work where it doesn’t, you know,
[00:23:32] Jazmyn
impact me in the same ways. So I do feel comfortable talking about it. But yeah,
[00:23:37] Jazmyn
I suppose just all of the big, broad brush brush strokes of it, you know,
[00:23:41] Jazmyn
a little bit of neglect in the childhood and things of that nature. I’m sure the
[00:23:47] Jazmyn
listeners can use their imaginations, But yeah, just, you know,
[00:23:51] Jazmyn
coming from circumstances where statistically it wouldn’t look very likely that I
[00:23:56] Jazmyn
would be able to end up where I am. You know,
[00:23:59] Jazmyn
I was the kid going to school in dirty clothes and you know,
[00:24:03] Jazmyn
no lunch and all of that kind of interesting space to
[00:24:07] Jazmyn
be in. But, you know, I’m, I’m
[00:24:09] Jazmyn
a mother now myself and I’m up every morning in my beautiful clean home. Packing my
[00:24:14] Jazmyn
son’s school lunch and getting to live my dream. So it’s all very possible. But it
[00:24:20] Jazmyn
doesn’t come without all the hard work to you know,
[00:24:22] Jazmyn
make sure that you’re keeping yourself safe and accessing help when you need it. So yeah.
[00:24:28] Geoff
Well, thank you. You’re an inspiration because there are many people who do it tough. And
[00:24:34] Geoff
we could find excuses of why it’s too hard and woe is me and I’m not saying
[00:24:42] Geoff
we should not have the right to feel that way. But you’re the inspiration saying,
[00:24:47] Geoff
you know what? I can overcome it, whether you need to look for help,
[00:24:54] Geoff
whether you need to seek that mentorship, some guidance,
[00:24:58] Geoff
someone to talk to. But you the inspiration to know that it can be done that people
[00:25:04] Geoff
can overcome and make something very special of themselves because we’re all special. But we can overcome to achieve extraordinary.
[00:25:16] Geoff
And extraordinary to every single person is different. It can be whatever you want it to be,
[00:25:24] Geoff
But we can do it. And you’ve shown that and you show that every day. So more power
[00:25:30] Geoff
to you.
[00:25:32] Geoff
I really feel that you’re such a role model, which again is what our awards are all about,
[00:25:37] Geoff
showing outstanding young people who are role models, showcasing stories that inspire us. So I think you’re amazing.
[00:25:48] Geoff
I cannot tell you enough how inspiring you are. So I hope all of our listeners,
[00:25:53] Geoff
if there’s someone that you can think of that may need
[00:25:58] Geoff
a little bit of encouragement to share the podcast with them because to hear the
[00:26:03] Geoff
story of Jasmine will no doubt inspire. So what
[00:26:10] Geoff
advice can you offer Jasmine to people who are continually faced with barriers? You know, Sam,
[00:26:16] Geoff
it’s just too hard. And
[00:26:20] Jazmyn
I think that over time and all the different problem solving that I’ve had to do in various capacities,
[00:26:26] Jazmyn
whether that’s personal life or business. The one thing that really is consistent
[00:26:31] Jazmyn
is Gratitude. And, you know, framing everything with a sense of Gratitude, even on your hardest days,
[00:26:38] Jazmyn
is generally the thing that is going to keep you ticking along well enough to get
[00:26:43] Jazmyn
to the next moment where things kind of clear up, you know, it’s not,
[00:26:46] Jazmyn
we’re not always problem solving against things that we have control over whether
[00:26:51] Jazmyn
that is personal or business. So I think you just have to really do the work to
[00:26:56] Jazmyn
keep yourself in a positive space as much as possible. Because otherwise,
[00:27:02] Jazmyn
you know, and living inside of any sort of negative energy for too long, you’re,
[00:27:07] Jazmyn
you’re kind of always robbing yourself of the energy to move on to the next thing
[00:27:12] Jazmyn
with the right Headspace.
[00:27:13] Jazmyn
So Gratitude is my little superpower that I try to fall back on,
[00:27:17] Jazmyn
and I think it really is something that we don’t practice frequently enough these
[00:27:23] Jazmyn
days. I know that for so long religion has been the source where many of us would
[00:27:28] Jazmyn
have been taught how to practice that Gratitude. And obviously we’re sort of moving
[00:27:33] Jazmyn
into this time period where religion’s falling off. And I just don’t know that we
[00:27:38] Jazmyn
have something filling that gap yet for sharing that kind of ability to reflect and
[00:27:44] Jazmyn
be grateful. So yeah, I would just, I would strongly encourage that to become part of people’s practice.
