Rising Stars: Meet Maisha Jones of North West / Cobb County

Today we’d like to introduce you to Maisha Jones.

Maisha, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Growing up in poverty with a mom, stepdad and dad, stepmom all addicted to heavy drugs and alcohol, I experienced all sorts of abuse, trauma and neglect. When I became pregnant with my ?miracle baby?, I knew I had to take drastic measures to save her from the world that I knew.

I decided that I’d stay home, work from home and homeschool my baby girl. As a single mom without a support system, creating the life I envisioned for us seemed all but impossible.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
It was already beyond difficult freelancing as a creative director and photographer while being a homeschooling, solo parent without assistance or a support system. Just when I thought I figured out how to be successful despite my circumstances, something else happened.

During this pandemic people kept asking and expecting me to do free work.

When I first started out I happily did tons of TFP/promo work. It’s common for artists to work for free in hopes of a social media tag and relationship leading them to greater things.

As a parent, independent person and someone who survives and provides based on the income produced from my creativity, the hard truth I had to face was; you can no longer afford to take this approach. you must figure out a different way to get your work seen.

It was challenging navigating in the creative world as an unknown artist who wants to get paid for their work. For a while I felt like I had to work for free because I was afraid of losing relationships and visibility.

Bad things kept happening whenever I would do free work. My equipment was damaged. Items were stolen. People would request too much of my time and effort.

I decided to change things up. If I was going to ?work for free? it would be on my terms. That’s when I created Gigi and Mommy. Through this platform I offer free knowledge, how tos, etc. I will not work for free but I will show how I do it, what I used and give tips so people can do it themselves.

Even though Gigi and Mommy is less than a year old we’ve seen remarkable results for the effort we’ve put in. Also, we’ve managed to gain 10 times the following now vs before. From a personal level is is also very touching when moms message me to tell me how much I inspire them and help them.

People still ask me to work for free / visibility. However now that we have a stream of continued business opportunities and requests from our self sustaining brand of mommy and daughter creativity, i no longer feel that working with someone for free is necessary for our growth and success.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
As a business, I offer set design, creative direction and prop making services. I also offer one on one creative and photography learning services.

Creating content with my daughter utilizing my skills in hair & fashion styling, prop making, set design, clothes & accessories making, graphic & web design and marketing is not only fun but it’s done wonders with helping me promote my businesses.

I think what sets me apart is that I do everything with my daughter. Gigi not only is my muse, she is the artist of our dynamic duo. I make sure everything works and she makes sure that it all looks good.

I’ve worked with many people before Gigi and yet no one has ever complimented me as well as her. I know it seems odd because she is so young, but it’s true. She is extremely gifted. At only seven she effectively uses drawing and editing apps to create logos, edit photos, create animations, make video tutorials, etc. She’s my daughter and my business partner, I feel incredibly blessed.

Typically It takes teams of people to do what Gigi I do on our own. Also we do everything at home. It takes a lot of hard work, dedication, determination and resourcefulness to do what we do, at the same level or above, without at least the assistance of one other adult.

Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Happiness for me is freedom. Free to be authentic. Free to do what I love with who I love.

I am happy t be able to show my daughter and so many others how to live free and follow dreams.

I am happy that I am able to inspire moms to not give up on their dreams. I’ve been hurt deeply by my moms who felt they needed to give up on their dreams. They felt unsatisfied and trapped in their life. They took their frustrations out on me and my siblings. It makes me happy to know that I am ending that cycle.

Pricing:

• Creative Consulting & Direction $250 per hour / 2 hour minimum
• Set Design retainer $500
• Custom props starting at $250

Contact Info:

• Email: info@GigiAndMommy.com
• Website: www.GigiAndMommy.com
• Instagram: Instagram.com/GigiAndMommy
• Facebook: Facebook.com/MaishaRJones
• Twitter: Twitter.com/GigiAndMommy
• YouTube: YouTube.com/GigiAndMommy
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@thegigiandmommy