Today we’d like to introduce you to Marlena Jarjoura.
So, before we jump into specific questions about the business, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I believe that my story began before I was born, so I’ll start in the middle-ish. In 2012, a few days after graduating from college, I moved to Austin from a small town north Mississippi where I’d spent the last 22 years of my life.
Once in Austin, I started my career as a special education teacher and grew from college kid to adult overnight, or so it felt. But the Monday-Friday grind of “teacher life” was deeply upsetting for me. I just could not accept that my life consisted of being in the same place five days a week, following the same schedule, and barely having enough time to feed myself before starting over the next day. I felt like a trapped bird, wanting nothing more than to be freed, unfettered by schedule, soaring on the winds of spontaneity and adventure. So, in 2014, I quit my job. I sold all that wouldn’t fit into my Toyota Camry and I began my next chapter: Wwoofing.
The Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms network gives folks the opportunity to live and work on farms in exchange for room and board. I grew up reading the Little House on the Prairie book series and it became the only real vision I ever had of my future. But, I’d never actually lived on the land, worked the land, ate from the land, and I figured that if I ever wanted to move towards this vision, I needed to make sure I actually enjoyed it! And I really, really did. I enjoyed early mornings, feeding the cows and the pigs, the sunny afternoons picking potatoes and removing squash bugs. I loved cleaning out the chicken coops, hearing their sweet chicken sounds and feeling grateful for the eggs they provided.
My farming stint ended and I made my way back to the city and needed some source of income so I taught myself how to make jewelry from the crystals I’d dug in Arkansas my whole life. I took a tablecloth and my jewelry out to the tourist covered streets of South Congress and set up on a bench. I brought my wire, tools, and stones with me and I would make more jewelry while folks stopped and admired and bought what I had.
My wire wrapped jewelry was very well received and I made my living selling it on the streets for almost a year. But at this point, I was longing to get back to the land, longing to have my hands back in the dirt and my feet on the earth. So, shortly after, in 2016, I serendipitously met my future husband, who happened to live on lots of wide empty land out in the hill country of Texas, not too far from Austin. I quickly moved out to the cabin he’d built, by himself. At that time, there was no electricity, no running water, no garden; just a one-room cabin in the heart of a juniper forest. Now, three years later, we’re married, with our cabin updated with solar panels for electricity, captured rainwater, a garden, and, most excitingly, another off-grid cabin on our property that we rent out on Air Bnb to those needing an escape from the city.
I run my jewelry business from our home and I also make memorial jewelry for a company called Spirit Pieces. Each day is an adventure now and I feel blessed to be living the life of my dreams!
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
While the road hasn’t always been smooth, I’ve had my feet planted firmly on my path for a long, long time and that resilience to live my best life has allowed me to grow from my struggles. I am a white woman who grew up middle class, so I am aware of my privilege and of how blessed I am to have been born in this body. So, while my struggles are simply pebbles in the shoe compared to the hardships that marginalized folk deal with on a daily basis, I have not gone through life unscathed. There has been a lot of tragedy and death within my own family and those close to us and I was a deep depression from about age 14-19, struggling with unprocessed trauma and feeling isolated and misunderstood. I began playing music (guitar) and writing songs when I was 14 and my songs became my outlet, the only way I felt safe enough to interact with my feelings. Music saved me and continues to save me today. I am not one to give advice, for how can I begin to assume that I know better than anyone else, but I will say that music, art, and nature have all been extremely important to me as I walk through this life. They have been my friends, when I felt all alone, my way of expressing myself when words just wouldn’t work. So, I say to you, get outside, get your feet on the ground and your hands making, creating, something, anything; just find a safe way to express what you’re feeling so that it doesn’t stay locked inside of your body.
Please tell us more about your artwork, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
I use the ancient art of wire wrapping to create my jewelry and that technique is less employed than other more modern approaches. But I am not known only for my wire wrapped jewelry; my writing, my music, my garden, my whole self is what folks seem to be drawn to. And that, to me, is exactly what I want to be known for.
I am a human; I am not a brand, not some dry, perfectly curated business, with a perfectly curated Instagram feed and a perfect website. I am flowing with the changing tides of life and I operate my business in the same way. I come up with new pieces when I am inspired to, not based on some schedule, and those that follow my work, rarely follow me just for my jewelry. They are inspired by my off-grid lifestyle, by my low impact existence, by the art and music that flows through my fingers, and by my openness to share my life experiences.
I am most proud of my willingness to take risks, in my jewelry making and in my life in general.
Were there people and/or experiences you had in your childhood that you feel laid the foundation for your success?
My experiences growing up are what literally led me to where I am today but I think it’s important to note that success is extremely objective. I live in an off-grid cabin, with solar power, rainwater, and a compost toilet, and I run a jewelry business from my home. To me, I have succeeded. But to many others, I am living a life of glorified camping, my business is run only with a sole employee (me), I don’t have children, I drive an older car, etc.
So, my life has literally unfolded into exactly what I always wanted it to, and I think that is due largely to the fact that I have kept my heart moving towards my own version of success, instead of what society deems successful. As I mentioned before, I grew up in a middle-class family, so that itself set me up for success later in life. No matter how hard I had to work, I didn’t have to pull myself up from the heavy chains of poverty. And for that, I am extremely grateful. I think that making music and art from such a young age was helpful in having a career in the arts today. Art for me has been something I’ve done for so long, that it makes a lot of sense that it has become what is sustaining my life now.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.marlenajarjoura.com
- Email: marjarjoura@gmail.com
- Instagram: @marlenajarjoura
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marlenajarjourajewelry/
- Other: https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/33532013?s=67&shared_item_type=1&virality_entry_point=1&sharer_id=31615138
Image Credit:
Richard Casteel, Sarah Natsumi Moore
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