Today we’d like to introduce you to Chelsey Sims.
Chelsey, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I’d say the pivotal moments were after studying abroad for college in Sydney, Australia. I was encouraged by a gorgeous local to make sure I’ve traveled as much of my own home country as any other place I’d dreamed of visiting. I didn’t realized that in what seemed to be such a short period of time I had seen more of Australia than most people have seen in their whole lives. But essentially the sum of what she was saying to me was that when I found the place I wanted to be, it would all make sense. It would work out and I wouldn’t have to question it. LA was the first place in a long time that truly felt like home. I actually missed everything about it when I had to leave.
An old classmate of mine let me know she was making the move to Santa Monica, and later another close friend made the move to Hollywood. I’ve lived in Sydney, New York, Atlanta, Denver, and Coral Springs. I’ve driven cross country four times and have been to almost all 50 states. Through all of that, I spent the last five years visiting Los Angeles driving to Santa Barbra, Long Beach, Santa Clarita, San Diego you name it I’ve probably driven by.
After a failed attempt at being on The Voice Season 22’, the death of my grandmothers, losing one of my best friends to suicide, and a family falling out I didn’t realise had consumed all the light I had left. I told myself, “If you don’t give yourself a shot, go after your dreams, and go find home. You’re going to be stuck and you’re going to regret it.”
I did exactly that. I almost had to live in my car (again), landed myself three jobs and an empty apartment. I’ve been both in awe and disbelief every day I’ve been here. So with my one year anniversary of blowing up my life to pursue my dreams around the corner, I couldn’t be happier to share some of my story.
My first love is and always will be music of course. But it wouldn’t be what it is without my love of film, plus being a theatre kid who was fluent in movie quotes didn’t hurt either. But for some strange reason in an unexpected internal struggle, I never saw myself successfully marrying the two. For some reason my wanting to be a “pop star” and an actress didn’t feel right. I was actually so nervous about it. But recently if I’m being honest, after putting out my first two songs with my incredible Producer Hailey (Fin Mikkels), seeing Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande in Wicked, and starting my first acting class. It all ended up really healing me. It reminded me of everything I’ve loved my whole life, but it also put all my loves together in one place and made it feel possible. It was as if for the first time (even though I definitely knew this in my soul) I could see how each piece made up all of who I am. But me trying to separate the two was actually what stifled my growth the most. I am proud to say I have 16 songs on the way to the world, and I am getting ready to film my first reel. The amount of inspiration and creativity flowing out of me has sky rocketed to another level. And I cannot wait to share it with you.
The evolution of my artistry as SHEj is that SHE is the Journey, and what I would like to share through her is this.
I hope you see that Journey for yourself, that you feel welcome in my world, and that you feel like you can be your most full and authentic self. But also that you find the strength to keep going beyond all odds. YOU are the Journey, you are beautiful just as you are, and you are ENOUGH right now. I’m speaking to myself there too, but we can do this together. As I always say, thank you for listening to my story. I’d also like to speak that out into the universe for my future self as well. Whenever my projects begin to air, whatever awards I win, whatever insane thing I manage to accomplish. I’d like to thank all who have taken the time to hear or watch my story as it’s happening, and I’d like to thank you for being part of my story. Even amidst the crazy times we are in, I choose to not to let any one moment in time or failure or uncertainty define the rest of my life. I will let every moment come together and create the masterpiece that is me…so HEY WORLD I’M HERE AND I AM GOING TO BE EVEN GREATER THAN I EVER IMAGINED I’D BE.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Haha, gosh I think I wish my road was as smooth as everyone believes it is that is for-sure. My life journey in general has been rough since age 12 if I were to list all the moments I remember. However, when it came to my passions in life it was a lot of conversations around my skin color and how well I acted or how articulate I was. There were a lot of conversations stating how singing, acting, and well most of my creative endeavors were unrealistic careers. I was told by my guidance counselor that I needed to have a plan b, then I needed to have a degree, no one told me what kind of degree but that apparently that was supposed to “save me.”
I had one back injury, and that was the first time I gave up on my dreams. I was a junior about to be a senior, I just made the dance team, I was getting ready to go back to Open Jar and intern with the best broadway directors. I was ready to hit the ground running. Suddenly I had this sharp pain in my upper back, my neck hurt, my shoulders hurt, and I was in so much pain I still can’t quite describe it properly. To go from being in the best shape of your life, to having to have your mother walk you to the bathroom because you can’t do it yourself. Is a gut wrenching feeling that I wouldn’t wish on any soul. I was finally at that place where I didn’t want to live, if I couldn’t get back to normal I just didn’t want to do it anymore. I was the most positive and optimistic person on the planet and now I could barely find the will to wake up. It just hurt too much and we all know what it’s like dealing with someone who’s always in pain.
