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-hyphenate performing artist exposed to the ecclectic culture and beauty of New Orleans, Louisiana from birth. Despite being surrounded by a loving community, J.Mix endured physical, and emotional abuse during her formative years. To cope, she 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 in innovative ways.
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 future. She went on to attended St. Mary's Dominican High School, where she became an active participant in school musicals and performances and carved her path into the theater community after graduation. Attempting to help alleviate her family’s financial strain, J.Mix and her sisters formed a quartet called “The Mixon Sisters” that showcased their harmonies 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. Though J.Mix was flourishing at this time, trauma from her past 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 the USA 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.
Her latest pride and joy is pioneering, Triple Threat Media, a production company specializing in video-capturing services for both live and virtual events. The company focuses on documenting the humanity of creatives in the arts and entertainment industries. The "triple threat" aspect stems from the diverse range of services, which includes the production of jingles, podcasts, and other forms of creative media.
When she's not busy, you can find her re-centering on roller skates and making quality time for the support systems that matter most to her
