Today we’d like to introduce you to Stephanie Jacques.
Stephanie, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
It’s a long, convoluted story to be honest. To keep it short, I’d say it began in waves: 5 to be exact.
The tidal wave happened as a child. I loved performing, being the center of attention – I’ll blame it on the youngest child complex – but the older I got, the more I shied away from the spotlight. I became fascinated with movies from a different perspective. I remember when Pearl Harbor came out in 2001. I wasn’t as fascinated with the movie as I was with the “behind the scenes” features of how the movie was made. I would spend hours looking into how a scene was created – not having the slightest clue as to how the process worked.
The second wave came in high school. When multiple injuries ended my objective of playing college basketball before high school even began, I realized I had to look for an alternative to get through the next four years. This landed me in theatre where I would eventually earn the title of lighting designer and rigger. I had some great mentors throughout the program and I think that made the world of difference. They challenged me in ways I didn’t know I could challenge myself and to always learn something new.
The third wave came in college. I attended my first concert: Dierks Bentley, at the Fieldhouse on the University of Iowa’s Campus. That’s where my love of music truly began. Except, when I went to his concert, I wasn’t watching him perform, I was watching the people around him: the photographers, the crew running instruments on stage, the front of house crew mixing the audio and running the lights, the security detail holding back the crowd, the stagehands loading out at the end of the show… the list could go on. I was simply, fascinated.
The fourth wave hit the ground and took off. While in college, I picked up a second major: film production. Through that major, I was able to take several different courses including audio production. I eventually met a classmate who was in a band. We started networking. If I remember correctly, four or five days later, I was filming for them in local campus bars where they had booked their gigs, traveling to Chicago to film promo videos for their upcoming tour, hanging out with them in the studio to get candid footage for a “behind the scenes making of” segment and sitting in class looking at the latest edits about to roll out to the public. I still loved medicine though (my first major), which lead me to wondering how to combine the two when I stumbled upon the Set Medic career.
The final wave rolled in like a Tsunami when I had moved to Denver, CO in 2016 and then Breckenridge, CO 6 months later – all on a whim. I met Cam Sale, who at the time was my manager for the Video Shack at Breck Ski Resort. Cam had his own production company and to this day, has been one of my biggest mentors. He has helped me with my business from building the company from [essentially] the ground up to business philosophies, keeping clients happy, and following your own passion. We eventually became business partners (trading work back and forth, recommending each other to clients) and have expanded both of our businesses substantially in the last couple of years. I eventually moved back to Denver when I was given the opportunity to work for Red Rocks in 2017 and the rest of my story sort of takes off from there. Having Red Rocks as a “credit behind my name” lead me to reach out to local festivals, networking with their crews, getting my name out there and showing my worth. 2019 has been the biggest year yet as I was able to travel across the country with different companies for commercials and music festivals and I’m looking forward to what 2020 will bring in a few months.
Has it been a smooth road?
Absolutely not, it never was a smooth road and still isn’t at times. Going into the unknown was tough enough, let alone trying to break into an industry that was known to be male-dominant. I had no interest in moving to New York or LA and I didn’t want to stay in the Chicago area since I had grown up there all my life. This was already a bump in the road because I was moving somewhere where the industry was growing, but not really established per se. I uprooted myself twice in less than a year – rebuilding from the ground up both personally and professionally.
I had struggled with being taken seriously. I would often rethink if this was a career path I wanted to go down and why I didn’t stick with something easier or go to med school like I had originally planned. I would second-guess myself after every “no” I heard. I would have moments of doubt more often than not, but I pushed through all of that because I wanted to make something of myself. The biggest set back I had was back in early 2018. I had put my company on hold for 3 months while I recovered from a ski accident (while filming). I had to relearn how to walk, not knowing if I would ever see a pair of skis or a snowboard again (which meant I’d lose out on several clients). 5 months later, I put my company on the backburner again for another four months while I went back to school to get my national certification for Advanced EMT. I was passing up work while trying to make the best of what I could with how little time I had. In the end, it was worth it, because I was able to follow my childhood dream of being a set medic. More doors have opened and the opportunities are endless.
I knew where I wanted to be in life, but I struggled with finding a way to get there. Every single step was worth it because it got me to where I am today. It was a lot of self-learning and even more conversations with mentors in different fields of business.
It wasn’t until recently (mind you 5 years from company launch) when I learned my hard work was paying off. My name was floating around Denver, Breckenridge, Vail, the Nashville tour scene and even some other towns in neighboring states. Crews that were coming to Colorado knew me before I even had a chance to introduce myself. I recently received eye-opening advice from someone in the industry. I was talking with a production member of Cole Swindell’s crew who was wearing a Hawkeye hat (easy way to start a conversation –alma mater). Long story short – he introduced me to another production member. A couple of hours later during their loadout, the latter production member pulled me aside and told me: “Continue to be easy to work with and you will go far… the industry could use more people like you.” It wasn’t the first time I had heard it and I hope it won’t be the last.
Any advice for other women, particularly young women who are just starting their journey?
