#344 Building A Creative Community In Edmonton with Jasmine from Get OffBeat

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Welcome back to the Universal Radio Networks Turn It Up Podcast.
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This is Ravia, and here is my conversation with Jasmine, who runs Get Off Beat right here in Edmonton, a creative space for everyone to make friends and even bring your friends to.
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Let's get into the conversation.
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Welcome back to the Universal Radio Network.
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My name is Rabia.
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I have the great pleasure of sitting with Jasmine from Get Off Beat.
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Hi Jasmine, how are you?
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I'm good.
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How are you?
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I'm so well.
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My first question is getting into what is Get Off Beat?
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Sure.
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So Get Off Beat is, I would say, a community for all creative people and makers in Edmonton.
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So um the idea was like this was something which had in my mind for a long time now.
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But how it started was I wanted to do something in the creative space with my background being a designer for almost eight years now.
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So I just wanted to create a community for creative people makers who can come, show their skills, teach it to others, and just share their skills with others, and also um just doing meetups and workshops where people can come in, they can find new people, they can find their friends because adult friendships are so tough to do, and the niche I want to create is definitely in something creative.
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Something creative.
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Yeah.
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So you say you're a designer, that's your background, what do you design, and what is the creative space that you find yourself in most often?
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Of course.
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Um, so I am a creative director and branding designer.
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So I've worked with different startups, agencies, and different brands working on their social media side, their web design, their overall branding and structure.
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And I've been working with marketing teams for almost eight years now.
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So, and apart from this, I would also say I have been doing embroidery since I was a kid with my mother and my grandmother always having fabrics around, colors, embroidery threads, and everything.
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So it all started from there.
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That's amazing.
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So tell me about that.
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Tell me about your upbringing and your heritage and how that's influenced your creative journey.
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Yeah, so I would say with while I was growing up, my mother was a designer as well.
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No way.
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So that's where I would say it came from.
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I've seen, I've grown up actually with fabrics and embroidery and all the different kinds of colours.
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And like I come from India, so India is a place full of heritage, culture, and colours.
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In every city, you see a different kind of art style or art form.
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So all the inspiration came from there.
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I actually studied fashion and then I slowly moved into graphic design, but I studied fashion and textile design.
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You studied fashion and textile design, and then you moved into graphic design.
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Yeah.
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So you've been in the design space.
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You said your mother uh is a designer, was a designer.
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What was she working on?
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She was a fashion designer as well.
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She is not pursuing it anymore, but she did it for like almost 15 years.
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Wow.
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And then you were like, I like this, I want to follow this.
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It was something that was in your home.
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You say you were you grew up doing embroidery.
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But you said you started it when you were like six years old.
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Is that right?
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Yeah, I would say like eight years, right?
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Eight years old, okay.
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But as a kid, I would say I started it learning as a kid.
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Yeah.
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And you found that like that creative, creative like action was a good place for you to make friends and connection.
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How did you did you find that actually when you were younger?
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Um, it's it's just every time I used to go to my mother's workshop, I could see a lot of carrighers sitting there.
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Carigures are like um the people who do embroidery.
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So I always found them seeing like they were doing something with the fabric and needles.
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So it just fascinated me a lot during like when I was watching them, and then slowly I started picking up the needle, the threads.
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And trust me, when I started, it was like just rough.
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It was it wasn't perfect, but then slowly now I feel like I feel confident with my work.
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Because doing embroidery is an incredibly patient process.
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Yeah.
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Because I've embroidered myself, and it is like each tiny stitch you make is just one part of this huge picture and takes a long time.
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A lot of time, yeah, it does.
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And it's so good to know that you've done it as well.
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Yeah, I learned um in like a actually a workshop.
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That's interesting.
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I had a workshop with my cousin like 10 years ago.
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And then from there I've like done on a little bit of dabbled in it, not in a professional way or anything, but okay.
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It is something that I've like learned from.
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It's definitely so it's one of those crafts where you're like, you know, working with your hands.
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It definitely teaches you something about yourself as well.
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It does.
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Um, so like you're saying that you had this urge to start get off beat to like help create this community and connect with people.
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Um, how has that been going?
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Um, I would say it's been going good.
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Uh, the idea had been with me for a long time, but I just didn't have the courage to start it.
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So one day I just thought I'll start it anyway.
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I'll just put something out there.
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What gave you that courage to start it?
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Um, so when I moved to Canada, it was um a bit tough in start because it's very tough to make friends.
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I did not know anybody over here.
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And I wanted to go out and meet people.
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So I did go to a few meetups, but it was just uh I couldn't connect a lot with people at that time.
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And then I took a break after two years and went back home.
