Today we’d like to introduce you to Jade Parks.
Hi Jade, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
My story started in Southern California. I grew up in a Christian home, so faith was the foundation. My mother passed away from complications of diabetes when I was 15 years old, and it changed my life forever. I struggled on my faith journey for a while. I knew that God was real. I believed in Jesus. I just had a hard time accepting His forgiveness for my sins. I was bound by guilt and shame for many years. I was crippled by fear. In 2016, I took a leap of faith and started a business. Jade Paints Makeup Artistry. I was terrified. At this point, I was a single mom, working as a full-time medical records clerk. 8 years before this, I started to pursue a completely different career path. I’m a creative writer. I write scripts; I was NOT a makeup artist by any means. I had no idea how to be an entrepreneur either. At my core, I’m a storyteller. It took me nearly 40 years to discover that, but I thank God that I understand it now. I was put on this earth to tell stories. I’m always so grateful for the opportunity to do so on this platform. Throughout this interview, I’ll tell y’all a bit about how I went from being the insecure, fearful, chubby church girl in California to the slightly chubby woman of God in Texas. By His grace, I’ve been able to do things that people told me I couldn’t. I’ve been in rooms that I never thought I’d step foot in. My story is one of extreme transformation, and I hope that it encourages, inspires, and uplifts everyone who engages with it!
Alright, 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?
Difficult, rough, broken, wild; all antonyms of the word “smooth.” All words that I would use to describe the road to where I am now. It has not been easy, but it’s been worth it. I’ve always believed in the spiritual realm, but honestly, I lacked knowledge about it. I didn’t realize how spiritual everything is. I want to lead by saying that anything good that is seen in me is a direct result of my relationship with Jesus Christ. After all the turmoil, pain, and trauma that I’ve experienced in my life, I needed something bigger to anchor myself to. There was no better option than God. I should not be here telling you this story today. I should not be alive. I’ve been near death so many times, some by my own doing, that it’s crazy! Jesus quite literally saved my life. So, you’ll hear me talk about God often throughout this interview, and that’s because He is my lifeline.
My first traumatic experience was in the 6th grade. I was 11 or 12 years old. It was a normal day. For context, I was raised in a pretty normal two-parent home. My mother was saved (Pentecostal to be exact), and my father believed in God, but he didn’t have a relationship with Him. My dad wasn’t saved at the time. We often went to church on Sundays, and he’d stay home. My mother discerned a lot of things, so she shielded me from wickedness as best she could. What I mean by that is that she wouldn’t allow me to watch certain films or listen to secular music when I was young. She liked oldies, so some folk slipped like Michael Jackson and The Isley Brothers. I was raised alongside 3 siblings, and I was the middle daughter. We have big gaps between some of us. My oldest brother is 10 years older than me, while my baby brother is 8 years younger. I had a great relationship with my parents, but I’m known as my dad’s favorite. All my siblings will still say that to this day. I’m proud of being a daddy’s girl, though. It has helped me understand my relationship with God the Father, who is the ultimate DAD! We didn’t have a lot of money growing up, but my family is wealthy. We are rooted in God at our core, so we were surrounded by love. I didn’t have everything I wanted but I never lacked anything. On this regular day at Mesquite Elementary School, I was at recess playing with friends. New friends. This was a new city, about an hour outside of Los Angeles. It was a smaller, quieter town, or so we thought. The people seemed friendlier, and the traffic was smooth. Not a whole lot of smog either. When we got there, I didn’t see any gang members hanging out outside of the projects. No crackheads offering to wash your windows. Instead of sirens at night, we only heard crickets chirping. It seemed…safer.
