Excerpted from an interview with CanvasRebel, July 2024

Amy, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to go back in time and hear the story of how you came up with the name of your brand?

My creative practice is called unplain jane studio. Under the umbrella of my studio, I’m an author, writer, and photographer, and I also work with clients on strategic branding and communications projects.

The name “unplain jane” is a wink to my middle name and the kinds of subject matter I most enjoy exploring in my work. Shedding light on unique aspects of our culture that hide in plain sight is one example; I also believe that there’s nothing straightforward about any story worth telling or any photograph worth shooting. What’s below the surface or in the periphery is almost always the most compelling part of the big picture. See? Jane isn’t plain after all.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

For the first part of my career, my B.A. in Marketing and M.Ed. in Higher Education afforded me opportunities to work in just about every communications and constituent relations role that exists at universities, including marketing, PR, alumni relations, speech writing, social media, and more.

While the work was very fulfilling, the most rewarding aspect was working with many wonderful people who helped me grow personally and professionally. I learned so much from mentors who became friends and friends who became mentors!

For the last nine years, I’ve run my own studio practice. My practice allows me to collaborate with clients on all kinds of strategic communications projects while pursuing my own long-term creative projects.

As for my work with clients, I’ve helped launch successful capital, branding and marketing campaigns; develop short- and long-form editorial content including feature stories, blogging, executive communication, campaign case development, website content, and grant writing; and provide commercial photography and design services. At the same time, I showed and sold my fine art photography at juried exhibitions and festivals across the U.S., and I was chosen to be one of two dozen artists to create pieces for the Star of Texas public art project in Arlington, Texas.

Thanks to my work in photography and community outreach, in 2019 I was named the inaugural Artist-in-Residence for the Arlington Museum of Art. In that role, I was able to fully envision and debut a multi-media art exhibit entitled “Mumentous: The Upsizing of a Texas Tradition”. The exhibit is both an artistic and sociological exploration of a deeply rooted and unique Texas high school tradition: the exchange of large artificial chrysanthemum “corsages” at homecoming games. For the exhibit, I shot 60 photographs and created narrative panels, an audio installation, a 14-minute history video, and a community-driven installation of over 90 mums and garters.

It was an incredible learning experience and creative time for me. In fact, through the Arlington Museum of Art, the exhibit is available to other museums and galleries as a traveling exhibition.

Although the pandemic slowed some of my client work, I found another creative outlet for community-building. From 2020-2022, I co-founded and produced “Sociability,” an Arlington-based monthly digital magazine, with my long-time friend Tony Rutigliano. The magazine engaged a broad spectrum of contributor voices in topics of local interest including servant leadership, community engagement, arts, altruism, and personal development. I served as the executive editor.

From 2022-2024, I worked as senior editor/writer for the Arlington Museum of Art. I helped solidify the museum’s brand identity and capital campaign messaging as it moved from a small building to a new location nearly eight times its previous size.

Meanwhile, I continued to research and write essays about the photographs I had shown at the AMA. In Spring 2023, Atmosphere Press (Austin, TX) published the collection as a non-fiction book, MUMENTOUS: Original photographs and mostly true stories about football, glue guns, moms, and a supersized high school tradition that was born deep in the heart of Texas.

In Fall 2023, something wonderfully unexpected happened. The Texas Lakes Trail Region, an initiative of the Texas Historical Commission, partnered with me to create a traveling cultural heritage exhibit about the history of homecoming mums in Texas. The exhibit is entitled MUMENTOUS: Football, Glue Guns, Moms, and a Super-sized High School Tradition Born Deep in the Heart of Texas.

A collection of forty panels designed for easy travel and display, the exhibit was created for galleries, museums, universities, libraries, and other venues that offer arts and cultural programming.

Nearly all of the visual content in the traveling exhibit was based on my book. Additional photographs were featured in partnership with the University of Texas at Arlington Libraries Special Collections.

Today, I’m once again devoted full-time to my studio practice and other creative projects, including writing my second book.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I like that you used the word “journey” in your question, because I think that’s part of the answer. Creativity isn’t a finish line. It’s always a work in progress. Maybe that’s hard for some people to understand because it’s not tangible.

My first book, MUMENTOUS, is a great example of this because it’s more than a book. It’s a supersized, “you can’t judge a book by its cover” journey that continues to this day. It illustrates how an untethered creative process can lead to success, and it also shows how different that is from commercial R&D, sales, or even content creation.

When I first started, MUMENTOUS didn’t have a name. It wasn’t an idea for a book, a product, social media platform, or a brand. There was no deadline. It was just a path I allowed my curiosity and creativity to take.

A few years ago, I joined a friend for a homecoming mum-making session at Nolan Catholic High School in Fort Worth. Her booster club was making mums to sell as a fundraiser for the marching band. As it turned out, I was not to be trusted with a glue gun, but I exceled at taking photos of the women who were volunteering that day. What I saw in their efforts was not about the mums at all. Instead, I saw something universal: women getting together to support a common cause. I imagined it was like the quilting bees of by-gone eras. It helped me begin to understand this ubiquitous Texas tradition in a new way.

I continued to shoot photos and seek creative guidance so that eventually, my growing portfolio caught the eye of the team at the Arlington Museum of Art, which is when they invited me to be their first-ever artist-in-residence. That six-month residency opened me to understanding the subject matter through many different mediums.

It was an opportunity not only to create new works but to bring people together, amplify a diversity of perspectives, and influence perceptions. It changed my perception of myself, too. I began MUMENTOUS as a photographer; I became a storyteller.

That led me to writing my book, my blog, and eventually, the opportunity to partner with the Texas Lakes Trail and create a traveling cultural heritage exhibit based on my book.

Today, I joke that if academia would let me earn a Ph.D. in “mumology,” I’d be ready to defend my dissertation. Organizations across the state invite me to talk about the history of homecoming mums as a gateway to broader topics, including women’s history, Texas traditions, pop culture, street photography, community-building, economic development, and entrepreneurship. I can hardly believe it!

But then I look back at my creative journey, and all I see is everyone who believed in me as I stayed curious, stayed open, and stayed the course. It’s been a blast every step of the way, and I am so truly grateful.

Are there any books, videos, essays, or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

While I love all of Malcolm Gladwell’s books, The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference was a revelation. I also recommend The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business by Charles Duhigg. Also, if someone suggests a book, podcast or other resource, I always check it out because their recommendation tells me something about their interests and personality, allowing me to connect with them in a new way…