Explore the Archives
A Journal of the Plague Year Arizona Collection Australia Boston Bronx Community College New York Brooklyn College New York Canada Las Americas Lockdown Staten Island New Orleans Oral Histories Philippines Sacramento Community Based Organizations Southwest Stories Teaching the Pandemic The City College of New York

Collected Item: “Jeanetta Hawkins Oral History, 2022/10/03”

Title

Jeanetta Hawkins

Who conducted the interview? List all names, separated by comma.

Kit Heintzman

Who was interviewed? List all names, separated by commas.

Jeanetta Hawkins

Email Address(es) for all interviewers. Separated by comma.

kheintzman@gmail.com

Use one-word hashtags (separated by commas) to describe your oral history. For example: Where did it originate? How does this object make you feel? How does this object relate to the pandemic?

#BornAgain, #Christian, #church, #coughing, #events, #family, #fear, #grants, #gratitude, #hugs, #kindness, #married, #masking, #Missouri, #motherhood, #smallbusiness, #StLouis, #touch, #Vegas

What is the format of your recording?

Audio

In what ZIP code is the primary residence of the interviewee? (enter 5-digit ZIP code; for example, 00544 or 94305)? In what city/town/village does the interviewee live? In what country does the interviewee live? All comma-separated.

USA, Missouri, St. Louis

Describe the oral history.

Some of the things we discussed include:
Running a special event rental/decorating company; family business.
Being at a trade show in Vegas when the pandemic hit the USA; traveling home to St. Louis, Missouri.
Catching up on sleep during lock down; visiting family through glass, not getting to see family; hugs.
First visit with a family member during the pandemic.
Being nearly completely booked for 2020 by 2019; clients canceling events while St. Louis began shutting down; policies decreasing the number of people who could gather.
Applying for any available government support for small business grants/loans; high success rate; waning support in 2021.
Looking out for employees during lockdown.
Pivoting business from a pre-pandemic focus on decorating toward providing rentals; shifting from large conventions to more intimate events.
Adult children taking on certain business tasks for age-related safety reasons.
Loving what one does and staying busy; decorating as an art and as a passion.
Husband retired from law enforcement; protecting the family.
Born Again Christianity; being more spiritual than religious; online services; feeling support in spiritual community.
Division in the USA over issues like masking.
Not taking life for granted; making the best out of every situation.

Other cultural references: NBA, Habitat for Neighborhood Businesses, Economic Injury Disaster Loan, Anthony Fauci, President Obama

See also:
https://www.ptbjstl.com/
https://www.stltoday.com/pr/business/jeanetta-hawkins-of-personal-touches-by-jeanetta-inc-is-entrepreneur-of-the-year/article_164cf17c-ef5a-11e8-aa0c-5cb9017b3617.html
https://www.stlamerican.com/salute_to_excellence/business_luncheon/partnerships-are-everything-jeanetta-hawkins-is-one-of-two-entrepreneurs/article_87a71de4-f40e-11e8-8f99-5f26965ce1a0.html

On what date did you record this oral history?

2022-10-03T08:05
Click here to view the corresponding item.