Jay - How Dare She/Crisp Crow

Jay - How Dare She/Crisp Crow

Word nerd bird, boss and chief copywriter at Crisp Copy, plump + feisty + brave + tired + too much + one #fullysickbusinesschick , co-founder of How Dare She?, “Ma” for a tribe, + lover of a Viking. Jay is an absolute Wonderwoman, and we’re so glad we got to sit down and chat with her!

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What advice would you give to your 15 year old self?
“Don’t kiss that boy.”
“Stop being afraid you’ll turn out like your mother, you’d be lucky to be half as wonderful as she is.”
“You are far more capable and a billion times more worthy than you’ll soon believe you are.” 

What makes you proud to be a woman?
It’s difficult to tell what I’m proud of because I’m a woman and what the difference would be if I wasn’t. I’ve never been a man so I’m just stuck with this experience. I’ll tell you what I’m proud of about being a human, though.
My life trajectory got a little blindsided in my teens and I became chronically, devastatingly unwell. I never got better so I believed, for a long time, that my life would always be mediocre. 
Launching a business for me was more than starting an enterprise. It was the first step in a powerful movement towards belief in myself and overcoming the story I’d told myself for years that I “couldn’t.”
Now, I help women write words that are a thousand percent them. Proud, eloquent, truthful, and crisp. I want women to write copy that’s remembered, makes people think, question, and ultimately – makes those businesswomen the kind of money so they never have to go back to being employed, unless they want to. And build businesses that no chronic illness could ever harm. 
The success of my business helps fund the social enterprise I launched with my daughter, Ella. I use the copywriting skills I’ve honed to work with women who otherwise wouldn’t tell their stories– everyday, extraordinary women who aren’t confident to speak on a stage or write a blog – I take their dot points and first drafts and, along with our amazing collaborative of copywriters and editors – we bring that story to life. It’s called How Dare She? and our collective futures feature a lot more of it.

What has been the biggest challenge in your career so far?
I can take personal responsibility for that. Just about every time I’ve hit a wall or tripped over a stumbling block has been my own fault. I’ve gotten in my own way, I’ve told myself I’m not good enough, I’ve let petty slings and arrows hurt me in a way they’ve no right to.
But I’ve also learned to toughen up, princess, while remaining compassionate. I’ve used those lessons to re-evaluate how I feel about competition, collaboration, standing one’s ground. And, when it’s come down to the wire, I’ve protected my brand, valued my own worth, and moved upwards. 

What did you want to be when you grew up?
Until I was 10, I just wanted to be a rollerskating waitress who was also a lawyer and a writer in her spare time. 
When I was 11, my dance career took a sidestep into Musical Theatre, and I pursued that career until I was 21. I didn’t come back to writing until illness forced me to slow right down (to almost a standstill) and at 22 I picked it back up. 

Who inspires you the most and why?
I both love and panic at this question. I want the option to come back to my list and add to it monthly. 

  • Every woman who signs up to my writing classes and believes in themselves, their brand, and their worth. How freaking audacious. I adore them.

It’s interesting to watch women out in the wide world making huge waves but I find the women who are in my immediate circle are daily inspiration:

  • Lauren June – I met her at my front gate when she sold me an aqua bowl and she bossed me from the get-go. She asks questions like, “how you going to monetise that?” a lot. Then respects and helps me with my love-jobs. We work on quite a few projects together and those relationships that are both business and friendship can be really tricky – and ours often is – but we always work through it.

  • Sam Hudson – my VA and all ‘round superwoman. I wish I could clone her.

  • Kendall and Sophie – my ‘non-business’ friends. They say things like, “WHO?” when I worry about rubbing bigwigs of my industry up the wrong way and make fun of everything of mine being on brand. They keep me grounded and remembering to talk about life outside business, we have an ongoing, daily discussion about feminism, race, discrimination, love, and children and they also listen when I download all the entrepreneur life stuff. They are smarter, kinder, and better than me in every way and I simply love them.

  • My daughter. She has a core of steel and a heart of gold and is a better writer than me already.

These are the women I stalk on social media when I need a ‘smart, savvy woman, go out there and change the world’ hit  – Ash Ambirge, Clementine Ford, Tess Holliday, Stasha Washburn, Lilly Singh, Angela Gallo, Lacey Filipich, Clo Bullen, Katie Winnen.

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