Tween me exited the black top and went into the restroom. My new homegirl came with me. Nothing out of the ordinary there. Everyone knows that it’s a part of the girl code to never let a girlfriend go to the bathroom alone under any circumstances. When I exited the stall, she was standing in front of the door. There was only one entrance/exit. I didn’t think anything of it. She remained completely silent. I washed my hands in the sink, and I noticed her locking the door. I can’t remember if I said anything, but I thought that was unusual. I turned my back to her as I was drying my hands. Seconds later, I could feel her breathing on the back of my neck. Startled, I turned towards her. She began to grope me. Her voice was low, her breath increased. “You’re going to like this.” I felt a rush of emotions. Anxiety, fear, confusion. “What are you doing, girl?” I recoiled. She proceeded to pull me onto the floor. She got on top of me, and I could feel her hands moving up my thigh. I was wearing a jean skirt with white tights that day. My mother always made sure that we were put together. We were NOT allowed to leave the house looking “any ol’ kind of way!” I thought about what she would say or do when I told her that I had just been sexually assaulted on the bathroom floor of my school. I’ll never know. I didn’t tell a soul. I went home, and I cried in private. I told my mom that I hated this new school, this new city, and that I had no friends. Of course, she tried to console me by saying that I’d soon be in middle school at a different school with the opportunity to make new friends. 25 years later, this woman dm’d me on social media. The message read, “You’re still so beautiful, Jade. Do you remember me? How have you been?” I stared at the message for what seemed like 30 minutes. I couldn’t help it. I burst into tears. Here I was in my late 30s, married with two children, living in a whole different state, running a bicoastal business, sobbing uncontrollably. In this moment, I reverted to that 12-year-old little girl on the bathroom floor. That day changed my life. My trust was broken. My innocence was stolen, not by an adult but by another child. I later became lustful and spiraled into promiscuity. I slept around looking for love, wanting to be validated by men. I was never satisfied. That’s the crazy thing about lust and perversion: it’s a greedy spirit. You have to keep giving yourself over to it, and it’s always craving more. I cried because I grieved. If this experience had such a negative impact on my life, I can only imagine what she dealt with. Had she been abused? Did she lack protection in her childhood? As a mother, my heart went out to her. I didn’t know anything about her home life. Perhaps she didn’t have access to the love that I was surrounded by. To know that this is a reality for so many children is heartbreaking. Hurt children tend to grow into broken adults. I knew this all too well.
I continued to experience traumas in my life. A couple of years after this incident, I buried my mother. I went through loss after loss. We lost our home and moved in with family. I got a job at 17 and moved out on my own. I got into a toxic relationship at 18 years old, and started to live a wild life. I got pregnant at 23 and was a single mother for 8 years. I aborted a baby because I barely knew the father, and he already had 5 children that he failed to raise. I was diagnosed with Type II diabetes just like my mother after delivering my second daughter. I had a stillborn son in 2023. My husband struggled with substance abuse, associated himself with toxic relationships, and a cycle of abuse formed in our marriage. I went to the ER in 2025, and the doctor thought I was having a heart attack at 38 years old! My husband and my mother-in-law persecuted and falsely accused me. Witchcraft spells, hexes, and curses were attempted on my family and me. I filed for divorce, and the judge sided with the abuser! I’ve been spiritually, financially, mentally, and emotionally abused. I ran from the calling on my life. I started so many things and failed to finish any of them. I got married during the pandemic, only to discover that my husband was a practicing warlock 5 years into the marriage. I lost EVERYTHING. My home, my car, my finances. I ended up on welfare. I was in deep survival mode for most of my life. All to bring me to the place that I’m in today. By God’s grace, I overcame ALL of that. I know that I shouldn’t be here. The perseverance and endurance that I have…the peace and strength… it makes no sense. I should have lost my mind and there a few times when I thought I did. Has the road been easy? Absolutely not. However, it could have only been by divine intervention that I’m here telling you this story right now. If it wasn’t God who allowed me not to stay broken and bound but to live in abundance and freedom, then who gets the credit? I’ve wanted to give up several times on this journey. Actually, I tried to end my life twice. I never thought it was possible to rid myself of pain, but I’m walking in healing. I have joy in my heart where sadness and depression once lived. I have peace in the mind once controlled by anxiety and confusion. There’s courage where fear once ruled. My daughters get to see a version of their mother that exudes love! That’s how I know that there’s hope for you, too. If God did this for me, it’s possible for others!
