Jessie Frances was never really drawn to social media. Growing up in Southeast D.C., Jessie gravitated towards fashion, spending what little money was available to her on thrifted clothing to bring her joy during a difficult time. It started as a way to connect with her mother. Today, her outfits have been viewed over 50 million times on Instagram and 1.3 billion times on TikTok through her blog Cappuccinos and Consignment by her many fans, who she affectionately refers to as "mes amis." Jessie's journey is an absolute whirlwind. From starting her social media journey while caring for her hospitalized son to losing her mother during the pandemic, she continues to share moments like this with her audience to foster truly intimate, authentic connections. In this conversation, Jessie talks about why "niching down" was never the reason for her success as an influencer. She also dives into the many life lessons from her late mother that she continues to reflect on, and why moving past the desire to be "perfect" gets easier over time.
Jessie Frances was never really drawn to social media.
Growing up in Southeast D.C., Jessie gravitated towards fashion, spending what little money was available to her on thrifted clothing to bring her joy during a difficult time. It started as a way to connect with her mother. Today, her outfits have been viewed over 50 million times on Instagram and 1.3 billion times on TikTok through her blog Cappuccinos and Consignment by her many fans, who she affectionately refers to as "mes amis."
Jessie's journey is an absolute whirlwind. From starting her social media journey while caring for her hospitalized son to losing her mother during the pandemic, she continues to share moments like this with her audience to foster truly intimate, authentic connections. In this conversation, Jessie talks about why "niching down" was never the reason for her success as an influencer. She also dives into the many life lessons from her late mother that she continues to reflect on, and why moving past the desire to be "perfect" gets easier over time.
Follow Jessie on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube.
Learn more about Cappucinos and Consignment.
In this episode, we cover:
Quote of the Week:
“Once I let go of this, I'd say, very antiquated thought of perfection, that's when I was able to live, knowing that things will never be perfect." - Jessie Frances
Hosted by Katherin Vasilopoulos. Made by Cansulta and Ethan Lee.
Music by © Chris Zabriskie, published by You've Been a Wonderful Laugh Track (ASCAP).
Songs used in this episode include: "Air Hockey Saloon," "Short Song 012623," "Short Song 020923," "The Oceans Continue to Rise," "Short Song 030223," "The Oceans Continue to Rise," "Short Song 011923," "It Takes a Lot to Keep a Figure Like This," "There Are Days That I Don't," "I Want to Fall in Love on Snapchat."
Used under the Creative Commons 4.0 International License
[00:00:00.000] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
Hi, I'm Katherin Vasilopoulos. Starting my own venture wasn't easy.After a decade working in the corporate world, I realized that so many things were out of my control, like layoffs and changes in direction. I didn't like the instability. I didn't want that to define my whole career and professional story. And so I left. I started my own company and achieved more than I ever imagined. Now I'm on a mission to share stories from extraordinary entrepreneurs who are changing the world and who never gave up on their vision.
[00:00:40.110] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
Turning your hobby into a career often means getting comfortable with fear. Coming from corporate, it can feel especially strange to suddenly start making money at something you would typically do for fun. But when you make it work, it's one of the most fulfilling paths you can take as an entrepreneur.
[00:01:00.600] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
Jessie Frances has led a fascinating life. Growing up in Southeast DC, Jesse often found herself at thrift stores rummaging through racks of standout garments with just a few dollars to spend. She developed a lifelong appreciation for clothing as wearable art, and it's taken her all around the world. She even speaks un peu de frances. It also brought her closer to her late mother, and you can hear the love in Jessie's voice when she speaks about their time together. After finally leaving her full-time job, Jessie started Cappuccinos and Consignment. It's an online hub for her to share chic outfits, discuss life experiences, and connect with others who share her passion for pre loved clothing. Her content has accumulated more than 50 million Instagram Reel views and over 1.3 billion views on TikTok.
[00:01:51.400] - Jessie Frances
And even though it took years of persistence to find her audience, Jessie remains one of the most outgoing and joyful founders you could ever hope to meet. In this episode, we discuss the greatest pieces of wisdom she learned from her mother, how those lessons have shaped her as a business owner and now as a mother herself, and why being yourself is one of the best ways to foster deep connections with others.
