Last week, I enjoyed learning more about Jon Batiste through his music and recent Netflix documentary, American Symphony. Today, on Woman Power Wednesday, I celebrate his amazing wife, Suleika Jaouad.
The initial concept for American Symphony was for director Matt Heineman to follow Jon on a journey around America as he set about reimagining what a symphony is about. He planned to travel across the country to recruit all types of musicians (jazz, blues, classical, and Indigenous) and figure out how to bring them together.
However, what unfolded was a set of circumstances that set Jon and his wife, Suleika, on a path of trauma. On the same day Jon is nominated for a record number of Grammy Awards, they find out that Suleika’s leukaemia, which had been in remission for ten years, has returned.
This set in motion a new plan for Heineman to film Jon and Suleika’s journey of contrast and to build that story into the documentary. The result is a powerful and moving love story.
If you end up with a project that you started with, you’re not doing your job right because you weren’t listening along the way. And that proved to be true in ways that we couldn’t possibly imagine.
If you want to learn more from Suleika’s perspective, the below TED podcast with Susan Zimmerman is a great listen.
Suleika speaks with so much grace and vulnerability about an incredibly difficult time and process.
When the ceiling caves in, it’s terrifying and disorienting.
- Learn how Suleika goes through the stages of grief before eventually finding a way to express herself creatively through art.
- How Jon supports her through daily lulabys.
- Getting comfortable with silence.
- Finding purpose in pain.
You must be one percent more curious than afraid. Curiosity is a more honest way into the creative process, where you don’t hold to an expectation of how something should look or how something will come together.
Woman Power!