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I wear a lot of hats, but I’m proud to be a creative. I’d pick this path every time. There’s something so beautiful about making something from nothing, and that is what creatives do! I am a storyteller at my core. How I tell stories differs depending on the type of work I’m doing. I write scripts for the stage and screen. My favorite genres are historical, dramas, and comedies. I often combine them because I love to learn, laugh, and cry. Not crying in a depressive way, but in a releasing way. I’ve always been a crier, and I’m embracing it more as I get older. I’m crying more happy tears than sad these days, and I love that for me. I started writing scripts in 2008 while working as a receptionist for Los Angeles County. I began submitting them to competitions and fellowships. In 2017, I attended the Writer’s Workshop at Yale University, where I was blessed to develop a full-length stage play based on my late mother (Carolyn), grandmother (Josie), and Aunt Doreen. It was set in Jackson, Mississippi, during the Civil Rights Movement. Later that year, I produced my first staged reading at The Complex Theatre in Hollywood. It’s still one of my favorite scripts. The following year, I was awarded the Gebauer Phyllis Scholarship in Writing, which enabled me to attend the Writer’s Program at UCLA Extension. There, I developed a script set in England during WWI. I remember the look on my professor’s face when I presented my synopsis (or logline) in class. Most of the class raised a brow. I was a Black woman in my early 30s, writing a story with a British male for a protagonist fighting in a war that occurred a century earlier. My professor, Mr. Weiss, said, “You write really well about old, white guys.” I chuckle a little bit every time I think about that, or when I would do rewrites. Again, that’s the beauty of crafting stories; they allow you the opportunity to see through different lenses.
In 2016, with the nudge from family and friends, I launched a makeup artist company. I named it Jade Paints. I specialize in natural-looking makeup applications for weddings and special events. Listen, when I tell you that I fell into makeup, I mean it. I had zero connections. No network. No experience. I started playing in makeup around 2011. Started wearing it more often about a year later, and by 2013-2014, I was wearing full faces. My family took notice, and then my friends. They’d ask me to do their makeup for birthdays, proms, etc. I thought, “Sure, this would be fun to play in paint!” I didn’t take it seriously at all. My friend, Yashica, whom we call “Shica”, said to me one day, “I think you should go for it. I’m going to buy you some business cards!” I declined. I had no idea what to even put on the cards. I remember Googling “business card designs for makeup artists.” I created a Hotmail and Instagram account under the name Jade Paints. Another friend from work, Vangie, donated the infamous red chair seen in a lot of my professional photos. It’s a collapsible director’s chair that she inherited after her father’s passing. She said, “I know you’re a tall girly so it’ll help so that you won’t be hunched over all the time when serving your clients.” She was right. Saving my back these past ten years has been vital! I still pack my chair when I go on site to do makeup, and it’s held up for me. My big sister, Winter, was my first client. She let me practice on her because she knew that we were the same skin tone and type. She’ll argue that she’s more tanned than I am, but we’re actually the same tone unless she’s been outside more often. She’s outdoorsy, and I am not. I thoroughly enjoy admiring nature from inside my home, hotel, or office. That way, all insects and creatures remain in their habitat while I do the same! Winter helped organize my launch party. It was held in late spring of 2016. We held it at the Embassy Suites Hotel. I stood on my feet for hours doing back-to-back makeup for my family and friends, and my sister from another mister, whom we call Shue, was the photographer for the day. My aunt came and referred a friend to have her makeup done. My good sis, Jasmine, attended and had her makeup done. Even my daughter’s babysitter and her daughter came. It was a family affair, and a time was had. I was blessed to build a diverse clientele from the beginning. My friend Francesca asked me to do the makeup for my very first quinceañera. I had never been to one or serviced a client for a quince, and I had a ball. My first bride, baby shower, graduation, and prom were all for family members. Word traveled fast, and I became known as Jade the writer and the makeup artist. My clientele grew, and little did I know, my specialty was being developed. Natural glam is trending now, but back when I started, the beauty industry was not celebrating natural beauty. People wanted to look like someone else. They wanted to look like models on runways and in music videos. What’s worse is that all skin tones weren’t being celebrated either. Women of color, especially those with deeper skin tones, struggled to find the right products and artists to apply them. I had an advantage. I had the opportunity to practice on lots of shades coming from my background. I worked around all types of women, my friend group was diverse, and even my family was comprised of a variety of skin tones and undertones. My cousin, Sundei, has beautiful features, but she has two different undertones in her face as well as hyperpigmentation on her neck. I had to be intentional about learning color theory because I couldn’t just slap one foundation on her and call it a day.
