Jody: Experientialist
The word experientialist might have been specifically created for Jody. Instead of looking for happiness by collecting possessions, she’s always found bliss in her head-on involvement with the world. Her journeys have taken her from art to sports to theatre to the raising of four remarkably creative children. She’s never been able to settle on a single challenge, and long ago she chose to simply be herself and experience everything that she could.
During her years as an art major in college, she lived in a San Francisco warehouse with fellow artists many decades before “loft living” was anything close to being cool. Then, she discovered photography and instantly knew she had found a medium that would captivate her for the rest of her life. Before long, she was working on both sides of the camera—becoming the first clothing model for Banana Republic. Yet San Francisco’s leading fashion photographer liked Jody’s own photographs enough that he strongly encouraged her to quit modeling and become his assistant. She did, and together they worked on projects ranging from album covers for Journey to ad campaigns for Victoria’s Secret.
Inevitably perhaps, Jody’s adventurous spirit brought her out of the photo studio and into the world of sports. She joined fellow entrepreneurs to create a very successful indoor ski-training center in the Bay Area and toured for a number years on an acrobatic freestyle ski team, a time during which she was often featured on the covers of women’s and sports magazines.
When the Disney Channel first premiered in 1983, its executives hired Jody to write, produce, and perform sports segments for the new channel that encouraged people to get out and get healthy. Active women with her on-camera abilities weren’t common in those days, and Jody loved the challenges the new work offered. Yet performing began to intrigue her enough that she explored becoming a serious actress as well. In time, she landed major roles in San Francisco stage productions—performing for theatre legend Stella Adler and winning a major role in Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Ernest.”
When she fell in love with a fellow actor, the couple decamped to rural Ojai, California where they ultimately raised four children on a 2,500-acre ranch. With organic vegetable gardens and free-range livestock to tend to, Jody managed to continue her photography career, regularly shooting rock-and-roll legends, and famous artists and actors while her children learned how to live the free and creative life she loved. As her kids grew, she became a theatre director and teacher at the Ojai Valley School, California’s oldest private boarding school, which led her to the creation of her own young people’s theatre company, where she directed hundreds of children, giving them the opportunity to learn and perform in live theatre.
Her own kids were always close by—and they became consummate performers themselves. Her sons were discovered in one of her productions and went on to forge professional acting careers in nearby Hollywood—and Jody became their manager. The skills she had amassed over the years proved to be perfect training; she added the roles of talent manager and administrator to her lengthening resumé and her sons’ careers blossomed. They became accomplished actors, receiving major roles in film and television productions and winning a SAG award.
Committed always to being present in the lives of her children, Jody ultimately moved to New York City when her daughter appeared destined for a remarkable career in dance. Once more, Jody’s multi-faceted career proved to have been perfect training when she became the first director of residence life for the renowned Joffrey Ballet School as well as the company’s preferred photographer—positions that ultimately led her back to California where she created and became the first program director of the San Francisco Joffrey Ballet School Summer Intensive. Her daughter has since gone on to a professional dance career, and is currently performing with Milwaukee Ballet.
Throughout the years, Jody has grown her photography business, and a number of corporate clients keep her on retainer, flying her around the country as their top visualist, and relying on her to help successfully brand products and services with her forward-thinking visuals and marketing ideas.
Jody’s experientialist commitment throughout her life’s journey has led her to a time in which she continues to work non-stop in numerous arts-related endeavors. Her many clients eagerly seek out her finely attuned photographic eye, her highly accomplished administrative skills that are particularly suited the worlds of the arts, as well as her regular consultation on artistic endeavors that range from ad campaigns to start-up dance academies, from helping young actors find their truest paths to designing complex and compelling photographic and film narratives. Regardless of the project, Jody strives to give her clients an edge in today’s ever-changing and highly competitive market.
Jody is an arts consultant and advisor like no other; she’s an extraordinary artist in her own right, and an experientialist to her core.
If you would like to get in touch with Jody regarding photos, art advisor / consulting or just to say hi, please fill out the form and she will get back to you as soon as possible.