[00:02:20.120] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
Hello, Jessie. Welcome to the show.
[00:02:23.950] - Jessie Frances
Bonjour. Thank you so much for having me.
[00:02:27.300] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
I love it. Do you speak French?
[00:02:29.610] - Jessie Frances
Oui. Je parles le Francais.
[00:02:33.300] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
That's wonderful. I didn't know that. Well, thank you so much for being here today. I think you're the perfect example of what it means to start something that you had a passion for, that was initially a hobby. So tell me a bit about your background and who you are.
[00:02:51.560] - Jessie Frances
Oh, yes, indeed. So I am Jessie Frances, and I started Cappuccino's and Consignment, a blog, out of sheer necessity at the time. I was commuting, a very long commute, which so sad is common here in the States. I needed something to just occupy my time. My background before becoming a corporate executive was in the arts, but life changed, life happened, and I went a very, very I'd say traditional route for those who are in the DC Metropolitan area, and that was joining the federal government. But I just needed a creative outlet, and I decided to start documenting the outfits that I was wearing to work and just random thoughts. And it evolved into a little universe on social media, and it's just been thriving since.
[00:03:47.800] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
I love those kinds of videos. Actually, that's one of the things that I watched the most during the pandemic while I was in bed at night, just going, oh, let's see what else people are trying on because we're in pajamas all day and so I need to feel inspired and have some hope that we're going to go back to that life at some point. And so tell me about your life in DC and what that looked like.
[00:04:08.470] - Jessie Frances
So I grew up in Southeast DC. If you are not familiar with DC, that is one of the most impoverished neighborhoods in the nation capital. And although we did not have much, my mother instilled so much into us that you could not pay for. I just think back at times when I referred to her as ma mère, when ma mère would take me thrifting. And that started my passion for pre loved goods. She would take me to thrift stores and give me a dollar or two. That meant so much to me. Just having two dollars to spend on whatever it is that I wanted. And growing up and now becoming a mother and knowing just how much she sacrificed for those $2, whether it was $5. It meant so much to me to make what seemed to me as just a little bit of money. I just cannot thank her enough for all that she did for my siblings and I.
[00:05:19.170] - Jessie Frances
I moved back to DC about 15 years ago. I was living in Istanbul, Turkey. I was a textile designer for a fast fashion brand and that happened by accident. I was at a local coffee shop, met someone and they said, You should come and visit me in Turkey sometime. And I said, Okay, I'm going to take you up on that offer. So I was sitting at my desk at a job that I just was not happy with. And I decided to email that person that I met at the coffee shop and they couldn't believe that I did. And less than two weeks later, I packed up everything and moved to Istanbul, Turkey.
[00:06:00.910] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
Wow. Okay.
[00:06:04.510] - Jessie Frances
Yes. So I. Did that for some time. And while in Istanbul, Turkey, I became absolutely obsessed with the architecture there. And my dear grandmother, who helped raise me, she had gotten sick here in the state. So I had to abruptly cut my move to Turkey short and return back to DC. Once I got here, I decided I wanted to go back to high school to become an architect. While writing my first paper in the architecture program, our professor wanted to know what inspired us to become an architect. I absolutely loved the pyramid in Egypt, and I started becoming so obsessed with the mummification process. So I left architecture school and enrolled in mortuary science to become a licensed funeral director.
[00:06:57.340] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
Oh, my God. This is the most varied background I've ever heard of.
[00:07:01.350] - Jessie Frances
Yes. And then I left that, too. I changed my mind again.
[00:07:07.070] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
And that's okay. That's okay. All I'm hearing now is just you're super curious and you are creative and you are just looking for the next thing that will keep your mind busy. And I'm imagining that there's this creativity that comes in. Tell me about what inspires you now.