[00:27:50] Geoff
Yeah. One hundred percent, and I think religion is part of the has a theme of Gratitude too, doesn’t it?
[00:27:57] Geoff
But I think you nailed it. Gratitude and the gems are flowing thick and fast. But I
[00:28:03] Geoff
agree, Gratitude is so important, gives us positivity. It reminds us of the good things that we have,
[00:28:10] Geoff
the things that we’ve achieved, and often the good things we have become as
[00:28:14] Geoff
a result of our hard work. My dad always used to say it’s funny how the harder the
[00:28:20] Geoff
lucky you are, the harder you work, the lucky you are. People say are so lucky. Yeah. Gee, you know,
[00:28:26] Geoff
and that’s always resonated for me. We make our own luck.
[00:28:30] Jazmyn
Yes, absolutely. Yeah. And I think I was reflecting on this the other day actually, you know,
[00:28:36] Jazmyn
the phrase comparison is the thief of joy. And I think that there’s another way to
[00:28:41] Jazmyn
look at that. I know that we can tend to skew in the way of comparing ourselves to
[00:28:46] Jazmyn
people that are on paper doing better than us. But I think also comparing our
[00:28:53] Jazmyn
situations against what we’re not experiencing is something that maybe we don’t
[00:28:58] Jazmyn
spend enough time doing.
[00:29:00] Jazmyn
I think that, you know,
[00:29:01] Jazmyn
we’re always looking forward to that big, beautiful, shiny car and that, that huge house and, you know,
[00:29:08] Jazmyn
people were showing up to give us massages that kind of thing that we’re comparing
[00:29:11] Jazmyn
our situation to. But sometimes I think like my practice of Gratitude also involves
[00:29:17] Jazmyn
looking back at where I’ve come from and comparing to that circumstance. And you know,
[00:29:22] Jazmyn
other people’s lives that I witnessed during those times. Also where I’m able to
[00:29:27] Jazmyn
just be grateful for the fact that, you know, I’m practicing, you know,
[00:29:32] Jazmyn
a good routine at bedtime with my son. You know,
[00:29:35] Jazmyn
things like that where you really have to be grateful for those small things.
[00:29:39] Jazmyn
Whatever you’re achieving that is keeping you and the people you love safe and
[00:29:43] Jazmyn
healthy. Compare that to you know, as not being a given,
[00:29:47] Jazmyn
I suppose. And it keeps you in good stead. Yeah.
[00:29:52] Geoff
Again, words of wisdom. So in another direction and beyond your extraordinary personal and business achievements,
[00:30:03] Geoff
you’ve also you touched on early release your own Music,
[00:30:08] Geoff
which is pretty exciting stuff. Can you enlighten us to expand it? Been a bit more on that.
[00:30:13] Jazmyn
Yeah, so I’d been working in the Music industry for
[00:30:17] Jazmyn
a few years and being the chronic songwriter that I have been for many, many decades before many,
[00:30:24] Jazmyn
many decades. I was twenty five when I released my first song,
[00:30:26] Jazmyn
But yeah. Being surrounded by musicians, I just suddenly felt like I had
[00:30:32] Jazmyn
a means to access that world of actually recording and putting Music out into the
[00:30:37] Jazmyn
world. So I decided to gather up
[00:30:40] Jazmyn
a few of the songs that I had written and recorded them last year with some
[00:30:44] Jazmyn
beautiful clients that I’ve been working with Long term melody and Michael MacArthur, they’ve won lots of fancy awards,
[00:30:51] Jazmyn
all the arias and golden guitars and things so they helped me to put an EP together,
[00:30:56] Jazmyn
which we released this year. We were very lucky to get number four on the Apple
[00:31:01] Jazmyn
Music charts on release date and yeah, it’s been a beautiful success. But yeah,
[00:31:07] Jazmyn
Music is my I suppose, well, I feel like my entire career is my hobby, really,
[00:31:14] Jazmyn
But Music is like my extra little cherry on top of all of that. It’s definitely my indulgence zone.
[00:31:21] Geoff
Brilliant.
