Jordan Dené Ellis poses with a copy of Sartorial Geek.
Jordan Dené Ellis is the giant nerd behind Jordandené, a geeky fashion brand started in 2011. In 2018, Ellis also co-founded The Sartorial Geek, a nerdy print magazine, podcast, and online community.
“When someone is able to be themselves, love what they love, and help bring other people together around the things that they love, it’s total magic” says Mallory Shoemaker, Content Strategist at Adobe Express.
Jordan Dené Ellis poses with a book that contains the quote on her specially-branded shirt.
She has since taken her enthusiasm for community to work at Adobe, showing small business owners and brands how to level up their creative workflows with Adobe Express.
Goldie Chan: Hello Jordan, thanks for joining us. What has your career path been?
Jordan Dené Ellis: My career path has taken me through a pretty untraditional route. In college, I thought I would be a teacher, and I graduated with an elementary education degree. Before even finishing school, I realized that teaching is an incredibly challenging and underpaid career (to all the teachers out there, you are saints), so I opted into nannying instead. I lived in Brooklyn at the time, and, like most young New Yorkers, I needed more than one job to make things work, so I started an Etsy shop selling handmade fandom goods.
Back in 2011, the geek market hadn't really expanded to target women yet, so there was a big opening for well-designed and feminine pop culture merchandise. I was fortunate enough to grow a customer base over the following years that let me nanny less and expand my shop until I was running my own company, Jordandené, full time. The thing I loved most about running a small business was the excuse to interact with so many incredible people, and I wanted to find a way to do that more.
Five years ago, I expanded my fandom fashion brand into a media company, The Sartorial Geek, that I co-run with Elizabeth Crowder Serota. Our goal is to foster an inclusive geeky community and share their stories through our print magazine, podcast, and online and in-person events. Building out The Sartorial Geek showed me that community development is what I care about most, and during the turbulent year that 2020 turned into, I started looking for full-time work in this field. I got an MBA last year and am so thankful to have found a dream job in community relationship management with Adobe Express.
The many diverse models of Jordandené, a geeky fashion brand.
Chan: What has been your favorite project that you’ve worked on?
Ellis: After self-publishing twelve issues of The Sartorial Geek magazine, we got the exciting news that Scout Comics wanted to pick up our magazine for publishing and distribution. Working with a publisher was something we hoped for from the beginning, and that moment was a milestone celebration for us. We decided to do a "Best Of" collection for our first issue, highlighting our favorite articles from the previous three years. Kelly Sue DeConnick is a personal hero of mine, and seeing her face on the cover of a magazine I curated, for sale in my hometown's local comic book shop, was a moment I will absolutely never forget.
Chan: What has been your favorite part of running your own small business?
Ellis: The best part of running a small business to me has been the opportunity it provides to meet and connect with so many other incredible people. I'm a massive extrovert, and I've used my position as a small business owner to attend networking events, introduce myself to other business owners in hopes of collaborating, and offer help to folks who are earlier on their entrepreneurial journey. I've gotten to speak on panels, interview hundreds of massively talented creatives, and collaborate with some of the coolest people in the industry. Sometimes I think I keep my businesses around mostly as an excuse to keep meeting new people, and honestly for me that's completely worth it!
Chan: How do you balance your full time job and running your small business?
Ellis: I wish I had a better response to this question than, "I don't always do it very well, and there are many chunks of time that I'm incredibly overwhelmed and work constantly," but that is my most honest answer. However, over the past decade I've learned some helpful strategies that I am trying to practice more.
Maybe the most important tip for me is being strategic about which projects you take on and as discerning as you can about what is actually worth doing. Especially when working more than one job, there really is no room for busywork, and you just have to say no when the payoff isn't there. It's often helpful for me to remember that saying yes to one project likely means saying no to another, so choose carefully.
I also look for ways that the skills I develop in different projects can complement each other. For example, the decade of customer service and community-building experience I gained through my side businesses make me a better community manager for Adobe Express. Similarly, the creative skills I learn at Adobe absolutely level up all the work I'm doing on the side.
Jordan Dené Ellis poses with a copy of Sartorial Geek, a geeky fashion magazine that she founded.
Chan: What are you currently working on?
Ellis: Right now I'm finalizing The Sartorial Geek Issue 004, curating the stories and artists for our next issue, and building out a plan to revamp The Sartorial Geek podcast this year. I had to pause on new episodes while I finished grad school, and I really miss those interviews as a way to connect with our community and showcase some fantastic people and their projects. With Jordandené, I'm currently working to collaborate with more female and nonbinary designers for our next series of collections.
Chan: What is exciting to you in the world of fashion or fandom?
Ellis: What I love most about the world of fandom is the intense passion fans share for the things they care most about. For me, there is nothing more powerful than being the connecting bridge between a fan and their favorite thing. Or, on the flip side, experiencing the joy of a creator being celebrated so well by their fans. There's something incredibly special about the instant connection that forms the moment you realize someone else is passionate about the same specific thing as you. Nothing brings me more joy than watching a community of folks bonding and forming real relationships through their fandom.
Chan: Any branding or career advice for this year?
Ellis: My favorite advice in almost any area of business is: done is better than perfect. While planning, being strategic, and creating a cohesive brand story are all absolutely valuable, don't let the pressure of ensuring that everything is exactly right keep you from doing the damn thing. No matter how hard you try to account for every possibility, a massive part of entrepreneurship is accepting that sometimes you won't know the right move to make until you've started moving. I've watched so many friends' really cool projects and ideas—that they spent so much time planning and dreaming about—miss the opportunity to take off because they never actually happened. You have to be prepared to start just doing and embrace the humility and flexibility to make adjustments as you go.