[00:07:26.330] - Jessie Frances
Everything inspires me. So much has changed with me, so much has changed in the world. That has been one of the more difficult parts of being a content creator is that I don't have a niche per se. And that's one of the biggest no-no's when you are a content creator. People want to know, do you focus on fashion? Do you focus on travel? Do you focus on parenting? But I feel that we are so multi-dimensional. I don't know one person who just focuses on one thing, but yet when you're in this space, you're forced to do so. I just share content about how I'm feeling that day. If I feel like giving random parent tips, that's what I do. If I feel like telling you to follow your heart and book the trip to Paris, that's what I do as well.
[00:08:18.780] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
And you don't, of course, you don't know how you're going to feel the next day. So how do you differentiate yourself in a market that seems to be very saturated by content creators that are talking about fashion or makeup or any of those things, what makes you different?
[00:08:35.330] - Jessie Frances
I'm myself, and I had no clue that that was a commodity. When I first started this, again, following every rule that's laid out for content creators, you have to decide what do you want to do. Pick a focus and let that be your expertise. I didn't do that offline, so there was no way I could do it online. So I just showed up as my authentic self, and I was surprised at how many people appreciated that, who really just felt that they needed permission to be okay doing all the things.
[00:09:12.980] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
Yeah, I agree with you. The people that we follow are usually the people that we relate to, that we like. There's something about their personality that is true, this authenticity that you know they're not lying to you. And sometimes you have people online telling you their biggest secrets or that they're not feeling well today. And you're like, oh, that's great. I want to hear that because it's so easy to believe that everyone's life online is perfect. So it's really good what you're saying about just being yourself and showing people all the facets.
[00:09:43.370] - Jessie Frances
And there's so many facets. There are. I'm still learning them.
[00:09:48.890] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
And I guess that goes to how do you express yourself with clothing?
[00:09:53.160] - Jessie Frances
Oh, absolutely. Fashion, style, just what you wear, that's the one facet of art that everyone can enjoy. And it is a work of art. As a textile designer, when you look into how much time goes into creating a simple T-shirt, it's an art form behind it. So people who tell me, Oh, I don't understand the arts. I'm not into it. I'm like, Look at yourself. You are wearable, moving art. Every time you decide, I want to wear this shirt, or I want to wear that blazer, you're supporting the arts.
[00:10:28.740] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
Can we go back for a second and just tell me, walk me through what the mindset was from going from a federal corporate job to then transitioning to what you're currently doing? What happened?
[00:10:41.860] - Jessie Frances
I'm still at a loss for words. I'm still trying to process that this is my life. I'm so thankful. There's no other way I can describe that I have just found and created a community of people that support me in my efforts to find myself because that's really what it's about. Cappuccinos and Consignment, my blog, when I show up, my content, everything that I do, it's me showing everyone that I don't have it figured out. I don't know what I want to be when I grow up. I'm still trying to decide that. It amazes me at how many other people have been afraid to share that they don't have it figured out. I feel that we are under so much pressure at certain milestones in our life to have the house, have the kids, have the stable career, have your retirement, and things of that nature that we forget to live life. And if the pandemic didn't teach us anything else, I feel that so many people now want to actually live and not just exist.
[00:11:50.320] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
I agree with you. It really did shine the light on all the cracks in society and people's lives and people's relationships. Was it during the pandemic that you created all this. Or was it before?
[00:12:03.810] - Jessie Frances
It was before, but the time at home gave me space to really create. So when I was commuting, my commute was a little over an hour and a half each way. I was spending, I'd say, four hours a day commuting. I used to wake up every morning at about 3:45 AM to record what I was wearing before I hopped on my commuter train. And that was really all that I could do. Sometimes while on the train, I would write a blog post, but it was very, very sporadic. There wasn't a set schedule because I was barely making it, getting up at 3:45 and having to go into an office and actually produce work. Being at home, I just had so much time. I did not realize what a difference it made when you did not have to commute over four hours a day. And it gave me space to enjoy every single moment, and my creative juices started flowing.
[00:13:07.340] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
So when you got into the corporate world, what was it like? And what were the difficulties there?
