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NH Unscripted with Jennifer Sue Rockwell

Today’s guest was my friend Jennifer Sue Rockwell. Jenn and I go wayyyyy back and it was time to do some catching up. Her acting resume is darn impressive with gigs at the Seacoast Rep, the Palace Theatre, some stints with National touring companies and she’s even spent some time performing in Maui!!! She directs, does 1- on -1 acting coaching AND she’s now doing floral artistry with her business “Flowers by Jennifer” (flowersbyjennifer.com). One hour just wasn’t enough, but, we managed to get in the good stuff!

Duration:
45m
Broadcast on:
21 Jun 2024
Audio Format:
mp3
(upbeat music) - Welcome back to NH Unscripted. And we are on the midnight train to Georgia. I am your Gladys Knight Like host, Rick Dudley. And we are coming to you from the YMCA-like digs of the WKXL Studios in Concord. I can smell the pool chlorine from here. Mother of God. You know the routine, fire up those Sony Walkmans, Walkmans, whatever the heck the plural of that is. Get rid of those crappy headsets that come with it. Buy yourself something decent. Come on, it's just Father's Day not long ago. Yeah, yeah, break out the good headsets, baby. We are coming to you from the WKXL Studios 1450 AM 103.9. Those are both conquered based. Well, no, no, no, 103.9 FM, FM, FM, FM. 101.9 FM for the beautiful souls in Manchester. And yeah, duh, we got a URL. Come on, we're in 2024. NHtockradio.com is the URL. I will give you a little bit more information about what is going on out there a little bit later. I do need to thank my sponsor, Lakes Region Fence, Pappin' Guilford, Matt and the boys up there are doing exemplary work. I mean that for a fact. They have a website, LRfence.com. LRfence.com. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you heard me, LRfence.com. If you go out there, there's a button where you can get a free estimate. You know me, I'm old, we like free things. That's why we go to Costco, get all the free little samples of all the food. We like coupons, go out there, get a free estimate for your fence. You know what, it's summer time. Break down your cheap son of a gun, put up a new fence around your pool, put up a new property line. You know you got pickleball going or something? That's the hot thing. I don't play it, but you know, you're good. I'm put up a new fence. LRfence.com, you can go out there. There are reams and reams and reams and reams and reams. There are photos out there that you can spend hours, just you and you squeeze. Looking over all the great fence options. Oh, life is good. LRfence.com. Matt, we appreciate all you do for us here and your sponsorship, ladies and gentlemen. I have a great guest in the studio today. Jennifer Sue Rockwell, good morning. Good morning. How are you? I'm good, how are you? Do you prefer Jennifer Sue Rockwell or Jennifer Rockwell or Jen? My stage name is Jennifer Sue Rockwell. I'm not telling you my stage name. My maiden name is Jennifer Sue Mallard, so people are listening. Some people may remember me from stage from that name, but more in the last 10 years. Girl, I haven't seen you in years. It's a long time. It has been, are you dead? He's great. Yeah, yeah, I think of him a lot. Yeah, he's great. He'll probably listen, hi dad. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, shout out. Shout out to the man. I brought you in because both of your resumes, and I mean both, are chockful. I have no idea where to even start here. First of all, why don't you tell us what you're up to lately, and then we'll kind of get maybe a little history of things you've done 'cause you have done. I mean, my printer almost wouldn't stop. I almost had to shoot it, because there's so much stuff spitting out of it. So why don't you tell us where you're from, what you're up to lately, and then we'll go from there. Well, I was born and raised in Orange, Vegas soon, sure. Went off on my own a bit, lived on Maui for a little while, did some art out there, I've done tours, I've done all kinds of stuff, and then got married, and now I'm in Manchester again for now, and just doing the thing. So I'm lucky and blessed to be a working artist for the last 25 years, doing performing, directing, teaching, singing, all the things. And then it's exhausting. Yeah, it looks it. So I'm reading your resumes exhausting, let me tell you. It's amazing, and I love it, and I'm so grateful that I have had this path and this journey, and it runs in the family. So I used to be this shy little girl back in the day, and would go to rehearsals with my dad and my brother, and watch them do things, and be like, oh, that's really cool, but not... I was always shy in those situations, so. And now you're the cool one. And now I'm the cool one. Now we're all pretty cool. But I finally, one day was like, I really want to do that. And so I auditioned for a show and didn't get in. And then I did another one, and then I got in, and then that was it. So... The hook? Are you saying the hook was there? