 to Adventures in Commercialization. I'm Zoe Heaney and we're here with a great friend of mine, an entertainer, great girl. She's just like doing her best and making sure that she can succeed in the new realm of this new world. She's the new entertainer that we have here. So we have Jane Carter. Jane, tell us a little bit about yourself. Thank you. Hi, I'm Jane Carter. I do a bunch of things. I'm an aerialist. I also just recently started trying to do some acting and some modeling. I also own an oyster farm and an aerial art studio. I do shows and produce events and stuff like that. A true serial entrepreneur, if I can just hear that out of your mouth right now. So tell us a little bit about just I know that one thing that's been a theme of our show is making it through COVID. And I know that the entertainment industry, we're going a little bit back. One of our first episodes was about entertainment, owning your art. How do you own your art and how did you make it through COVID? So I'll start with the COVID story first because that one's a little easier to tell and then I'll do the other section. So COVID hit and it was at the point I'm going to call it my career, just so we're just saying. But I was at the point my career with things are just moving forward. I had a whole bunch of shows booked. I had all kinds of things on my plate ready to go. And then all of a sudden it was like the world just shut down. And so now what do you do? You're an entertainer. You really enjoy being out there and entertaining people and making art and doing stuff. And now what do you do? Because things are just done. And I'm only going to cry about it. Oh, my gosh. I lost my dream job to COVID. And that's why I really wanted to talk to you about this on the show. And so don't even try to get emotional because you're going to get me emotional. But I had a hold of COVID. I was an event coordinator for a lot of 40,000 people events. I was doing really large events and I lost my job to COVID because it was really hard. And the entertainment industry where we are client-facing, entertainment, introduction to these big realms, it's very difficult. And I also got very emotional because of this type of setback for us. Depressing. All of a sudden your world is over and you don't know what to do. This is your passion and now you can't. So how do you move forward from that and there wasn't a lot of SBA money for event places or people who planned events. It was just you were just taken out at your knees. So it was really challenging actually. And like, what do I do? How do I make this work? And I was like, OK, well, can I even keep the studio open anymore? Like, what's going to happen to the studio? Gyms were closed down. And that's the part that's making me emotional. My students just kept their packages. They just they said, we don't care. We don't care what's going to happen. We're going to keep supporting the studio. And I just immediately transitioned to doing Zoom classes at home. We tried to come up with different things that didn't involve equipment for people who didn't have equipment at home. So I had a bunch of folding chairs at the studio. People came and picked them up in mass and went home. We did like chair dance online. And if you had a poll, we could teach some pole dance. We did a lot of stretching. And then for me personally, as an entertainer, I actually lucked out a little bit because some of the people that I had performed with started doing DJ Zoom, I guess, like DJ Zoom events. And so they would we log in through Twitch and they would pull the feed in from I forget what the other program was, but they would pull it pull it into their Twitch. And they would just be DJing in the corner and it would be like me in this tiny little box. So I think that was the other part that I really I think made me change how I view things because all the artists were trying to help each other. How do we continue to be creative in a world that doesn't want us right now? Let's take a little bit of a setback and let's look at what you're actually doing. So let's look at your website a little bit if we could bring that up and show she's an aerial artist, she's an acro artist, she's an entertainer, she's an actress, like Jane, you're doing a lot of great things. And I just want to promote you in every way possible. She's nationwide, travels around the entire nation doing amazing things. That's actually how I met you. It was a beautiful event where she was beautifully like body painted up on her little balloon. She was amazing. And I met her and I just realized that she is a brand and she creates her own brand. I'm getting goosebumps even talking about her. I know, this is an emotional great conversation. But there's a lot of people in the whole conversation that we're having right now is around entertainment and owning your art. And also how some people they lost their jobs over COVID. And I want to bring some other people in the future on this show about how they realized they could learn how to sew because they were getting governmental funding and they wanted to make their passion into their project and their project into a career. But you already had that going. Like you really already had something really going for you. But during COVID, we didn't have the realm to do that. We didn't have the audience to do that. We weren't able to be live. So I want to just learn a little bit about how you were able to make it through that year. How did you make it through that year? Yeah, so it was tricky because the events are all gone and we don't know if they're coming back. We don't know when they're coming back. We're