We were lucky to catch up with Jalysa Harris recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Jalysa thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
I think writing has always been apart of me, my mom knew so she got me a diary when I was really young. It felt like a huge responsibilty to be alone with my own words and thoughts and once written, they were released. It was and still is theraputic. Life from young till now, has always felt like a chore…i’m not sure that makes sense to yall but it was just overwhelming, I had alot of existensial stuff going on with me young lol. The risk, the biggest risk was sharing my writing, it 1st started off with converting songs into poems. Then me and my best friend Dominique wrote a poem and decided to do a red vs blue kinda of theme and perfomed it at one of our high school assembly, from there i got the courage to join poetry club and share more of my work. You have to know, this was extremely hard to do. Word like courage and brave were not in my vocabulary yet, i was scary, uncertain, naive etc. So i felt like i was doing it on autopilot, i never listened for claps or feedback, i never wanted to look at faces as i read my inner most thoughts, i just wanted out. Not just on paper this time but out in the ethos, where life met life and was endless, it was no longer mines…that felt freeing. In college, i wrote things and performed but it was part of the assisgment it was never just because, during those time from middle school-college i wrote 6 books. Only Dominque has read 1 of them, still to this day. Until, finallyl i realized the reason i felt so misunderstood in life is because nobody knew me, i never let them in i just let it out. I decided to look at the faces and listen to the applause from a performance i did in my actinff class that I wrote. There were tears, they were people, scrambling out of their seats, people coming up to me jokinlgy asking for my autograph and telling me thank you. It was a risk that changed my world into realizing that one the other side of fear is the life i envison for myself and i’m not so misunderstood after all.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
I’m born and raised in Watts, California. I got in the industry because of an acting clas taught by the Late Steven Kent at La Verne Universty. It was there i was introdcued to not just theatre, not just shakespeare but impact. Ive been on stage before countless times doing some play or other but i never knew what impact was. There a thing, and if you are an actor who wants to emote, cry on cue, go dark, get lost, lose yourself whatever that is that allows the character to come though you have to allow those feelings. They call it permission. It’s scary because it’s just a lot of inside work. I allow my character to come through, speak on it needsd and feelings, i was no long in the room. That is was Steven Kent taught me. When I emerged the impact I had on the theatre, i will never forget. I decided to pursure acting full time head on, agent and all. I dealt with a lot of size and hair comparison. It wasnt a lot of african american on the rosters but the few of us could NOT look alike, could not got for the same role, it wouldve been too “cut-throat” my old old agent used to say. I worked on many sets, in many seats and wore many hats. I’m proud of just being so driven, hungry as they say and eager to learn more and more so i can get to the places that i see myself at. Billboards, speakers events, conventions, meet and greets. I want people to know that the black experience is my core value and i speak about it in every way, i also try to speak about it in all forms not just from a female perspective but all perspective. I cannot wait to show you the newest project i’m working on about 4 sisters from LA confronting generational curses in their everday lives.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
A lesson i have learned is you CANNOT do this thing by yourself. When it comes to life, film whatever a team is truly crucial. Obviously, the right team matter but just having multiple hand, support, guidance, ears and eyes in different places you have got to be open to help. I thought I could be a one woman show with a series, just the crew alone i needed a handful of people to set the scene! Then the paperwork, legal foorwork, scouting, getting food, corrections on script. Hair & makeup, lighting, props, I mean the list! You need a team, you need people, you need support. This is not easy yall, it’s worth it though
For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?
There’s always a need for a creative, for art. i express in every way, i think it’s the only way to sane. To know there’s a career here, you can get paid for doing what you love, expressing a story, somebody else’s story. Their vision, is just a beautiful circle of people being able to be seen, heard, and expressing. The mind never really stops, so art and our imagination is going to keep growing and getting bigger and loftier and to be able to write it is ALREADY an accomplishemnt. Then to get backers to support because again you need a TEAM lol. Just also, being able to portray, it’s so freaking rewarding. The impact, the lasting impact. The ripple effect, the tear in the space time continuum lol just all that can come from sharing your work, i get it now more than ever. I want to be apart of thre zeitgeist, there you are immortal
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @sirrah_jay
- Facebook: Jalysa Harris
- Twitter: @sirrah_jay
Image Credits
Getty Images ShootmeJade DVIPhotography BestEvents