Meet Elisha Davis, a Fall 2023 Community Reporting Fellow

By Donald Jacobs

When Elisha Davis moved from Houston, Texas, to New Orleans in 2018, her goal was to study biology with the hopes of one day going to medical school. Davis, a student at the University of New Orleans, had a change of heart after walking on campus and seeing a production crew shooting a movie. She was instantly curious and asked how she could get involved. It wasn’t long before Davis switched gears to follow her interest and study TV and film production.

Today, Davis, 23, describes herself as a “sponge,” absorbing everything about the film industry and what it takes to tell a compelling story. She is an actress and enjoys telling stories through performance.

Stories are how we connect to other people and telling a “good story is capturing what’s real about that person’s life outside of your own,” Davis said.

Davis, now a junior at UNO, is seeing her decision to follow her passion pay off. David played the lead role in “Burnt Roux,” a short film about a young activist in 1968 rural Louisiana, that premiered at this year’s New Orleans Film Festival. The Houston native wants to continue making films and other media that capture the everyday experiences of people in the community.

I spoke with Davis to learn more about her interests and reasons for joining the fellowship. Here’s what I heard. Note: This conversation was edited for length and clarity.

What does equitable media mean to you? 

Bringing awareness to important issues, the really important stuff to our youth and, ultimately, our world changes. The future is everything, so it’s providing them with accurate and unbiased information so that they can make informed decisions moving forward. Hopefully they can be better than us, you know? It’s always the goal.

What do you hope to get out of this fellowship?

I’m excited to learn more about audio. Besides the technical skills, I really enjoy doing TV-film, working in the industry. I also have a heart for people, so the community aspect was really attractive to me when I heard about Lede. Engaging with people in New Orleans and making a positive impact on my environment is something that I’m excited to get from this program.

Imagine it’s a perfect sunny and cool day in New Orleans. What will we find you doing?

I’m still inside because this is the South and it’s hot. So, even on a cool day in New Orleans, I feel like it’s still a little hot for me. So, I’m inside cooking. My favorite dish to make is seafood alfredo. That’s what I’m doing: inviting friends over and we all fellowship and have a good time.

Do you incorporate aspects of yourself in a film or do you approach it from a different point of view?

It depends on what side of the camera I’m on. When I’m acting in it I think knowing who you are better helps you become another character. When you know who you are and what you’re putting out it kind of helps, you know? That character will have a little bit of you in it and that’s what really brings it off the page of a script. On the flipside, if I'm capturing a story I like to capture that person and who they are.

Donald Jacobs, 24 is a Louisiana native, who grew up in St. Bernard parish. He’s a poet, and his work is an outward expression of his inward reflections on the city he grew up in New Orleans and helped him cope with feeling captured.

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