not allowed to have big groups of people together. Like what do you do? And so I, like I said, I kind of, with the studio, I was able to continue teaching classes and that helped me remind myself, I'm emotional, that helped me remind myself that this is what I love. Like I don't want to give this up because there was a good month or two where I was like, how do I move forward? Like maybe the world doesn't care about art anymore. There's no money in it. So I started continuing with my classes and then I hooked up with, like I said, some people that did DJ shows on Twitch and I set up a green screen and they just pulled me in so that I could continue performing even though it wasn't live, it was still something. And so that helped a lot. So networking, really internally networking, like your internal network, the people that you're already working with, trying to figure out a new idea for this new age, that's totally great. Like I don't want you to be emotional because trust me, I'm very emotional over COVID and I'm sure a lot of our listeners who are gonna watch this, they also are in that exact same place, it's very difficult. I got very depressed over COVID. 40,000 people working at home is so hard. So that's what this is all about. But what are you doing now? Now you're doing other things, like you're out there. Yeah, so also because of COVID, I still wanted to be creative and I still wanted that like creative spark. And so I started getting back into modeling and I was like, I'm gonna go do some weird stuff. Like I made a whole bunch of costumes and I was like, I'm gonna go do some weird things. I made like a peacock costume and took some photos with my birds. Like it was just, so- You breed peacocks, let me just tell everybody, I love her, I have chickens and they're just not as cool as her peacocks. I love my chickens too. Are you taking the little feathers and turning them into like this? That's why I got them. Like, so I actually hatched them during COVID, that was another creative thing that I did. I was like, you know what? I think I want some birds and I'm gonna hatch these peacocks and see if they hatch. And so they're two years old now and they're just starting to get feathers. And I can't wait till I have all the feathers so I can make all kinds of crazy costumes. Look at her, you're a real entrepreneur right here, Jane Carter in the, right now. So I started doing some modeling and I, you know, cause it was, you could do it outside and you were very far away from the photographer. It wasn't, you know, as scary to be around other people. So that helped my socialization fix. And one of the photographers said, you know, you should really do some modeling. And I was like, man, this is just for fun. I'm too old. And he was like, you're being ridiculous. You should try. And so I, on a whim, one night I just signed up for a modeling agency and they picked me and I was like, oh, I'm not too old. Hey, they need modeling people for everything. I feel like the first modeling thing I ever did, I was at a race car event in Latin America. And I was going to the bathroom and all of a sudden they're like, hey, you, you want to sign up for this thing? And I was just like, no, I have to be. Definitely not going to happen. But then they called me the next day and I was on the back of buses. I've been on giant billboards. Yeah, so you never know how you're going to be sourced. Yeah. You just have to be you. But for you to pivot like that to understand about what you need to do, so what are you doing now that we're back in the realm? There's, you've been in a couple of events now. What is your new marketing idea? So now I'm doing bigger events. So I started with some small ones pre-COVID and then we actually had a big event planned for the Thanksgiving of 2020 at McMenna was supposed to be our first big huge event. And obviously that didn't happen for months. I was like, well, is it like, I don't know, I don't know. And we eventually just tabled it to the following year when we started. And so now my, my push is to just do bigger events. I started with the small ones. I've got the nice email database list. I've got people who have been coming. And so now I can push to bigger events. And I kind of, I really like them and I hate them at the same time. Like I hate all the logistics and the anxiety and all the people gonna buy tickets and do they like what I'm giving them? But I also like, I get to do whatever the hell I want. So I just pick, you know, whatever theme I've decided that just, you know, scratching that itch for creativity. I'm like, okay, we're gonna do a show about this. And so what kind of shows do you provide? Can you give me like a little bit of a list of your show? So they're all aerial art shows. We mix them with Brulesque. We mix them with drag queens. I try to make kind of a more aerial centered but a variety shows still. And it's been really nice actually because I can, I'm able to go back to people that I've performed with before because I've known, you know, I've been doing this for a long time. So I know a lot of performers and I can, I try to pick one or two local people whenever we do the shows, the students get to be in them. And then I bring out two big, tall, beautiful drag queens from Portland that I just adore to be the announcers. So it's kind of nice, I get to work with my friends and I get to say, hey, okay, this is the concept. Do you want to get weird or do you have something that fits this idea? But you are traveling nationwide now. So you're not only in Portland, you will go all over the country, right? Yeah, so that was pre-COVID. I did, gosh, I