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And so then it ended up being a family thing for a little while, for a long while, actually. Most of my performing years, it was a lot of tag teaming different theaters, doing stuff together, doing stuff separately. And I feel very lucky to have had that bond with my dad and my brother. And then obviously my mom come to see the shows. Oh my God, you know, it's funny you talk about that bond, I don't mean to interrupt you there. No, it's fine. That is something that a lot of people don't get, right? I do theater, no one in my family does, no one. And so that's special. Have you been able to work with your dad much? Oh God, yeah. Yeah? Oh yeah, I am my brother. You know, like all the three of us, even like there was a chunk of time where we all kind of like went off to do our thing. And then we all came back together. Like when I moved back from Maui and stuff and we started performing together again or like directing and some of us performing. And you know, we've spent a really long time of our career cultivating this reputation of yes, like we're family, but also like we're very aware of doing shows together and how that can look. Yeah. And that's a real thing and all that stuff. And so we all tried really hard to make sure that like people knew that our talent was our talent and it was our talent. And like we were getting things and getting these opportunities because of who we were and the work that we did and you know, our own personal reputation. So that the more we did shows going older, like people didn't, people just knew that they were like, this is just who they are. This isn't like. Was that a hard fight to get over that? I don't think so because I think people just saw us. You know, like they saw. Which they should. Yeah, well thank you. Yeah. They saw that I think because we kind of like dabbled and like baby stepped into it individually, like my dad used to do stuff when he was younger, but we didn't know that until Brandon was my brother was in eighth grade, I think. And he was like, hey dad, I want to go audition for Pink Floyd's The Wall at the Palace Theater. Mother of God. And my dad was like, what? And he was just like, yeah. And my dad was like, I don't not only will I take you, but I'll audition too. I haven't been on stage since high school. That's so cool. And they both got in. And so that was kind of the kickstart of all that. My dad was in the adult ensemble and my brother was in the youth ensemble. And that just kind of, so I was in seventh grade. He was in eighth and we kind of just, I mean, he was doing stuff in school and stuff, but like really like really doing the thing. And that's kind of how it started. And so they did it for a while. And then eventually I was like, I want to try. And so then I did it for a while. And then, so I think we were able to cultivate like our individual styles on our own. And people were able to kind of see that. So that when we would come together and do stuff, they already knew that like we were talented, you know? And it wasn't that we were just doing it to stay together and be a family. And I'm going to give you this role because I'm your dad and I can. Like it was never like that. If anything, if anything, I feel like my experiences working in shows with family is my, the expectation is a lot higher for me a lot of the time when I'm just because of that. - Yeah. - You feel that pressure from your dad and your brother? - Yeah, but in a good way, you know? - Oh, I see. - And in a way that, no, just more of like, like if they're directing and I had been in a show with them, it was like, you know, just that expectation of doing your thing and being a good example. - Have you ever directed them? - I've choreographed it with shows where my dad has directed. So we've been a team together. - Yeah. - And then shows with, I don't know if I've ever directed Brandon. I think he's usually the one either directing me or... - Is it fun? I guess what I'm getting, is it fun being with your family? - Oh, I love it. - Oh, I absolutely love it. - I mean, I love getting together with my family of Christmas and stuff and parties 'cause they're all just, they're really outward going. Most of them just don't do anything, but they're really outward, so I would think, man. - Oh, I love it. - They could either be really good or really bad. - Yeah, no, it's great. - Yeah. - I mean, obviously like family, like we have our moments of being stressed out and being like, "Why are you telling me what to do?" But like, you know, it's small. But I think I feel so lucky that like I've had, the career that I've had, but also I've been able to share that so deeply with my family. - Yeah. - 'Cause I mean, especially nowadays with like, the way technology is and the way, you know, like, I see other families and how disjointed they are. And, you know, like, I'm not saying it's perfect, but I just, I feel like being able to have that bond our whole life has created a nice, just, I don't know, connection now as we're getting older. - Yeah, you know, it's funny that that's, I'm so glad we have this conversation because, you know, when you're performing, you build a memory yourself. But now you've got a memory with your family. - Yeah. - I mean, you know, our family may kind of watch us, but it's not the same as them performing with them. - Yeah. - Wow, that would be incredible. - And then it's cool too. Like when we, like, 'cause like now that we've gotten older, like I just turned 40 and, you know, my brother and I are only a year apart. And, you know, we're all kind of like, in this point of our life where things are shifting and like theater's becoming not the forefront of our lives anymore, you know? And we're just like, this is, this was great. This was a season. This was beautiful, but we're tired now. And we're, you know, we're- - I know that feel. - Yeah, like it's great. And I think it's always going to be a huge part of us, but, you know. - Jenna, hang on right there. We are doing the Neutron dance. And we are going to dance our way into a break. I am telling you, I am your host Ray Dudley. So happy to be out of bed. We're in the neighborhood jacket in the bell bottom pants. Yeah, we're cool. You are listening to us at 1450 AM, 103.9 FM Incanqid, 101.9 FM in Manchester. NHTalkRadio.com is our URL. Jennifer Rockwell is in the house and we're talking business. We'll be right back. