These business partners designed their dream bookstore. It took a lot of ‘manifesting’
For business partners Victoria Jackson and Jennifer Rudolph Walsh, their lives are intermingled with work. As cofounders of 15-month-old bookstore Godmothers in Summerland, California, the pair have built a space that they both longed for: a bookstore perched on a magical slice of Santa Barbara County, outfitted with cozy nooks to read and gather, a cafe, and an events space for author events and workshops.
Since its September 2024 opening the space has become a beacon of community, creativity and conversation––what Walsh calls “a beautiful creative cathedral” for everyone from that mom in carpool to Oprah Winfrey. “Godmothers is a great representation of coming up with an idea and seeing the building I pictured,” says Jackson, an entrepreneur best known for founding cosmetic company Victoria Jackson Cosmetics. “It’s creative visualization. I see it in pictures, and I work to create it.”
Walsh, who built her career as a literary agent, says that for her the store is exactly what its website proclaims: a local shop with a global dream, the product of a partnership born of big ideas, hard work, and the circuitous process of following gut instincts.
In these conversations, we talked about framing creativity in business and personal endeavors, cultivating the ability to slow down to accelerate ideas, and the value of a little fresh air.
Jennifer Rudolph Walsh: I view myself as a creative person, but not in an artistic sense. I don’t paint. I don’t do morning pages. I love brainstorming sessions with people. I love hearing their ideas and adding my ideas. I love taking those ideas that come out of nowhere and imagining how they can manifest themselves in different ways.
RW: I’m a morning person. I wake up at 5 a.m. with a tremendous amount of energy. I first meditate and then I read everything. I send articles to people that I think would be helpful to them. That gets the creativity going. I am full of ideas and inspiration in the morning.
RW: My life post-NYC is very free form. I really resist structure in my day and that’s one of the great things about being my own person here [in California]. I’m not answering to clients. So I love the freedom of that and the creative spirit can just take me anywhere. It might be on a hike or going through the store and talking with a customer about a book they loved. But it’s very freeform and go-with-the-flow.
RW: We opened the store as a bookstore and a gathering space because it’s something we ourselves craved. It’s a place to go to dive into the deep end of the ocean. We wanted to create a sense of community around that container; I think there needs to be more of that. People long to be there in person. Our shop is in a beautiful setting, which adds to the experience. It’s a place where people can be open-hearted and open-minded.
Victoria Jackson: Jennifer is a critical piece in the telling of Godmothers. We are trying to align and manifest something together. She is also a big believer and a manifester in her own right. Godmothers: how the community has, in such a short time, embraced it. How we have in all the best ways put ourselves on the map, with the trust and respect—really the big warm hug we’ve gotten from the community. I was going to be focused more on the beauty of the space, making it a cozy and welcoming physical space. She is working on the actual storytelling. She does most of the hosting and interviewing. I think we both respect each other’s opinions a lot; it’s a very easy collaboration.
VJ: I think there are certainly aspects where you can learn to open your mind. I think there is a certain amount of it that’s learned, but I think a bigger part of it is innate in how you see the world. Even early days in school—there are kids that are looking at the teacher and there are kids that are looking out the window. I’m a looking out the window person and I’ve been looking out the window ever since.
VJ: I have the ability to build bridges and communicate whatever that thing is that I’m working on. The fact that I can sell cosmetics on TV and have my authentic passion around it, while building community and connection. Everything I’ve done in the world of medicine—I’ve needed to build a bridge. In cosmetics, it’s connecting with women and consumers based on a product and an idea I had. I think the throughline is how I tell the story.
JRW: I love storytelling in all forms. I watch a ton of TV and movies. I read books. I read newspapers and magazines. Longform stories.
JRW: I see entrepreneurship as intricately tied to creativity. Creativity to me is business. I don’t see them as two separate things. I never understood a personal life and a professional life
I don’t really separate it from business. You can’t grow without change, and you can’t have change without creativity.
JRW: My motto is try easier. If something isn’t working or when nothing is working, I do nothing.
I’m not someone who is trying to force a solution. If I can’t think of three options, I’m going to keep thinking. I don’t move until I’m ready, and I’m not ready until I have at least three possibilities. I am at ease and I trust the universe. I see it through the eyes of wonder and miracle.
JRW: I’m not someone who will ask 10 people what they think of my shoes. There are people like that. I don’t really have a big appetite for what other people think about what I think is cool. If I have a big idea, I move on quickly. I don’t hold tightly to anything.
JRW: Everything about my life is a learned thing. No one used to try harder than me. I had to learn how to hold things lightly and go with the flow so things were always going my way. There is a magic place between making it happen and letting it happen. That’s a creative calibration. But I live there now.
JRW: I spend some time in nature every single day. All of those things are both spiritual and creative practices for me. In every conversation, I try to plant a seed or receive a seed. It’s about trying to say, “What do you think of this idea?” Or, “Oh, that’s an amazing idea.” You brainstorm and add on.
JRW: I live two miles up a mountain on a farm. I’m not on Twitter or Facebook. I live an intentional, slow life. I read and consume and carefully curate an intentional series of things. I’m not someone who is reacting to the world. I’m cocreating my own reality, with all of the choices I make.
VJ: I can lack patience. I set very high standards for myself, and at times, for others. When they’re falling short or very short, I have a hard time being patient, especially as I’m older and have accomplished a lot. I want people to be the best version of themselves. I get a little frustrated when they’re not willing to do that.
VJ: When I get stuck, I’ll go for a walk. I’ll put myself in nature. I will take a break. I will do that in meditation. You picture yourself going under the water and everything above you is stormy and waves and everything around you is quiet. Usually then, I’ll find some way.