[00:31:21] Geoff
So what’s the app code?
[00:31:24] Jazmyn
The app is called garden and yeah,
[00:31:27] Jazmyn
I suppose if anybody would like to go and check it out just to note that the
[00:31:31] Jazmyn
spelling of my name is a bit strange with the Jay-Z and why N. But yes,
[00:31:35] Jazmyn
you can find it all over the place and there’s a couple of film clips on YouTube and. Yeah.
[00:31:41] Geoff
Jasmine with Jay-Z and God. Yes, you know, as soon as we get a podcast, everyone download garden. Well,
[00:31:52] Geoff
I think we’re all going to get on it and grab it. Sounds amazing. Can’t wait to
[00:31:58] Geoff
listen to it. So that went number four, say day one.
[00:32:05] Jazmyn
On release. We got number four on Apple Music, so that was very exciting,
[00:32:08] Geoff
very, very, very exciting. So what’s next, in terms of recordings,
[00:32:15] Jazmyn
I have a whole nother album ready to go at the moment in terms of I’ve written the songs,
[00:32:21] Jazmyn
But I haven’t recorded them yet. I think I just, I’m trying to pace myself
[00:32:25] Jazmyn
a little bit and really put the work into doing the tour and getting out on the
[00:32:29] Jazmyn
road and connecting with a more of the community to actually take that experience and put it back into the
[00:32:35] Jazmyn
next recording process. So it’s all ticking along, But yeah,
[00:32:38] Jazmyn
we’re focusing on live shows next, and then we’ll get into recording, hopefully at the end of next year.
[00:32:45] Geoff
One step at a time. One game at a time as they say. Well, going back if we may,
[00:32:55] Geoff
to the awards gala presentation dinner roll on the park earlier this year. Must
[00:33:02] Geoff
have been a wonderful acknowledgement of your artistic contribution and a real thrill to have won the small business award.
[00:33:12] Jazmyn
Yeah, it was, you know, I wasn’t expecting it at all the wind because, you know,
[00:33:18] Jazmyn
I investigated who I was up against and just felt so inspired by all these other
[00:33:24] Jazmyn
young people doing such incredible work. And I really thought of, you know,
[00:33:29] Jazmyn
all of these people are so deserving. And so I didn’t, I didn’t attend the awards,
[00:33:33] Jazmyn
But the thought that I had any shot, honestly. So I was very,
[00:33:37] Jazmyn
very surprised the moment that my name was called out,
[00:33:39] Jazmyn
But I was really excited to be able to take my team along with me to celebrate that
[00:33:44] Jazmyn
night because it’s also a reflection on them and celebrating all their hard work that they put into the
[00:33:49] Jazmyn
business, But it was such a beautiful night. We met so many incredible other young people who understand the
[00:33:57] Jazmyn
struggle and understand the commitments and the sacrifices and to be in
[00:34:01] Jazmyn
a space with so many like minded hardworking people was really So inspiring to me.
[00:34:07] Geoff
Yeah, it is always inspiring,
[00:34:09] Geoff
I always get goose bumps every event to hear the stories to meet people and to understand
[00:34:17] Geoff
a little more and you can see it in people their journey. You can really get
[00:34:22] Geoff
a sense and few of the of the person I think not always,
[00:34:26] Geoff
But most often. What are your, my memories of the event? I mean,
[00:34:30] Geoff
you probably just covered that. But is there something that you’ve taken away from
[00:34:37] Geoff
winning the award that holds precious to you?
[00:34:41] Jazmyn
Oh, I think the whole team involved in organizing the event has made it such
[00:34:46] Jazmyn
a special thing because there’s so many flow on effects from it. So it doesn’t just
[00:34:50] Jazmyn
end at the awards night. There’s been
[00:34:52] Jazmyn
a lot of support and networking potential that has come out of it. So I think all
[00:34:57] Jazmyn
of that like the event itself was beautiful and amazing. I would relive that night
[00:35:01] Jazmyn
again. But everything after has been just as beautiful and you know,
[00:35:06] Jazmyn
it’s been so nice to connect with so many of the young people,
[00:35:09] Jazmyn
But also the people involved in organizing and facilitating the event. So it’s
[00:35:14] Jazmyn
definitely just expanded my community. That little bit more and yeah, I’m just,
[00:35:18] Jazmyn
I’m really grateful for everything that we’re now experiencing as a result of that.
