I first met Jessi through her Etsy shop Luminous Light Studio. I was going through a bit of a rough patch and was obsessed with Bethel’s You Make Me Brave album, especially “It Is Well”. I love the song as a whole, but the end of the song says:
“So let go my soul and trust in Him, the waves and wind still know His name.”
It struck such a chord in me and I couldn’t get it out of my head. I briefly considered tattooing it on my body, and upon further reflection, decided Etsy was probably a better option. I typed the lyrics into the search bar, and only one shop showed up – you guessed it – Luminous Light Studio. After a couple of days emailing back and forth about some personalization I was wanting, I found her website http://luminouslightstudio.com and fell in love with her work, her mission and the way she brings light into the dark. She graciously agreed to Skype with me and be interviewed for TCW.
Hannah: Hi! Thank you so much again for being willing to do this – I’m so excited! So first off, why don’t you introduce yourself? Who are you, where are you and what do you do with your life?
Jessi: Hi! My name is Jessi Snapp. I currently live in Indiana, I’m 27 and a full-time student and stay at home mom. I’m studying social work, and I finish this year. I own Luminous Light Studio and I’m a contributing writer for All That Love Can Do and as of October, I’m writing for Still Standing Magazine.
H: That’s so much! I’m so impressed that are managing school on top of everything else, and hooray for graduation being so close! Tell me about your family?
J: My husband and I have our son Ezra, who is 6 and Silas, who is in heaven.
H: That segues kind of perfectly into the next question. Tell me about your Etsy shop and how all of that got started?
J: Sure. The shop started in May. After losing Silas in August of 2014, I got involved in a community of women who had also lost babies to Tris, and it really became like a sisterhood to me. I started to paint their babies names in these watercolor memorials, and send them out to the families, hoping that I could bring even a little bit of a light to a dark situation. Eventually it got to a point where it was so expensive to keep sending them out for free that I didn’t know how I was going to keep doing it. Then we started the Etsy shop and a portion of our proceeds go to sending the paintings to the families who have lost their babies, free of charge.
H: That is so incredible. I read the story on the blog, so I knew a lot of that coming in to this, but to hear you tell it. So powerful. So on to a bit more frivolous question. If you could travel anywhere, where would it be?
J: Ah. That’s so hard to answer. If I could travel anywhere, I’d pick Heaven for a day. But within the realm of possibility, I’d have to say Australia.
H: Do you know any Captivating Women?
J: Yes! Rachel at The Heart Magazine is definitely who I think of when I think of Captivating Women. Her magazine is beautiful and celebrates women being real and honest about their own lives – the joys, the loss and the everyday things. Another is Carly Marie Dudley in Perth, AU. She does these really incredible sunset photos with babies names written in the sand. I have one for Silas, and I treasure it. Her website is full of beautiful art and you can follow her on Instagram @carlymariedudley. Also RaeAnne Frederickson – because she is amazing. She runs two support communities: one for parents who continue their pregnancies despite a fatal diagnosis and another for mothers living childless after loss. She lost her son Samuel & yet she finds it in her heart to support others. She is pure gold! And Lexi Behrndt of Scribbles & Crumbs. She writes avidly on large platforms about grief & loss. She is one of those beautiful souls who has a way with words and instills hope into the broken. She has quickly become a voice for so many. She also runs The Charlie Sawyer Project, which is a beautiful place for bereaved parents to share their children’s stories.
H: They sound like absolutely incredible women! It’s so cool to me the ways that people like these ladies are making the world brighter by utilizing their own gifts in such unique ways. Okay, so if you say anything to a 10 years younger version of you, what would you say?
J: That no matter what you face, there is always hope to be found. You can always find joy, even in the darkest of times.
H: I love that. It’s so true. What is your favorite goofy ritual or thing that you treasure doing with Ezra?
J: laughs He is such a silly little guy, that I think there could be a fairly long list there. One thing we are always doing: we love to scare each other, so we will both hide in the house and pop out and try and scare the other one.
H: That’s so precious! I love those kinds of traditions!! So the last of my silly questions, do you with all of your free time that you don’t have, have any favorite TV shows?
J: TV is a guilty pleasure of mine actually. I’m always doing other things while watching TV, but I love to watch it when I can. My husband and I love to watch Game of Thrones, it’s kind of our Sunday tradition, and we get really into it
H: I totally understand that. Leslie Knope is my spirit animal on so many levels and I’m still way too emotionally invested in Parks and Rec.
J: Oh! I love that show too.
At this point I hear a consistent knocking at the door to her office, and she calls out to Ezra that she’ll be finished in just a minute and then she will be free to play checkers with him. At the time, it made me giggle because he sounds like a really wonderful little guy, but the more I thought about it, the more that highlighted my impression of Jessi in general. Willing to take time out of a very full schedule and a very busy life to get to know the stories of others and share herself and her story in an attempt to let people know they aren’t alone in their grief and struggle. She has since published articles online with Huffington Post and Good Housekeeping, and is really wonderful each time at being very real and vulnerable without trying to sugar coat it or giving into hopelessness. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone turn grief into such a thing of raw, honest beauty. Please check out her website at http://luminouslightstudio.com.
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