About

This is Jed Rau, he’s the Happy Henna Guy.

Yep, he’s a big ole’ white dude, complete with a junior-level Gandalf beard (most of the time). What’s he doing drawing henna?

Well, it was an accident really. Jed has always been a doodler. In fact, there’s a scrapbook from about 30 years ago his grandmother made that says he wants to be an artist (never mind the fact that a few pages later it says fireman, not artist :-). Doodles in high school and college kept him awake and semi-alert in class while he earned a BS Forestry from Virginia Tech (Let’s Go… Ho-kies!!). Doodles during professional meetings and trainings kept him awake, alert, and also in trouble as forestry and land conservation bosses told him to be more professional. Oops.

Then, 8 years ago, his in-laws took him to Disney World. Yep, that Disney World, the one in Florida. Jed saw henna for the first time at Epcot Center and got one for his wife. Flowers or something. Kinda cheesy, but that’s how it happened. Then he did what anyone does these days with something they’re curious about: he got on the internet and did a deep dive into what henna was, which eventually prompted the thought “this looks fun, and I doodle anyway, can i do it?” After all, Jed’s always liked art, and is particularly fascinated by certain permanent body art, especially Polynesian (which he first encountered during a year of study abroad in New Zealand during college).

So what’s a curious doodler to do with all that internet henna information? Order a mix-your-own henna kit, of course! So he mixed his own, drew some basic stuff on family and friends, then moved on to fundraisers, and eventually festivals, because he was having fun and so were the people he drew designs on. Now he draws and teaches others about henna and specifically about Polynesian design styles, because that’s what he loves.

So there you go, that’s Jed. He draws things. And when he’s not drawing, he’s probably training for Tough Mudders, playing Ultimate Frisbee, growing his beard, and playing with the family. He also still knows stuff about forestry, agriculture, and even a thing or two about farm and home energy use. A man of many hats (the one in the logo is his favorite today).