did a lot of traveling pre-COVID. Matter of fact, I was traveling during COVID or right before COVID hit, I had a competition in Ireland and I was on the way back when like the world just shut down. And so I was like, was that my last time ever on stage? You know, I'm never gonna do this again. So now that things are getting back up and moving forward, I'm gonna start traveling a little bit more and I can. I did travel to New York actually and I did a week-long modeling acting convention which was really lovely and I actually got to dance in that. So I got to fill my little child's heart of I wanna be a dancer in New York. Can we look at the website one more time just looking at like the aerial acrobatics that she does? This is how I met her. Jane, you were an inspiration. How beautiful that you have been. And yeah, we made great friendship over your obvious talent. Like it's been fantastic and I love to see your growth. But I mean, just look at her muscles in this video, right? Anybody can see her in this. We know she can. I'm like, I literally bought a little acro yoga thing outside with a little silk so I can try to keep up with you. You need to come over and like give me some time. I love it. That's the sign bonus that I'm like, I'm always gonna be fit because I'm always working out all the time. But the downside to that is you're sore all the time. Well, you know, if your muscles hurt they're doing something, right? So are you doing online classes now? We do some online classes on top of our in-person. So we still have online for people who don't feel comfortable coming into the studio or I have some students that have moved away and some from a couple of other states that they just log in and it basically is just a class. Like they log in, they see the class behind them and then we treat them as if they're a person in the class. What type of classes are they? Are they aerial classes? Do we have to have equipment for them? So these are all pull classes because aerial equipment is kind of hard to teach online. I've tried taking some online aerial classes and they're just challenging. So these are predominantly pull classes. We've got a couple of like sexy flow where you just kind of roll around on the floor. We had some chair dance for a while but people kept bringing in very random chairs. Like they weren't reading the description about you need a specific type of foldable chair and so we would get rolling chairs and like, you know, step stools and it just wasn't working. Hey, we work from home. We all need to figure it out, right? Like my current chair I'm sitting in is definitely not a good back support but that's probably not something I should be bringing to a sexy chair class. Yeah, like the rolling chairs were the worst because the students would sit down and the chair would just move. Hey, we work with what we got, you know? We're all working from home. We're trying to work out. You're helping us. That's not what COVID's taught us. So when you talk about pull classes you're talking about people who have a pull at their house. Yeah, you have to have a pull in order to do them, yeah. And Ariel, are you talking about people who have an outdoor acro? Yeah, so Ariel's were like you would hang something from the ceiling or you would have a rig at home. And do you have like a silk class or? Yeah, so we don't do any of those online. We do have silk classes. We've got rope now. We've got lira, which is the big metal hoop that you hang from the ceiling. And then I've got a bunch of specialty apparatuses. So every now and then I'll do a workshop with like the moon or the anchor. And I just bought a new diamond. Yeah, this girl's amazing. She came out with her moon and just looking all majestic. So yes, but if you don't have this equipment at home there's still an opportunity for you. Jane is touching on all types of at home, Ariel or interest for some of these classes. So how do we find you for something like this? Are you working with an agency or? Yeah, so if you wanna do aero classes or you're looking for some online classes, my studio name's Athena Vertical Dance and it's in Tacoma, Washington. You can do them online. You can do them in person. You can also download the app. It was got her own app. And then I, oh, there's an app too? Awesome. Yeah, just looking at you. You've grown so much since I met you. Oh, gosh. So when sometimes you pick these events, like the event I met you at, so called Pixie party or something. Oh yeah, Pixie does. Best, yes. That was my favorite. Yes, I'm sad I missed it this year. This is in Olympia, Washington. It is a great little mini festival at somebody's house, a farm that they've created. They're really pushing it out. But really great artists that come to it. Really communal artists from the community. I know we're talking to people a lot of times throughout the entire United States at this show. But I'm wondering how do you pick the events that you wanna perform? So a lot of that comes down to which ones are coming towards me? So I really like festivals. It's kind of where I started doing aerials is I transitioned from pole dancing into aerials and I have this lollipop, like a big standalone piece of equipment. It's got a hoop on the top and a pole in the center. And I started doing festivals because you could just set it up wherever. And so I do hunt down festivals and I submit myself all the time for different things. I also use Instagram a lot to find other shows and I'm like, do you need a performer? You look like you do some fun, weird stuff. So I kind of pick my events that I'm performing at on whether or not I feel like I would