Everything cousins Jessie Mae Hemple and Pearl Screed do - from giving advice to throwing a party, to proper accessorization - is done with full gusto. In fact, they are what you might call Commando Divas.
They have spent the last decade following their dreams of love, laughter and finding the perfect moisturizer. This glamorous duo has not always known confidence in themselves. In 1998, Jessie Mae suffered for several months with amnesia. The two had been on retreat at a West Texas ashram when they visited a local New Age shop located behind the Gas N' Go. A large crystal fell from a shelf knocking Jessie Mae out for an hour. Due to the large lump raised on her head, she had to rethink her hairstyle. In a show of solidarity, Pearl also adopted a bouffant, not only bringing them closer together but also bringing out a newfound sense of style. With the freedom to create the world they wish to live in, our bodacious duo go boldly forth, nipples to the wind! They receive numerous invitations to parties and events that otherwise would be, well, let's face it, ordinary! Recently on a trip to Vegas, as they exited the casino, the loud speaker announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, Jessie Mae and Pearl have left the building."



Paula Coco, aka Pearl
Paula resides in West Hartford, Connecticut with her husband, Jack, her son, Jackson, her mother, Princess, and Lucy the cat. She is a stand-up comic and has performed in many nightclubs, including The Improv, The Comic Strip, Caroline's and Rascals. She was featured at Drew University as part of their Women in the Arts program and has performed at the Hartford Civic Center.

She was a finalist in the Fox Network Budweiser Laff Off, New Jersey's Funniest Comedian Contest and The Connecticut Comedy Festival. She likes to point out that she was the only woman finalist each time, but always lost to some damn guy!

Paula is the founder and artistic director of The WHIT, an improvisational comedy troupe that was included in the 2002 Boston Comedy Festival. She has written both for television and stage, including Frankincense and Mirth, a holiday extravaganza, and the nationally touring two-woman comedy, Nipples To The Wind, which she co-starred in with Janye, her aunt.

She served on the faculty of New England Academy of Theatre.


Janye Anderson, aka Jessie Mae
Janye has always had an artistic bent. In addition to holding a degree in interior design, she has also been a designer of miniature accessories for dollhouses as well as working as a consultant with serious dollhouse collectors.

In the early stages of scrapbooking, Janye designed scrapbook pages for SonburnŠ Papers and her work was featured in some of the earliest books available when this craze first burst onto the scene. She traveled as a consultant and appeared at workshops across the country.

Skilled in computer graphic design, her handiwork can be seen in the Jessie Mae and Pearl greeting card line.



Christmas of 1997 brought Janye Anderson and her family to Connecticut to spend the holidays with relatives. Janye's niece, Paula, decided to spark the evening up by creating a new family member of questionable fashion taste. Janye decided to join in the fun and before the evening was over Cousins Jessie Mae and Pearl had been born. This began a yearly tradition of appearing unannounced during holiday get-togethers. Over the next five years, Jessie Mae and Pearl were chronicled with photos from each appearance that led to a scrapbook created by Paula as a present to Janye. It included a yearly updated text on where the cousins had been and where they were headed next.

The scrapbook was added to each year and to the amazement of Janye and Paula, everyone who saw it always commented they wanted to meet Jessie Mae and Pearl. They even received offers to attend parties and help liven things up. In the fall of 2003, Janye caught an episode of Oprah that featured a woman who had taken photos of her dog and turned it into a greeting card line. Inspiration hit and within minutes she was on the phone to Paula exclaiming, "Jessie Mae and Pearl need to be on cards!" The idea began with that phone call and over the next few months the two women went about researching the greeting card business. The company was born and Paula and Janye set about the task of sharing the Jessie Mae and Pearl philosophy with the general public.

"I looked around at what was out there," said Janye, "and I thought, Paula is so much funnier. I think we can contribute something here." It should be noted that Paula is a stand-up comic and director of an improvisational troupe on the East Coast. The concept was easy. Jessie Mae and Pearl have a simple take on fashion - there is no such thing as too much. Their use of color almost hurts your eyes. As for their philosophy, they just tell it like it is. They're a couple of middle-aged gals who may not always be politically correct, but they are truthful. They are not models, they are not rocket scientists, they are women comfortable with who they are and not afraid to put themselves out there.

Using the raw pictures, Janye began to design each card while Paula wrote the text. "Janye was playing around when she hit upon the idea of using black and white backgrounds against the color onslaught of Jessie Mae and Pearl," Paula confided. "It was at that point that it all came together. These are two women who live boldly in color while the rest of the world seems like shades of gray."

Jessie Mae and Pearl are just plain fun. Their mission statement is simple. They just want to give people a laugh.