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Oh, yeah, baby. How can you mend a broken heart? You know how you listen to NH Unscripted, where I am your BG like host Ray Dudley. We are coming to you from the Fantasy Island light digs of the WKXL studios hidden deep, deep, deep in the heart of Concord. 1450 AM, 103.9 FM Incanqid, 101.9 FM in Manchester. For all the beautiful, beautiful, beautiful souls down there, NHTalkRadio.com is our URL. Jennifer Rockwell is in the house and I have a lot of questions. Girl, you have a, I opened up a can of worms by printing out your resume here. You mentioned that you were in the process of sort of migrating out of the artistic end of theater and you're gonna have something else that your other business that you are in. - Yeah, like I still dabble. I still have my things. It's just not the, it's not my... - Based on this encyclopedia I'm looking at, also known as your resume. You have done a lot. I mean a lot of work. - You can see why I'm tired. (laughing) - Yes. - It's a good tired, it's a good tired. - I know, I know. But for people who are, I'm not sure who the whole demographic is in our audience. So for people who are maybe thinking of dipping their toe in the theater or whatever, what kind of tip would you give for them nowadays going in and so most of us are gonna know I think community theater-ish, but you have a lot of the professional stuff on you. The secrets you're having. - Yeah, I've been very lucky. - Yeah, so maybe touch on both of those. Are they different? - I mean, they're not really that different. You know, I feel like honestly the biggest difference between community and professional is a budget. - No. - You know, like community unfortunately has a very limited budget and professional sometimes also has limited, but it has more resources. And, you know, I think that, I mean also, I feel like some professional companies are not a non-for-profit, some are. And so it just, I feel like there's so many things in that mixer that, you know, I think that when it comes to the education aspect or the performing aspect or maybe like tips and tricks for actors, I don't think it differs much. So I still teach, I do private one-on-one acting coaching. - You do. - Yeah, so that I have as something that I still continue to do. - So let's park right there for a second. I know I asked you a lot earlier. - No, that's okay, this is perfect. - So in that, what should somebody expect? I mean, and who would take an acting class? What's going on there? - So I have, I actually, I currently have a mix of all ages, so I have from age eight, all the way up to like, I think right now I have a 21-year-old and I do acting with some of them and I do voice with others. - Okay. - And it's great, so it's usually, usually weekly. Right now it's biweekly, I think, for most of my students. And we have an hour and we talk acting skills, we talk audition skills, monologues, voice singing, breath work, like the whole shebang, improv, all of it. - So what would be an audition skill? What would you tell them to do? - So usually if audition skills, when we were focusing on that, we're talking both material. And then also like, I feel like this has shifted so much over the years. Like when I was younger, the audition skills and like the way you walk into a room and the way you introduce yourself and the way you segue into like introducing your song and all that, I don't think it's too different, but I also feel like it is different because a lot of auditions are virtual now. - I know, I hate that. - Yeah, so like, and I don't, I don't hate, - I know, I get it. - I don't hate it, but I also like, there is something about being in the room, you know, it's electric. It's me personally, like, I am a huge fan, like of the acting aspect of just all of it because I feel like with musical theater, there's the singing, the dancing, the acting. If you had to break it down to three pieces, obviously there's more than three pieces, but if you had to pick like the basic things, it would be singing, acting, dancing. And from my experience across the board in both community and in professional, the main focus is always the music and the dancing, and the acting always takes the backseat. And it's been my experience from very, very few directors that I've worked with make sure to incorporate moments where we focus on that. But as an actor, our only job is to create and to play. That's it. - Yeah. - And so all of the character development and the figuring out, you know, who you are and what you are and what you bring to the table and what your purpose is in the scene and the whole storyline and how your relationships connect to the other characters that you're talking with and things like that really do come down to the work that you do at home, the work that you're doing, because there isn't a lot of time, especially in professional, 'cause the timeline of getting a show up is way shorter. - Yeah, you're not kidding. - You know, sometimes we'll have two weeks. - Right. - You know, anywhere from two weeks to maybe four to get a show up. And then the show runs for like seven weeks. And so what in a community theater, you have three months of rehearsals where you're only meeting three days a week for maybe three or four hours. And so, you know, and then you only get like three shows, which, oh my gosh, like I just killed me. 