What is the RECC Journal? 

I feel in order for you to properly understand what the RECC Journal is, you have to kind of know who Rachel Esther is. Rachel Esther is many things – a mom, an entrepreneur, a mixed medium artist and so much more. Even though these words give you an understanding of who I am, they really do not help you understand what I stand for.

I am a person that is extremely passionate about the arts & humanities. I believe that art is an opportunity for expression, a means to start conversation, documentation of history, and entertainment. Art is not something we just ponder and hope to gain something from, its embedded in experiences we have everyday. Think about something like eating. It took an artist to innovate and develop the concept of a plate. What was once leaves and slabs of random wood became a statement in your home, a conversation of class, or even an accessory to aesthetically pleasing meals. Plates serve the immediate purpose of being something that you eat off of but at the same time, can be an opportunity of expression as well. When you have company over and pull out that good china people are either going to consider your taste in decor (which is an artform in itself) or consider how you spend your money is valuable (or that you even have the money to spend on nice things). Either way, all of this conversation and the directions that you can go with it are all connected to one item, a plate. In a world where when you think about where the credit should be given, your instinct is to credit the brand or business that designed and manufactured the product. Before plates became a profitable product worth innovating, our first real sustainable plates were just pottery. It wasn’t a specific brand selling these plates, it was a local potter or artist being the way for people to receive these goods. Now you may be asking Rachel, what does this have to do with anything? 

All this talk about plates is to help you understand not only where business and art intersect and always have but how often the artist’s role in innovation is overlooked. 

When we think about people making careers out of their creative talents, a lot of times those people are called dreamers. They’re dreamers because how realistic is it to hope you are talented enough to make money and do that one thing for the rest of your life. If we’re being honest, I think we can say to some, it is nothing more than a dream. It could be a dream because they are not willing or privileged to have the opportunity to make art their priority and on the other hand some people simply do not have the talent they think they do. But what about the ones who do have the talent, do give it their all and still “fail.” More often than not it is not their lack of talent that did not bring them to their desired success, it is a lack of a business acumen. Business acumen or not though, I do believe if not just society but businesses and the people that drive the economy should see creative careers equally as challenging and valuable as finance, architecture and even entrepreneurship. I do not want the world to just see them as equals, but I want to empower artists to demand that respect as well and know they have the right to do so. To do that, you have to have the correct knowledge. Knowledge is the greatest resource of them all therefore through sharing and dissecting information in a way that a creative mind can understand, I hope to bring this information to the forefront and allow creatives to feel confident in their business endeavors. 

When it comes to business, I did not always know this was a passion of mine however, through schooling I have been able to define it as such. I think my first real business was Rachel’s Cupcakes; a cupcake catering service I started in high school. However, if you were to ask my mom she’d tell you I got my start selling Jonas Brother’s pictures I’d print at home and sell at school. It’s funny when I look back at it because this was the first time I realized supply and demand was a thing. I knew a lot of kids in my class did not have colored printers and I did, so I did the noble thing of selling printed photos for 25 cents a pop. When I look back I realize that s where it began, but where I recognized it as a passion was when I encountered ENT 101 my senior year of college. It was through that course I realized maybe business school was for me and it was through business school I realized I’m not supposed to just be my own boss, I am supposed to help others do the same for themselves. Through my education I realized that building businesses is an art form in itself. As an artist, I’ve reflected and realized the aspect of creativity I’m attracted to is creating stories that have a clear beginning, middle and end. The other aspect of art that excites me is anything that requires a process to breed results. As a  theatre kid, it wasn’t the play I loved the most, it was the experiences in rehearsal, the development of character, and the happy accidents that happened on set. The actual final performance was just the icing on the  cake. That performance day feels like such a rush and then it all ends, and you have to find another project to work on. With business, it is the same cycle and then some. When you create a product or service, your testing phase is just like rehearsals; repeating the same thing over and over with slight adjustments until you get the perfect results. Consider your multiple iterations to just  be building a character. When I realized these intersections it made me truly fall in love with the art of business. I loved this tedious process that brings great results. I love trying and failing but trying again till we get to what we desire. I love a successful launch but when that feeling wears off going back to the drawing board and asking myself what project is next? 

I want more artists to be able to make those connections. Business does not have to be intimidating when you realize that the processes you participate in are very similar to sentiments you experience daily as an artist. Keep in mind, I am saying this as a person that almost did not go to business school because I thought it would not work well with my hyper creative, hyper active neurodivergent brain. Once the stigma that business is for structured folk is removed and creatives understand not only are we tools but this process is a lot like ours, we will begin to see more and more artists and creatives independently thrive. While in the last 10 years we’ve seen a drastic rise in the gig economy and more and more small businesses are opening, not enough people are sustaining themselves or making it past that 5 year threshold. I hope through this blog, my services and events that I am able to help share the information necessary to help these growing businesses thrive. My goal is to build a community of entrepreneurs and creatives that can leverage one another for growth. We actually cannot do this all by ourselves so I hope to be one small crumb that helps bring forth a sea of change. I want to motivate others to not only reap the benefits of community, but show them what it looks like to be an active participant in doing so. Community comes at a price. You have to pour into others to leave the room for someone to pour into you. I understand we live in a society where people are learning boundaries and fear being taken advantage of, I want to help create spaces people can feel comfortable pouring into communities with trust. Artists have some of the worst trust issues ever because if you’re not getting played on a personal level, people often lowball you creatively.  So many artists miss opportunities because they are scared of being done wrong. I want to help undo that by being a person and business that people can trust and cultivate spaces rooted in that. 

My passion for the arts is not what only encouraged me to create RECC but to consider writing as a means for expression as well. While we are in a society that is driven by video and audio communication, I am a firm believer that writing is so so essential to documentation and the sharing of information as well. This lands me here at the RECC Journal. This will be a space where I not only share business insights and developments but my thoughts and guidance on this information. Information means nothing if you do not understand it. If you do not understand it, then you more than likely do not know what to do with it. Therefore through the RECC journal, as we share insights, we will further expand on them. This space will be used to highlight individuals, artists, businesses, and programs that align in what I believe in but are also simply just doing their thing. 

As person that values deep thought and conversations that evoke emotion, the RECC Journal will make room for dialogue that encourages these things as well. In terms of personal intentions, I am creating this blog to encourage myself to give purpose to my random thoughts but to spend more time writing and less time scrolling. While I love social media and the ways you can leverage its benefits, it’s also actively contributing to the depletion of our brains, mental health and overall happiness and the literacy crisis. I want to encourage myself to write and I want to encourage others to read. Once we leave school and these tasks become optional, we are all less likely to pick them up again. But these skillsets are essential to growing and thriving. So as an effort to encourage myself to share my talents and skills, I also want to challenge myself to work on something consistently in a way I have not before. 

If you know then you know my first website ever was actually a written blog centered around beauty and lifestyle but it is something i started and never stuck with. The RECC Journal is my opportunity to revive something I once loved in a way that aligns with who I am and the things I want to output today. 

So yeah, I am very excited to get back to writing for you all. I am excited to build my skills as a writer and challenge myself to critically think. I am also excited to see what this blog will bring in terms of connection and meeting new people as well. I am just excited and I hope you are too. Until next time.