YUNYI DAI/ NEXTGENRADIO
What is the meaning of
home?
Miriam Howard speaks with Essence Wallace-Odomes, co-founder and CEO of The Chosen Studios in Jackson, Mississippi. Wallace-Odomes’ passion for the creative arts led her to Atlanta and Los Angeles, where she studied acting and film production, and worked on various TV and film projects. She says God guided her to open her very own film studio in her hometown to make sure no one else leaves for the same reason she did — to make a name for themselves.
Rewinding the tape: A filmmaker’s journey home
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Essence Wallace-Odomes: Home is family. Home is fried chicken, fried catfish, greens, macaroni and cheese and cornbread.
I am Essence, the superstar, also known as Essence Wallace-Odoms. I am the CEO and co-founder of The Chosen Studios, and I am from Jackson, Mississippi.
I have a bittersweet love for Jackson. I can’t say it’s a love-hate because there’s really no hate in me when it comes to Mississippi, but there is some sort of disappointment and frustration at times.
When I was 18, I really wanted to leave Mississippi because I just felt like there was no opportunity here for me. I was very clear, growing up, that I wanted to work in film and television. I wanted to be an actress.
I went to Tasha Smith Acting Workshop when I was 15. I think I did a pretty good job at making an impression, and one of the things that she said to me and my mom before we left was, ‘If she wants to act, she has to leave Mississippi.’ And I left literally two weeks after graduation to go to an acting program at the Alliance Theater in Atlanta.
I lived in LA and I lived in Atlanta, and whenever I would come home, I would find myself in a mentally depressed place because I would question, like, ‘What am I doing next?’ There was this misconception that, like, coming home was a failure because I’m not pursuing my career in a way that I think I should.
My dream used to be all about me. Like anybody that knew me growing up to my young adult life, they’re like, oh, she’s in Hollywood. She’s pursuing an acting career, she’s in production. That was me.
But having a family, going through life, learning, growing, having loss and all these things. It’s taught me that, like, your dream is not given to you for you, it’s given to you to serve others.
In 2019, I had just had my second daughter and I was like, ‘Who am I?’ I always struggle with feeling like you never saw a woman in the industry who was just as present at work as she was at home. Like, I feel like women in Hollywood are made to choose.
And one day I found myself asking God, like, ‘Who am I? Help me.’ And He said, ‘Well, you’re Essence Wallace-Odomes. You’re Essence the superstar. And you’re a believer. You’re a wife, you’re a mom, and you’re a boss.’
Making those boundaries definitely makes me feel at home within myself, but it’s not easy, because now I’m 100% focused on entrepreneurship.
Chosen Studios is a film studio in Jackson, Mississippi, that specializes in development, production, marketing, and distribution for inspirational TV films and digital media projects.
Ultimately, our goal is what we call Studio City, and it’s a bunch of workforce development, economic development, just whatever you can think of to create a space for creatives here in Mississippi to live, work and play and thrive as creative.
The way Jackson has made its home in my dream is, like, I can remember being 15 and 14 and 13 and 16 and 17 and 18 and feeling like there’s this huge dream inside of me, but I have no idea how I’m going to make it happen or get there. And so to think that there’s a possibility for me to provide that for other people in my hometown, the way I needed someone to provide it for me. Oh, that’s, like, yeah, chef’s kiss.
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Even after achieving her Hollywood dreams, Essence Wallace-Odomes was still not satisfied.
Becoming a star meant that family went from being around the block to two flights and a layover away. Finding success elsewhere also meant leaving the next generation of Mississippians with the same sense of hopelessness she once felt.
With soul food on every corner, crime around the corner, and family in her corner, Wallace-Odomes developed her passion for film arts in Jackson, Mississippi. Growing up, she was forced to look outside of her hometown if she ever wanted her to see her name in lights.
Carrying out her passion did nothing for the hole inside that only the smell of catfish and greens could fill. She couldn’t have her cake and eat it too. After time away, she decided to come back and bake her own cake.
“When I was 18, I really wanted to leave Mississippi because I just felt like there is no opportunity here for me,” Wallace-Odomes said. “I was very clear growing up that I wanted to work in film and television. I wanted to be an actress.”
It wasn’t just Wallace-Odomes who felt Mississippi was no place for film. At 15, she attended her very first acting workshop.The workshop was for those ages 18 and up, but she reached out and asked if she could bring a parent with her and attend anyway.