'Cause that was how we grew up and how we were doing things. You know, before we, you know, branched out and traveled and got, you know, my feet in the water of the professional world and was able to say, hey, this is what I get to do for my career and how to pay my bills and stuff. Took a long time. (laughs) So I guess segueing into tips and tricks, I guess like audition skills I'm usually talking about, like the work to do at home, the things, the questions to ask yourself from a character perspective, character development. - Even for an audition. - Even for an audition, like if you're, I would say whatever your content is that you're, like if you're singing a song and they're saying, hey, you're gonna do a cold read. So a cold read is when they say we're just gonna give you scenes from the script. - Right. - Off the cuff in the moment and you're gonna perform them with someone in your audition together. Or monologues, which breaks my heart, they don't really do them anymore. I love monologues. So because I feel like that's like, it's like a, I don't know, it's like a juicy, tangible thing that you can utilize to help guide you in character development and stuff rather than just like picking from the air. - Yeah. - I personally love cold reads though. - They're my favorite. - Oh God. - I'm a huge fan of being organic. And like, I just, I know it freaks people out sometimes but I think the reason why I like it so much is because my reaction and my knee jerk reaction in the moment of reading these scripts and performing is very real and it's very organic. And there's not, and this is actually something my dad taught me and it's become like a token and my teaching is acting is not acting, it's reacting. So it's learning to react to emotions, react to someone's response, react to someone's tone, react to the way that they're sitting with their body, react to the way that you're having a thought process in your head and letting it show on your face. Like it's not just about reciting lines. It's just like what you read, the immediate reaction it has in your soul and in your heart and then just letting it out. - It is exactly, it is not just reciting lines which is hugely important. That's a very big distinction because there are people, you might as well just be reciting the phone book for some folks, right? - Right. - It's that a road, it's that empty and void. But yeah, you're right about that hole, you gotta know what's going on. It has to be a reaction, a real reaction. - A real reaction. - I was watching something the other day and I don't mean to cut you off. - No, you're not. - We were up at the One Axe powerhouse, had a couple of weekends ago, a weekend of One Axe and I was watching people and you could tell even in the short time, some of the only 10 minutes long, but as they were doing their lines, you could, as an actor, I think I could tell more than most people, you could tell when they were doing their lines and then when they actually said something that was a real emotion inside them, it was, it could have been just a word where they just, it was so natural. It was such a cute little like visceral reaction and it was real as opposed to just, you know, what they were trying to get across. - And it's hard to teach sometimes, especially with kids because it's like, they think acting and they think like, oh, I'm gonna pretend to be this and everything is really short and just like, hey, you know, which is so cute and so fun. But then when you start to really getting into like the deeper aspect, 'cause if I had to choose, I much prefer the more intense, like I love comedy and, you know, I've been told that I'm pretty good at it but it's funny 'cause I think that's the thing that comes easy to me because the emotional stuff and the deep stuff and the nitty gritty stuff and the dark stuff takes so much thought and work and exploration of myself that I prefer that because I really feel like I'm, I don't know, like digging into something from a real true artist perspective and it's always so funny to me 'cause I feel like half the time when I come off stage for something silly, it's the time I get the most compliments. - Oh my God. - And then I'll do a show where I'm like pouring my heart and soul and I'm like bleeding on stage and then all of a sudden like, I'm just like, people are like, oh, great job. And I'm like, oh, thanks. And then I'm just like, you know, I just died on stage and showed you everything inside of me, you know? But we don't do it for, you know, I mean, okay, I take that back. People say they don't do it for the compliments but there is a level of the ego being a performer that is just there, you know? And I think it's not about like fluff my feathers. It's more about, did we connect? You know, like, did something I do move you the way that it moves me? 'Cause that's the reaction I want. - Shen, Shen, you're burning me up here. My God, we are Dave Dreamville leaving here at NH Unscripted. I'm with Davey Jones, like host Ray Dudley. We are coming to you from the water country like Digs of the WKXL studios. I see you on the water slide over there. 1450 AM, 103.9 FM and Cackey 101.9 FM. It's a beautiful soles and Manchester. NHTalkRadio.com is our URL. Oh God, girl, we got so much to go over. Shen, Shen Rockwell's in the house and I'm having a ball. We'll be right back. