Jess Bird: Safety in Oneself, and Being More Than Mostly Happy

Image description: Colorful promotional graphic for The Book Stoop podcast presented by Row House.

Information shared includes the guest name (Jess Bird, a white woman with long dark hair half up in two buns on top of her hear, wearing a denim shirt, bright orange glasses, sitting on the floor with her knees up, back resting on a bookshelf, and her hands draped over her knees) and title (bless the messy artist + illustrator ), a photograph of the host, Amanda Lytle, a white woman with long light brown hair and glasses, and icons for Spotify, RSS feed, Stitcher, and Apple Podcasts.

It is placed against an image of a starry night sky and an illustrated roof top. A colorful illustrated triangle flag banner in Row House yellow, orange, maroon, and purple is hanging over the red brick buildings.

There are also geometrical neon shapes and lens flares accenting the image.

Jess Bird is a self taught artist + illustrator, making magic in her hometown of Rochester, NY. She started her instagram and shop Bless the Messy in 2014, in an effort to connect back to herself and others during the darkness of depression. Exposing herself as a messy, in-process human figuring it out, she uses her illustrations to convey what she’s learning, how she’s feeling, and how she moves through the world around her. Her hope is that people feel seen, validated, and less alone. She started Bless the Messy in a closet (both literally and figuratively) and has grown as an artist and human alongside so many of those who have supported her journey (even at a distance).

In the conversation today, we hear about lessons learned from life with chickens, and how they help create community. Jess shares about how social media has been used as a tool to share as she’s been navigating life and finding safety in herself and at home in her body - without the filters or trying to shapeshift to gain love and acceptance from others. Jess also shares a bit about how she had to completely dismantle the life she’d been living in order to step into authenticity and truth.

Shout Out: @BlkBookSwap 

Jess on Instagram: @BlessTheMessy 

Row House Publishing on Instagram: @RowHousePub

Podcast Transcriptions Available: www.rowhousepublishing.com/podcast 

​​Learn more about Row House Publishing and our mission to Raise the Volume on Voices That Matter™: http://rowhousepublishing.com 

Original Book Stoop theme: anonymous

Cover art: Danielle Pioli (https://www.daniellepioli.com)