We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jessica Ashley a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Jessica , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you take us back in time to the first dollar you earned as a creative – how did it happen? What’s the story?

So the first time I’ve earned money from acting was for a commercial for a Hospital in Mississippi. Its funny because prior to this I had absolutely no acting experience And I had only been an extra on a Disney Channel show and that was it. So I booked this commercial after seeing the casting call on Facebook and I went in and had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t even have a headshot or an agent and I kid you not the next day they called me and told me that I booked the commercial I was paid to travel to Mississippi because I don’t live in Mississippi and I was paid for my time and I also was paid later on pretty nicely for appearing in the commercial through a buyout.

Jessica , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My story is interesting because I had no clue that I was going to be doing what I’m doing today I strictly wanted to be behind the camera. I studied filmmaking specifically directing and I always had a passion for writing and creating screen plays and I played around with the idea of writing novels at one point. I’ve been one day literally saw a casting call for commercial and I had a lot of experience in TV and film production behind the camera so I literally said to myself you know what I’m gonna go try this. Honestly, it was a natural change for me because acting felt like an extension of who I already was. From there I was able to get an agent and go through the whole process of auditioning and eventually landing my first big project which was a girls trip. Right before Covid I started doing more in the social media landscape creating skits and short films and I even ran my own food blog at one point . So once Covid happened and production shut down I went full throttle into the social media marketing world. So now in addition to acting and helping my own films I now also work with major brands and have my own brand as a social media influencer.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I survived a domestic abuse situation and it honestly was the hardest thing ever. Looking back and I realize that I was a lot stronger than I thought I was and it really took me getting out of the situation to realize my power. Sometimes the things that you go through are not your fault or reflection of who you are but instead they wind up defining who you become.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

There needs to be more support on a family level. Honestly if your family isn’t supporting your dreams you need to surround yourself with people that are going to encourage you to do things that may seem scary or different but what allow you to live your best life. I feel like his artist a lot of people don’t understand what we do but it’s only because they don’t have the capacity to think past their fear. So it begins with parents and people who have young children now you need to let your babies Discover and figure out who they offer themselves and support them and be there for them not try to change who they are or instill fear in them.

Contact Info:

• Website: ijessicajohnson.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iamjsteel_/
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@jessiesworld27
• Other: IMDb.me/jessicaelizabethjohnson

Image Credits
Chris Foster