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) - Dude, dude, dude, looking out my back door. We are in NH Unscripted. I hear credence, clear water revival like host Ray Dudley. We are coming to you from the Hawaii 5.0 like Digs of the WKXL studios in Canckey. 1450 AM, 103.9 FM. Yeah, conquered 101.9 FM for the beautiful soles and Manchester. NHTalkRadio.com is our URL and Jennifer Rockwell. And I have been in the weeds and we could probably talk for a few more hours on the mechanics of theater and I love it. But I need to ask her. She is doing art of a different type. Are you not? - I am. - And what would that be? - I would be doing lots of floral art. - What? Is that like ice sculpture? What is that? - Okay, so we'll do a nice little segue performing we love. We love, but as you know, getting older, it gets tiring. And I just, I got a little bit of burnout. So I was like gonna take a step back and I started playing with flowers as a form of therapy for myself. - No kidding. - And it quote unquote, "bloomed into a thriving business." So I am a woman-owned business. I own my own business now for last my second birthday is coming up in July. - Congratulations. - And I am, my business is Flowers by Jennifer, excuse me. And it's a floral artistry studio, essentially, is what I have toakened it. I have such an immersive and extensive artist background from in all different mediums. Like, obviously performing was the forefront of it for so long, but I also like what people may not, may or may not know, as I wire wrapping to painting to drawing. Like I've done all kinds of art and through the course of my life that I just have done for myself. And this just was a new medium that I found that kind of just clicked. - Okay, help me out here. Because I get how you can make a nice floral arrangement. Okay, that's the guy in me. That's all I know about Flowers, it ends. It starts and ends right there. - It's an art. - So, okay. - Yeah. - Well, okay, so, but you mentioned, you got into the minutiae that you said, the wiring and all of this. - Yeah. - How does that, how do you work that into art? How does that, how do you transform that? - Color, shapes, designs, like, you know-- - The wire? - Oh, yeah. So like, when I did the wire wrapping, I do it for fun now, but I like crystals and things like that. So, it would literally like, making intricate designs of the bracket that holds onto the stone. So, that would wouldn't just be like, wrapped in a single piece of wire. And that's it. - Yeah, well that'd be what I would do. - Yeah, which I do sometimes, but I'll do it in a funky way. So like, you know, swirling different things. Doctorate pretty, you know? Hey, to someone that's art though, right? Like, you know? - I don't want to meet that person. (laughing) - No, so, so it's just another medium. So just like painting and drawing and pencils as a medium and performing as a medium, flowers is my new medium and it's become, so the, why I call it floral art is because I don't really have a rhyme or reason. I do what I think looks good to my eye. And I look at each piece as like a customized sculpture. - You do. - I do. - So, okay, let's back all the way up. - Okay. - Someone comes to you. What are they looking for? Do you do all kinds of floral arrangements? Are you specialized in? - So, primarily? - Medines or? - Yes. - Yeah, you do, okay. - So, when I started, it was like kind of like, I was trying to figure out where my niche was. So, doing some deliveries, I was trying to go around networking around Manchester and being like, hey, businesses, subscriptions, like flowers, I can bring them in weekly to your shop and like, just to have them decorated, whatever. And it didn't really kick off. The delivery kind of did, but I realized I didn't really, someone called me one day and was like, do you do weddings? And I just was like, yeah, like I didn't even think about it. I just jumped. I was like, you know, as an artist, you learn to just improvise. So, I just was like, yeah, yeah, I do weddings. And they were like, great. And so, I had a consult and I booked it. And I was like, oh, okay, okay, cool. So, I did the wedding and I went, this is it. This is what I meant to do for the rest of my life. And I am so happy. So, how does that work? So, the customer comes in and you conceptualize with them or they give you an idea and then you take that and turn that into something? Yeah, so usually how a consult will go is, someone will reach out, they'll fill out an inquiry form, and they'll give me like a Pinterest board with a couple of inspiration pictures. Let's say this is the color scheme I'm going for. I say, what's your vibe? They're like, boho or modern or, you know, sheet. Oh, well, Bohemian, so like, yeah, which is. Old man alert, old man alert. Yeah, so Bohemian or whatever. And I am a big hippie chick, so like, I love that style. And specifically my like, if I had to pick a niche, it's more like wildflower kind of just like, just pretty but crazy kind of, I guess. Yeah. New Hampshire chic, I guess is what you could call it. Would that have a moose head or what the-- No moose, no. I'm leaving unless someone asks for it. If someone asks for a moose, I would find a classy and clever way to put a moose in there. (laughing) I've yet to have that happen. But yeah, so we talk and we usually have a consult. That's a lot like what we're doing right now. Chatting, I ask about their history, their partner, and you know, what the plan is, and then what their vision is. And then from there, I know what questions to ask. What items are you looking for? What's your