Today we’d like to introduce you to Jordan Combs.
Jordan, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
When my husband, Chad, and I were dating, he was up in Washington State in the Navy. I remember the first time I visited I was so amazed at how tall the trees were and the beautiful Cascade mountains you could see from the kitchen window.
I pictured one day marrying him and having little “chadlets” picking berries and enjoying nature while running through the trees giggling. So once we got married and I had our second chadlet I decided to start @the.chadlets on Instagram. It hasn’t been easy figuring it all out from how to take quality photos to presets to building up a following but I really do enjoy documenting our family adventures square by square.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Definitely not! When I started, I didn’t have a social media account so all the terms were very new to me. From the photos to filters to followers, it was so overwhelming at times and to this day, I’m still learning and evolving. When I first started over two years ago, I actually deleted my first account due to being so frustrated with the learning curve and then having a life-threatening infection that took over my entire body. I was so swollen I couldn’t even hold my children so it was a year away from IG. Once I was healed I created a new account and started at it again. It’s been such a process but I’ve come far!
We’d love to hear more about your work.
I am very proud to be a wife and mother and enjoy homemaking and unschooling the chadlets. But I also began feeling in my heart that I needed to share my story and faith. So it’s taken some time to have enough courage to tell others about my childhood pain, past body image issues, my secret struggles with an eating disorder and overcoming it years later, etc. but I came to realize that I wanted to be as real as possible to help others in their journey. It is scary being vulnerable at times but I believe all of the struggles I have overcome were meant for me to share with others so that they know they aren’t alone.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Being honest, open and just being me! It was a struggle when I first began feeling like I had to add up. Like I had to look a certain way, act a certain way and be someone I really wasn’t. I never thought I would succumb to that but I felt it. And I began putting it on my kids. Having their outfits match and even not putting my son’s pictures on my feed because he kept wearing the same shirt and refused anything but that shirt.
I wasn’t inspired keeping up with what seemed to be expected and one night I posted a precious picture of my son in his favorite shirt and told everyone from then on they would all be seeing him in the same outfit for every post but that I was proud of it because that’s our real life. It’s been very freeing taking candid photos of the chadlets in whatever outfit they want to wear and sharing what’s on my heart and mind with others.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @_jordanelle
Image Credit:
Jordan Combs
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