My dedication to inclusion and my ability to serve all skin tones are a blessing, and I’m proud of that, but honing in on my calling is greater. In 2025, my personal life changed so much. I lacked support from my spouse, I started a job that I hated because I felt pressure to stay in a box, I lost my home and car, separated from my spouse, and filed for divorce after realizing that I was in an abusive marriage. Naturally, my business was affected. My finances had dried up, I lacked inspiration, and I was burned out. I considered packing my brushes away and closing Jade Paints. I prayed, asking God, “What do you want me to do with this business?” I didn’t get an answer right away, so I took that as a sign to shut it down. Every single time that thought crossed my mind, I’d book a client. My books wouldn’t go crazy, but I’d book just enough to keep me inspired and make a little money on the side. God challenged me. I went back to the basics. I started watching videos online about everything from sanitation to applying makeup on mature skin. Remember, I love to learn. I sifted through old before and after photos to see where I could improve. I started posting on social media again. The Lord resurrected a dream that had died in me, and I began to fall in love with makeup again. More importantly, I remembered why I started Jade Paints to begin with: to make women feel beautiful. To help them see the beauty they behold that was given to them by their Creator. I lacked confidence for so long, and being on this healing journey has helped restore it. I want other women to experience that feeling, and I have the opportunity to do that every time I pick up a brush. I don’t force my faith onto anyone. I demonstrate the love of Christ by being good to people. By delivering high-quality service. I allow God’s light to shine through me. This is not just makeup artistry, it’s ministry.
Lastly, I launched The Pouring Point Podcast in late 2025. I also create content for YouTube @UnderpaintwithJade. See, told you I wear a lot of hats! As a content creator, it allows me to share my testimony and reach far beyond my local community. God has graced me to overcome a lot of adversity. Now I’m on a mission to spread a message of hope and encouragement, especially in such a dark, chaotic world. These spaces are safe spaces to have conversations about heavy topics such as abuse, abortion, divorce, motherhood, and depression. All my life, I’ve had a heart for girls. Females of all ages, races, and backgrounds are drawn to me, and I finally understand why. Not only do I love to tell stories, but I love to listen to them even more. Think back on a time when someone shared a testimony with you, and it completely changed the view you had of them. Wasn’t it amazing? I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase, “You can’t judge a book by its cover.” That’s so true. You have to read the book and engage with the story!
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
Okay, I need to give a disclaimer so that I don’t get canceled. I have lived in the Keller/Fort Worth area the entire time since relocating to the DFW. I work in Dallas a lot, so I feel like my opinions are valid.
My dislikes are much shorter than my likes. Honestly, there’s only one worth mentioning: the drivers. Driving is the thing I like least about the city. It’s like no one understands that the indicator to the left of the steering wheel is necessary when turning or changing lanes. It’s for your safety, bro! I say a prayer every time I start my car because I’ve genuinely had anxiety about getting on 35. I know I’m not alone in that. It’s two extremes, either people are driving like bats out of hell, or they’re driving Miss Daisy. If you’re old enough to get that reference, I salute you.
What I love most about Dallas is what drew me here from California. That is the culture. Community. I love how down-to-earth we are. I love how supportive we are. Folks will stop what they are doing…stop traffic if they have to to help someone in need. Riding round wearing their cowboy hats and a smile. I’ve heard other transplants (especially the Californians) complain about native Texans rejecting transplants because they feel a way about the great migration. Gladly, that hasn’t been my experience. Sure, I’ve run into ignorant people, but you’ll run into those everywhere. The majority of people here are good folk just trying to make the best of life. I made Texas my home during the pandemic, and I immediately felt welcomed here. I’ve met plenty of amazing people and made new friends. What’s beautiful about it is that they are genuine. People care about each other here. It was important to me to live in a place where I could raise my children and grow my business. I found that and much more. Surprisingly, I also found a community of believers in Christ, and I found it outside of the four walls of a church. Jesus’s ministry was like that. He didn’t show up in churches every Sunday. He preached to people on mountaintops and in the wilderness. He stood in boats while crowds gathered on the shore. He preached in marketplaces where the common folk were. Jesus was relatable, and His emphasis was on RELATIONSHIP vs religion. I desire to do life and ministry like Jesus. I believe I’m planted in the right place to grow, and that’s what matters most!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/underpaintwithjade
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jadepaints
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Underpaintwithjade
