We recently connected with Éss and have shared our conversation below.
Éss, thank you so much for joining us. You are such a positive person and it’s something we really admire and so we wanted to start by asking you where you think your optimism comes from?
I think people around me truly believe that I am blindly optimistic, haha.
I just believe in the powers that be. In the divine. I believe they listen to your heart and your desires. I believe that if something was placed upon you, it was done so for a reason, and who are you to doubt something much larger and grandiose?
I was reading (or watching something, I can’t remember) about the self-esteem movement in the 70s/80s and how the government and psychologists began to encourage parents to tell their children only good things about themselves and teachers to shape exercises and education in the classroom around boosting the self esteem. The thought, of course, was that if people felt better about themselves this would produce a generation of more ‘successful’ people.
It was interesting to see that so many people thought that this is where the invention of the “participation award” really failed us as a society (as if that were the sole thing that fails us…). But, I think just like this movement, just like blind belief and toxic optimism there is so much that happens between the “feeling” and “the result”.
My optimism is a blended belief in self, the Divine at large, and the confidence from knowing that I am deeply in alignment with everything that happens in between the feeling and the result. I am grateful for the gift of vision everyday, it’s like all the next moves appear in front of me, kind of like in Queen’s Gambit. And let’s not forget discernment which is usually the element that moves you from feeling (or idea) to result (manifestation of said idea). Because I have discernment, vision, and faith, why should I not think that everything will work out for me and the people around me?
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I like to describe myself as a fluid creative being. I actually recently rebranded as “Éss” to reflect this. Like many other creatives, I was blessed with a well of tools to choose to express myself through, and I think doing so is incredibly freeing. My personal journey and my artistic journey have always been a reflection of one another. While 2023 was a year of self-discovery for me, 2024 was a year of self-exploration and what I found is that I am so many things, not to be confused with not knowing who I am a distinction I’ve had to make for some… I know exactly who I am and it’s embracing all of these facets of myself that continues to bring me deeply into my authenticity. Like everything, the spirit lives on a spectrum; I think about the way the frequencies of color blend together to make up one beam of light.
“Éss” is a representation of my unlimited potential in both trajectory and in the endless forms that I can shape shift in and out of. You find “ess” as a suffix (e.g. goddess, empress, timeless, limitless), prefix (e.g. essence, essential, ), and the root of many words (e.g. blessing, impress, express). It can also be slipped into and used in so many different expressions like “Oh Éss/Oh s-” and the “Éssperience” or my favorite that I use for content creating and UGC: The Éssample! It was given to me from my higher self, and I knew it was special and meant to be the vehicle to carry me through my evolution.
Currently, my three focuses are music, content, and brand building (an art as well I might add).
Musically, I am a fluid genre artist (fluidity being the motif through all that I do). My work as of recently has settled somewhere where Alt Hip-hop meets soft indie rock? But that could change depending on the day and the song most definitely. My team likes to say “the genre is: Éss” haha.
I mentioned that 2023 and 2024 were years of self discovery and exploration; 2025 is my year of self-actualization, which is actually the title of my first music project: SELFACTUALIZED. It’s an open stream of consciousness that in some places feel really concrete and in some places are an echo chamber, but in its entirety it is an observation of the world around me, myself in this world, and the growth of self through several key experiences. I felt like I lost my voice for a while, thought I didn’t have anything to say any more. I used to have an opinion about everything, then, gradually nothing. I spent a lot of time with myself, a lot of “yeah that’s an interesting thought, but how do you *feel* about it..” My feelings started to float to the surface little by little here and there and every glimpse helped me to piece this project together. Of course, at the time I was just writing these songs independently of each other. But, looking at them all together I started to get a clearer understanding of how they all fit. I still think there’s more understanding ahead and more uncovered as I continue to work on it.
It’s the journey, it’s the fragments, it’s the healed whole, but it’s all me and vulnerable and messy and I’m excited to release this expression into the ether.
With content creation, I work in UGC, user-generated content, providing brands and small businesses with social media content (Paid Ads & Organic) to help generate sales, leads, or followers and to engage, nurture, entertain, and share their message with their current audience. I specialize in beauty and experiences (restaurants, events, spas, festivals, conferences, etc). I’ve been a full time UGC creator successfully for a little over 6 months now (though I’ve been doing UGC for 3+ years and social media 7+ years). I also consult with creators who are looking to start making money from UGC and design decks/portfolios for them.
My personal “influencer” based content that lives on my socials are the pillar of my experiences living this multi-hyphenate, fluid creative lifestyle featuring new series such as “My Multi-Hyph Life” and “Things I Invested in As a Creative When I Could No Longer Afford Therapy.” I share my real experiences, BTS, tips, and recommendations around building a sustainable life as a multi-hyphenate creative; because my content always look so curated, I’m finding ways to lean more into sharing the process and fighting against my perfectionist tendencies!
