Today we’d like to introduce you to JoMaureen Koko Darpolor.
Hi JoMaureen Koko, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, let’s briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
From a very young age, all I wanted to do was create art and help people. As I grew older, I learned that my ability to create art came in different forms. I went from drawing people and nature to writing about them and photographing them. As I did these things, I saw how my art, especially my words, had the power to encourage people and inspire them.
By my senior year in high school, I had already booked my very first freelance job to photograph and edit a classmate’s graduation photos which gave me the confidence to take on the photography for my college campus events when they offered me the social media marketing position. In this position, I fell in love with being the person behind the camera who captures beautiful moments people would never be able to relive again but would always want to remember. Although my job throughout the majority of my college career was based in the marketing field, my major throughout college was fashion design. In the 2nd grade, while everyone else was getting hooked on phonics, I was getting hooked on the Disney show “That’s So Raven” and knew that one day my passion for fashion would lead me to where I wanted to be.
As much as I loved the world of fashion, my love for words and their power always held first place in my heart. I am trying to remember when I haven’t owned a diary or a journal. These books I would write in would become a collection of my own written experiences, original song lyrics and poetry, and eventually, the positive affirmations that I consistently write today. Writing positive affirmations changed my life. It brought me joy when I didn’t know joy was still possible. I accepted long ago that my purpose in life would be to help people as much as possible. In 2021, I decided to combine my admiration for words and my passion for fashion design to produce positive affirmation clothing that promotes joy in other people’s lives.
Only three months after making that bold decision to open my online shop, JKDJournals, I made another bold move to Round Rock, TX, in June of 2021. I’ve always admired Austin area’s beautiful art scene and saw this move as an opportunity to grow as an entrepreneur. Since moving out to Round Rock, I have been blessed with a position as a high school drawing and fashion educator while growing my positive affirmation clothing brand and building a new photography clientele in Austin. It’s been a beautiful journey so far!
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned? Looking back, has it been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Nothing worth having comes without a challenge. I have faced many moments of hardship and discouragement as I’ve been figuring out this new journey as a small business owner. One major challenge is simply being a brand new business owner and learning many things “on the job.” However, I also remember the words I am sharing, such as the original affirmation that inspired the entire clothing brand. “I am the triumph that rose from the challenge. I am not the defeats.” I constantly remind myself that challenge and defeat are not synonymous and that just because something is difficult doesn’t mean you will be any less successful.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
JKDexterity is a versatile marketing and artistic freelance business that offers a wide range of services, from graphic design to the JKDexterity specialty of photography. The idea began with my initials and my persona of being okay with not confining myself to one box. Being dexterous is all about being skilled with many different abilities, especially abilities that require using your hands. Whether I am holding a pencil, a paintbrush, a keyboard, or a camera, I know that the finished product will be something my clients and I will be proud of and excited to share with the world. JKDexterity isn’t just an affirmation of loving yourself outside of the walls of a box but also the mother brand of my positive affirmation clothing brand, JKDJournals.
JKDJournals is a true merger of my design and artistic skills with my love and passion for words and their ability to positively change someone’s life . The whole idea of this brand is to create clothing that reminds anyone and everyone (whether you’re a stranger reading the shirt in passing or the person staring at yourself in the mirror) that “you are enough.” I write affirmations that utilize different words to remind people of that very thing. The most exciting part of both of my businesses is that they allow me to indulge in my passion for creation while living my purpose of improving other people’s lives!
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Growing up, I was different. I went by my middle name, “Koko,” given to me by my maternal grandmother at birth. In her tribe’s native tongue, the name itself means unique and different. I often found myself living up to my name time after time. Whether it was in comparison to my siblings’ gifts in math and reading while I preferred drawing butterflies and the fruit basket on the kitchen table or my constant need to express myself even when what and how I expressed myself wasn’t considered “normal,” conforming wasn’t my strong suit.
In the 7th grade, I would cut the lenses out of 3D glasses, paint them, and wear them to school like a “hipster.” This was around when Ray ban glasses were getting more popular, and bigger frames were everywhere I looked on TV. I would wear high colorful socks and my father’s old ties with t-shirts and call it a look. I received stares and comments that were not always good at times. However, I stuck to being who I authentically was.
In the 8th grade (and eventually my senior year of high school), I got voted best dressed. By the end of my 8th-grade year, while I had moved onto tying my workout t-shirt sleeves with leopard print ribbons and unknowingly trend researching through TV shows, many other students were starting to wear the same look I was rocking the year before. I look back at that time in my life and often think of the episode of Fresh Prince when Will Smith turned his school uniform inside out, so the printed lining became the new design for the jacket. Being unapologetically himself was undeniably his biggest flex. People may not have always understood what they saw when they looked at me, but even then, they saw something special.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://jkdjournals.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jkdjournals/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jkdjournals
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/jkdjournals
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@jkdsvideodiaries8233/featured
- Other: http://www.jkdexterity.com/
Image Credits
@JKDexterity Photography
