May 14, 2015
Javacia Harris Bowser talks about founding SeeJaneWrite-Birmingham when she couldn't find the writing group she was looking for.
Javacia Harris Bowser, my guest for
Week 3 of the Birmingham Shines
podcast, is a writer, teacher and
entrepreneur. She’s also a successful
blogger and founder of See Jane Write
Birmingham—networking group for
women writers that has turned into a
business.
As we learned in episode 3 of
Birmingham Shines, Javacia moved to
Birmingham several years ago from
Louisville, Kentucky to teach English at
the Alabama School of Fine Arts. Before
embarking on her teaching career,
Javacia worked professionally as a
journalist and she continues to do
freelance writing work today.
Do one thing every
day that scares you.
Eleanor Roosevelt
That’s the inspirational quote that
Javacia shared with me when I asked
her for something to inspire others to
Discover. Grow. Shine.™
If you want to grow, you must be willing
to get out of your comfort zone, even
just a little bit. When you do, you usually
find that it wasn’t so bad after all—
especially if you’re taking little steps. No
need to take up hang-gliding. Just send
an email to someone you admire and
don’t know and invite them to coffee.
Take a different route home from work.
Or maybe do your grocery shopping in
reverse order from your usual routine.
It’s pretty clear that Javacia is willing to
take her own advice.
When Javacia couldn’t find the type of
writing group she was looking for, she
decided to start one. The first “official”
meeting of See Jane Write Birmingham
was a simple dinner meet-up on March
24, 2011 at a Mexican restaurant in
Birmingham.
That meet-up led to a “next event,”
which was all about using Twitter to
network, connect with others and build a
blogging audience. The successful
Twitter event led to a blogging workshop
and into one-on-one consulting and
even bigger events.
See Jane Write Birmingham has grown
immensely in the four years since that
first informal meet-up and today Javacia
offers consulting and online courses for
women who aspiring writers and
entrepreneurs. Find out more about the
See Jane Write Birmingham story by
listening to episode 3 of Birmingham
Shines—if you haven’t already!
Javacia Recommends
What to read…..
Lean In: Women, Work and the Will
to Lead by Sheryl Sandberg
#GIRLBOSS by Sophia Amoruso
Where to eat in Birmingham….
Carrigan’s
Where to caffeinate in Birmingham….
Urban Standard
Church Street Coffee & Books
Listen
Goddess by Banks
Anything by Beyoncé
Where to get fit….
Lakeshore Trail
Birmingham Blogger…..
Jennifer Dome King: Stellar Fashion
and Fitness
I love Jennifer
Dome King’s blog
Stellar Fashion and
Fitness. It has such
a great message
about body
positivity.
Life Hack
Get up early.
I’ll echo this one—I got up before 5 a.m.
to start writing this blog post. I’m a big
believer in “early to bed, early to rise.” If
you know me at all, you probably know
how I go on all the time about Ben
Franklin!
What makes Birmingham Shine……
The Creative Class
I hope you are inspired by Javacia as I
am!