The Circus in the Backyard
On a warm Tulsa afternoon that has stayed with her all her life, a young girl stood in her aunt’s backyard, rallying a pack of cousins and siblings with a gleam in her eye
“Hey, I have an idea, let’s play circus!”
Blankets became tent walls. A card table turned into a ticket booth. Someone sold popcorn. Someone else became a lion. Eight-year-old Ann-Janette Webster directed it all like a tiny producer with a grand vision, turning ordinary play into a full-blown production.
It was messy. It was loud. It ended with everyone in trouble for the state of the yard, and she loved every minute of it.
Even then, AJ was prospecting for joy, searching for something interesting inside ordinary afternoons and turning chaos into color.
A Home Where Creativity Was the Language
AJ grew up surrounded by creativity in motion. Her parents, both musicians deeply involved in church music ministry, produced elaborate programs, turning sanctuaries into stages and songs into stories. Through them, she learned that art wasn’t decoration; it was revelation.
“I observed the way you can feel the Divine in art,” she says. “It was beautiful. And I realized, I want to do this.”
Her parents found lessons and outlets for every child, piano, voice, drama, anything that gave imagination room to breathe. Encouragement was loving and shared.
“When you feel that loved,” AJ reflects, “you’re willing to take risks.”
At eight, she was already restless with classical piano drills. One afternoon, she heard a melody in her head, wrote it on staff paper, and proudly played it for her piano teacher, only to have it curtly dismissed.
“I remember staring at the keys, pretending not to care,” she says. “But something inside me went quiet.”
It would be five years before she wrote another song. That silence taught her how fragile creativity can be, and how powerful words are.
“We can build people up or crush their souls,” AJ says. “I want to be the person who encourages others.”
The Risk Taker
That drive, to create, to encourage, to build, never left.
“I was born a risk taker,” AJ says. She never wanted a single, linear path. Boredom, to her, is an internal signal that it’s time to begin again.
She and her husband, Jay, share a lifelong creative partnership, starting each new year with the same question: Is there anything we want to create that would bring more joy or help others?
They laugh about it—“Is this the year we have to get real jobs?”, but beneath the humor lies a deeper belief: curiosity matters, and ideas deserve to be explored.
For many years, their corporate-video business brought stability and success. Over time, though, the joy that once fueled it began to wane.
“Walking away from steady income felt reckless,” AJ says. “But staying felt worse.”
The decision wasn’t easy. There were long talks about faith and finances, moments of doubt and uncertainty. But continuing down a path that no longer fit who they were becoming felt like the greater risk.
“You take baby steps,” she says. “You dare yourself. And you realize the payoff, for peace and joy, is worth it.”
When asked what holds most people back from following purpose, AJ doesn’t hesitate.
“People are afraid of what others will think, how I look, how I sound, what they’ll say if I fall short,” she says. Then she pauses. “But the things we imagine people saying about us, those judgments we fear almost never happen.”
And so, AJ keeps choosing what gives her life, again and again.
“You don’t create to save the world—
you create because it’s who you are.”
Success, Unraveled and Rewritten
Over time, that willingness to risk did more than shape her work. It reshaped how she defined success.
There was a time when success meant scale, big audiences, big reach, big applause. But years in the creative trenches refined that dream into something quieter and more grounded.
“Early in my career, when I began performing and writing, I wished more people could hear my songs,” she says. “Then I realized, if one person hears it and it helps them, that’s enough.”
Still, like many creatives, she wrestled with disappointment.
“We’re sold the idea that if we work hard enough, we’ll make it big,” she says. “But I’ve learned over the years that our gifts are meant for all audiences, big and small.”
That realization deepened as she read Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert.
“One line hit me so hard,” AJ says. “You don’t create to save the world, you create because it’s who you are.”
“I don’t have to save the world with this song,” she realized. “I’m just going to do it because this is how God made me.”
A simple truth that freed her from the need for outcomes or applause.
The Quiet Seasons
With success redefined, AJ began to see quiet seasons not as emptiness, but as invitation.
“When it’s quiet, it’s hard,” she admits. “The worst feeling is when inspiration doesn’t come.”
She used to force it. Now, she listens.
“I can rest. Clean my closet. Clear out my hard drive. Take care of my mental health. And trust that the next thing will come.”
Creativity, she’s learned, doesn’t run on demand; it comes and goes. And when things slow down, that’s often when something useful settles into view.
“We can build people up or crush their souls. I want to be the person
who encourages others.”
Seeing the Gold in Others
AJ and Jay are partners in life and work, but also in perspective.
“To be alive is to be creative,” she says. “Everyone is. We tend to think creativity is only art or music, but if you need to solve a problem, you’re creating. Making your child a cute lunch and adding a note, that’s creative.”
She sees this as a reflection of divine design.
“Every person is a reflection of their Maker,” she says. “What color on the palette are you? The older I get, the more genuine love I feel for people and the beauty they bring to the world.”
“I know my many failings,” she adds, “but I feel completely loved by God, and I want other people to feel that.”
She calls it prospecting for gold, looking for the beauty inside people who might not see it themselves.
“You aren’t just creative,” a friend once told her. “You’re a prospector of people.”
A Life Made of Spark
From a blanket circus in her aunt’s backyard to a lifetime of writing, producing, performing, and dreaming, Ann-Janette Webster has followed the creative thread stitched inside her since childhood.
She has never chased the spotlight.
She has chased meaning.
For AJ, the gold isn’t found in applause or outcomes.
It’s found in ideas worth shaping.
In the courage to begin again.
In choosing a life that makes room for creativity, honesty, and purpose.
That way of living is already being passed on. AJ and Jay’s daughter, Evanjalyn, shares that same creative instinct—producing her own shows, writing stories, and dreaming up new projects at fourteen.
This is the life of a creative.
And Ann-Janette Webster continues to live it. Always paying attention to where the gold might be next.
This Blog contains the full version of Ann-Janette’s story. [Download an abbreviated story]
About Ann‑Janette Webster
Ann-Janette Webster is a Bartlesville-based singer-songwriter, producer, and storyteller whose work spans music, film, and creative entrepreneurship. A University of Oklahoma graduate (B.A. in Radio/Television/Film), she co-founded PioneerDream, Inc. with her husband, Jay. Together, they host the Hope for Humans podcast and lead the nonprofit Dreamers Coalition alongside their daughter, Evanjalyn, projects that blend art, community, and conversation to inspire purpose and joy. Her latest album, Songs No One’s Heard (available on AppleMusic and other streaming platforms), features original music across multiple genres and reflects her belief in living creatively from the heart. Offstage, Ann-Janette leads community projects, volunteers through Dreamers Coalition, and supports Evanjalyn’s emerging creative work.
About the Writer
I’m Angie Thompson, a fundraising strategist and storyteller who helps nonprofits, organizations, and purpose-driven individuals communicate with intention and heart. My work blends message development, creative strategy, and community-focused storytelling shaped by award-winning experience in film, television, and philanthropy.
Through Angie Thompson Consulting LLC and my Pivot Pulse™ framework, I support people doing good work—and help them get noticed for it.
Member: Association of Fundraising Professionals; Oklahoma Center for Nonprofits; Society of Lyricists & Composers; ASCAP.
Disclaimer & Copyright
The narrative presented in this story is based on a personal interview and reflection with Ann‑Janette Webster. The views and memories shared are her own and are included with permission. This feature is part of the Women Who Say Yes to the Spark series and is intended to celebrate the subject’s leadership, creativity, and influence.
© 2026 Angie Thompson Consulting LLC. If you wish to republish or excerpt this story, please contact Angie Thompson Consulting for permission.