What inspired you to start this business, and how did you get started? Can you share the story behind your business name? How has your business evolved since it first opened?

JDS Creative Academy (JDSCA) grew out of JDS Actors Studio and JDS Video & Media Productions, Inc. We realized the community needed more than video services and acting training. They also wanted to learn career skills in visual, performing, and digital arts. So, we got started with extracurricular classes and camps in scriptwriting, musical theater, filmmaking, and backstage production. When the nonprofit first started, it was bigger than what Scott and I could do alone… we needed a collective. So, we created a team of experts we brought in our industry professional colleagues to build a nonprofit that supports the arts and the community. JDS Creative Academy started as a small self-funded nonprofit that has evolved into a successful and thriving seven-figure nonprofit. We went from being a completely volunteer organization to currently employing fourteen people. We not only support those who attend the creative academy and the community but we also provide economic support to the area. We create jobs and career pathways through our classes and day programs. We also provide a great place for people to work in the entertainment industry outside of the Los Angeles market. When we created the nonprofit, we derived the name from our existing companies, JDS Video & Production and JDS Actors Studio. We wanted to build upon a brand that was already award-winning and established so that it could spread its wings even more as a nonprofit. The acronym JDS is a nod to our children’s initials, as we hope to create a legacy that will live on.

What is the mission of your business, and how do you strive to fulfill it daily?  What core values drive your company, and how do they influence your operations and customer interactions?

The mission of JDSCA is to advance education and training in the visual, performing, and digital arts. We strive to enhance achievement and provide career pathway opportunities. The mission allows participants to gain leadership skills, creative enrichment, self-confidence, and collaborative technical and soft skills to reach creative career goals. To fulfill this, we offer a variety of classes and programs that meet the VAPA requirements, per the California Education Standard for K-12, the Apprenticeships Standards for the State of California, and the Title-17 training standards for Inland Regional Center. 

JDSCA’s core value is that art is a crucial component of life and impacts everyone, from the entertainment and creative industries to businesses as a whole. We believe everyone should be allowed to pursue their dreams in an encouraging and inclusive environment. We welcome anyone, from amateurs to professionals, to join our many creative programs and events. Everyone deserves a space to grow and learn, whether you are a young prodigy or a newbie adult. We ensure the arts are inclusive and accessible to all, turning dreams into reality. With our passion for inclusivity and encouragement, the organization follows my motto of providing H.O.P.E. - Helping One Person Everyday.

What are the main products or services you offer, and what sets them apart from your competitors?

One of our signature programs is our Title-17 day program for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities. As a service vendor for Inland Regional Center, our video production job training program trains and serves as a workforce development pathway. Participants are taught collaboration, soft skills, technical skills, logistics, and more.Through visual, digital, and performing arts. Through our award-winning television show, Spirit of Innovation: Arts Across America, participants learn as they assist with video production, audio, scriptwriting, lighting, editing, and more. 

Other services we offer are our extracurricular creative classes such as scriptwriting, musical theater, backstage production, filmmaking, and even our Design, Build, HAUNT class where students get to design a haunted house from start to finish. These classes set us apart because outside of taking a college course, there are very few places that offer classes taught by industry professionals. Plus, our Design, Build, HAUNT class is a one-of-a-kind opportunity to build a spooky maze from the ground up and then participate as a haunter in the annual Haunted Studio fundraiser. 

We provide more than just training opportunities. We create pathways to open doors and provide introductions and opportunities for career growth. We also have opportunities for community involvement through our events, productions, and festivals.

What steps do you take to ensure a positive customer experience? Can you share a memorable customer success story or testimonial?

We ensure a positive customer experience through good communication and follow-up with our students, clients, and participants. We provide opportunities to hear feedback - the good and the bad. We learn from our experiences and strive to do better. We are active with our social media and email communications, replying in a timely manner. 

