Meet Janet Cox | Creator, artist, business owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with Janet Cox and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Janet, why did you pursue a creative career?
Ever since I was a little girl I have always been organically drawn to anything artistic , creative Especially when it comes to the beauty industry and jewelry.
My very earliest Memory was sitting on a corner of my street in fourth grade trading lipgloss and other little beauty products with the neighbor kids we would take a blanket and lay out stuff that we wanted to trade , we would trade back-and-forth for hours , it was always revolved around girly beauty stuff.
In fifth grade I started wearing make up and back then it was in the early 80s so I was walking around with blue and purple eyelids feeling so pretty. Anything that sparkles catches my eye, I see beauty in almost everything. Ever since I can remember if there is some thing that I wanted and I could not afford it I would just create it , I have been doing my own hair almost my entire life, I had a makeup company ( hottie tottie beauty) That I created because I couldn’t find what I wanted on the shelves. I have created my own soaps and lotions as well because in my mind if it’s out there I can figure out how to create it.

Fast forward , I’m 50 years old and created my current company Wanderlust creations AZ . I’ve finally figured it out after all these years . This journey came upon me because of all the traveling I have been doing ( beautiful beachy locations) and I absolutely love earrings . It’s the one piece of jewelry I consistently wear , in particular (statement pieces) but it was hard to find what I loved out there in the market so I just decided to start creating my own earrings and realized immediately it was organic from day one. I have never had that happen before.

I was giddy inside , I had a mound of clay in front of me and I just started creating . it’s like I blacked out and after an hour all of a sudden I had all these creations in front of me , it gave me goosebumps and I knew this was my creative calling . I am still a work in progress I believe that there’s always room for growth and improvement and I am at the beginning of all this. By trade I am a respiratory therapist , I have been a licensed therapist since 1993 , The past 10 years I have strictly been working with Veterans in their homes as a respiratory liaison . I have a passion for what I do but I also think it’s important to have a good work / home life balance. In order for me to be well-rounded and deeply happy I have to express my creative side which is what brought me to the place I am at now. I’ve always been a serial hobbyist. Sometimes it takes people longer than others to find their true passion.

I found mine at 50. It’s been an amazing year so far and I cannot wait to see what else the future holds.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I create one of a kind clay earrings. I do mix it up a little with my style. I like to incorporate gold plated pieces. I use my creative Process as an outlet for my psyche. It has really helped with increasing my mood and it has brought true joy to me. Each piece that I make comes from my imagination and the littlest of things can inspire me, It can be scenery, a fragrance, a movie, music etc. Once I have a vision in my head what I want to make I must go create haha Sometimes I’ll be up at 2 AM creating pieces because once I get an idea in my head I have to put it into play. I Absolutely love what I do

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
For a night out when you want to dress up, have fun , drink a Cocktail or two The Melrose district has some bars and restaurants with a lot of character
I’m particular:

The Century grand is amazing, it has three themed exotic bars inside one building. It is created for an experience.

It has Platform 18 , Grey Hen and under tow .

This place blew me away, I truly felt like I was in another era. It’s located 36th st Indian school

If you want a beautiful place to have some dinner and drinks there is taco Guild. It’s an old beautiful church converted into a taco restaurant. Great food and they specialize in tequila

But in general it’s just about trying new things and seeing what fits your style.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
At this time it’s been a self discovery story. This business was because of some thing I’ve pulled out of myself after working on myself for quite a while now I completely created my business myself With traveling being the inspiration

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