Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeanette Bent.
Jeanette, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Jeanette’s path to founding and running Stellaria Creative Company is a clear evolution from performer to multifaceted producer, driven by a desire to unify her background in storytelling, dance, and aerial arts.
The journey to creating Stellaria Creative Company came from Jeanette’s diverse performance foundation. She maintained an early career that provided the technical and artistic versatility necessary for her future production work.
From her time performing in Super Bowl XXXVII and the NBA Summer League to her international residencies in resorts across Mexico, the Caribbean, and Europe, she mastered both the stage and the logistics of performance.
Skill acquisition while abroad (France and Mexico) as well as in New York City, provided intentionality and moving beyond pure performance to acquire the “back-of-house” skills—choreography, stage management, and theatre creation—that are essential for a company founder.
After moving back to the West Coast, Jeanette launched an aerial, dance, and pole acrobatics studio called Aerial Arts Santa Cruz. This served as her proving ground for running a business and cultivating a local artistic community.
Jeanette’s pivot to production came after she realized that her true passion was in large-scale storytelling and show production, so she sold the studio.
This transition allowed her to launch Stellaria Creative Company in 2013, shifting her focus from teaching classes to designing immersive events and managing creative portfolios.
Today, Stellaria Creative Company stands as the anchor of her creative output, serving as both a production house and a vehicle for her professional storytelling projects.
Jeanette utilizes the company to produce a wide range of high-concept events, such as CounterCulture (for the Santa Cruz Fringe Festival), the Steampunk Soiree at Roaring Camp Railroads, and the musical Orbital Bebop.
Stellaria operates as a “storytelling” hub, and she views the company as an intersection of all her skills—journalism, writing, aerial performance, and theatre.
Through it, she actively works to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion by highlighting artists and writers from varied backgrounds.
Jeanette has also integrated her role as CEO of Stellaria with a career as a professional journalist (managing editor and co-founder of The 831), showing how she has successfully merged her professional journalism career with her independent creative production work.
Jeanette continues to use Stellaria to explore new digital frontiers, including the development of streaming platforms and collaborative projects with Writer’s Block Studios.
You can learn more at StellariaCreativeCompany.com.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
It has not been a totally smooth road. After moving to Santa Cruz and realizing that there was no aerial or pole studio where I could train and teach, I had to make the decision to open up a brand new studio in a community I had just moved to.
Fortunately, the studio was well-received and grew in popularity quickly. Then, while I was on a long gig at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk in the summer of 2015, my studio manager took all of my students and went down the street to open her own studio.
That was a very difficult time for me, and I almost shut down the studio.
Grit and determination are what made me rebrand, turn things around and draw all of my students back into Aerial Arts Santa Cruz (I was able to raise the business profits 8,010% over three months).
When we were back in the black, I decided to build an exit plan because I was pregnant with my second son and simultaneously running two businesses.
After a conversation with a family I brought through the studio circus scene, I sold the studio to them.
This was great as I was able to spend time with my newborn while being paid by the studio for that first year. However, I was lost about what to do about Stellaria.
It wasn’t until a few years later, which also happened to be during Covid-19, that the current vision for Stellaria Creative Company was developed and implemented.
The disappearance of events and shows in 2020 forced us to pivot and include publishing, which is just another form of storytelling.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m a multidisciplinary producer, publisher, editor, writer and performance artist. I find the intersection of these disciplines lives within the overarching storytelling arena, so it’s safe to call me a storyteller.
I’m known for a few different things. In the performing arts world, I’m known as an aerialist, teacher, dancer and choreographer, while in the journalism and media world, I’m known as a writer, editor, publisher and broadcaster. I’m also now making a name for myself in marketing and communications. I’m also a serial entrepreneur, but that’s obvious.
I’m most proud of the evolution and iteration of Stellaria Creative Company. I thought when I first pivoted the business, I would have to try and convince everyone about what I was doing and what the company was, but that didn’t happen. People get it.
I think that speaks to the larger scope of humanity right now. People want more healing, art and beauty in today’s world of chaos and frenetic energy. I consider Stellaria Creative Company a part of humanity’s collective healing journey through positive messaging and art.
What truly sets Stellaria Creative Company and me apart from others is the lifetime experience of blending live performance, immersive events, journalism, visual publishing and experiential storytelling. It’s an unusual mix that could possibly seem fragmented at first glance, but then boils down nicely into storytelling and message sharing.
We’d love to hear about any fond memories you have from when you were growing up?
I used to dress up in my older cousin’s costumes with my friends, and we would put on shows for our family and other friends. Those are some of the earliest performing memories that I have, even before starting grade school.
I’ve always found myself on the stage in front of people. That’s where I feel comfortable.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.stellariacreativecompany.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stellaria.creative.company
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StellariaCreativeCompany
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stellaria-creative-company/
- Twitter: https://x.com/StellariaEnt
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@stellaria.creative.company