[00:13:14.060] - Jessie Frances
Going from being a full-time artist to going to federal government, corporate, all of those things where there are definitely rules about every single thing that you had to do, it was very difficult. With the arts comes a level of freedom. I feel that artists, we are allowed to question things. That's what art is about. It's beauty. It's in the eye of the beholder. You can look at a work of art and feel one thing. I can look at it and feel another thing. It doesn't work like that. When there's rules, the rules are written, you can't interpret it.
[00:13:48.500] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
Yeah, absolutely.
[00:13:49.640] - Jessie Frances
That was the most difficult part for me, that there was no room for interpretation. It's like, no, Jesse, that's what it says. You cannot do that.
[00:13:58.490] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
So you go from being an artist to a traveler to going into a more structured corporate life and then jumping into entrepreneurship. And so at all those moments, describe what those pivotal moments and thoughts were for you.
[00:14:15.630] - Jessie Frances
Yes. So sometimes life decides those things for you. When I left the arts for the first time, I was recently divorced and I became a single mom and a single mom to a son with special needs. So the bohemian artist lifestyle was just not conducive when you have a child who needs health care, a child who needs a stable environment. So that was the catalyst for me having to, I don't want to say give up my dreams because it was always there. I knew I would return back just when I did not know. So life made me make that decision where I knew that it wasn't just me at this point and anything I did directly affected my dependent.
[00:15:07.990] - Jessie Frances
I will never forget the day when I hit 10K. I had been creating content that wasn't trending because I did not have time to stay on top of what was trending, what was in, what was out. I just posted my life. My dear cousin who told me years ago that I should blog, she called me and told me, You are one follower away from 10K. So I remember being in the office refreshing my screen, refreshing my screen, waiting for one person.
[00:15:44.440] - Jessie Frances
So I called ma mère, I called my mother and I said, Can you please create an Instagram page? I need one more person to follow me so I can hit 10K. But by the time she established an email address, someone else had followed me and became the 10K. I just sat there in awe. I could not believe that 10,000 people wanted to see my crazy chaotic and just hectic life. It just made me so happy. Once I got to that point being myself, I knew that it was sustainable. I knew that I did not have to focus on trending anything.
[00:16:26.910] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
What was that time period for you? In terms of maybe there was an urgency to have everything perfect?
[00:16:34.750] - Jessie Frances
Oh, yes. The sense of urgency that I felt, the sense of urgency from society that I had to get it together and get it together really quick. It was so hard. I look back during that time and I really don't know how I was able to cope because with my son's special needs and his health issues, we spent more time in the hospital than home. There were times when we were at the hospital months on end and developing a new skill set that was not in the arts while being a mother, while being in the hospital, while going to school. I don't see how I did it. I really don't.
[00:17:19.720] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
It's funny you say that because I was having the same conversation with someone a few days ago about 10 years ago. A really difficult period happened, and lots was happening at the same time. And we're like, how did we get through that? And yet, years later, you look back and you're like, yeah, we got through it. So I guess maybe it's a message to people out there. If you're going through something really hard, just to know that it's temporary, things have a way of working themselves out. And you have the tools somewhere, somehow to make it happen and make it work. Where did you find that inner strength and the courage to get it all done?
[00:17:57.670] - Jessie Frances
My mother. My mother was an amazing, amazing woman. I know that's something that a lot of people say about their mothers, but my mother was amazing. I just remember her work ethic and I remember how no matter what was going on in her life, and now that I am a mother, I am an adult, I don't see how she did it. As a child, so many things I just did not understand. I look at her strength now and it's unmatched. There has to be something biological that was just passed on to me. I watched her work multiple jobs. I watched her be a mother to not only my siblings and I, but even to her spouses at certain times in our lives. She did it with such grit and such grace that I still can't process just how she was able to do it. I cannot recall anytime that my mother complained, she always saw the brighter side of things and she always knew that things would get better.
[00:19:12.420] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
Well, she sounds fantastic. Thanks, mom.
[00:19:15.590] - Jessie Frances
Yes, I know, and sadly, I just lost her recently. That has been a challenge. But I use that strength and I'm so glad that she was here to see some of the evolution of Cappuccinos and Consignment. I'll never forget one of the things she said to me shortly before passing is that, You are the woman I was always afraid to be.
