Dispatch from Cabo
My debut as an officiant, cousin time, and crying on planes
Hello from Cabo! I’ve been emotional this week. I cried on the flight over the ending of Freakier Friday, and then again listening to Stevie Wonder’s “Love’s in Need of Love Today.” A close friend of 15 years is getting married, and I’m officiating, so I’m bursting with emotion. I’ll share more about that later, but honestly—what an honor.
I’ve also had more family time than usual, which always sends me into reflection mode. My sister is in Cabo with me. A couple of weeks ago, my cousins Joe and Shani came to New York for the opening of the Studio Museum in Harlem. They used to live in the city, but now they live in New Orleans. We met during my first year in NYC through an intro via my dad, and one of our first hangs was, fittingly, a museum in Harlem. We’ve stayed in touch ever since.
This trip, we ended up at The Other Art Fair in Brooklyn with their daughter, Baldwin. Joe and Shani are both artists and founders of The Black School, so being in a creative space with them felt right. We caught up on life—fundraising, my first months out of corporate, and their latest projects. I ran into a colleague from my Complex internship days, and he complimented this very newsletter. I used to sit in his office doing expenses, and now he’s cheering me on. It meant more than he probably realized.
A few moments later, a former Meta colleague stopped me: “Are you Shelbi? I follow your posts on LinkedIn—I’m rooting for you.” If you’re reading this: thank you for that perfect little moment in front of my family.
Joe mentioned another cousin was joining us—Gabe, from Chicago—someone I’d never met because, truly, my dad’s side of the family is gigantic (he has 30+ first cousins). We all ended up eating ramen together, and it was one of those serendipitous New York moments. My mom and I talk about this all the time: so many people in my generation on my dad’s side are creatives. Being around them is encouraging. As someone learning to claim my creativity out loud, it’s a gift to sit across from people in my family who have built entire lives outside of corporate America.
I’ve been working through The Artist’s Way. We are cruising through week two, even on vacation. My hands are cramping from writing morning pages, the exercises, the vulnerability of unraveling years of conditioning. I can feel myself becoming more honest about who I am. Instead of spiraling about whether I’m “really” an artist, I came up with an idea for a documentary this week. And I am going to make a deck, because are ideas real until they’re in slide form? I’ve also had a couple of people reach out about Becoming You workshops. It’s working. I’m working!
Okay, I’m going to the pool now. More next week!
I’m so glad you’re here. Let’s keep the conversation going—share your thoughts or send me a message anytime. You can find me on IG or TikTok, or tune into Hi! I’m Here, the podcast.
Want to work together? Reach out at shelbi@shelbijones.com to book a workshop or a 1:1 session.
I want to hear more about officiating!!