Performing Artist meets Cycle Breaker
Appreciating the good moments in life requires acknowledging the bad.
Jessica Mixon, also known as J.Mix, is a multi-talented performing artist exposed to the ecclectic culture and beauty of New Orleans, Louisiana from birth. Like many black children of her era face, J.Mix endured a great deal of racial adversity, physical, and emotional abuse during her formative years. J.Mix turned to her imagination as a means of escape and discovered that performing provided a safe space to connect, create, and thrive.
Whether participating in plays and recitals or even playing sports, she was never afraid to try new avenues of expression. Before losing her possessions to Hurricane Katrina in 2005, J.Mix used two pianos in her childhood home to learn to play music by ear. Many years and instruments later, her musical skills continue to thrive.
J.Mix's journey into the musical theater community began when she was cast in a replacement role in Crescent City Lights Youth Theater's production of "The Dream on Royal Street" in 2006. In this role, she met composer Alan Menken, who encouraged her craft and deeply impacted her life. She went on to attended St. Mary's Dominican High School, where she became an active participant in school musicals and performances and carving her path into the theater community after graduation. Attempting to help alieviate her family’s financial strain, J.Mix and her sisters formed a four-part harmony that showcased their talent for singing as a girl group. However, the music business quickly soured their experience and stifled their creativity.
J.Mix then enrolled in Loyola University’s Music program for Vocal Performance in 2010. While there, she became involved in the school's theatrical productions, landing significant roles in acclaimed productions such as "Godspell," where she played "Judas," and "Candide" and "The Magic Flute," where she played "Paquette" and "Papagena," respectively. By graduation, J.Mix had performed in over thirty productions, providing her with a solid foundation for her performance career. However, her past abuse left her fearful of saying no to opportunities, afraid of upsetting others and triggering punishment.
J.Mix continued on to star in several staged shows after graduation. Her most notable roles being "The Leading Player" in Le Petit Theatre's Pippin, "The Narrator" in Joseph…Dreamcoat, and “Joanne” in Rent with Summer Lyric Theatre. She went on to perform globally with the Andrew Sisters-inspired singing group, The Victory Belles, until 2020.
Around this time, a lot of her repressed trauma began to resurface. Trying to process the politically charged atmosphere of America through the lens of her own emotional struggles became too much to bear, and she was hospitalized for post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and depression. It was during this season of her journey that she discovered the tools to nurture her mental health, uncover the toxic environments that once hindered her growth, and properly replace them with healthier alternatives.
Today, J.Mix is adamant about sharing her story, knowledge, and talents from a multitude of avenues. She is the founder and host of The Self-Aware Millennial podcast, where listeners are encouraged to engage in uncomfortable dialogue. As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, J.Mix has happily engulfed herself in exploring music production as a means of expressing her musicianship in intimate ways.
J.Mix is also the Virtual Community producer with No Dream Deferred, a theatre organization building a future where art leaders of color are not the exception but the norm. When she's not busy, you can always find her re-centering on roller skates and making quality time for the person that matters to her the most, herself.
