I would never kill myself, but depression will make you feel like that. Sometimes you have those thoughts. Telling somebody about that, it made me realize that I needed to woman up, and learn how to be there for myself.
U.G. Digital Mag: I don’t think it ever goes away though. Obviously, you don’t walk around thinking this forever, but we often mask things, and things get good to the point that it takes years to resurface. What have you been able to do in your own life that helps you deal, and also keep the feelings from interfering with business?
Jenn Williams: What lets me know that I can conquer it is that depression is a lie. When I got to that point a few years ago, I had to seek therapy. I thought I was one hundred percent crazy. Nobody is this down and sad like this all the time. I needed to find out what was going on. When I got the diagnoses of manic depression and post traumatic stress disorder, I was in denial. I got diagnosed in 2011, and up until 2013, I was in denial. Medication was not an option. I felt I had to learn how to deal with the depression. I felt like I could do it in a holistic manner. Depression is a liar, and knowing it was not true, I would constantly tell myself that. I would literally laugh at myself sometimes, and tell myself it was the depression talking.
U.G. Digital Mag: A lot of people who have had success in this have dealt with it in that way.
Jenn Williams: I tell you too; Mike Berry, some of his posts have really been helpful. Seeing his transparency, and knowing it was nothing to be ashamed about. From 2013 to 2015, I was able to train myself on dealing with it. Last year I was finally able to share my journey. Now, I’m at the point that I don’t care who knows.
U.G. Digital Mag: That speaks to how unapologetic you are. It’s your life, you’re telling your story, and people either love it or hate it. That’s what it is at the end of the day. That overall confidence is what people love about you, and it’s why you have the success you are experiencing. Your hard work is making things grow exponentially for you. To have done this production of "In My Mind" in December, and already you’re doing the web series, it doesn’t happen that way for many people. For most, it takes a long time to get to that next piece of work. With "In My Mind", there was so much struggle in regard to casting troubles, and many people go through that in your line of work. What happens moving forward with rehashing it?
Jenn Williams: A majority of the cast will be the same, but there will be some new faces. "In My Mind" is my baby, and my goal is to travel with it. I would love to take it to Columbus.
U.G. Digital Mag: As a woman, how difficult has it been in terms of shopping "In My Mind?"
Jenn Williams: I’ll be honest. It’s been enlightening. There’s a lot of divine intervention working on my behalf. I had the whole cast quit, so to be able to assemble a new cast, that was divine intervention. Even with issues on production day,. It still went down. I just know I have to keep pushing.
U.G. Digital Mag: I think a lot of the troubles you had were based on your gender. Many people don’t see a woman doing this.
Jenn Williams: Things went down because of many things. I’m soft spoken. I’m overly kind. When people see that, they take advantage. For the most part, I was able to endure a lot of little stuff, but I was also trying to ignore the disrespect. I started to realize what was happening, and the struggles I had as a black woman, it was amazing. I couldn’t believe it. It took for me to pay for things, and then have a man call for the same pricing. To find out that for many things, he was charged hundreds less, it was depressing. People literally tried to run up in me.
U.G. Digital Mag: It’s amazing how people try to take advantage. It’s really sad, but the beauty in all of this is that you have risen through the ashes, and triumphed through it all.