Brand Building: Living The Whole Picture with Jama Pantel
Brand Building: Living the Whole Picture is the go-to podcast for ambitious women ready to elevate their visibility, build authentic confidence, and become the face of their brand.
Hosted by luxury portrait photographer, author, educator, and former influencer Jama Pantel, this podcast delivers actionable strategies on personal branding, photography, and business growth—so you can step into the spotlight with clarity and purpose.
If you've ever felt unseen in your industry, struggled with confidence on camera, or hesitated to show up boldly, this is your roadmap to build a powerful presence that gets you noticed and respected.
Join Jama as she helps you build a brand that stands out, master your presence in photos and video, and turn your expertise into a magnetic business.
It’s time to stop playing small and start showing up like the leader you were meant to be.
Brand Building: Living The Whole Picture with Jama Pantel
Love, Loss and Learning : Reflections on the World Events
Some moments change us forever. Standing beneath the Twin Towers as a college student in 1999, I couldn't have imagined how those buildings would come to symbolize both our national trauma and our capacity for unity just two years later.
The anniversary of 9/11 prompted me to record these unplanned reflections about what we've gained and lost since that day when Americans briefly set aside their differences to grieve together. Working in Texas politics taught me that survival depends on finding common ground with those who think differently. You learn quickly that disagreement doesn't have to mean division—that you can build something meaningful together even when you don't see eye-to-eye on everything.
But something has shifted in our society. Where did we lose the ability to disagree peacefully? When did differences become dangerous? Growing up in small-town Texas where kids kept guns in their trucks at school without incident feels worlds away from today's landscape of political violence and school shootings. Fear has replaced trust. Labels have replaced humanity. And I wonder how we find our way back.
I don't have all the answers, but I believe the path forward requires more courage, more honest conversations, and more willingness to see each other as people first—not as the letter behind a name or the title on a business card. True understanding comes not from books but from lived experiences that teach us humanity. Even through my hardest times, including homelessness, love has sustained me. And love—for family, friends, and even those who challenge us—might be what saves us yet.
Join me in this moment of reflection as we remember not just what we lost on 9/11, but what we briefly found: our shared humanity.
Hey y'all, it's Jama. Today's episode is going to be different and I wasn't even planning on recording today, but with the anniversary of 9-11 and everything happening in the world right now, I felt called to do this and share some of my reflections. I couldn't get through my morning walk or lift without stopping to write down my thoughts, so here they are. I tend to put pen to paper when stuff like this happens, but I don't always share. I honestly started this podcast to share more than short viral social media clips because it's so hard to convey anything in five-second viral clips.
Jama Pantel:I still remember going to a college party in 1999 in New York City in what was called the Twin Towers District. I'd just arrived at the party, got out of the cab and looked up in awe at two of the tallest buildings I have ever seen in my life and of course, I was a tourist in that moment looking up. I'm from flat farmland in South Texas and I had never seen anything like that in my life and I have since traveled the world and seen a lot, but that one moment will stick out in my mind forever.
Jama Pantel:Two years later, I was working for the Texas Senate. That morning I planned on going in late because I was helping some friends pack and move. We didn't have the TV on, we were just all busy working. That morning the movers arrived on time and came in and told us to turn on the TV. About 10 of us total sat there, movers included, in silence, together, watching the world change in real time, and I will never, ever forget how I felt at that time. That day is burned into my memory and over the years I've thought a lot about what it means for how we live and work with one another.
Jama Pantel:I make a living in politics in Texas, analyzing and lobbying policy. And here's the truth If you want to survive in that world, you need to learn how to talk to people who think differently than you, learn how to listen, learn how to find common ground. You realize you don't have to agree on everything, but you can always still find something, however small, to build upon together. And I wonder sometimes what happened to that. The truth is, some days people love what I brought to the table and other days they hated it. And many times they had those same feelings in the same meeting, where they loved and hated what I had to say, and that is just how it was. And here's where it gets heavy, because lately I've been asking myself how did we get here where we are now?
Jama Pantel:In the recent past we've seen political killings, both D's and R's alike. We've seen school shootings over and over again. We've been vilified, victimized and everything else, and I can't help but compare that to my own upbreaking. I grew up in a really small town in Texas where kids kept guns in their trucks in schools. It wasn't scary, it wasn't something we thought about, it was just part of our day-to-day lives. Something has shifted. Somewhere along the way fear replaced trust, division replaced common ground and labels replaced humanity.
Jama Pantel:And let me be clear. I am not perfect. I am a sinner. I stumble and I get it wrong more often than I care to admit, but I try my best to listen and understand all sides in different situations I face. When did we start viewing differences as evil? When did we start thinking someone is dangerous simply because we don't agree with them? How do we relearn to live in disagreement but still in peace?
Jama Pantel:I don't have answers to any of these questions and I know what I'm saying right now, some people might hear it and think that I'm wrong, but does that mean I deserve to be attacked for it? Does that mean I deserve to be hurt over it? I've said it before and I'll say it again: Learn to have conversations with people whose opinions differ from your own. Learn to talk to the human, not the letter behind the name or the title on the business card.
Jama Pantel:And I'm not talking about people who are different growing up than you, who still went to the same school as you did. I'm talking about people who don't have schooling, who don't have what you have. For me, it's never mattered where you went to school, or even that you did go to school. What matters is whether you've lived in the real world. What matters is whether you've walked through different experiences and learned from them. That's where empathy comes in. That's where understanding grows. Book knowledge can give you facts, but lived experiences teaches you humanity.
Jama Pantel:And as I think about all of this, I mourn the loss of all life. Every single one matters. I also love deeply and I'm thankful for my family and friends, both those who think like me and those who don't, and those who challenge me. Even when I was homeless, I was grateful to have had love in my life. That love sustained me then and it will sustain me now. I will keep loving my people and my family tightly. I will keep cherishing the time I have with them because, at the end of the day, that's what matters most.
Jama Pantel:On September 11, 2001, for a moment, we were all united. We were different people in different places, with different lives, different beliefs, but we were all human together. I still believe we can be this again, but it's going to take more conversations, more courage, more willingness to admit we are imperfect and more of us choosing to see each other as people first. Thanks for coming to my TED Talk, but honestly, thank you for listening to my reflections and my experience. I'll be back to my regularly scheduled episodes soon, but today I just wanted to sit here with you in this moment and reflect. Thanks, y'all.
