Dayna Reann Artworks

Michelene Jeter Ogagan on Becoming, Investment, and Growing Into a New Pot

“Hi, I'm Michelene Jeter Ogagan, and I'm Dayna's aunt.”

For more than thirteen years, Michelene Jeter Ogagan has worked as a nurse anesthetist. “I have been a nurse anesthetist for about 13 years,” she says, before adding that she also invests in real estate. She is a mom of  2 and a wife of 26 going on 27 years. She loves to exercise. She likes to host parties and organize events.

Beneath the résumé is something more telling: instinct. When she sees someone striving, she moves toward support. “When I see people like that, whether it's like a family member or friend or just someone out in the world, I'm like, oh, let me be supportive.”

That instinct is what led her to collect New Pot (formally known as Old Vase) — before it was ever released publicly.

“And I said that's mine,” she recalls. “Don't post it. That's my work.”

There had been previous conversations about commissioning something custom. “We had gone back and forth about, oh, do this, do that or the size or whatever,” she says. “And at that moment, I didn't care what size that picture was. It just resonated with me and I knew, I was like, that's the one. I have to have it.”

“It was just a very organic occurrence.”

She purchased it immediately. “As soon as I saw it, it was in my hands because I literally purchased it. You gave me the link to go to, and I paid for it because I didn't want anyone else to have it, and I meant what I said.”

The connection, she later realized, ran deeper than aesthetics.

“I'll just be a little transparent,” she says. “You know, I'm at a point in my life. I'm a little older and I was doing some life coaching and just having some revelations.”

The painting depicts a woman seated in a pot too small for her, while a larger one waits nearby.

“So it's called New Pot,” she explains. “And basically, this lady is sitting… on her old pot that is way too small for her and in the back, there's this big pot for her to grow into.”

Then she pauses.

“And ironically, that's [where I’m] at a point in my life where I feel I am outgrowing some old habits, some old… some old things and, you know, trying to grow into a new pot.”

“Tthat's the reason why I liked it and didn't even realize it at the time.”

What makes her reflection compelling is that this evolution was not engineered. When asked how important it is to continue to become your highest self or a different version of yourself? She answered candidly.

“I just realized that, wow. It's actually now a part of my life journey, like I never planned it. Like, sat down and planned it this way or, um, thought, oh, one day I want to be X, Y, and Z.”

Instead, the shift was recognized by someone watching her closely.

“My son… he says, mom, you're in your Michelle Obama phase now.”

That phase includes launching a nonprofit organization “to help student nurse anesthetists of color… not just in their journey to be a successful CRNA, but also to help them with finance workshops and other workshops that are relevant to their education.”

“Because sometimes… you might have a good income… but you're not investing or doing the right things you need to do with your money to grow your wealth and ultimately live the lifestyle you'd like to live.”

She describes this season simply: “That's just the part of my life that I'm in, like able to give back more.”

Collecting art, for her, exists within that same framework of growth and stewardship.

“I'm in the beginning of collecting artwork,” she says. “And I realize that, you know, this is an investment for me.”

“Not only is [it] an investment for me, just because I feel like I'm investing in you… but also I know that one day this is going to be worth a lot of money.”

Still, the value is not merely financial.

“It's investment because every time I see it, it'll remind me…[in] this phase of my life, it'll remind me that I'm supposed to be growing into this bigger pot and to go ahead and to do it.”

“It'll remind me of you… and what a brilliant artist you are.”

She calls herself a beginner, but the instinct is already clear.

“By buying this 1st piece, it's motivated me to buy more art… not just from you… but from other young artists… that are aspiring to get out there and be more popular.”

The purchase was immediate. The meaning unfolded later. Her becoming is still happening.

And somewhere between life coaching revelations, nonprofit board management, real estate investing, and family, Michelene Jeter Ogagan is doing exactly what the painting suggests.

She is growing into her new pot.