Theres something about Darcey
So Christmas... it’s finally here. By now, most of you will have had a chance to get to know the various members of our team via the beautifully written weekly blog posts. But there is one story missing: the story of Darcey. Our editor. Writing about Darcey, after Darcey has written about us, feels a bit like entering the school singing competition and having to go after Mariah Carey. No matter how hard I try, it just won’t be as good! But I’m going to try, and I’m going to start with both a thank you, and an apology. Thank you to Darcey, for capturing all of the team at Jam in such honest form the past few months. Through skilfully depicted interviews, chats and very early mornings at her laptop, Darcey has found the best in all of us, and for this we are all grateful. My apology is straightforward; sorry I don’t write as well as you do!
This is the second time I have had the chance to interview Darcey, and I think it’s fair to say the first interview went pretty well... she got the job! I knew within minutes she was going to be the latest member of the Jam family; she told an inappropriate, embarrassing story to both Mark and I that left us both in hysterics! I was blown away by how she owned the situation with such a style and grace, that the situation itself was no longer deemed embarrassing. This is someone who can handle anything I thought... and that was before I read her CV!
Darcey has a CV, and no doubt the skillsets, fit for a President. She got straight A’s at school (where she was head girl), a degree from the London School of Economics, and studied a Masters in Acting! She’s rowed a 125-canoe mile marathon, harvested grapes by hand in Margaret River, and starred as Peter Pan’s Tinkerbelle in the West End! She’s now a New Creative for the BBC, where she’s been turning a script she’s written into a short radio drama. If I had these skills, I’d be shouting from the rooftops, but she actually breezes over most of her achievements with such humbleness they could easily go unnoticed... because Darcey is more than textbooks, more than institutions, and much, much more than a fictional character. Darcey is real.
In fact, it doesn’t get more real than Darcey; she embraces her weaknesses as much as her strengths. She moved from an incredible childhood in Cornwall by the sea, where she had the freedom to sing from cliffs and dance in waves to the streets of London. She says she really struggled with the city at first, feeling pretty starved of her former freedom and was shocked at many minds - set on a career in the city. Whilst her peers were doing vacation schemes at Goldman Sachs, Darcey got herself three months working with a tribal community of artisans on the coast of India helping them grow their handicrafts enterprise.
Instead of a large corporate Darcey joined the pioneering drinks brand, Vita Coco, after graduating. Soon everyone was going nuts for coconuts and Darcey found herself hydrating half the nation. Wanting more ‘life,’ Darcey took an opportunity to go off-grid when she was offered to work a season on a family run vineyard on the coast of Australia before coming back to start her professional training as an actor and performer. She took shows to Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Amsterdam and Berlin before life took another turn.
Darcey is back in Cornwall (yay!). She returned initially to help care for and be around her mum, Jacqui, who sadly fell ill with a life threatening disease that attacked her brain. Unfazed by the sadness of the circumstances, she reflects on the family tribulations as a ‘privilege’, as it has not only brought her entire family closer together, but it has enabled her to get to know a new Jacqui (who I also cannot wait to meet). Only a true leader could turn those kinds of lemons into lemonade. In the face of adversity she is infinitely positive and a breath of fresh air to all of us. Darcey always says yes! She values living above all else, and has risen above the ranks of the rat-race to achieve what most people work an entire lifetime to do; understand herself.
Darcey loves living in Cornwall and is now only interested in mastering the art of FUN. Her daily commute is a swim from Carbis Bay to the St. Ives shop she runs. She is in and out of the recording studio on days off, helping out her boyfriend and his family run an organic produce shop & deli at weekends. Recently she even starred in a hit German TV show whilst they were filming in Cornwall. She is always there to listen to us, like some sort of fairy godmother; she goes above and beyond for whatever team she might find herself in (be it vineyard, film cast, family kitchen, or Jam!). Darcey, in my opinion, is everything everyone should aspire to be; she will never be defined nor confined, she is happy in herself, she is multi-talented, and multi-faceted, she is the dinner party guest of a lifetime, relatable (and sometimes debatable!) and I am incredibly proud and thankful to have her as part of our team at Jam. I have already had customers rave about getting to know Darcey in the St Ives shop and I very much hope that many of you reading this will get to know her too. If you do get to St. Ives any time, I highly recommend you pick her brains on organic wine, you never know, she might even let you try of her secret stash in the back ;)
