Today we’d like to introduce you to Apryl Jackson.
Apryl, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
“The thing in life that messes us up the most is the picture of what it is supposed to look like inside our head.” No quote has ever rung truer, consistently, in my life because my story looked nothing like I envisioned when I left Mobile, AL after high school.
Although I’ve lived in Alabama for the majority of my life, I feel like I grew up in central Arkansas. I moved to Conway, AR, right after graduate school and found so much family, fun, faith, and optimism for my future. I am an alumnus of the University of Southern Mississippi where I obtained my bachelor’s of Art in Broadcast Journalism with an emphasis in Public Relations and a minor in Marketing and Spanish. Somewhere in between completing my senior capstone — which was a pitch for why BadBoy Records needed me on their A&R team (Diddy if you’re listening, holla at your girl *Hits Diddy bop*), I let my mentor at the time tell me that Student Affairs was a great journey for me to embark on since working in residence life kept me out of student loan debt and it was something I was seemingly good at. I would go to grad school for free — something I had never considered — and I would get to help others be successful in college like she did for me!
So I tossed my dreams like literally put all my PR materials in a box, and started reading the history of higher-ed. Well, that led me to a Master’s of Education with an emphasis in counseling, personnel, and administration. Doesn’t really go together, huh? I definitely tried to mesh the two for years! Regularly doing PR on the side in the form of campus productions and local events while working as a Student Affairs (SA) professional full time. It wasn’t easy, and nobody understood it, and eventually, I stopped understanding it and told God I was tired and if I was honest with myself, this was not what I had dreamt of doing. I imagine Him smiling widely and saying “FINALLY” (LOL) “Come, child, I have better for you and don’t worry, every piece of knowledge you gained in the SA field will not go unused.”
All of the research, student development and counseling theories, event planning, social media training and management, production execution, article submissions, and project management was preparation for the position I hold today as a Communications Coordinator for an education-based nonprofit known as EAST Initiative — Education Accelerated by Service and Technology; still not BadBoy, but no longer SA. If you want to know how God orchestrated THIS move, DM me on IG we can talk and shout together! Before taking this position, my struggles to enjoy certain parts of the transition process was the catalyst for starting The She’s DOPE Movement and laying the foundation for my company Personality, Etc (PE). These three things, Communications Coordinator, She’s DOPE, and PE, are my life and the manifestation of my God-given gifts!
Has it been a smooth road?
What is a smooth road? I’ll take something my journey has not been for $200 please, Alex! It has not been smooth, but it has been amazing! My biggest two challenges were believing in my abilities and getting over asking for help! That all came with strengthening my faith! Listen, I have a theory that God has given some of us the entrepreneurial spirit because He knew that’s the only way we would fully rely on Him every day! Some of my biggest takeaways from this journey:
1) Experience comes through exposure, not perfect execution. I was always worried that I didn’t have enough experience so people wouldn’t believe in me enough to pay me for my skills. Now, I look back at opportunities like coordinating a full-scale production (Miss Essence and Miss Black and Gold Scholarship Pageant at the University of Central Arkansas) from promotional materials to stage production, to booking talent, I was being exposed to so much that prepared me for much more than I realized.
2) You cannot control everything, no matter how detailed the planning. A publicist’s greatest asset, beyond creativity, is adapting on the fly. My mindset had to shift. I am a solutionist, not a “misfortune” teller. Some of the most memorable moments in my PR experiences came from solving a problem on the spot!
3) Become a master of your niche – There are so many lanes in the world of Communications. Find your lane and stay there. I am a full-scale strategist. I take a vision from inception to debrief and navigate a media strategy with you.
4) Do not expect you from others – Your gift is yours! No one will think like you, work like you, or “do you” like you. Stop worrying about if they will or what they will think when you do (just build a training for it and invite them to attend).
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into the Personality Etc and She’s Dope Movement story. Tell us more about the business.
I am the Head Media Strategist for Personality, Etc. This idea started out as a fictitious business for a class project but has since manifested into the company that all my freelance work happens under. When I sit down with a client, I allow my counseling knowledge of emotional intelligence and identity development theories to guide me as we compose full-scope brand strategies for businesses and individuals in efforts to create sustainability and brand loyalty. My niche is translating and network enhancement. I take your thoughts, your feelings, your goals, your ideas and turn them into a marketable package while connecting with people and equipping you with the knowledge to maintain the package we created together; full-scale strategy!
I am also the co-Founder of the She’s DOPE Movement; a nonprofit organization I started with a friend, Tamara Bates, in 2017. She’s DOPE is known for its personal development based social events that provide women, and those who support them, a space to DEFY OBSTACLES IN PURSUIT OF EXCELLENCE. Our online community, signature event — Brunch and Brand — and our networking mixers are filled with empowerment, education, entertainment, and enlightenment. Tamara and I know that many times people do not always take the appropriate steps to take our dreams and visions to the next level or more simply put, we struggle with follow-through; so all of our events encompass a component of onsite actionable steps for attendees to take to make follow through as easy as possible.
My proudest moment is deciding to chase my dream after being established in another career for years. I have not always believed that I had a gift or something special, but apparently, other people have seen my gift and believed in me from day one! So instead of selecting selling out the first She’s DOPE Brunch and Brand in less than 14 days or winning a pitch competition with my pitch about Personality Etc, I’d say my proudest moment is when I realized I have a gift, deciding to operate in it, and realizing that this is just the beginning! I believe it was the poet Robert Frost that said, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by And that has made all the difference.” I didn’t get into PR the traditional way, but God’s blessings do not have a formula. So while I took the road less traveled, I am still thriving.
How do you think the industry will change over the next decade?
There is so much to be cognizant of looking at the next 5 – 10 years of the industry! Affordability, the mental health of target audiences, cultural celebration vs cultural appropriation, customizable events all of this is pertinent now but will become guiding factors for all rather than some of us, I think those factors will separate true practitioners versus trend curators. Don’t get me wrong, capitalizing on a trend is smart, but is not always sustainable. I am also super interested to see how the realm of experiential marketing expands. I believe it has been in place for some time, but that new buzz phrase has it back on top and a necessary part of successful campaign conversations.
Contact Info:
- Website: ShesDOPEmovement.org
- Email: info@PersonalityEtcOrg and Joinus@ShesDOPEMovement.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/ShesDOPEMovement, instagram.com/@The_AjShow
- Facebook: Facebook.com/ShesDOPEMovement, Facebook.com/AprylJackson
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