[00:35:24] Geoff
And I’m sure everybody that everybody that’s connected with you
[00:35:27] Geoff
is grateful to hear your story and to have met you as well.
[00:35:32] Geoff
And nominations are
[00:35:34] Geoff
currently open for this year’s round of young achievers across the country in
[00:35:40] Geoff
fact. And if any of our listeners would like to nominate someone for an award,
[00:35:45] Geoff
you’ve just heard how important it’s been to Jasmine. So if you’d like to know more
[00:35:51] Geoff
get onto awards Australia dot Com,
[00:35:54] Geoff
give me an email or send me an email at Jeff head awards Australia dot Com geo
[00:36:02] Geoff
and awards Australia dot Com. As I say otherwise,
[00:36:05] Geoff
head onto the young achiever award page to see what categories are open
[00:36:12] Geoff
and who you might nominate. We all are a bit short of time, But we do have
[00:36:19] Geoff
a form online that you can nominate someone in just two minutes. Keep your details,
[00:36:24] Geoff
their details will contact them and it can be that easy will then contact the young
[00:36:29] Geoff
person that’s mentioned and talk to them about the nomination to nominate someone really is
[00:36:38] Geoff
a privilege to nominate someone like Jasmine is so special. It would give you
[00:36:45] Geoff
a thrill and B give you joy for the rest of your life to know that someone has
[00:36:50] Geoff
benefited from your actions. So Jasmine, what are some of your future plans and where to next for you?
[00:37:00] Jazmyn
I think just developing and expanding everything that we’re currently working on or
[00:37:04] Jazmyn
the management side of the business is growing slowly But surely. And we’re trying
[00:37:09] Jazmyn
to take our time to make sure that that’s really built with strong foundations. So
[00:37:14] Jazmyn
expanding that and then also the International travel that we mentioned before and
[00:37:20] Jazmyn
focusing on my Music a lot more as well. But you know, I’m always
[00:37:24] Jazmyn
a big believer as well in keeping options open and I’m really excited just to not
[00:37:30] Jazmyn
have any incredibly concrete plans and just always be open to what’s coming and
[00:37:36] Jazmyn
what pops up along the way.
[00:37:37] Jazmyn
I think that’s where all the most beautiful stories
[00:37:40] Jazmyn
have come from in my life where I’ve just kept an open mind. So yeah,
[00:37:44] Jazmyn
just excited to see what the future brings.
[00:37:47] Geoff
I think that’s probably good advice.
[00:37:49] Geoff
Have plans But don’t make them too concrete so that when they don’t go exactly according to plan,
[00:37:55] Geoff
we’re not distraught or destroyed by the cracks that form. So
[00:38:02] Geoff
yeah, I think that’s really, really good advice. And of course, you’ve got all your tours coming up,
[00:38:09] Geoff
which is fantastic. Look forward to getting my VIP spot at
[00:38:16] Geoff
the absolute current theme park. And more, I mean, I make out, I’m like,
[00:38:22] Geoff
sing along because if I did actually, I might scare a few people off.
[00:38:27] Jazmyn
Oh no. We’d have to charge double the ticket price if you were out there.
[00:38:30] Jazmyn
Yeah.
[00:38:33] Geoff
Do you have any other words of advice or words of wisdom?
[00:38:36] Geoff
? Now you have embodied quite a few and don’t worry listeners,
[00:38:40] Geoff
there’s no charge for those pills. They’re all free of charge, courtesy of Jasmine,
[00:38:47] Geoff
anything else that you want to impart for our listeners who might be doing it tough
[00:38:52] Geoff
or wanting to start their own business or just needing a bit of encouragement.