[00:19:43.520] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
Oh, wow.
[00:19:45.380] - Jessie Frances
Yes.
[00:19:45.780] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
That's an. Incredible statement to hear from your mother.
[00:19:49.450] - Jessie Frances
I have chills now just repeating that because I know that through her life, just so many times there were things that she wanted to do, but she felt that she couldn't, whether that was internally or just society telling you that you're a mother now, you have to sacrifice your wants and needs to provide for your children.
[00:20:13.460] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
Are there any specific memories that you have of her and how now you apply those learnings to your business? Do you have any stories? Do you remember something that happened?
[00:20:23.940] - Jessie Frances
Yeah, I have so many stories. My siblings would be like, Wait a minute, we're going to make you sign an NDA. Yes, but my mother, she was just so amazing. Even when I first reentered this space of art and entrepreneurship, it scared her because she knew how big of a deal it was to get certain positions, to get in certain spaces in DC. So to think about whether that's putting it on hold or leaving, it startled her. I had to realize that a lot of the fears that she had had nothing to do with me per se. It was the fears that had been instilled in her, things that people had told her time and time again. Just seeing the evolution of us as I became a woman, as I became to understand so many things that she had gone through, I just had a higher level of understanding with her.
[00:21:26.460] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
You sound fearless. You sound like you're able to just jump from one endeavor to the other, and sometimes through necessity, but sometimes through passion. I want to hear more about the strategies that you use now in your current business. What have you learned so far?
[00:21:43.310] - Jessie Frances
I am still learning. I do not have the answers. That's the biggest, I'd say, lesson is knowing that you don't know it all, you won't know it all, and that there will never be a perfect time. Really, once I let go of this, I say, very antiquated thought of perfection, that's when I was able to live, knowing that things will never be perfect. It will never be the perfect time to start your blog, your podcast, your bakery. You'll never have the perfect location. You'll never have the perfect website. Perfection, what I have learned, is really procrastination. Once I stopped seeking perfection, aka procrastination, that's when I was able to, I'd say, seemingly live a fearless life. I'm still so scared. I'm scared right now. Terrified.
[00:22:46.560] - Jessie Frances
But that's something that my mother had always told me. If anyone can do it, it's you. No matter what it was, I would come home every day wanting to be something different. Mom, I think I want to be a ballerina. Okay, baby, if anyone could be a ballerina, it's you. I think I want to go out of space. Okay, baby, if anybody can make it to the moon, it's you. I don't know if she was just saying it to get me out of her hair, but I believed it.
[00:23:11.170] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
Those are very encouraging words to hear from a parent. You need to hear that as a child, even if it's just frivolous and it's for a day. It doesn't matter. The other thing I was going to tell you is when you start something new and you're not sure what you're doing, sometimes you have to go through the ugly to get to the good stuff.
[00:23:30.830] - Jessie Frances
Yes, and it gets ugly.
[00:23:32.730] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
And that sometimes happens when you're contemplating leaving something to then jump into something else. Many people have a full-time, stable job with all the benefits and the vacation pay, but they have a side hustle and it's a hobby and it's just for fun, whatever. And then they slowly decide, okay, I can let go of the one thing and jump to the other one. Kind of like Tarzan, swinging from one vine to the other. And do you remember a specific moment in your journey where that happened where you're like, Okay, I need to leave.
[00:24:02.840] - Jessie Frances
No, I feel like so much has happened so soon that I'm still processing it. So your analogy with Tarzan, that's exactly how I feel at times. I see the vine, I feel like I can grab it, but I'm so scared to reach for it. And that's how it feels every single day trying to make the decision of, okay, when I leave, what's next? And it's never ending. As an entrepreneur, you are always reaching for that vine. You're just reaching. It is constantly reaching for something. And oftentimes you don't know what you're reaching for. And that has been so scary for me because being in such safe places as far as my career, when I went back to school for the sciences, that's very safe. And so switching my mindset again to spaces that aren't as safe, it's never ending. It's never ending. It's never a good time. It's scary.
