Jennifer Murray

“Who you are naturally is exquisite and you don't have to be anything other than who you are. You have such a beautiful soul. You can do anything, so in all your undertakings just remember who you are.”

Excerpt from an interview with Jessica Martinaitis, Documentary producer and director, Lover of Life, Humans and Animals
(New York, USA)

My mom was born in Jamaica. She is one of six kids, three boys and three girls. From what she shared, they had a great upbringing. It was like a perfect family, what I would call a Jamaican Brady Bunch. My grandfather, who I never met, unfortunately passed away before I was born. My grandmother, my mom's mother left Jamaica and came to America. Then my mom followed her and came to New York when she was like 18 or 19. She built a life here, got married, and raised me, an American daughter. Mom is beautiful and back in the 70s, she looked like a model and became a flight attendant for Eastern Airlines for a few years. She then met my father on one of the flights. They were together for many years. Mom decided to go back to school when I was 4 years old and became a nurse. My parents later got divorced and I was with mom during the school year and spent summers with my father.

I wasn’t an easy child, I was a challenging teenager. As I look back now, I see how my mom really did her best to parent a little bratty Jamaican-American daughter who was questioning her all the time. She was so gracious despite me being challenging. Mom was just an incredible, strong woman who you wouldn't know that anything was tough because she handled everything with grace, style and ease. She's the kindest woman, so good to everyone. She treats everyone not just fairly, but beautifully. She laughs with people. She's so gregarious and compassionate and she taught me to be good to everyone no matter what. That's how I live my life. I am an extension of who she is in the world. Everything good about me is because of who she is. She always reminded me to treat people fair, no matter what, and be in communication. That's what I'm practicing now with people, be kind even when they’re difficult or mean, there’s never an excuse to treat people poorly.

My mom expresses and communicates her love. We don't get off the phone without saying I love you at least twice. She always says I love you more and I say No, I love you more. And it’s a back and forth thing as we end the conversation about who loves the other more. Love is always communicated with my mother and as a result, I'm really proud of how loving I am not just with people, but also animals, with myself, and with the work that I do. In every area of my life, the expression of love is there. As I got older, I noticed that not a lot of people are comfortable expressing love. And because I grew up encouraged to express love I am not afraid to give and receive love. Mom also made sure that I learned to love myself, she often reminded me that I am exquisite just the way I am. She’d say “Who you are naturally is exquisite and you don't have to be anything other than who you are. You have such a beautiful soul. You can do anything, so in all your undertakings just remember who you are.”

My documentary career is like my dream career. I'm really good at it. I finally found it at age 34 and that's something I'm so incredibly proud of. She was encouraging of taking risks and putting myself out there. And anytime I start to have doubts, I remember her advice to me. And as a result, today I get paid to do what I love to do. I get to make a difference, storytell and be creative. I've been involved in the documentary space for about three years. Prior to this, I worked in art galleries doing communications work for contemporary artists in Prague. I've worked in public relations for artists and fashion designers, and I was also in creative content producing. I love storytelling, and now as a documentary film producer and director, I'm telling stories that hopefully move the world.

Embracing my mom’s advice, believing in myself and my dreams, I shifted my career and went back to film school at age 33. I had no hesitation. I had faith that I can do anything and was clear that I can have everything that I want, something that my mom also instilled in me. And that's really cool because my life today is beautiful and I love what I'm doing. I am so grateful that my mom always encourages me to discover and live my dreams.