budget? Like things like that. And then I always make sure to say, your inspiration pictures are a guide for me. So they inspire me and that's it. I am not copying what I see, that someone else's work. What I do is I take what your picture of inspiration, and I take who you two are as a couple, and your energy, and I kind of mesh the two together, and then I figure out the colors. So there's a lot of work that goes behind the day. So for like months leading up, I'm figuring out which flowers I want to use. I'm researching which ones I think would be good. Sometimes, you know, messaging and saying, "What do you think of this?" And then when the day comes, after I've put the order in for the florals that I'm using, once I get it, a lot of artists, a lot of floral artists have recipes that they kind of stick to, and they kind of just do all the time. - So that's the thing that I own for a lot of time. - Yeah, that's, and it's just like, very specific, type A, like, you know, which I do have a little bit of that myself, but I don't like to write out the plan. I don't like to write out the, like, recipe of what it is. I have a kind of a recipe that I go by 'cause I need to know how many flowers I need to get from this. So I know what to charge them and that so that, you know. But when it comes to the designing aspect, it's very intuitive. So I go off of what I've talked to with the couple and the pictures we've shared and things like that. And then once I get, like, it's kind of like, once I have my paint brushes and my paint in front of me, it's my flowers and things. And I just do it. I just start-- - So you are not a floral shop. - No, I am not. - Okay. - So you have to go out and get all the materials that bring them in based on what the conversation you've had. - Yes, yeah, everything's customized. - Wow, wow, how long does it take you to do that? - Oh, I mean, I start working most weddings book, like, close to a year in advance. Sometimes not as much. Like, I just got one for December. - Yeah. - So, and like, literally, like two days ago, I got it. - It's very December. Never mind. - Well, winter weddings are pretty. The flowers are pretty. - Okay, all right, all right. - You can get pine in there, any corns and stuff. - All right. - Or pine cones. Yeah, so, what was the question? (laughing) Shiny things, probably where are we talking about? - Let me back up a little bit here. So, you go out and you have to, what's the quirkiest one that you've maybe ever had that you're like, what? Like, hmm, that's-- - For a wedding, or just a design? - Yeah, for whatever, yeah. The craziest thing, someone came to you and said, we want something out of the ordinary. We want, we're gonna do, I don't know, reunion, or even a funeral or something, and you're like, I don't know if I can get that material. Where would I even hand grenades? How do I get those? - Okay, so, I wouldn't say it's weird. - Okay. - 'Cause I'm still growing. I'm still new business. I have yet to have someone reach out and say, hey, you wanna make something with a moose? Like, I haven't had that. But, I have had the Manchester Chamber of Commerce, hired me to do their Citizen of the Year event for this 2024 season. So, we just did it in April, I think, March. And all they said was, the color scheme is yellow and green, and retro, and that was it. - Retro? - The pictures they sent me was literally just color blocks. - Like the Jetson's retro, like 50, 60-- - Yeah, like just retro. They didn't even, it wasn't even overly explained. It was just, it's kind of retro, and it's green, and it's yellow. And I think that might be their theme every year. - That's the color of the Formica in my house. - I know, but it was cool. So, they said, other than that, you can do what you want. And I went, what, this is so cool. So, I was like, great, what can I do? - Yeah. - So, we knew that we needed centerpieces, and we knew that we needed a, we decided that we wanted to make a giant floral arch for the guests to walk in under. And I was like, cool. So, I said, what's yellow and green? Okay, greens are easy, yellow, I can get mums or yellow roses or whatever. And I was like, what's the thing, though? What's the thing for me that's gonna make this retro? - Yeah. - And I don't know why, but my brain went lemons. And so, I was like, okay, I don't know why, but I feel like this will look really cool. - Okay, that's two of us, I'm not sure why either. - Yeah, and I was like, but I feel like fruit in arrangements is kind of retro, and it's kind of like, you look at old school vintage pictures and paintings, there's always fruit around like the arrangements and stuff like that. So, we did, we had a, we had a lemon queen. - You're a yellow with like little marshmallows in them and stuff. - No, dang it. I put literal full lemons in the arrangements and people went crazy, they loved them. - You did. - Yeah, it was really cool. - Dang it. - Hey, no, I'm here. Oh, this has been gentle on my mind. Well, you were listening to NH Unscripted. I'm your Glen Campbell, like host Ray Dudley, and we are coming to you from the Hawaii Five-O-Digs. Yes, yes, Dano, book 'em. WKXL Studios, Inconquered, 1450 AM, 103.9, FM 101.9, FM in Manchester, and htockradio.com is the URL. We're all the cool kids hang out. Tell you a little bit more about that when we get back. Jennifer Rockwell is giving me the beats on floral artistry. Be right back. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) Woo! Anyone should ever write my life story. It's gonna be NH Unscripted, of course. I'm your flattest night like host Ray Dudley. We are coming to you from the spa-like conditions of the WKXL Studios. I love getting the foot massage. 