What broke me the most was the lack of visitors, the lack of help, and the lack of support. My parents did what they could and by some miracle I had one good friend who checked in on me and prayed for me. At the time I was heavily involved in my local church and no one helped me. While it didn’t effect my relationship with God it definitely made me rethink what I wanted my future to look like. At this point, I lost the one person I felt like understood me at 15, I was kicked out of my dance class and I was only 60% better after 6 months of physical therapy. I found my power again but it turns out it was the power to let go. I was ready to leave and never come back to this place that in all honesty was where every thing in my life fell apart. The last good thing I got from my high school was kind words from some kind classmates, a few teachers who just wanted to see me win, and my psychology class. The few people who did care about me gave me that push to move on and do something with my life. Even on the days I never thought I’d feel normal again, I was better enough by my graduation I got two jobs, applied to go to this college in Sydney Australia and by January 2015 I was gone.
The more I talk about it the more I recognise I was in the same positions as all of my favorite artists who were told or made to feel like they weren’t enough or that the thing they loved maybe wasn’t meant for them. When I came back from Australia, I was on top of the world. Then I tried to get a job, I was meeting musicians, and trying to book acting roles in NYC. After being told no for 6 months the next thing I knew I put it all down again. I could barely pay my mom half of the rent let alone move out on my own and I had now been a server, a sh*tty barista, and found myself back in retail. I’ve met countless celebrities, famous musicians, famous pastors, etc and every single time I was told they’d work with me or answer my questions or even just point me in the right direction. Nothing happened. Yup I said it NOTHING. It wasn’t until I was at rock bottom again rewatching Up In The Air, trying not to wait till I was in my 40s to turn my dreams into something real.
This thought has haunted me since I was 15 years old, but I kept having these moments where I was thinking to myself, “This can’t be it…? There has to be something more than this…”
I just refuse to let my life be defined by something that happened to me. And I couldn’t keep waiting for people to make me a priority.
Instead of saying “Why me?”
I had to start saying, “Why not me?”; “Why can’t this work out? Why can’t I get better?” I genuinely want to.
I want a GREAT LIFE, I want to get to that last moment and have something awesome to watch as it flashes before my eyes one last time. So I did whatever I had to push through.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I am a singer songwriter, vocal producer, actress, creative director, and entertainer. In my corporate 9 to 5 you can find me either in a retail space or in a leasing office.
My journey technically started in elementary school in my schools choir and continued all the way through college. I’ve won a broadcasting competition in Middle school, theatre competitions all through high school Broward County to be exact, participated in The Open Jar Institute where high school and college students did a summer intensive of workshops in New York, and auditions preparing you to hit the Broadway stage in whatever capacity you chose. In Sydney Australia I studied Theology and minored in Musical Performance with a focus on Vocals, Creative Directing, Musical Performance, and interned with The Vocal Producer of Hillsong Church. You can find multiple videos or performances of me across the Hillsong Channel from 2015-2018, I was also part of the Creative Piece for Hillsong Color Conference at The Kings Theatre in New York City 2018. I helped creative direct a few music videos, however more notably, most people know me either from Hillsong Church, The Voice 22’, my first acting debute in the series Wolf Pack (the spin off of Teen Wolf), and from Bruno Mar’s Vegas Residency where I accidentally became part of the show (from the front row of course) and it didn’t hurt that I was memorising the choreography.
I am of course proud of my debut single Tonight, and my second single Memory. I am honing my skills mainly when it comes to vocals and vocal production. The next projects I am working on currently are, getting concepts together for a few music videos I’d like to put in motion, are a short film, auditioning for a few tv series to hopefully become a series regular, and booking my first film. I courageously want to do it all and I don’t have any reason not to except myself. I look forward to the destinations of course however I don’t want to forget to be present in these current moments, and every part of the journey along the way.
Any big plans?
Absolutely, I’ve been inspired and given a slight push to use everything I have and let all my experiences become my art. So I want to do everything now. My one year anniversary in LA is April 23rd, 2025 and my 30th birthday will be in August. So I plan to finish writing and recording my EPs and my album, direct record and produce my own music videos, then book my first tv series by the end of this year as a gift to myself. There are other projects and life goals in my spirit, however I don’t want to put a time frame on them or limit the grandness of what could be. So I am simply making space and allowing anything else I am able to accomplish be a bonus however I believe everything will happen when it’s meant to. Love included. And I look forward to going on that journey when the time is right.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/shej.wsims?utm_source=linktree_admin_share
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/forevershej_?igsh=OGQ5ZDc2ODk2ZA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@shejofficial5783?si=kbqsiqdga-EIWrs2
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@forevershej_?_t=8pzwLZsORcA&_r=1
Image Credits
Hailey Fin Mikkels
Artist Name: Fin Mikkels
https://www.instagram.com/finmikkels?igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==
Chelsey J. Sims
Artist Name SHEj (pronounced SHE-Jay)