[00:25:08.800] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
So describe your risk taking behavior. What does that look like?
[00:25:14.130] - Jessie Frances
Absolutely reckless and just ridiculous. It's just hoping for the best at this point. I really do feel that once you have gone through certain things in life, you just get less scared. And for these past, I'd say, what is it, three years? I think we all have experienced fear that we have never experienced before. I experienced being pregnant during a pandemic, not being able to have my family with me in the hospital, not being able to see my mother who I knew was dying. It was scary. It was so fearful. The day that I found out I was pregnant, my mother was going through a major surgery, and I was terrified that what will happen if my mother does not make it out of surgery? How will I do this? I lived with such a sense of fear that it gets to a point where it's just unnatural to be in that space. You have to make that decision to live. Just getting through those spaces, losing my mother, which was my greatest fear, I don't know what I'm going to do without having someone telling me, You can do it. If anyone can do it, it's you. Once I faced that fear, I'm not going to say I feel unstoppable, but it's going to take a lot to stop me, I should say.
[00:26:45.290] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
As you're saying that, I'm thinking you cannot be in a constant state of fear. So you need relief from that. And what does that look like for you?
[00:26:56.260] - Jessie Frances
Relief to me now, it's the simple things. It is such small things that I just do not take for granted. Waking up every morning to me is the ultimate luxury. When I wake up every morning, I just say thank you. I am here today to make good decisions, bad decisions. Whatever decisions I decide, I have that option. And then getting out of bed, if I'm able to stand up, that's amazing to me and being connected to so many people. And having created such a community, people feel so safe with me that I have received so many messages from my dear mes amis, how I refer to my followers, where they're, Jesse, I hope you can just send your positive energy and love and light my way. I'm now hospitalized yesterday. Just the uncertainty how you never know how things will be. I've learned not to take the simple things for granted.
[00:28:06.790] - Jessie Frances
Fun fact, I utterly detest social media. I was so late to get on the bandwagon. I didn't have Facebook, I didn't have any of those things.
[00:28:19.390] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
But with reason, because everyone is mean on social media.
[00:28:22.800] - Jessie Frances
Everything that I heard about social media was just always dark and so drama based that I did not want to be there. So how I found myself here is so bizarre. But I will say I am thankful that I have decided to get online because there is so much darkness. So when I get messages from my dear mes amis just saying, I just thank you for showing up. Just hearing your voice makes me so happy. Hearing your laugh, seeing you make mistakes makes me so happy. And you touched on this before that we all just want to feel that we're not alone.
[00:29:03.320] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
I'm getting a visual. It's almost like you on an ocean and you're floating on a raft of 100,000 people just. Supporting you.
[00:29:10.370] - Jessie Frances
That's what it feels like sometimes for someone to take a minute. I know that sounds like such a small amount of time, but I feel like the last study I saw, the human attention span, I think we're at like three seconds now. So for someone to spend a minute with me throughout their day, oh, that's priceless.
[00:29:33.320] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
I love your journey. It's very fascinating because I didn't know a lot of the things that you were saying earlier, and it shapes everything now. All the experiences that you've had to go through before allows you to tap into the richness of those experiences now as an entrepreneur? Is there a big learning that you've had so far that you're applying to your business? I know we touched on a few of them, but what are you going through now? What's your biggest thing?
[00:30:03.150] - Jessie Frances
My biggest thing now is enjoying the now. That has always been so difficult for me is to celebrate where I am now. I never was in the present. And that's something these past, I would say, three years have really, really taught me is to enjoy the now because we get so caught up on what's next, what's next? Okay, I reached this mark. What's next? We don't celebrate how hard we work to get where we are. And that's something I share with my best friend very often is think about, appreciate right now.
[00:30:45.080] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
That's so cool. I actually wrote this down, celebrate the now. We're so busy trying to get to the next thing and the next thing. When do we ever get to just bask in the stuff that we've already done and just take that moment and say, you know what, I'm going to go out and celebrate this. There's always a new thing to put in the pipeline. There's always something, a new client that you want to talk to or whatever it is. And it's very important. I want people to remember this, celebrate the now.