Over the ten years, we have helped launch several careers in the entertainment industry, from actors to directors to producers. Our students have had great success in the industry. One of our most memorable customer success stories involves our longtime student, Teresa Dean. She has been with JDS Creative Academy for years, taking acting classes, scriptwriting classes, and filmmaking classes. She also attends our events and our annual multimedia festival DigiFest® Temecula. She entered her original work into the DigiFest® competition, networked, and met a film director who was one of our industry professional speakers. She learned important tools from the workshops and presentations and used them to enhance her project. She put her learned skills from JDSCA into practice, pitched her script to the director, and garnered interest from him for her script. She then brought the project back to JDS Creative Academy so the day program participants could use it as a learning exercise for animation. We are now working on a sizzle reel to help broaden both Dean’s and our students’ pathways to Hollywood.

How does your business contribute to the local community? Are there any recent or upcoming community projects or initiatives you’re involved in? How important is community support to your business’s success?

JDS Creative Academy contributes to the local community through our many scholarship opportunities. Whether it’s with higher education scholarships through Dollars for Scholars in Temecula and Murrieta or our JDSCA scholarships for our visual, performing, and digital arts extracurricular classes. We give back to the community with approximately $10,000 annually in support and scholarships. During the pandemic, we made 5,000 machine-washable masks for local hospitals, nursing homes, and other organizations that needed clean and reusable masks. We also live-streamed events such as Women in Business and State of the City during the time when the pandemic no longer allowed us to meet in person. We host blood drives, community events, and educational opportunities for creatives and businesses. We throw community experiences such as DigiFest® Temecula and our Haunted Studio event. JDS Creative Academy is a resource for the region whether it is to use our space and services or to contribute our expertise to business and economics. I sit on other committees and boards to ensure others are able to meet their organization's needs as well. 

JDS Creative Academy’s extracurricular classes are open for anyone in the community to enroll. We strive to provide an inclusive and encouraging environment to foster and learn creative skills for all participants, consumers, and students. Whether they are just starting or have been working on their craft for years, JDS Creative Academy serves all ages and abilities across youth, teens, and adults as well as mainstream and neurodiverse populations. 

Currently, JDS Creative Academy is working on its next big initiative  to move the Arts across America. The arts are an important aspect of everyone’s lives, regardless of whether they are in the creative field or not. It touches every industry and every individual. JDS Creative Academy is working to spread our business model across the nation, partnering with or mentoring aspiring entrepreneurs to create their own creative academies. I have been speaking at more events and am currently writing my third book to support this idea. This will also bring attention back to Temecula as the foundation city where our ideas were born. 

Community support is vital to JDS Creative Academy’s success. We value our community and know it is the most important thing to receive support from them. While the financial support is appreciated and needed, we find immense value in the community’s support by attending and participating in our events and activities, following and interacting with us on social media, and spreading our message. We rely on the community to support us as we support them.

What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced in running your business, and how did you overcome it? What lessons have you learned as a business owner that you’d like to share with others?

Growing pains are real. Going from a self-funded small nonprofit to a thriving organization with employees has definitely caused growing pains. Learning how to adapt and navigate the ever-changing world has been difficult, especially when a global pandemic threw a wrinkle in the plans. But we never gave up and learned to take the challenges one day at a time. We held onto the notion that we were serving the community and the community would serve us back. 

One of the best lessons I have learned as an entrepreneur is to “show up and say yes.” The nonprofit would have never grown if I hadn’t shown up to events, said yes to collaborations, and agreed to meet and greets. One of the most important moments of JDS Creative Academy was when I agreed to a meeting with a woman I met at a Temecula Valley Chamber of Commerce event. I introduced myself and the nonprofit and afterwards, a woman approached me asking if we could meet for coffee to discuss a potential collaboration. She said she was from the Inland Regional Center. At the time, I was unaware of who they were but agreed to the meeting anyway. This meeting led to another meeting which was to meet with a young man who she introduced as a client of the IRC. He was interested in audio production and she wanted to place him in a paid internship with JDS Creative Academy. At the time, I was unaware of how we were going to make it work, but we knew we wanted to figure it out, so we did. After a few months with JDS Creative Academy, we began to notice that the hands-on approach made a significant difference in the learning process. The young man began to gain skills that were not only being taught but also being shown. We determined that if he was learning and growing, others could follow in his footsteps and do it too. So I set out on the path to write a Title-17 day program curriculum and after 5-6 months of rewrites and retries, my writing partner, Johanna, and I saw our idea become reality. The introduction of this program changed the entire trajectory of the nonprofit and it grew into what we have today. 

