7. Jessica Silber
JESSICA SILBER BRINGS PEOPLE TOGETHER.
I’ve noticed it’s sometimes hard to make new friends the further into adulthood you get. Enter Jessica Silber, who combines her top notch organizational skills to her natural knack for gathering people together in her new venture, Welcome, an inclusive community for the masses.She' is incredibly grateful for her best friend and Creative Director, Halsey Pierce who has been instrumental in the evolution of Welcome. Welcome’s goal is to create a space where literally everyone is... welcome. And, I can tell you, they’re succeeding. I played at one of their Welcome to the Stage events earlier this year, and it was something special. Instead of trying to describe it, I think you should check out an event, or their social media content (@we_welcome_you) to see for yourself how truly special these gatherings are. Jessica Silber is a new friend, she radiates joy and compassion when she speaks, as you’ll see below.
Illustration by Emily Ohlrich (Ink+Oil)
This interview has been edited and condensed.
What is your name?
Jessica Silber
What do you do
I am a creative producer for Welcome. I used to work mostly in film and television, but now I am working in events and content creation. So producer, director… and songwriter.
How did you get into it?
Welcome evolved pretty organically for me. I had a full time job producing in creative development. At the same time, I realized that as a queer woman living in Manhattan, I realized I have my queer friends, my straight friends — and it’s not that they didn’t ever overlap, but it just seemed like they tended to exist in separate spaces. I saw an opportunity to bring everyone together through hosting events. I love hosting things! I grew up in the “hang-out house,” where I always was the one hosting parties. That’s how Welcome got started. Another cool aspect about Welcome is that we are filming all the events to live online so that people who might not otherwise have access to an inclusive community can be part of it via social media and YouTube. It’s also changed the way I view social media and helped me find the beauty in it and the way it can connect people. We’re really focused with Welcome on using social media for good.
Where did you grow up and how does that influence your work?
I grew up in a town called Glen Rock, New Jersey. New Jersey is a lot cooler than people make it out to be I swear. I lived in the same house my whole life. I always knew that I was different, but I didn’t know why. I was dating guys in high school, but then I realized that I didn’t like guys. However, I wasn’t comfortable enough with myself to be like “oh, I like women.” Glen Rock has very small town vibes, an everyone knows everything about everyone kind of feel. When I was growing up there, it was assumed that you were a heterosexual. I don’t think that’s specific to my town, but it was my experience. I do think that it influenced my inability to realize that I was gay sooner and come out about it. I would never say that it’s not a safe, progressive town to live in. But it was also where our culture was at that time. It was a place where people assumed I was going to prom with a guy. Simple things like that definitely influenced me and when I went to college and met a beautiful, blonde-haired, blue-eyed lesbian, I realized you could be both feminine and lesbian, and I started to figure out who I really was. I wouldn’t blame my town; I love where I grew up but it definitely affected me and my perspective.
What project are you working on now or will be working on that you are most excited about?
Welcome is kind of a never-ending project for me. I’m constantly thinking of new ideas and things we can do to create community. Right now, I’m most excited about an overarching project that my creative partner, Halsey Pierce, and I are working on where we are asking people from various walks of life to speak to us about inclusive culture and its importance in our society. For each of our Welcome to the Stage events, we film and photograph each of the artists in their homes as a way for the audience to get to know the performer and get excited to see them before the show happens. There’s so much talent out there, and just because you’re not getting a Grammy or Oscar doesn’t mean that you’re not insanely gifted and worth getting to know. For every artist, we ask what “Welcome” means to them and why they think it’s important to create inclusive spaces. We’re planning to mash all these responses together into a big video, with everyone sitting in our traveling Welcome chair. All the responses we’ve gotten are so cool. They have inspired me and fuel me to keep going.
How did we meet?
I went to my first and only Sofar Sounds show. It was such a cool experience, and you performed! I was like oh my gosh, love her voice so much. I immediately found you on Spotify and started listening to your stuff. As someone who is secretly a songwriter and very passionate about music, I really connected with your music. It was around the same time that I was putting together these events, so I slid in your DMs. You were our first shoot with the chair!
If you could listen to only one song for the rest of the year, what would it be?
Um, am I allowed to say yours? My immediate thought was okay, Carole King, Norah Jones, or Caitlin Mahoney.
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Perfect happiness is the state of being happy with imperfection.
Who is living woman do you most admire, and why?
Carole King! Mostly because she wrote such incredible songs and then later on in her career got to re-release the songs in their original versions. I admire her so much.
What is your greatest fear?
Tsunamis. Yep.
What is your greatest indulgence?
Topshop… and McDonalds.
What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
Judging people by their Instagram following.
Who is your hero of fiction?
April Ludgate, Aubrey Plaza’s character from Parks and Rec.
If you could fix one thing in the world, what would you fix?
For people to be with whoever they want to be with, and for labels not to exist.
What is your mantra these days?
I have this quote on my wall in my room. We’re all going to fall—it’s what we do after we stand back up that defines us.
Jessica Silber is a writer, director, producer and entrepreneur with a passion for creating a sustainable community where labels don’t matter. When Jessica isn’t producing or prepping for the next Welcome event, you can probably find her at Sunny and Annie’s deli in Alphabet City.