[00:31:11.320] - Jessie Frances
But when you are a business owner that's predominantly social media based, that timeline is by the second. Because every second, the algorithm changes and that pressure to always be on, always be ahead of the trend, not even being on. You have to be ahead of it. It's exhausting. It's absolutely exhausting. I have made the conscious decision to enjoy my now and to celebrate all that I have worked for because we deserve it.
[00:31:40.350] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
How do you celebrate?
[00:31:41.690] - Jessie Frances
It's a small thing. Right now, I am sipping my cappuccino you know, from a thrifted mug that I found, and it's so adorable. Celebrating does not have to consist of expensive bottles of champagne, expensive trips, expensive dinners. You can celebrate by listening to your favorite song uninterrupted, by reading a chapter of your book. There are so many ways that you can celebrate every single day that does not require a lot of money or a lot of effort.
[00:32:15.490] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
Can you describe to the listeners what "mes amis" is?
[00:32:18.790] - Jessie Frances
When I was up every morning at 3:45 recording my OOTD's, Outfit of the Days, it just happened. One day, I greeted the camera, Hello, and "mes amis" just followed. And it stuck. I started getting messages, I want to be a mes ami. I want to be a mes amis. What's a mes amis?
[00:32:41.730] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
It just means my friend in French, right?
[00:32:45.240] - Jessie Frances
Yeah. But everyone, they're like, we're mes amis.
[00:32:49.880] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
It's so adorable. I love it. It's really cute and it's different.
[00:32:54.360] - Jessie Frances
Yeah, because it's one of those things I've never set well with followers. It's like, these are my friends. A lot of people online spend more time with me than their actual friends. So it's like, no, we're more than followers. This is my community.
[00:33:10.960] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
And follower has a connotation of they're blindly following, and they're not. They're engaging in conversations and comments and encouragement and support. So you're right. It's far more than just that. It is a community of people. So tell me, what's coming up next for you? What are you think you're thinking about?
[00:33:31.130] - Jessie Frances
I am just ready for whatever is to come. I am preparing myself to be ready for what's next. What next is I have learned that I don't know because I never thought that I would be a licensed funeral director. I never thought that I would be a mom. I have learned to let go of control, do whatever it is that I need to do to be where I want to be, but be open to what's next and be open to that. Not everything is going to go how you thought it should have. And that's been the hardest part for me is knowing that I don't have as much control as I thought I did. I feel that once you do that, life gets a bit more tolerable.
[00:34:23.940] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
It's the ability to adapt, I guess, and evolve.
[00:34:27.680] - Jessie Frances
That is it.
[00:34:29.740] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
It's not what I want, but it's what I need. And it's that old song from the Rolling Stones, which I will not sing, but most people know.
[00:34:37.760] - Jessie Frances
Do it. Do it.
[00:34:38.840] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
Only if you do it with me.
[00:34:43.660] - Jessie Frances
You're mes amis. No, i love singing now. I was practicing with my brand new mic. They said, What? Is Jesse going to record an album? Because they don't know what to expect from me.
[00:34:56.810] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
You know what? Anything goes. I'm expecting anything from you at this point.
[00:35:02.390] - Jessie Frances
If anyone can do it, it's me.
[00:35:03.970] - Katherin Vasilopoulos
Absolutely. You took the words out of my mouth.
[00:35:11.450] - Jessie Frances
Thank you so much to mon ami, Jessie Frances. You can learn more about Cappuccinos and Consignment through the links in the episode description. Jessie's story reveals the importance of community and how sharing your passion with others can evolve into something gratifying and impactful. If you enjoyed this conversation, please share it with a friend and leave a review wherever you listen. Your feedback helps us to make the show even better. And So, She Left is made by Cansulta and Ethan Lee. We'll be back next Wednesday with a new episode. Our music is by Chris Zabriskie, edited for your enjoyment. You can find a list of all the songs you heard here in the episode notes. I'm Katherine Vasilopoulos, and thanks for listening.