Des Moines Parent Spotlight: Jackie Servellon Owner of Balloon Bar DSM

Des Moines Parent Spotlight

by Erin Huiatt

Des Moines Parent Spotlight: Jackie Servellon

I have been in awe with all the creations by Balloon Bar DSM and recently have connected with the mastermind behind those creations. Jackie Servellon recently left her job to pursue Balloon Bar DSM full-time. I am always in awe by her determination and creativity. Learn more about Jackie, her family, and some of her Des Moines favorites below.

Give us a little background of your family and personal life! How many kids do you have? Have you lived in Des Moines all your life?

Hey there, my name is Jackie Servellon, an Iowa transplant from the beautiful Appalachian Mountains of Johnson City, TN since 2011 where I went to East Tennessee State University studying Spanish and went on the first Latino Festival in the region, the Corazon Latino Festival. We have a bi-cultural, bilingual home as my husband Emerson is an immigrant from El Salvador and speaks Spanish as our primary home language. We have 2 children, Sofia (3) that hang with dad and grandma in the day and Alexander (6) that goes to school at Walnut Street School downtown.

Our free time is spent mostly with my husband’s family, at home cuddled up with a good movie, book or a trip to the park with the kids. We love being at home! Previously, I worked in Human Services facilitating classes in career services to youth coming out of the correctional facilities but left that in Feb. 2019 to pursue my business full-time.

What is your business, and what do you do?

I am the owner of Balloon Bar (DSM) a modern balloon and party goods shop specializing in bespoke balloon installations located in Mainframe Studios as of May 1, 2019. Come say HI!

Just going full time in March 2019, I am grateful to say I am a joy maker, a daydreamer, balloon artist, and party stylist for my job!

Why did you become a small business owner?

In college, I studied business and knew at some point I wanted to be my own boss, but just hadn’t found the right thing so decided to go into social services as a career, which I did until this year.

In April 2018, my sister passed away suddenly and in my grief, picked up balloons as a way to cope and have some creative time which has been meditative for me. During the year following, I started to get more inquiries for balloons while wrestling with how I could live my life to the fullest, spend more time with my children, and create a life that was meaningful. In February of this year, I realized I had the perfect opportunity to create that with my own business creating balloon art, so I went all in! In this short amount of time, this has allowed me to truly connect with other women and live my absolute best life!

Where is your favorite place to take your children to play indoors?

The Des Moines Children’s Museum! They are going to be a game changer for these Iowa Winters!

Where is your favorite place to take your children to play outdoors?

Grays Lake Park! My kids love to run, so we get to do that, enjoy the lake, paddle boat around the water and then hit the playground all in one place!

Parent’s day/night out. Describe your perfect parent only day/night out in Des Moines.

We don’t get to do this much since we work opposite scheduled and neither of us has many families here! When we do, we love going for dinner at one of our favorite local restaurants (Pueblo Viejo or El Buen Sabor Latino), then out for a walk around downtown or the park where there isn’t a lot of noise since we are always around 2 busy loud kiddos.

What are some tips on juggling parenthood, working, and personal life?

I know so many families that talk about making a plan and I agree on some levels, but what I have found is that being flexible with myself and others has been key. It allows us to roll with the punches of the day to day, while not feeling stressed about breaking schedule. It has allowed us to connect with each other, be sensitive to each other needs more and have a little more fun!

Nothing is so urgent it can’t wait! If we have a client based career, we can often work off the energies of expectations to get right back to them, but honestly, it can wait. The email can wait. The call can wait.