1450 AM, 103.9, FM. Those are the radio signals. For those of you who still know what a radio is, Elzing Conquered, 101.9 on the FM Bandin Manchester, and htockradio. Is our .com? Is our URL? Out there there's a button where you can click to listen to live, mm-hmm. So you say, hey, every Wednesday and Friday, I'm on my way to work, what Ray is doing? I'm gonna go click that crazy button and find out. Or hey, you wake up two, three o'clock in the morning. You know, you can go out there, all this show and everything else that happens here at the beautiful, beautiful Taj Mahal like digs of the WKXL Studios, our archived out there at NHtockradio.com, because we are the cool kids, and everybody loves to hang out with the cool kids. Jennifer Rockwell is chatting with me about floral artistry because it's all things entertainment, baby. Jennifer, please give me your URLs. URLs, okay, so flowersbygenifer.com. You know? - Huh? - It's pretty easy, Pete. - It rolls right off the tongue. - For all the creative life and brain I have, I really did not put it into the name of my business. - We like it. - It's easy, and then my acting coaching page is jennifersoorocwell.com. Again, pretty straightforward. - Are you zero 50/50 balance there? Between the two, the things that you're doing, or are you leaning more towards one than the other? - It's definitely probably at this point, it's probably like 85/15. - Really? That much? - Yeah, I'm pretty much, the flowers are kind of giving me a lot of, it's like a new lease on life. I feel like this chapter for me is about being calm, and I feel like especially with the way the world is getting to get heady, the world is crazy right now. And there's a need for us as humans to find the things that bring us calm and bring us peace and to remind us what's important and what's not. And 90% of what we do and think is important just isn't. So I'm trying to live the rest of my life in a state of what brings me joy, what's calming, what's grounding, what's important. And that's for me right now playing with flowers and helping people find a pretty way to connect and find their love and commit to each other is what I'm feeling very led to do. - Yeah, I'm with, so for people who don't know, theater is performing, is very, very draining. - Yeah, it's like an Olympic sport. People don't realize it, but it's exhausting. It's physical, it's mental. It's like the way people exercise to do a sport, we do with our voice, we also do with our bodies. And it's just... - And adrenaline drain is brutal. It takes me days to recover sometimes now, it's just days. But if you're doing flowers, I shouldn't say flowers. If you're doing what you like, which is what you have discovered and where you are, that's a whole different ballgame. I just feel like we go through so many versions of ourselves. And I spent so long playing different versions of other people on stage. And I got to a point where I went, I don't know who I am outside of theater. And that's wonderful, it's beautiful. I'm not taking away the beauty and what I've learned in doing art, and I don't think I'll ever stop completely. I love to sing, it's medicine for me, I love music, I love performing, I love art and storytelling. And teaching that to kids, that it's storytelling. It's an ancestral thing that our ancestors did. It's innate in us. But I'm at this point in my life where I feel like it's fun to teach it and I don't wanna perform as much. I like being able to make art in a new way. And that has been so inspiring and such a confidence booster in myself too, is to be like, wow, you've been known for so long as theater being it. But it's like, wait a minute, I have so much inside of me that I've not like navigated or discovered. And so by taking a step back the last few years to kind of figure out who Jennifer is in this version of life, has been really beautiful and hard and interesting. And I just, I love being able to kind of do that in tandem with this new discovery of this floral business. But also, I have to say, I'm not just doing florals with my business, I'm also a day of coordinating and I've started helping design full weddings. And I look at my entire background of my theater and I go, this is why I'm really good at this. Because like, I just did a wedding this last weekend. Shout out to Dexter's Inn and Sonopee, they're amazing. So if you're looking for a venue that's very earthy and naturey, they're just so beautiful. But we just did it up there, it was my first time up there and I, it was like 180 guest count. And I've been working with this couple since like January on building this visual of what this wedding was gonna be and it was two full days where my husband's like my business partner. So my husband Dana, shout out Dana, I love you. - Love you Dana. - I would not have been able to get this through, this weekend without him. But it was like everything, it was doing the florals, designing, setting up decor and helping coordinate the day and making sure the timeline. And I was like, it's literally like putting on 180 person performance that happens in two days. And it's all improvising and being on the cuff and going on a schedule, creating a schedule, connecting with the vendors. Like it's all this that I literally go, people look at me and go, wow, aren't you exhausted? I was like, yeah, but like it wasn't that hard. And it's like, well, no, 'cause I've been doing it my whole life. Just