one woman band club

Jenny’s Story!

During One Woman Band, Jenny Morgenthaler worked on her breath-taking book project that I'm excited for her to tell you more about it, pivoted her career and brought her art and whimsy together under one roof: Clever Bird.

Jenny’s way of seeing the world is so quirky and colourful, and she has the most contagious energy and reminds everyone how much magic can be found in the everyday!

Tell us more about you and what you worked on during One Woman Band!

Hi! I’m Jenny! I make whimsical creations that shine light in dark places. I love finding fun and magically ridiculous ways of moving through life. I’m weaving together a gloriously unique nest out of all the mundane, magical and challenging parts of life using creativity, which is what being a Clever Bird is all about! Being in One Woman Band has been one of the best things I’ve ever done for my creative self.

When I joined the first round I was early on in the process of creating a sketchbook for the Brooklyn Sketchbook Library. My book was really important and meaningful to me because it represents my past 12 years of navigating chronic cancer using creativity. It turned out to be an epically large project to work on and I questioned whether I could muster the chutzpahto actually finish it. You are one my favorite cheerleaders, as you genuinely rooted me on the whole way, and helped me get back on course to see the importance behind what I was doing as I worked through the rough bits. Your energy and excitement around what I was doing had a way of keeping me excited and motivated to keep going.

I also loved having a community of inspiring people around me all working on their own inspiring projects. I feel like as you support other people in reaching their goals, and they support you and boost you up, it has a magical snowball effect where everyone gets more motivated. It took me three plus rounds to finish my sketchbook, and I’m happy to report that I finally got the courage to send it to the Library to fly out into the world!

Also, in large part due to completing my sketchbook and exploring who I am and what I really want through being in One Woman Band, I made the decision to go to art school to nurture my artistic self and pivot to a new career.

As creatives, self-doubt, imposter syndrome, and validation (from others and ourselves) are very real things. I know before we started, you shared about validating your own creations and making real tangible progress on your projects. How did that journey evolve?

I still regularly have impostor syndrome and self-doubt, but One Woman Band has helped me realize it’s just a natural part of the creative process. I saw that all the lovely and amazingly talented women around me in One Woman Band struggled in similar ways, and managed to keep going and creating beautiful things uniquely theirs.

I think when you can acknowledge your successes with other people, and also talk about the universal existence of the self-doubt troll that lives inside of all of us, you realize you can keep feeding your creative projects and dreams even while the trolls sit there and try to stop you--you’ve got an army of beautiful people around you and everyone’s collective successes make the trolls have less of a say. And when the trolls have less of a say, watch out! Then you can dive back into the fun of creation, and who knows what will happen then?

We also know how vulnerable it can be to share your works in progress and the messy middle. We all felt really honoured to be a part of your process and see your progress during co-working. Is there any advice you’d give to any creatives thinking of joining one Woman Band?

To all my fellow creative introverted kindred spirits out there, I’d say that the best thing you could do in joining One Woman Band is to just show up as yourself exactly who you are and where you’re at, and you will be embraced, accepted and celebrated in this group.

I tend to classify myself as an introvert, but actually found myself being more of an ambi-vert because I became so comfortable with the people in the group and could just be fully myself.

The introvert-anxieties I started with around being in a group melted away as I saw I was with a like-minded group of people who already shared the desire to reach our goals, grow in ourselves, and create important things in the world. You do a fantastic job at facilitating conversations in a way that keeps the conversations going, and allows you to share as much or as little as you would like. Even on the days you’re feeling a little more “introverty”, you can still show up to the group as you are, and soak up the inspiration.

One Woman Band is also the best, safest place to share the “messy middle” process of creating. I think when we’re so focused on only letting people see the polished filtered version of things, we don’t realize how valuable it is for us and others when we share our creations along the way. One Woman Band helped me to get more comfortable sharing my work as I was creating it. I often gathered new ideas from those I shared with and felt boosted when people could see what I was going for and encouraged me to keep going.

There are quite a few components to One Woman Band - co-working, our group calls and the community in general. How did the structure of One Woman Band help with your creative practice?

The structure was very good for me with my tendency toward “hummingbird brain”. It helped me show up consistently for myself, even when I felt stuck in the process. There’s something contagious about being around other people getting awesome things done. It makes you tell yourself, well I’m here! Might as well get my own awesome things done too!

The group coaching helped me to make some pretty significant realizations and the co-working sessions were great at teaching me how to set goals and accomplish them in a short time frame.

Finally, how can we follow your beautiful work and mission?

You can find me sharing my art, words, and general goofiness on Instagram at @cleverbirdcreates. I’ll be sharing news about the rest of my projects as they materialize (like the digitization of my sketchbook “Creativity Lights the Way: An Artful Adventure Through Life with Cancer”)

Jenny was an absolute joy to work with and I'm just in absolute awe of her brain! Watching her nurture her creativity has been such an honour and I really encourage you to go follow her on Instagram and add some Jenny to your life!

Whether you want to create routines, habits and work kinder like Regina, build your business with compassion and your values at the centre like Jessica, or nurture your creativity and finish projects that are near to your heart like Jenny, One Woman Band is a wonderful place for you to take your dreams off the someday pile.

The next round of One Woman Band Club starts in September 2023.

It costs £320 or 4 equal monthly payments of £80, and that's for the 100 days including weekly co-working, weekly huddles, and group calls that will leave you up to your elbows in inspiration and motivation!

If you want to chat about whether it One Woman Band would be a good fit for you, you can get in touch: meg [at] therebelrousers.com.