Content is everywhere in this day and age, but content worth consuming is increasingly rare and hard to find—that’s why OtherWise with Jane Harvey is such a diamond in the digital rough.
OtherWise with Jane Harvey is a docu-series and podcast that, through interviews with various intriguing individuals, aims to highlight the unique insights of those who learned to transmute their lived experience into something extraordinary and often beautiful.
As the title suggests, OtherWise is all about showcasing other forms of wisdom from those whose experiences and advice don’t necessarily fall into the mainstream. This newly released show shines bright not only for its stunning technical quality, but for the intent behind its rather inspirational vision, all of which goes to show what can happen when authenticity and talent are brought together by passion and compassion.
The masterminds behind OtherWise with Jane Harvey are, unsurprisingly, Jane and Micah Harvey, a recently married couple who took their talent and compatibility and poured it into a shared entrepreneurial vision. And now, that shared vision is a reality with the series to prove it.
“This project has been in the works for most of my life—finding a way to combine my creativity, my love of humanity and my love of storytelling has been the goal for me since day one,” Jane Harvey explained.
“This show has taken my passion for visual storytelling to a whole new level,” added Micah Harvey. “Creating media that elevates the human experience, at a time when it’s so needed, feels like what I’m meant to do. Hearing the stories of our interviewees, getting to sit down with them and get to know them, deeply moves me. Being able to amplify their messages is incredibly fulfilling.”
OtherWise with Jane Harvey is designed to showcase a wide variety of the elements that make up the human condition through an honest lens—this is especially true of those who took the path that leads from struggle to resilience and then to artistry. In sharing stories of individuals’ unique experiences in learning to balance life’s challenges and success through an accessible platform, OtherWise hopes to uplift and inspire its listeners to pursue their passions and explore life’s many opportunities for creativity.
“This show is about inspiring goodness and fostering connection,” Jane Harvey explained. “Bottom line: It’s here to help you, make you laugh, lift up your heart and boost your energy. ”
The concept for OtherWise first took root in 2021, when Jane Harvey decided to take her experiences as Bay Area art and culture journalist (including for the Pacific Sun and Bohemian, under her original byline, Jane Vick) into a different, more expansive media format. Though she enjoyed speaking with and highlighting the artists, thinkers and otherwise interviewable individuals through written word, she found the medium restricted her ability to truly showcase the extent of her interview experiences.
And so, the former Jane Vick set off to find her own way to share more of others’ wisdom with the world…with the help of her then-boyfriend and now-husband, of course.
“When we were [first] filming, [Micah] saw what I wanted to see and shot what I wanted to shoot, and so we have a synergy in terms of our creative vision that feels really natural and good,” said Jane Harvey.
“After that, it was like, ‘What if we did this—what if we started a business and made a show?’” she continued. “And so, we spent the next two and a half years making a show. We did our 9 to 5 jobs, and then our 5 to 9 was spent in the production studio, interviewing, and making sure we had materials to launch with, building up the entire brand, the website, structure, socials…”
The couple combined their shared talent and experiences in creating and managing content, and what alchemized was the first seed that would eventually grow to become OtherWise.
“I had great opportunities to learn as I developed my career, but found the more I progressed, the more I was guiding and approving other people’s creative process instead of developing my own,” said Micah Harvey. “The pay was comfortable, but it wasn’t that spark I experienced when working with Jane to create and tell stories that inspire people.”
In between their respective 9 to 5 and 5 to 9 jobs, Jane and Micah Harvey also managed to fit a few moves, an engagement and a wedding into their busy schedule. But when one is inspired, it seems as though no work is too much and no life is too busy to make room for the most important parts. The couple agrees that the breadth of everything they accomplished in such a short time span was far from easy, but was very worth the time, effort and risks.
“These two and a half years have been great, and challenging,” said Jane Harvey. “Being comfortable with discomfort was important. Knowing that this is going to be hard and uncomfortable and risky and scary, and those are actually indicators that you’re doing something really important.”
The first two video episodes of OtherWise with Jane Harvey were released just this September, and both are available to watch online. The docu-series begins with an intimate interview with Holly Wong, a San Francisco-based mixed-media artist who transmuted her early struggles into an honest and powerful story of living authentically and fully. The second OtherWise episode features Orin Carpenter, a multimedia artist, painter and arts teacher with a whole lot of wisdom, talent and kindness to share.
“A word that keeps coming up that I’m proud of is ‘authentic,’” said Micah Harvey. “…it’s important for us to come off with that authenticity, so it’s really comforting to hear people are receiving it that way.”
Now, the Harveys are excited to continue their work on OtherWise and share the incredible life stories, struggles and successes alike, of those they interview, with the world. And yes, they are aware of the very meta fact that they too took their struggles and passions, both individual and shared, and turned them into their own impactful artistic expression.
“We feel the magic of the fact that we are living the life that we created, and it’s the very thing we are interviewing people about—living our truth and dream,” said Jane Harvey.
“I have been wanting to do something like this my whole life, and when I met Micah I thought, ‘I can do this with this person,’” she concluded. “I won’t say I couldn’t have done it without him, but I would never want to.”
So, those interested in expanding their horizons and getting inspired one story at a time may tune in and watch an episode (or two) of OtherWise with Jane Harvey—just visit otherwisewithjaneharvey.com and enjoy!