in a different capacity. So I feel very blessed and lucky that like I've been able to like it started with the flowers, but it's genuinely grown into a really cool business. - I take back everything I said about how exhausting theater were for me because you just topped it. - Did you went from the frying pan into the fire? - Yeah, but the lucky thing is that I get to pick and choose. - You like the fire, that's why. - And it's, with the weddings, it's like a one, it's a one day thing and I can pick and choose how often I wanna do it in the year. And it's not seven weeks of performances every weekend. It's different couples and different performances if you look at it that way and it's different designs. And I get to put my hat on for all of it when I'm designing. I get to be like design the picture. So that's like creating the stage pictures. So I get to, that's like helping guide, you know, the bridal party down the aisle. It's like staging like a director. And then the day of coordinating is like being a stage manager. You know, I get to, you know, the only thing I'm not doing yet, which maybe I should is start adding wedding singing to it. You know, I'm just calling it a whole package right there. - One in time. - Turnkey operation. - You imagine, oh my goodness. - Yes I can. - I know me too, but I don't wanna. - So what about limitations? Is there anything you won't do? I mean, size-wise or exotic-wise or is there anything? - Yeah. - Okay, that's interesting. - Yeah, I love it. I give you big installations. Like I love doing, the bridal bouquet is always so special to me. And that is like the most intimate piece when I'm designing 'cause I feel like it's the thing that encompasses the love of this couple. - So that's fascinating. - And that's the thing that they save. That's the thing that usually preserves and saves, so I love that. - And that's got your heart embedded into it. - Yeah, it's like where like the design starts. - Yeah, yeah, there's a big piece of you in every one of those. - Yeah, and so when people walk away and they're like, "That's the most beautiful bridal bouquet I've ever seen." I like wanna cry 'cause they're just like- - Yeah, go hide in the corner. - Yes, that's right, 'cause I'm so glad 'cause I want you to love it as much as I feel like I take. I'm crying now, thinking about it. I just, you know, and not in like, I think the love and weddings are gorgeous and beautiful and they are always get emotional, but it's just like I'm coming from such a different standpoint where I feel so lucky that I get to still be an artist, but in this new way, but also it's like similar in a way. It's strange. - So your website, flowersbygeniver.com, people go out there, do you have photos of all your work and stuff out there? What will they find? - So I, something I've developed that I've been doing this year is content shoots, and I have found that I love them equally as much as the actual weddings. - Can you expand on that? - Yeah, so content shoot is essentially, again, it's a staged photo shoot where either I get asked to do them by someone who's facilitating or I've also facilitated some myself. So if I'm facilitating one myself, we reach out to vendors we've connected with and we say, hey, we need a cake for this photo shoot. Hey, we need models for this photo shoot to model as a bride and groom or actual couple. Can you come in and stage and wear a wedding dress? And then we'll have like, if I'm not designing, then we have a designer come in to come up with the concept and then there'll be florals. And so the first one I ever did, I, because of my background, it was nothing to me. I was like, let's do four different styles in one photo shoot and people were like, what are you talking about? Isn't that, that's a lot? And I'm like, no, it's not. - It's fine. - So we did, we had four different couples. They had, and I was like, I wanna design florals of four different styles because I wanna showcase and capable of doing anything you ask me for. And I needed the experience 'cause as I'm navigating, people need to see what they're getting. People like images, they're not gonna, that's just what they're going off of is a visual of something. And when you're first starting your business, especially as an artist, you have to have content. Especially with this internet world that we're in. You know, Instagram being present on that, having a website, having professional photos and not just from my iPhone. You know, things that really showcase being like, this is what you'll get, but also, this is what it'll look like at your wedding 'cause you're gonna have a professional photographer. - Are you on all those socials? - Oh yeah. - Yeah. - Are we really done? Hey. - You, you, you, you, we're all friends again. - Yes. - What up there? - FlowersbyJennifer.com. - And who are you? - I am Jennifer Sue Rockwell. You can find Jennifer Sue Rockwell.com for art things and Instagram is FlowersbyJenniferNH. - Oh my God. - I love you girl. We are forever in blue jeans. I am your Neil Diamond-like host Ray Dudley. You have been listening to NH Unscripted. Another one for the archives and awards ceremonies out there somewhere. 1450 AM 103.9 FM. And Kaki, one to one point nine FM for the beautiful souls and man Chester. NH talkradio.com is where the gold is baby. And find this show in the archives of all the other great stuff out there. FlowersbyJennifer.com. Jennifer Rockwell has been in the house. Thank you. - Thank you. - Bye bye. See you next time. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)