be a good fit. And so that kind of goes back to what you're saying, like know your brand, know what you like to do, know who you are and what you want. And don't do things just because you've, someone offered them to you if it's not a good fit for you. So I won't do anything. Are you a great concept, but are you paying to go to these events or are they paying you or just across collaboration? Yeah, they pay me. It just depends on what kind of event it is. Usually they pay me some events. I just really like that there's artists collaborating and I'm like, okay, that sounds awesome. I'll throw my hat in. And like with the pixie dust, Hilda does all the costumes and then she's got Will who does all the music and then she's got body painters that come in and I get to go do my art painted with someone else's art. Like it's my favorite. So those things I'll hunt down and I'll even do them for free sometimes because I just like them so much. That's a mega cross collaborator. All right, cross collaboration if you're gonna say it. So there's somebody who is there who's offering their art to paint you. There's somebody who's offering their land to be a part of it. There's artists who want you to dance or be there. So it's really just like a super community is what we're talking about. Yeah, the lighting, like there's a lighting person. There's, you know, this time I think they had, they had TV screens in the back that they were putting different types of art on top of as well as the person who's DJing the music and then I'm over in the corner. So my absolute favorite is to have all art melt together and create some sort of magic. And that's how I met you and it was fantastic. I was actually there helping a friend bend some sunglasses and that's how we all met each other. Right next to the person who was a body painting you. So it's fantastic. Your art is absolutely beautiful. And I just wanna know what is your next step? Like what is your next milestone that you're looking for as a woman entrepreneur with your own brand? What do you wanna get to? Well, I think my like my current motivation right now and what I feel like I'm pushing more towards is helping other people get creative. So, you know, setting up space so that they don't have to go through all the things that I did, you know, I did the drag circuit for $20 an hour where, you know, $20 a gig where I lugged all this equipment in and I, you know, just kind of plugged away to meet other people. And so I wanna use all that information and knowledge and contacts to be able to facilitate other people to get out there and be creative because it's tricky in the beginning and you have to really hustle and you have to be willing to just take the punches and that stops people, I think sometimes from pushing forward on stuff that they really wanna do. How did you realize this was gonna be your full-time gig? What did you do before this? And how did you realize this was gonna be like, okay, I'm all in, this is my full-time job. Well, there's a meeting peacocks, you know. I was at random. It's kind of weird, my husband and I owned an internet company and we moved out to Washington. I'll try to keep the short. And we moved out to this like land in the middle of nowhere because we had an internet company, we could and it taint. And so we started selling oysters. We're like, okay, well, what do we do now? We've got these oysters on the beach. And so we started selling oysters. And it was just the two of us. So it was like grimy and dirty and gross and nasty. And all I wanted was something that was gonna make me feel sexy. So I found a pole class in the middle of Remerton and I was like, I just wanna dance. Like I just wanna move my body. And I took the class and it schooled me. I was teaching yoga too at the time. And I was like, I'm fit, this'll be easy. It was so hard and it was so challenging. I was like, I'm in. And so from there, like I took class for probably a couple of years and I just fell into the studio, the teacher that owned it before me was leaving and I came home in tears and I told my husband, I was like, I don't know what I'm gonna do. I've just lost the one thing that makes me happy. Like this, and what, like, what do I do now? Like I can't, you know, I can't drive to Seattle. That's too far. Like what am I gonna do? And he was like, well, maybe we can buy it. And I was like, we can buy it. You know, just like so distraught. And so she ended up selling it to me and that just kind of pushed me forward into I'm all in at this point. And then somebody asked me to perform the first year I bought the studio and I was like, yeah, you know what, yeah. I kind of went, let me see what that's like. And then I was in like, I was making costumes and I was just creative with just everywhere. And I was like, yes, this is me and this is what I wanna do. And did she, during the story, did she leave it because of COVID or was this prior? No, this was prior, this was 2014. So she was just moving away to Florida. So just open to opportunity. So that's what we have to tell our audience right now. Just being open to opportunity and being a yes person. I don't know if anybody ever saw the movie Yes Man. Love it. I believe no gets you nowhere. Yes is the best, you know? And sometimes you'd probably say no, but saying yes will allow you these types of opportunities and if your partner's like promoting you and you're ready to be there, then just go for it. And if you have a skill that they're looking for and then all of a sudden, now all of a sudden you're entertaining and it turns, now you're acting. You're looking into this thing. It's like a big