[00:38:56] Jazmyn
Yeah, absolutely. I think three things. Staying humble,
[00:39:02] Jazmyn
not feeling entitled to any success and being patient. I think those three things
[00:39:08] Jazmyn
are super important. It doesn’t mean that you have to detract from your own power
[00:39:14] Jazmyn
and how much you believe in yourself and how much you want something. But it is
[00:39:18] Jazmyn
about just respecting the fact that there’s so many people on this little planet of ours,
[00:39:23] Jazmyn
all trying to gun for their dreams and yours might not happen in the same way that
[00:39:27] Jazmyn
you see it happening for somebody else. I think remaining humble and being patient
[00:39:31] Jazmyn
about that is an incredibly powerful thing because what happens is that So many of
[00:39:35] Jazmyn
us get caught up in this timeline that we’ve sort of set up for ourselves in our
[00:39:41] Jazmyn
minds. And it’s got absolutely nothing to do with reality. At the end of the day,
[00:39:45] Jazmyn
I think just keep your blinkers on work really hard and focus on what you’re doing
[00:39:49] Jazmyn
and just trust that if you are really approaching everything with integrity, that it will happen for you. There’s basically,
[00:39:55] Jazmyn
there’s no way that it can’t just keep your head down and work hard and trust, trust the process
[00:40:02] Geoff
and how much do you charge for, for your services to help people out myself?
[00:40:07] Geoff
I’m speaking, speaking for a friend. Well, you know,
[00:40:12] Geoff
anybody who needs just to finish the day or start the day in
[00:40:17] Geoff
a better space. What’s your Fe to inspire us
[00:40:22] Jazmyn
into the invoice after this
[00:40:25] Geoff
truly amazing is just extraordinary. Is there anything else that and those three are pretty amazing?
[00:40:34] Geoff
Is there anything else that you would like to add before we close off today?
[00:40:39] Jazmyn
Well, you know all these beautiful listeners that have stuck with us for the whole podcast.
[00:40:43] Jazmyn
They all can go and stream the Music that would be fabulous. Yes sir. Nominating
[00:40:50] Jazmyn
for the awards. I definitely want to mirror what you just mentioned about that it’s
[00:40:54] Jazmyn
a great opportunity so they should definitely pop over immediately after this and go and do that.
[00:40:59] Geoff
Beautiful well said. So where can our listeners connect and find out more about Jasmine producers?
[00:41:09] Geoff
Of course your other business. What is it? Calamity.
[00:41:13] Jazmyn
Calamity, Jane? Music management.
[00:41:15] Geoff
Calamity, Jane and Calamity. Jane. That’s a, that’s a person from a movie. It’s not so, But yes,
[00:41:22] Geoff
sorry. So Calamity. Jane Music.
[00:41:26] Jazmyn
She’s our little renegade country, wild child mascot. Yes.
[00:41:31] Jazmyn
But yeah,
[00:41:32] Jazmyn
definitely our most active space is Instagram. So Jasmine produces the spelling is a little funny,
[00:41:38] Jazmyn
But I’m sure it will be linked somewhere with this podcast. Yes. And then yeah,
[00:41:43] Jazmyn
from there you can find links to everything else. So that’s the good spot to land.
[00:41:48] Geoff
All right, Jasmine producers on Instagram is the best place. And that AP garden with Jasmine,
[00:41:59] Geoff
spelt slightly differently. Unique actually, Jay Z.
[00:42:07] Jazmyn
Yeah.
[00:42:08] Geoff
Y and yes. Got it. All right, Jasmine, it’s been
[00:42:14] Geoff
a real pleasure to chat with you today. In fact it’s been an inspirational and
[00:42:19] Geoff
a highlight for me. I was saying earlier that I’m just coming off covid five. I
[00:42:25] Geoff
feel so much better already. I may go out for
[00:42:30] Geoff
a jog after this.
[00:42:31] Geoff
Probably the not part is probably more accurate,
[00:42:34] Geoff
But now it has been amazing. I’ve loved my time with you today and I’m sure all of
[00:42:41] Geoff
our listeners have also enjoyed hearing your story. Thank you so much for sharing some of your journey with us.
[00:42:50] Jazmyn
Thank you for the opportunity. Super appreciate that.
[00:42:54] Geoff
Absolutely our pleasure. And until next week please be kind and remember, you’re not alone because together we make
[00:43:01] Geoff
a difference.
[00:43:07] Geoff
The inspirational australian’s podcast is brought to you by awards, Australia we recognise,
[00:43:12] Geoff
celebrate and share the stories of inspirational Australians through our awards programs across the country. To find out more,
[00:43:21] Geoff
to nominate an inspirational Australian in your life, or to partner with our awards, visit awards,
[00:43:27] Geoff
Australia. Com. If you enjoyed today’s story,
[00:43:31] Geoff
we’d love it if you could subscribe rate and review to make sure you don’t miss an
[00:43:35] Geoff
episode. And to help our guests reach more people with their inspirational stories stories
