Many times over these past few years, we have been reminded that entrepreneurship is often defined by its cornerstones of innovation and creativity.
We ought to remember that those two elements lead us to the threshold of the critical entrepreneurial leadership element.
I have been fortunate writing this column to meet and befriend many incredibly talented people who for an abundance of reasons have found their way to or returned to our beloved Okanagan region.
And isn’t it also a mystery that for some of us, we surprisingly discover that we can actually achieve what we dream of when we focus on the possible?
I would like to share with you this week a story of a young woman, Janyse Jaud.
Jaud was born in Kelowna with four older brothers. Her parents were professional architects, who believed in their daughter’s dream of embracing a different path for her life journey at an early age in the arts and entertainment genre.
Jaud began down this path by obtaining her academic experience at UBC Vancouver in linguistics and literature, enjoying youth oriented job positions along the way.
Quickly, she found herself embracing theatre performance, dance and the service sector to develop and hone her continually evolving arts culture skills.
And then, as often happens in this magical world of ours, Jaud found her way to the other end of Canada, moving to Montreal in 2000 to enjoy the formation of her amazingly diverse career doing voiceovers for film and television.
By 2002, Jaud found herself entrenched in television commercials and her creative juices were beginning to create a torrent of success and personal enjoyment.
Raised within the agricultural world of the Kelowna’s hillsides in a family with French and Icelandic routes, she determined that striving for excellence at an early age would be comprised of embracing every opportunity of interest as a building block for her future, not only for her career but for her self-actualization as a creative dreamer.
I had met Jaud while attending a media conference for the Okanagan Film Commissioner in Kelowna. I was immediately struck by her artistic presence. In reviewing her biography, I was absolutely amazed at the achievement this innovative person has accomplished.
What I particularly want to highlight for you today is Jaud’s recent creative work with the Magic of Think project.
She initially met several children from The Make A Wish Foundation and who made their “one wish” to meet Jaud along with the cast and crew of her award-winning animated series, “Ed, Edd n Eddy.” It was during that experience that Jaud realized the power that cartoons can play on a child’s life.
So she asked herself, what if she used her years of experience and contacts to create positive characters, music and stories that might help children develop courage so they could deal more effectively with the negatives of bullying, self-doubt, a life-threatening illness or any other personal challenge?
Hence, the Magic of Think was born (www.themagicofthink.com).
OK then, let me take a moment to share with you the true creative side of this Okanagan artist by the awards she has won:
• Winner of Best Song Hollywood Music in Media Awards
• Emmy award-winning “ Adoption Stories” Discovery Channel
• Winner Best Jazz CD Toronto Magazine Awards
• Nominated Best Song “Stomp” Independent Music Awards USA
• Nominated for Best Song “Blessed Is This Holy Night” Hollywood Music in Media Awards
• Worked with Warner Bros.; Hasbro; Alliance Atlantis; Cartoon Network; Marvel
• Living in Montreal and being the voice of the federal government
• Being on stage at the Emmys in New York as part of a winning team
• Being recognized for her songwriting with multi-nominations and international awards
• Having songs chosen to be in 10 motion pictures to date.
Jaud is currently seeking interest from the Okanagan professional and corporate world to assist in distributing her beautiful The Magic of Think CD and a program throughout Canada through charitable organizations as fundraisers par excellence.
This unique and innovative project is focused as a social and emotional learning program for children ages 4 to 7 that helps build courage, inspire discussion and increase the bonding mechansim through music, stories and activities.