snowball into what your greatness and your brand is. But it's also like, do things that scare you. Like just because it's scary doesn't mean that it won't work out. You know, push through that a little bit because there's been a lot of times and even now when I perform sometimes, I'm like, I don't know if I should be here. I'm not good enough for this thing. And there's that fear of like, what do I do? And sometimes that you just push through it and then all this magic happens. Right? It's not a what a shoulda coulda. It's what a shoulda did it. Yeah. I love that. So are you, you're acting now and you're performing and how's that going? Yeah, so I just started, like I said, I just started during COVID with the modeling and the acting. And I went to New York at this thing called IMTA, which is like, I think it stands for International Model Acting and Talent. And again, it's that do something that scares you. Like this terrifies me. But I'm a really ugly person. Like maybe people will like me. I'm strange. And so I'm like, okay, I'm gonna go do this. I'm gonna go do this thing. And each day you had to audition for different people with different types of things. Some of them were terribly terrifying for me. Like I had to do an improv. Like they're doing improv thing. I'm like, I don't, there's no lines. What do I do? So from there, like from there you get like different acting gigs and stuff like that. I did get an agency out of it. And I've done a couple of tiny little things here and there. But the cool part about it is that because of COVID, this is one of the good things that came out of COVID, because of COVID, all the interviews are now on Zoom. So you don't have to go anywhere. You just turn your Zoom on, you get a nice clear background and a good microphone and you can audition and you're not traveling so much because that wouldn't work out for my life. And that's a lot more expensive. So we look at the, thank you for saying that because I want to talk to people about the glass being half full, not half empty from COVID. It was very difficult for people over COVID to make their passions into their careers and also make money off of it. But there's also the glass half full that like the things that you're pursuing could be pursued virtually. So it's so great to be able to see that like this is being able to be successful and work for some people. So I'm so happy that you were able to do that. So you are successful. I'm seeing you progress even more every day because I follow you on social media. I follow you too. This is Jane Carter. She's absolutely amazing. If you want to hire her, she goes nationwide for any of her acro. She is amazing. I'm telling you, she's one of the most talented people I've ever seen in aerial arts for sure. Anybody in Hawaii, if you want some like great... Yeah, I would love to see you. Yeah, center to Hawaii first. I'm sure she would love that. She's in Washington, so she's very close. But if you had any other advice for women entrepreneurs specifically and then maybe entrepreneurs in general, what advice would you give? I think for entrepreneurs in general, let's do the thing that terrifies you. Push through that place where you're like, I'm scared of failure. Am I going to fail? You're never going to know if you're going to fail unless you try. And if you don't try, the answer is always no. So always try to push forward through that. In regards to female entrepreneurs, you've got to learn to get a thick skin because the world will try to push you around. So figure out what it is that you want. What is special about you? What is something about you that no one else has? And that's your brand. And then you push that forward and find things that are aligned with that brand. Yeah, exactly like you mentioned earlier. Network, find the people that are aligned with your vision, with your production, and then just promote yourself, whether it's through Instagram or just like reaching out to them, like be a voice for your own brand. Yeah, and join groups that follow your talent. And join groups of people that do the same thing that you do because you're never going to know who you're making contacts with until later on, like, I mean, like you, like we had such a good time at Tixie Dust. I know we did, yes. And I was just there helping another friend with their booth to help Vend because she needed an extra hand and I was right around the corner. So I went there and I met you doing your thing on your little moon. And it was obviously fantastic. And I've just watched you grow and I've seen that we met prior to COVID. I've watched you become an entire brand by yourself and now you're an actress. So... Try it. So you're doing great. And so that's why I really wanted to bring you on this show is just to show other people that you can create a brand around yourself. Doesn't have to be with a company. You can make it through COVID just with your talent. And so entertainment is now and we're getting back into that realm. So if you are an entertainer and you're watching this, you can definitely make a business, make some money, turn your passion into a career. Jane Carter, thank you so much for being on this show. And everybody else, thank you for watching. I'm Veterans and Commercialization. If you wanna learn how to turn your passion into a career and make some money, follow us. Thank you so much. Thank you so much for watching Think Tech Hawaii. If you like what we do, please like us and click the subscribe button on YouTube and the follow button on Vimeo. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn and donate to us at thinktechhawaii.com. Mahalo.