Member Jackie Carter
Hello! My name is Jackie Carter and I’m the founder and owner of Love Jac, a company that helps you create, share, and connect through art. We offer creative workshops for adults, but we are best known for Artists & Crafts - a curriculum designed to teach children about famous artists, while inspiring them to create their own masterpieces. In fact, your kiddos may know me as “Ms. Jackie.”
We moved to Ridgewood during the pandemic and landed in the Somerville Elementary School area. I’m married to Chad, a Television Producer (also known as “New Dad Chad” amongst the Dad’s Night crew). We have two children. Our daughter Georgia is starting RHS as a freshman and our son Conroy is going into 7th grade at BFMS.
I was originally inspired to start my own business after deciding to be a Stay-At-Home-Mom when my daughter was born. I quickly realized I needed to fill my downtime with something that would allow me to grow personally. I had always wanted to start a greeting card company, so after seeing a flyer at the Brooklyn Public Library advertising a small-business competition, I decided to give it a go! That competition changed my life. They offered classes on advertising, finance, and business logistics. I would stay up late and use every nap time to put my business plan together. In the end, I won 2nd place and $5,000! It was all so exciting.
Then, when Georgia was 2 years old, one of my greeting card vendors mentioned to me that she was opening a brick-and-mortar store that would host children’s classes. At that same time I had been dreaming about teaching a kids’ art class about famous artists. I realized Georgia knew Elmo because I told her about Elmo. I thought, “wouldn’t it also be cool if I told her about Andy Warhol and Frida Kahlo! Then she could know them too.” The store loved the idea and asked me to write a proposal. I’d like to say “and the rest is history,” but that history is filled with months perfecting the curriculum, the store closing, re-branding and finding new locations, having my son, networking with local businesses, expanding to after-school classes, and adding adult offerings. Just as we were really growing (because my son had started Kindergarten and I had more time to focus on the business) the pandemic hit. Everything closed and we pivoted to teaching 2-year-olds on zoom and YouTube (which was way more successful than I ever thought it would be, and honestly my lifeline through those “covid years”). Our family moved from Brooklyn to Ridgewood, where I basically had to start all over.
Thanks to this wonderful community our offerings are now right back to where they were when we left Brooklyn. We teach two child/caregiver classes, one after-school elementary school aged class, and are a part of Bethlehem Early Learning Center’s Kurious Kids program. We offer birthday parties and backyard playdates, and even hosted several with the Ridgewood Moms Club!!
During those years of building Artists & Crafts I was asked to define “My Why.” I think the magazine was expecting me to answer - “educating our youth”, but the truth is, as much as I love sharing art with the kiddos in our class, my why is YOU - the caregiver. Raising littles is incredibly hard and my goal is to give the adults in our class as much of an enjoyable experience as their children. I started out thinking it would be cool if Georgia learned about Vincent Van Gogh, but what also happened is I learned about Yayoi Kusama and Jean-Michel Basquiat! When my kids were little, it was The Little Gym where I felt like I could relax a little and socialize with other moms. It was my happy place. I want to give that same experience to you in our class. Whether the grown-up attending class is a mom, nanny, dad, or grandparent - we will sing their name at the beginning of class and it will be an experience for everyone!
Our fall schedule for toddlers is beginning to fill up and our after-school class registration opens on Sept 8th (through the Ridgewood Community School). You can find all the information on our website.
My words of wisdom
“As long as both the baby and mom are happy, everything will be fine.”
Our pediatrician gave me the best advice when we first became parents. He said, “As long as both the baby and mom are happy, everything will be fine.” It’s so easy to get swept up in doing things the way other people tell you to or the way you see it done on social media, but at the end of the day the most important thing is that the baby is happy and YOU are happy. This can apply to everything from how you feed your baby to how you spend the time when your baby sleeps. I know sometimes “hustle culture” is portrayed as negative, but for me working towards something bigger than doing the typical housework was what I needed to keep me mentally happy. Did that mean our apartment was a little messy? Yes. But did it mean I felt fulfilled in a way that was necessary for my mental health? Yes! And the key to this advice is that you focus on yourself. I have a friend who thrives when her house is in order, so focusing on that brings her joy. I have another friend who loves throwing super cute themed birthday parties so she spends her free time filling her cup in that way. Your happiness is equally as important as your baby’s happiness, so I say “keep your eyes on your own paper and do what makes you and your baby happy!”
ASK FOR HELP
That brings me to my second best “mom decision”: asking for help! We can’t do this alone. It is important to take the time to identify the area where you could use help. For me it was when I felt like I was losing it…aka 5pm-7pm every night. When my kids were little, my husband worked late, so I was really struggling with the dinner, bath, and bedtime routine. This was really a bummer because I would have had an amazing day with my kids, but then those two hours would basically take me out. My husband would come home to a messy house and an unhappy wife. He would assume this is what my whole day looked like. Enter our “mommy’s helper.” We were lucky enough to live across the street from a college and our whole lives changed after our neighbor suggested his volleyball student-athletes might be able to help. For two hours Mira would come to our home and we would tag-team cooking dinner, cleaning up dinner, getting the kids bathed, cleaning up the bathroom, getting the kids ready for bed, and tidying the living room. With the help from Mira, when Chad got home, not only was our apartment spotless, his wife was happy! I went from feeling like I was drowning to feeling really happy in our life. Once again this advice works best if you focus on you! Maybe you need community? Thankfully you have the Ridgewood Moms Club. Maybe getting the kids to their activities is hard? Text some other parents and set up a car pool. I am a big fan of Marie Forleo’s Everything is Figureoutable concept. Once you identify where you are struggling, ask for help in that specific area. Oftentimes our “bad days” are really “bad moments” and if we can make those moments less difficult, it’s easier to see the good in our days!
I’ll leave you with my current happiness boosters! Maybe some of them will inspire you.
Current Happiness Boosters:
Daily Habit: Listing my gratitudes on Instagram
Podcast: The Lazy Genius (I also recommend her book)
Exercise: The Gym. Go for Nancy’s Dance Class, Stay for Nurit’s Barre Class
Spiritual Connection: OLMC Ministry of Motherhood
Hobby: Scrapbooking the big & little moments
Date Night: Felina Rooftop