“I think I did a pretty good job at making an impression,” she said. “One of the things that she said to me and my mom before we left was, ‘If she wants to act, she has to leave Mississippi.’”
Essence Wallace-Odomes is the CEO and founder of The Chosen Studios, an independent film production company in Jackson, Mississippi. Wallace-Odomes says that God directed her to follow her dreams and create film opportunities in her home.
MAYA MILLER/NEXTGENRADIO
At the premiere of the documentary The Underdog, Essence describes the process of the foundation of the studio in a video for the audience. The Underdog is a film about a young Black boy who is overweight and pursuing a dream of becoming a basketball star.
MIRIAM HOWARD/NEXTGENRADIO
With this confirmation, she looked beyond the Jackson skyline. Hoping to catch her big break, she continued to work on her craft, and when she graduated high school, she knew where she was headed.
“I left literally two weeks after graduation to go to an acting program at the Alliance Theater in Atlanta,” she said.
Wallace-Odomes’ passion for the arts remained steady as she studied in Los Angeles and then returned to Atlanta. Between the production classes she took at UCLA and working at Tyler Perry Studios, she fell in love with the magic of the behind-the-scenes. She started out as a production assistant and worked her way up. Brick by brick, she built a new life outside of Mississippi.
“I started really being attracted to Tyler Perry and what he was building,” Wallace-Odomes said. “He’s able to give all of these Black people that look like me opportunities in an industry where I don’t normally see a lot of myself.”
As she poured herself into work, her dreams developed, but a shift in focus brought yet another shift in location.
“I ended up coming home for a year because I was just like, ‘What do I do? I’m pregnant,’” she said. “I don’t think I’m supposed to be working like I’ve been working.”
One of the things that she said to me and my mom before we left was, ‘If she wants to act, she has to leave Mississippi.’
Leaving the life she built in Atlanta was not an easy decision. As she followed her faith, Wallace-Odomes was led to a building on State Street in Downtown Jackson. That building became the initial home of The Chosen Studios and her first attempt to create the film opportunities that did not exist for her as a teenager. The doors of the studio were open to anyone who wanted to come and film, but no one ever walked through them.
“We started feeling like, ‘Oh, this is too slow. Nobody gets the vision,’” she said. “After a year, we left and moved back to Atlanta.”
Despite so much evidence of what home lacked, Odomes still cherished what home possessed. The two sentiments collided as she thought of life outside her career.
“I’ve been exposed to a lot of different cultures and backgrounds, and I had a lot of moments where I thought, ‘dang, I’m super-thankful that I was raised in Mississippi.’ I could be biased, but I just feel like we’re raised with a different set of standards, a different set of morals and values.”
The Chosen Studios Entertainment and Media offers development, production and distribution services.
MIRIAM HOWARD/NEXTGENRADIO
As a full-time entrepreneur and mother, Wallace-Odomes balances the two by giving her children their own space within her work office. For her, choosing to return to Jackson gives her support for raising her daughters and the opportunity to foster the film industry in Mississippi.
MIRIAM HOWARD/NEXTGENRADIO
On a random trip to Mississippi to renew her license, she and her husband knew they needed to rewind the tape.
“When it clicked for us, it was kind of one of those moments [when] we were like ‘Yeah, this is what God wants us to do, and this time, if we’re going to do this, we can’t turn back when things get tough or when we feel frustrated, we can’t just run away again. We have to complete [the] mission,’” Wallace-Odomes said.
Now, in the middle of West Jackson, sits the culmination of her determination over the years. As CEO of the first film studio in Jackson to offer production, development and distribution services—a rebranded expansion of her original attempt—she leads a team of energetic individuals ready to take the film industry by storm. The best part about it, they don’t have to leave home to do it.
“When you think about all the famous people you know and all the people that are from Mississippi that we don’t even really talk about, it’s like, how are we not at the top of that list?” she said. “You know, and we’ve always been the last to everything, or so people think we are. I truly believe within the next five to 10 years, we’re going to be the next Hollywood.”
On the red carpet of a Chosen Studios film premiere at Thalia Mara Hall in Jackson, Mississippi, Wallace-Odomes and her family pose for photos on May 6, 2024.
MIRIAM HOWARD/NEXTGENRADIO
I started really being attracted to Tyler Perry and what he was building. He’s able to give all of these Black people that look like me opportunities in an industry where I don’t normally see a lot of myself.