Jessica was an assistant manager at The Grand Theatres (AmStar 12) for three years in Oxford, Alabama. She was responsible for helping with staff scheduling, weekly audits, and supervising/collaborating with employees in all operations, including ticket sales, concessions, the film booth, and ushering. Her role later evolved into a marketing managerial position. Click the four film posters for links to marketing "project pictures," full-scale community presentations Jessica collaboratively completed but led during her tenure.


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The project pictures involved choosing a movie by the corporate office and establishing criteria, after which each location executed the project; they raised money for charities tied to the films' themes, like Habitat for Humanity for How to Train Your Dragon and Alabama Wildlife Center for Legends of the Guardians, and selected staff would volunteer at sites like the Anniston Museum of Natural History or participate in events like Relay for Life. The books that appeared were printed (sometimes with hard-bound covers but always meticulously homemade) and submitted to the corporate office for judgment. AmStar 12's Oxford location won first place for How To Train Your Dragon and Legends of the Guardians but finished second for The Princess and the Frog, Mirror Mirror, and Rango. The latter was done as a PowerPoint instead of a book. Jessica discussed these marketing endeavors in an essay, "Marketing The Movie-Going Experience," for which she received a scholarship, published in ShowTime Independent Marketing Edge's Winter 2010/2011 edition.

Use the slider bar below to scroll through a sampling of photos from the various promotions.

The promotion Jessica is most proud of during her marketing manager tenure is for The Princess and the Frog. While no digital book was created, the presentation entry submitted was a hand-crafted recipe box with the scrapbook, Mardi Gras/New Orleans-themed paraphernalia, and promotional materials scattered throughout. This was a massive promotion with endless hours, including reading the book at elementary schools, a Christmas parade, and costumes she personally sewed or designed for all the characters, including Tiana, Dr. Facilier, and Mama Odie. Please visit the gallery showing this promotion from beginning to end, including the lobby release date celebration and the Disney "sets," including a throwback to Disney's Golden Age of classic 2D animation!

After her career in marketing, Jessica continually uses these marketing skills by promoting higher education and K-8 campuses via social media and marketing campaigns, like during her tenure at LEAD Neely's Bend, where she served as the social media campus manager from 2016-2018, while serving as the 5th-grade level chair, Girl Scout’s Troop Founder/Leader, & Yearbook Chair. She also led the Yearbook at KIPP Nashville College Prep, leading and marketing yearbooks within two years. Likewise, at Motlow State Community College and Tennessee State University, Jessica marketed events like Black History Poetry Read-Ins and International Days (Laos/Germany). She marketed and hosted a film screening of the Netflix documentary Descendants, complete with a Q&A with descendant Joycelyn Davis, Jessica & her English students interviewed for the audience to engage with after the screening. While attending Zora! Festival & Afrofuturism Conference 2024 in historic Eatonville, Florida, Jessica was asked to collaborate by Social Media Director Rhea Posey with Media Relations, capturing photography and video content for the event's many programs, including creating social media posts live.

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After that, she has been asked by N.Y. Nathiri to continue collaborating for Fall 2024-Spring 2025 with one of the scholars from a Zora! 2024 panel she photographed, Sidney Rose McCall, who is also a current history Ph.D. student at William and Mary. We are coordinating and executing six episodes for PEC's (The Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community, Inc.) Gathering & Gabbing: The Zora Neale Hurston Book Club. Some episodes will be virtual and cover topics such as Kwanzaa, education, Black recreating and safe spaces, anthropology, and public history, including special speakers and Zoraphile enthusiasts. Additionally, we will host a historic Eatonville walking tour on January 7, 2025, which would have been Hurston's 134th birthday, a porch talk at the Eatonville Branch Library, and a culminating libation and lantern cemetery ceremony in conjunction with the Eatonville Community Cemetery Association, Inc., as part of the 36th annual 2025 Zora! Festival & Conference centered on place and placemaking during the weekend's festivities. These will be available through Eventbrite and accessible later.