Ain’t Afraid Benefit Comes as Jessi Zazu Inc. Gears Up for Its Second Year

When she died of cervical cancer in 2017 at age 28, Jessi Zazu left an inspiring legacy of work as a musician, artist and advocate for vital social causes. She also left an enormous groundswell of goodwill.

“I don’t want to feel like her life was ended and was wasted,” says Jessi’s mother, Kathy Wariner, speaking by phone with the Scene. “She loved helping other people, and I want to take advantage of that. The fact that people knew who she was, and so many people reached out to her, it blew her away while she was sick. So it makes me feel better. It’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, Nashville — these people are awesome.’ I mean, we would have tears in our eyes, partly from laughing, ’cause we’re like, ‘What is going on here?’ ”

Wariner and Jessi’s two brothers, Emmett and Oakley Wariner, founded the nonprofit Jessi Zazu Inc. in order to turn that outpouring of positive energy into action. The effort to pay tribute to Jessi by continuing her work in the areas of youth arts education, women’s health care and social justice enjoys strong support from friends, fans and volunteers who work with the organization. 

That continues on Wednesday, Feb. 6, with Ain’t Afraid, a benefit concert and silent auction at The Basement East, featuring items to bid on valued at more than $3,000 (donated by local businesses like Fanny’s House of Music and celebrities like Miranda Lambert) and a bill featuring an array of top-shelf musicians who were close to Jessi. Those include ferocious rock stalwarts Thelma and the Sleaze; ace Americana artist Becca Mancari; champion songsmith and singer Kyshona Armstrong; Adam Schatz, frontman of the dazzling New York rock ’n’ soul ’n’ more band Landlady; and Jessi’s Those Darlins bandmate, Linwood Regensburg, as DJ Linwood Kirk.

Jessi Zazu Inc. had a busy first year, kicking off 2018 with a tribute concert and memorial fundraiser and establishing initial programs. Those include the Ain’t Afraid scholarship for the Southern Girls Rock Camp, the Rebel Series of classes for OZ Arts’ School Days program and the Arts and Activism workshop series, presented in conjunction with the Oasis Center. (Arts and Activism focuses on giving young people the skills to express themselves in multiple media and encouraging the belief that their point of view matters, and its second iteration begins on Feb. 7.) Kathy Wariner explains that establishing partnerships with other nonprofits has been crucial for getting projects off the ground while they wait for final approval of their application for federal 501(c)(3) nonprofit status — a process delayed by the recent government shutdown — as well as helping build a network to boost awareness of the wide variety of organizations offering valuable programs.

As Jessi Zazu Inc. moves forward in other areas of its mission, part of the challenge is balancing priorities and being patient in a world full of urgent needs. Wariner points out that the organization wants to be conscientious about the way it addresses social justice issues. “You don’t want to turn people off,” she says. “You wanna build it slowly, and [have] them see what you’re doing and that it’s good stuff you’re doing, without … getting turned off or it being at a certain level that they can’t understand.” 

The organization’s goal to increase access to women’s health services is also very close to home. “When Jessi found out she was sick,” says Wariner, “it was impossible to figure out: ‘What are we gonna do?’ There were so many options, and … you just didn’t know where to start. And it was really scary. So we’re working with [reproductive health coalition] Healthy and Free Tennessee, and they have connections.”

According to the American Cancer Society, one key way to prevent cervical cancers like the one that killed Jessi is for young women to be inoculated with the vaccine for HPV, or human papilloma virus. Jessi Zazu Inc. considered options like sponsoring vaccinations or perhaps even opening a clinic of their own, but there is an array of legal restrictions that put steps like those beyond the organization’s reach. As a start, the team is preparing a brochure with information on locations where a variety of women’s health services are available for free or at a discount, which they plan to distribute at events where their volunteers are present.

More plans and goals continue to develop as the organization grows. The Wariners own a piece of property in Bordeaux where they hope to build what would at first be an office and workspace, but might later host some programs. Kathy Wariner says they hope to expand programs to adults and even to other cities over time. Perhaps most immediately exciting, even though it would take an estimated two years to produce: A documentary about Jessi’s life is in the planning stages, and it aims to be both a remembrance of her and a way to share information about the power of individuals’ voices to have a positive impact.

“Everybody is worth listening to,” Wariner says. “I really believe that. Everybody has something to say. But most people never say it. They just go through their whole life and just work and live and not really get to do anything beyond that.”