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And when I went back, I was so inspired with everything happening in India, like all those colours again and everything.
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So when I came back, it just motivated me that okay, let's do it again.
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Why, like, why do I always have to think that I'm not able to make friends, I'm not able to meet people?
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Maybe I just started.
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You like were like, let's change this narrative.
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Yeah.
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So, what about that trip to India?
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Like you said, the colours inspired you.
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What about that trip to India where it's like gave you that courage to be like, let's start something?
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Um, I would say everything around me just motivated me a lot.
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It was um me traveling to different places.
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I went to Goa, Delhi, Punjab, Chaipur.
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So all of these places just motivated me so much.
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Everything about the culture, the colours.
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I so wanted to like bring everything from there.
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Yeah, I just wanted to pull it.
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You were letting me put it in my suitcase and just bring it with me.
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Yeah.
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So it was almost like you were inspired by the culture and being like immersed in it again and being reminded of where you come from.
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Right.
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And then you're like, let's start something, let's bring this into the world.
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How has that impacted the way you run your workshops?
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Um, so the way I run my workshops, a lot of workshops are embroidery-based.
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And then I also collaborate with different artists.
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So recently we did a yoga and mock tail session.
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So the way yoga workshop was conducted was uh very much rooted with our culture, how we start the practice, and also everybody loved the authenticity of that whole thing.
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And then with workshops, like embroidery workshops as well.
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People love to learn those stitches, which um are super simple when you learn in person, but when it happens online, you wash the news.
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I've done a YouTube video tutorial before, and it's like tough.
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You're like, wait, which way do I put it?
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So I get that.
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Exactly.
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Being in person is so much better for that learning point.
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Exactly.
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Yeah, that's awesome.
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And then, like, let's just say there's someone who is looking to come to a group.
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What would you tell them to like invite them in?
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I just always say it's a very inclusive place for you.
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You can find your tribe, just come with an open mind.
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You don't have to worry about how will I talk to people, how will I chill up if I'm coming alone.
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Because a lot of people like to come with friends, but sometimes there are solo crafters who are coming alone.
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So and just make sure the room is so full of warmth and it's so welcoming that anybody who comes in, they just feel like they belong here.
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How many workshops have you had so far?
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I would say roughly seven.
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Okay.
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Because I just started, like just starting, you're just growing.
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I mean, hopefully, this you know brings more people to this.
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Because I think there is like a want in the community for this connection over craft or learning something.
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So I think that's a beautiful, beautiful start to your journey.
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Where do you see Get Off Beat going?
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Um, I want Get Off Beat to want to be that one sole place for any local maker or artist who want to collaborate and host a workshop, teach their skill to others, but just don't know where to start because anybody can post their events online.
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But if you get that whole ecosystem where you can just you just have to tell me that this is what I do, this is what I want to teach, and then I'll create that whole experience from for you.
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And yeah, and also like this is one use case, the other use case would definitely be the attendees.
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Anybody who wants to do something creative, I want them to remember get off beat and they can just see all the meetups happening and everything.
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Amazing.
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Tell me actually, I'm gonna take a step back here.
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Get off beat.
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How did you come up with that name?
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Okay, so this name and logo is something which I designed in 2025.
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Okay.
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It was just sitting in my laptop.
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I didn't know just a thought.
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Just a thought.
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Was it like meant for something like this workshop space or um it was actually meant.
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Like I wanted to interview people and know their stories.
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Hey, it's only three.
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That's what I wanted to start with.
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But it's just everything just happened on its own, everything fell in place, and get off beat.
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The brand came to this creative space.
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That's how it happened.
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That's so interesting.
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That the brand was like created first, and then the idea behind it was created, which is just like a testament to like the work that you do.
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You're in marketing, that's the world you're in.
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So that makes so much sense.
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I love that.
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Um, if there's any artists that are wanna wanting to work with you in creating a workshop, where can they reach you?
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So I'm working on my website, which will be live very soon any week, I would say.
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Yeah.
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And then also on our Instagram page, we have a Google form which they can fill in with all their details.
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And I regularly check all my emails and the Google form, so and even my DMs, I would say.
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So I would be involved there.
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That's amazing.
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I'm so grateful for this conversation.
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Thank you so much for coming in.
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Thank you so much for having me.
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You guys have a lovely platform, and I'm so happy you're doing this.
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It's it's just so good to be here and put the word out.
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Yeah, and I love it.
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I'm I'm so glad because like I think that's one thing that we really want to do is turn the spotlight on South Asians, but also like you're creating spaces for art and community and inspired by your heritage and culture in such a beautiful way.
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So I'm so grateful that you're able to come in today.
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Thank you.
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Guys, thank you so much.
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This was Rabia.
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