My advice for young women (or anyone in general):
-Be the easy person to work with. People are more inclined to want to work with you, if they know you will work hard, you will ask questions when necessary to do the job right the first time and you stay positive even when things get rough.
-If you’re passionate about it, follow your heart. It may be a slow progression; it may be a fast turnaround. Timing is everything. Starting your own business will take time, money and some risks. It may mean working 90 hours a week (nights, weekends, early mornings) instead of a 40-hour week, but if you love what you do, it should never feel like work.
-Don’t give up on yourself. The good days far outweigh the bad. You will find a way to get yourself there and don’t be afraid to ask for help. Every “no” is one step closer to that one “yes.” It’s a lesson learned to build from there. It only takes one “yes,” or maybe the right person at the right time. You will define your journey.
-Never expect to get things handed to you, but if it happens, don’t be afraid to take it and use whatever it is to get you to where you want to be. With that said, turn around and do the same thing for someone else, pay it forward.
-“Head Down, eyes up… keep going” (A Chase Rice quote I recently heard while working one of his shows). Stay grounded, stay humble, keep your focus, but know where you are going. It will be a lot about the silent moves you are making that people may or may not understand that are getting you that much closer to where you want to be. It’s about those small steps; they are the important ones, the foundation. Show (not tell) your work ethic and prove that you deserve to be there. Let your hard work do the talking. Turn that frustration into drive and purpose because eventually, your hard work will pay off.
– Always, always, ALWAYS know your worth!
So let’s switch gears a bit and go into Jacqued Up Productions story. Tell us more about the business.
I founded Jacqued Up Productions in 2015 with the sole intent that I would become a freelance set medic and/or a concert videographer who put out those YouTube videos every week. Hello, ambition. In reality, the company was merely a graphic design, video production and [minor] audio production company when it first began. As I began to hone my craft, find my niche and meet amazing freelancers, my company took on a much larger role of multi-media production. Today, most of our well-known work is specifically in electrics, video, and rigging for live concerts/music festivals and video production from TV commercials and TV shows to promo videos and even weddings as well as operating as an “event medic/set medic” for various races such as Spartan and Tough Mudder. As our talent and our team expand, our company adapts to the change and expands with them.
I’m not only proud of how far the company has come in the last four years, but I’m incredibly proud of my entire team. Check out the “A-List Production Team” tab on the company website to see just how talented each member of the team is. Their strengths and assets to the company are immeasurable. Every one of them is a freelancer while also managing a full-time position in some field of work in the industry. Although, it’s rare to have all of us in one place at the same time, we work together as a team and we have fun.
Jacqued Up Productions is set apart from others in many ways. We are made up of strong individuals that are adaptable to the client’s project(s). We work with the client in all aspects of a project from concept and budget to final product. Additionally, each member of our team has extensive knowledge in his or her particular craft. Jacqued Up Productions is also set apart from others in that I can travel and operate as a set medic or event medic in the state of Colorado, which broadens our client base and network opportunities for future work down the road.
Looking back on your childhood, what experiences do you feel played an important role in shaping the person you grew up to be?
For me, I think it wasn’t so much about the experiences I had growing up as much as it was about the people I met along the way. My parents have been my biggest supporters and life lesson “teachers” and I cannot thank them enough for that. My aunt and uncle (own and manage their own company) have taught me a lot when it comes to the “backend of the business:” the finances, the management, the logistics to obtaining a name/license for a company, putting in more hours than your staff and that has been a lifeline for me. Don’t get me wrong, I owe a lot of what I learned to my parents, my brother and the rest of my family, but the strangers who’ve become friends get credit too. I’ve had people who have told me I wouldn’t “make it,” “it’s a pipe dream,” “you’re too young,” etc. and that only added fuel to the fire, for lack of better words. It changed my mindset; it built my confidence up, ironically. I wanted to prove that I could do it, not just to them, but also to myself.
Looking back, as a child it may have been another face, but as I got older, it was another opportunity. How can I learn about this person? How can I learn about this industry? How can I help this person whether or not they can help me? When the mindset changed from “I’m too shy,” or “I can’t do this,” to “I want to learn,” “How do I get myself there,” opportunities happened and the outcome changed. The word, “can’t” no longer exists in my vocabulary; it got replaced with the phrase, “how can I make it happen,” along time ago. I figured out there were way more career options than I originally knew of and there are far more paths to get yourself there than most people know. I was able to network and meet people. I was able to find mentors in the industry that I could go to for questions. I was always taught to work for what I wanted. I wasn’t going to be handed “x” or get away with “y” without a lesson involved or hard work put into the task at hand.
Pricing:
- Pricing varies – Jacqued Up Productions aims to work within your budget.
Contact Info:
- Address: Locally: Greater Denver Area, Summit County, Vail
Destination: Client pending - Website: http://jacquedupproductions.com/
- Phone: To be provided after initial contact
- Email: info@jacquedupproductions.com
- Instagram: @jacquedupproductions | @outjacqued
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JacquedUpProductions/
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephjacques
Image Credit:
Ali Klos, Xavier Leandro, Mark Sassi, Gordon Smith, Jacqued Up Productions
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