Today we’d like to introduce you to Déja Denise.
So, before we jump into specific questions, why don’t you give us some details about you and your story.
I remember very vividly at the age of five being enthralled by every area of the arts, at that time particularly opera because my uncle is a classical singer. I’d run around the house with a ripe “o” sound thinking I was the greatest opera singer in the world. This was not before, of course, pulling out all of our pots and pans for drums and thinking I was the greatest everything in the world. Before long, any time we had guests, I was the head of hospitality, first serving them with a beverage and then standing on our fireplace to perform whatever my little heart was set on for them.
The arts have always been my greatest escape. It has run in my family for a long time, so I definitely know it’s in my blood. But, the hardest times of my life are when I decided to lean on the arts the hardest. I started dancing when I was 7, and I started acting when I was 10. It led me to want to follow in the footsteps of my two uncles, so I auditioned for a performing arts school and was there from 6th-12th grade. Graduated, and it led me to NYC to attend New York University Tisch School of the Arts, where I got my start in producing. It was like a disease almost, in the way that once I caught the bug, I never could shake it, and I never really want to.
I think the thing that really pushed me to where I am now is my ambition. For a long time, I always felt like I had something to prove to people. My parents had me at 16, and I was raised in a low-income family, so I never really had the same privileges that a lot of my friends had. For that reason, I always felt lesser than whether that was because of my clothes or money or shame from my family situation. So, I guess I felt the need to overcompensate which pushed me to work super hard to get to where I am now. It wasn’t the most positive motivation, but it did get me to where I’m at now. And now, I’m just working on breaking away from that because I don’t need to prove anything to anyone else but myself.
If anyone can look at me and think they don’t know how they might make it to this point, I’ll gladly share my story with you in detail. I’ve been through not knowing where your next meal is coming from. The having a caregiver with a substance abuse problem. Been through physical, mental, emotional, and sexual abuse, and not to mention my own mental health journey. I’ve been through a lot, but it’s all made me strong, and believe it or not, my baggage is what has gotten me this far!
Has it been a smooth road?
I think my biggest obstacle has never been external, although I have had some huge external hurdles. But, I’ve always been a “find a another way” type of person. I think my biggest struggle has been internal: the fear, doubt, pain, and fight with vulnerability. It kept me closed off and angry. It kept me from taking risks, and from forming really healthy relationships. Even in my training as an actor, I was my worst enemy because I couldn’t figure out how to transcend all of that baggage I just recently mentioned. It was really, really hard. I was diagnosed with clinical depression at a young age, which eventually developed into anxiety and persistent depressive disorder. And I am so so fortunate that God gave me the strength I needed to battle my own mind and pull myself out of the darkness every time. It worked for a while up until recently, when I realized this struggle was too much for me to handle on my own, so I started therapy. And I’ve been in therapy (on & off, still working on consistency lol) for a little over a year now, which is one of my longest stretches of commitment to my mental health journey. There have been so many challenges that presented themselves along the way, but my mental health journey? Whew chile that has been a giant in itself.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I consider myself to be a multi-hyphenate artist (a turn-of-phrase that has been more popular recently). I am an actress-producer-model-spoken word artist-singer-dancer-artistic entrepreneur, and yes I actually do all of those things haha. I promise you can check my website for verification.
I’ve always wanted to be a “jack-of-all-trades” type of character. I think a lot of that stemmed from my love of musical theater (which nourished the singing, dancing, and acting). Then, I fell in love with spoken word & poetry and founded my own group, Unspoken Words. Modeling just came about from doing all of the other things and taking pictures for press just started to become fun. When I got to college, I decided to start focusing my mission as an artist, and it has always been to use my craft to help others, what better way to do that than to give a platform to underrepresented voices and stories as a producer. And as an artist, I myself am a business. So, I will always be an entrepreneur, but I also have a venture that I’ve been developing for the last two years or so that I am hoping to launch in the fall!
What sets me apart from others is really my interest in the intersectionalities of the different disciplines of art when put into conversation with one another. I am known for including dance with spoken word poetry, or exploring what spoken word looks like in the medium of film, or how music affects visual art. What does that do for the audience? What story does it tell? How does it enhance or take away? Or simply, how can I infuse all of my passions to create art?
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
I think it depends on what field you’re wanting to start out in! If you’re in music or film/tv, definitely go for it! If you’re in the visual art world or spoken word scene, yes yes yes. Atlanta is full of opportunities for that! If you’re in dance or theater, I think New York is a better scene for it. But, honestly, at this point because of Ms. Rona, the arts and entertainment world is shifting, and opportunities (have always been) but literally are everywhere now! We have the space now to take advantage of opportunities from anywhere. No matter where you are if you can create, you are NOT limited.
Contact Info:
- Website: dejadgreen.com
- Email: dejadgreen@gmail.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/d.e.j.a.a, instagram.com/dejadenisegreen
- Facebook: facebook.com/dejadgreen
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnrFYGEFjxpM8C4lmFb3KzA?view_as=subscriber
Image Credit:
Justin Chancey, MIIV, Jarrell Stevens, Sam McHale, Optimal Inheritance Studios, Lamar Hampton
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