Outside of my personal brand as a musician and creator, I am the owner of DDCE Creative Agency, a creative strategy agency specializing in digital branding and content creation for small businesses and creative projects though we’re shifting our focus to designing products supporting this clientele in 2025.
With DDCE one of our most prominent ventures is the Tiny Nook Concert Series. Tiny Nook is a Tiny Desk style concert series showcasing rising and emerging music talent through quality opportunities of exposure. We are preparing to go into our 4th season this upcoming Winter with so many surprises in store for our audience and our artists.
All and all- I’ve built a life for myself that will continue to expand in artistic and creative fulfillment, community engagement, and personal fulfillment. I am so blessed, grateful, and proud.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I spoke about this briefly in a previous question, and I don’t believe I know it all because I am still on my journey. But I will say I believe that the skills, qualities, or areas of knowledge that are “most important” is really dependent on where you are in your journey! The ones I feel like have made a significant impact on my own success and the success of those around me are discernment, the art of the pivot, and pure resilience.
Within discernment there are so many layers: awareness, surrender, alignment, observation, critical thinking, processing, timing.. I feel as though a lot of these come with experience and continuing to put yourself in situations that stretch you and challenge you in all aspects (physically, mentally, emotionally, socially, spiritually, artistically, etc) and the other part of it is instinct and faith; that’s natural and inherent, that’s something that is in you that you have to be aware and trusting enough to listen to. This is something I pride my high school and my parents for teaching me at an early age. Discernment can look like knowing when someone or something isn’t for you to knowing when something is an instinct or an impulse to knowing when you need to rest or if you might just be being lazy that day.
I encourage anyone who is looking to grow in discernment to find your spiritual core and prowess; whatever and however you find the divine within yourself grow closer with it, even if that’s just recognizing how important and spot on your own inner voice can be. Then, like any other muscle, train it by continuing to put yourself in situations that will help you grow. It’s almost like one of those role playing games where you’ll face a situation with a list of decisions in front of you and you choose one to see how it plays out. Each time regardless of the outcome, you gain more information and learn more, this deepens your discernment.
Secondly, the art of the pivot is something my close friends and I talk about a lot and it’s something I truly, truly value in myself, others, and my own collaborators. The art of the pivot refers to your ability to be flexible and adaptable in the face of obstacles and adversity while still moving steadily toward your goal. I’ve seen SO many people freeze after something doesn’t go the way they’ve plan for it to which is such an easy way to become stagnant. Personally, I’m someone who feels like if I’m not in motion in some way I might just die, so maybe that’s just a feeling I have. I’ve definitely honed my innate ability to combine resourcefulness and strategic thinking to be able quick decisions (or when given the chance to, take my time and make decisions) that are still in alignment with my goals. I’m also a believer in things happening “for me” not “to me,” so whatever decision I pivot to I know it works out better in the end. The art of the pivot is a science for sure.
Those two paired with resilience and having unwavering faith even on the toughest days. With your purpose behind you, knowing there is nothing that will ever shake you; I feel like that takes people so much further than the things that we think make people successful. That sort of faith breeds confidence. That sort of faith may not help you overcome the fear, but it’ll help you do it scared. It helps you reframe things like rejection into opportunity. It forms discipline and commitment and gives you a container for all your free flowing creative energies to move safely in.
I feel like there could potentially be others, and many more including balance (which I always think is the most important in anything), but in the context of this question and article I think those three have been the most impactful.
What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?
The thing I had been battling for a long time is being perceived. Like wanting to be seen but never perceived. I spent this year getting a better understanding of people’s perception of me and found that it was actually so much better than I had been perceiving myself. I think especially surrounding yourself with people who really love you and reflect the life back to you that you breathe into them, it gave me the confidence to authentically explore so many parts of myself. I was in this beautiful echo chamber of affirmation!
The space that this gave me to really define who I am for myself helped me to stop letting other people define me for me. That was a big area of growth for me, to stop looking to other people to tell me who I am. The more I affirmed it for myself and took the action to show life, “hey this is who I want to be..” life started reflecting it back to me in return like “okay, cool, finally..” like it had been waiting for me to show up fully. I’m so proud of myself for this because I really struggled with it for a long, long time. And it’s not a linear journey still, but there are definitely so many more up days now than down.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://theessamplemusic.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/the.essample
- Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/dejadenise
- Youtube: https://YouTube.com/@essample
- Other: www.theugcessample.com
www.tiktok.com/@the.essample
Image Credits
Quinn Nakahara (@shotbyq)
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