The Voyage Home
/Jasmine Cree and Madeline Haak combine their talents to create a social media profile that showcases Texarkana
By Phoebe Warren
photo by shane darby.
Friends Jasmine Cree and Madeline Haak are both proud to call Texarkana their hometown. Their bond blossomed on the volleyball court at Pleasant Grove High School, where they quickly became inseparable. Over the years, their connection has only deepened.
Jasmine and Madeline, who both hold master’s degrees in communication, now work together at a local business. When Jasmine had the idea for a pro-Texarkana social media page, she asked Madeline to help.
“When I had the idea to start Texarkana Odyssey, there was no doubt in my mind that I would need a partner—and I knew exactly who to ask,” she said. “Since Madeline and I already worked so well together and sat just a few feet apart at work, she was the first person I turned to.”
Madeline immediately agreed. “I said, ‘I’m in. Just tell me how we can get this thing started,’” she recalled. “I thought it was such a fantastic idea. The rest is history.”
On February 2nd, 2024, The Texarkana Odyssey officially launched. The Texarkana Odyssey (@thetxkodyssey on Instagram) is a multi-platform social media presence aimed at showcasing the best of Texarkana for both locals and visitors. Its goal is to celebrate the area’s “fun, food, entertainment, and adventures.” By helping to bolster the status of local businesses here in Texarkana, Jasmine and Madeline hope to increase community spirit and attract people who might be weighing their options of where to settle down and invest their abilities and resources.
Jasmine and Madeline’s desire to see growth in Texarkana stems from their own plans to plant their roots here and raise their families in the area.
“Madeline and I are both born and raised right here in Texarkana—we are local, homegrown girls who genuinely care about this community,” Jasmine said. “Because of that, everything we do comes from a place of authentic love and pride for our city. We’re invested in how our town is seen and celebrated.”
Madeline admitted that the journey back home was not what she or Jasmine had in mind when they were in college but that it has changed their lives for the better. “Jasmine and I were both reluctant to come back home after college, but this reluctance was the result of ignorance on both of our parts,” she said. “We were young ladies assuming the grass was greener elsewhere. I will be the first to report on the accuracy of the age-old adage, ‘The grass is greener where you water it.’ If you get involved and invest your time in Texarkana, [you’ll discover] there are so many good people here doing great things for the betterment of this community.”
Recently, they have embarked on a new venture to monetize their passion by offering marketing services. Their aim is to collaborate with local businesses and organizations, helping them to build their brand and highlight what makes their business unique.
Jasmine and Madeline possess a unique edge as business partners: a profound understanding of one another, along with a genuine appreciation for both their similarities and differences. Both women are ambitious, which Madeline attributes to their status as the elder sibling in their families.
“We often discuss how being big sisters basically made us CEOs since our playground days,” Madeline said. “I’m convinced our brains came with no ‘off’ switches, and we would go crazy if we didn’t have a creative outlet like The Texarkana Odyssey to pour into.”
Their ambition manifests in different ways.
“Creating relationships between consumers and businesses is very rewarding because you know that both are benefiting from the exchange in some way.”
“Jasmine brings a sense of calm to our business partnership and our friendship,” Madeline explained. “She is a visionary who prioritizes quality over quantity and has such a keen eye for aesthetics. She dreams something up, and then she breathes life into it. Me, I’m the wordsmith, the productivity pusher, making sure we keep things moving. I think we are the perfect mix of style and strategy.”
Teamwork is especially critical for the two friends, as they each have packed schedules outside of The Texarkana Odyssey.
“The most challenging aspect of [running] The Texarkana Odyssey is staying up-to-date with current happenings, as we’re both busy women with full-time jobs,” Jasmine said. “We can’t allow ourselves to be late in posting about events or trending products and services because that means we’ve missed a major opportunity to reach people and impact their behaviors and choices.”
Luckily, this dream team stays knowledgeable about events through their active involvement in the community. Both Jasmine and Madeline are active in LNK TXK, Junior League, and Leadership Texarkana. The pair also has to make time to capture content for local businesses. “Thankfully, supporting local is something we already do on a weekly basis, so it isn’t too much of a struggle to snap a few pictures of dinner or capture some video footage to make into a reel,” Jasmine said.
submitted photo.
The Texarkana Odyssey is an online passion project fueled by the real-world results that Jasmine and Madeline see.
“The most rewarding part about our work with The Texarkana Odyssey is seeing how small businesses benefit from our promotion online,” Madeline said. “Creating relationships between consumers and businesses is very rewarding because you know that both are benefiting from the exchange in some way.”
Jasmine agreed that the reward from this line of work is the betterment of Texarkana. “Our goal is to uplift our community and show people—whether they’re locals or visitors—that Texarkana has so much to offer,” she said.