What started as a way to deal with depression and self-harm has become a full-fledged business for self-taught special effects make-up artist, Jessica Morris.

She was introduced to the unique way of doing make-up while suffering a bout of depression, for which she decided to pray. Morris said that not five minutes after getting up off her knees, and picking up her phone, she came up on a special effects do-it-yourself video on Instagram which got her attention.

Only thing left for her to do was make an attempt, and she did, not realising that creating fake wounds and blood and gore was the escape she needed to stop hurting herself.

“I tried it and I liked how everything turned out so I took a few photos not knowing that I was doing it (special effects make-up) instead of physically harming myself and, when I posted the photos on Facebook, people started to comment saying ‘oh you should go to Hollywood’,” the make-up artist said.

The 25-year-old told Observer Online that the compliments from the commenters did not resonate with her at the time, as she was only doing the make-up to avoid self-harming. It was not until sometime later while watching a religious movie that it hit home that she had a rare talent.

“It was like a few months after that— after leaving my last job because I got sick— I was home and of course the feeling of depression was still there just that I knew how to cope with it better. I started to invest my time in the special effects and I came across a film where they were crucifying Jesus on the cross and I remember sitting down and saying ‘wait, isn’t this what I can do, where I can tell other people’s stories by doing my work?’ And that’s when it clicked in my brain what everyone was saying about how I should go to Hollywood. That’s when I took up special effects,” Morris disclosed.

Since beginning her business Jesse Effect (@Jesse_Effect on Instagram) in 2019, Morris still surprises herself at how good she is at special effects make-up, but she is also aware that there is room for improvement and growth so she is always looking for ways to be better.

Morris stated that though her name and business is easily associated with the gore of special effects, she is also certified in beauty make-up, a licensed and certified barber and she does face painting on children. She also creates and sells props like fake hearts, fingers and hands which are perfect for Halloween.

Four years after launching Jesse Effect, Morris says business is going well, however her focus is on expanding her clientele.

“Business has been going well in some sense, I think it’s because I focus more on the journey or the process instead of the end goal. You know when people start a business they say they want to get a certain amount of money coming in, for me I know it is going to take some training and the fact that it (special effects make-up) is not common in Jamaica so it is not like I can just send in the experience that I have and I get a job,” Morris said.

She added: “So I have to actually build that platform for myself, I have to build my clientele; give people the ideas of what I can do. So I have just been putting in the work and, based on that, clients have been reaching out to me. I have worked with artistes and when the music videos go out, other people get ideas and that grows my clientele.”

Among the artistes who Morris has worked with are Skeng, an accomplishment she said was a dream come true. She created the werewolf look for his single ‘Full Moon’. She also worked with Valiant on ‘Please Don’t Judge Me’ and was the make-up artist who wrote the number of CXC subject on the hands of the actors in the video. Chronic Law is also on Morris’s list of entertainers who she has worked with, and many others within the music industry.

She expressed immense gratitude for the people she has worked with so far, and hopes that her next step will take her into doing special effects make-up for movies.

“There is a film industry here in Jamaica but I don’t see them making use of my talent, unfortunately, so it is just to get their attention —and anybody’s really— that I can exercise my business because the whole point of my starting this thing was to be on the big screen,” Morris said.

“I do appreciate the music videos because that is how I have grown my business and get my clientele but that’s the main goal right now— to get into film,” she added.

Morris said that she is also working on getting her products in stores so film makers can have ease of access to props like fake blood. This move, she told Observer Online, will also take her business out of the seasonal Halloween feel as she is desperate to get out of that box.

But for now she is enjoying the spooky season, and the exposure that comes with it, as her next gig will be at Hope Zoo on October 27 and 28 for Boo @ The Zoo.