Rising Stars: Meet Jess Esa of Beverly Grove

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jess Esa

Hi Jess, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I never imagined I’d come to be living in LA as a writer and theatre maker. I’ve always been a ‘see where life takes me’ kind of person and because of that I feel like I’ve already lived ten lifetimes. I’m from the UK, born to Welsh and Egyptian parents so I spent a lot of time between the two countries as a child. Even though I love the UK, I’ve always found it difficult to root in one spot. I love people and exploring, so it wasn’t much surprise to anyone when I decided to move abroad to teach, which transitioned into becoming a travel writer.

While living in South Korea, I founded the world literature and travel website Books and Bao which took off in a way I hadn’t anticipated. Because of that, I was able to spend several years writing and living around the world as a digital nomad. It was around this time that I discovered I was neurodivergent, partly realised through the sheer relief that managing my own schedule brought me. As time went on, people reached out asking for help starting their own freelance businesses, discussing their options to live abroad, or finding their creative spark. I have always been drawn to helping others through my writing, so I founded Nomad Finance and Freedom. This meant I could share the knowledge I’ve gathered over the years and could help people one-to-one through consultations. But, how did that lead me to LA?

The truth is, it was a combination of these things and a little bit of magic that brought me to where I am now. As a digital nomad, I found myself in a lot of places visiting friends all over the world and one of those places happened to be LA. I love a lot of cities passionately but LA really was love at first sight for me, and that became quite literal when a friend I had made via Books and Bao introduced me to who would be my future wife — a born and bred Angeleno. This was in February 2020, so unfortunately Covid made it so I had to cut my time short and go back to the UK. My wife Arrow is an actor, clown, and has their own theatre company Living Room Shakespeare. We instantly bonded through a shared love of theatre. During the pandemic they started an online Shakespeare ensemble where a group of us would perform a play each week: it was through this weekly shared joy that we fell in love and I came to LA once it was safe to travel.

This shared love of theatre has continued to blossom as a part of our life. We’ve found a beautiful community of theatre creatives in LA: acting and playwriting is a core part of my life rather than my hobby, and I recently launched a newsletter Ensemble LA which highlights LA’s local theatre and creative scene. Who knows where life will take me from here, but I’m sure it’ll be an adventure.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jessicaesawriter.com/
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/jess.esa
• Other: https://ensemble-la.beehiiv.com/ , https://www.booksandbao.com , https://www.nomadfinanceandfreedom.com