Another lesson I learned was “start before you’re ready.” If I had waited to create the curriculum thinking I had no experience writing a program, JDSCA would never have reached where we are today. We just needed to get started and the rest would fall into place. We needed to take it one step at a time until the rest revealed itself along the way.

How do you stay innovative and keep up with industry trends? What are your goals for the next few years, and how do you plan to achieve them?

Keeping up with industry trends and staying innovative requires a constant flow of new ideas. To achieve this, we hire talented young people who can bring in new creative ideas that can be expanded upon. It takes a team and collaboration to build and grow an organization.

Our goal is to move the Arts across America. I plan to achieve this the same way I have achieved anything throughout my life and career getting out from behind my desk and working hard for it. I will be speaking at more events, sharing the story of my career journey and JDSCA, and finding creative ways to inspire others to use the arts, whether they are a business or a creator.

How would you describe your company culture? What qualities do you look for when hiring new team members? How do you foster growth and development within your team?

Our company culture is built around the idea of #JDSFamily. We want everyone who enters the building to feel welcomed and accepted. We are inclusive and positive, spreading the arts and spreading encouragement. Our culture encourages innovation and growth, allowing our staff and our participants to feel confident in their new ideas and abilities. 

When hiring new team members, hiring out-of-the-box thinkers is important. In our “unicorn” business, it is imperative that we have employees who can be creative and flexible. We look for those who are confident and strong yet excited and energetic. We want people who have a strong passion and are willing to share it. 

We foster growth and development within our team by providing opportunities for them to stand out. I do not feel the need to micromanage, knowing that they will do their work without being told, and in the end, this makes them feel more confident and happy in their positions. When giving feedback, I strive to provide positive constructive criticism that encourages my team rather than tearing them down. In return, our employees feel comfortable coming to me with ideas or projects because they know I will provide feedback directly but politely. 

How has your industry changed since you started, and how have you adapted? What trends do you see emerging in your industry, and how are you preparing for them?

Technology is always changing and we are always on a learning curve. However, this does not deter me but instead inspires me. I believe that life is a learning curve and you should always be open to new suggestions, no matter where you are in your career. Since I started, the industry has become more available to the public with people having video cameras at their fingertips. As someone who makes professional videos, we have had to stay ahead of the curve. We are always coming up with new solutions and technology to stand out from the crowd. 

As the industry continues to change and grow, we prepare by staying open and flexible to new technologies and new thought processes. This brings me back to my previous point that we bring in a younger and more engaged staff that introduces new concepts. They teach me and help the organization become better and stronger.

What advice would you give to someone looking to start their own business or organization? What’s the best piece of business advice you’ve ever received? 

“Go for it.” Entrepreneurship is one of the hardest yet best things I have ever done. I have worked harder as an entrepreneur than I ever did as an employee. However, it has been more satisfying and freeing. Being an entrepreneur allows me to be a better mom, and allows me to provide for myself and my family. It also allows me to help others in the community, even those that I do not know. If you have the goal and the mindset, I implore you to go for it. You never know where it might lead you! 

The best piece of business advice I’ve ever received was “don’t let fear stop you” and “start before you’re ready.” 

What do you think has been the key to your success? How can people learn more about your business or get involved?

The key to our success has been not giving up. Even when the days have been long and the weeks have been hard, we have not thrown in the towel. Instead, we persevered and now JDS Creative Academy has just celebrated its 10th anniversary. 

To learn more about our business or to get involved, follow us on social media, volunteer for one of our events, productions, or festivals, or simply, attend. By supporting the nonprofit, you support the arts and hundreds in the community.