Meet Jade Adams
The Face Behind Oglewood Avenue
Remember COVID-19? Right. Well, that pandemic clearly impacted all of us. Daily routines, future plans, businesses all had to pivot. Jade Adams, however, (you know, our future best friend) is used to pivoting.
A couple of years ago, she was planning on being a doctor who took photos as a hobby.
PIVOT: she became a professional photographer with a casual microbiology degree.
Starting a business as a young Black female was not easy in Knoxville (she hadn’t even officially finished college before making the launch), but Jade has embraced the adventure.
“There’re not many people who look like you, you know?” she said, “So I love getting to highlight the people who do.”
Soon, people began seeking her out as a safe person to capture their moments and be a part of their stories. You can see it all over her photography page. Beautiful photos of all kinds of people grace the screen: Black people, White people, LGBTQ couples, interracial couples, the list goes on. There’s just a lot of love.
Jade brought that kind of love to her new business as well.
Remember how she pivots?
Well, a few months ago, she was a professional photographer with a plant hobby… but as social distancing kept being a thing, she decided it was time, yet again, to pivot. Now Jade has added a new title to her resume as well: Plant Mom Extraordinaire.
Okay, that’s not entirely true.
She’s actually been Plant Mom Extraordinaire for awhile now. In fact, her home was busting at the seams with them. These plants (or “plant babies” as she calls them) have always been serenaded and misted, pruned and ogled at, but now… they’re also for sale via her new business venture: Oglewood Avenue.
Friends, Jade is not going to let you kill her plants. No, buying plants from Oglewood Avenue is personal. In fact, you don’t buy them at all. You adopt them. They’re her babies, after all.
As you stroll through Oglewood Avenue and search for your new green child, she’ll also help you find the perfect pot, the perfect window in your house, the perfect plant friends to make your indoor jungle (or, hey, solitary tiny cactus – no one’s judging here) live long and prosper.
As much as she cares for her plants and her customers, Oglewood Avenue has even bigger cares. Jade is already using her new business to spread awareness and make change for the Black community – from action-oriented giveaways to donating a portion of her profits to activist groups. “More plants will be added daily and I will work my tail off to not only educate, but spark dialogue. We, as people, can do better,” Jade stated in a Instagram post last summer.
Blog article written by our neighbors, New2Knox.