When you think of an actress moving to America to become a Hollywood star, you may not think about  a young beautiful girl from Lagos Nigeria.  Well, now you can. I had the opportunity to meet Tessy Oragwa, who is an actress in her own right in Nigeria, but wants to make her mark in America. This is her first trip to America and being outside of Africa. She says her experience has been good. “I started acting when I was about eight years old and I loved the make believe world,” stated Tessy. As a Nigerian actress, she finds that getting acting jobs are difficult but once she gets the jobs it is easy. She feels  god gave her the gift.  Her dream is to transition to America because she can get more acting jobs and “I love it here,” she stated. Back home in Nigeria, Tessy has acted in several movies and television series. Her most popular TV series was “So Wright, So Wrong.” The movies she was featured in are Blind Couple, Holy Serpent,  Born Again Millionaire, Billionaire’s Kingdom, Original Sin and more. She recently finished an upcoming film called Sisterhood of Darkness. Her second passion is theatre. She enjoys performing in front of a live audience. She enjoys the immediate response from the audience. The future for Tessy is bright. She will continue to act in movies in America because it will look good on her resume and she plans to move to Hollywood. “Trust me I want to be in that game.”, she stated.  Tessy wanted to share her thoughts for others who want to make their dreams come true. 1. Be inspired by what you do 2. Be passionate 3. Do what you love and the money will follow. It will take some time but you will get there. 4. Put God first. 5. Finish your education 6. Listen to your parents Tessy’s mom told her whatever she does make sure it is something she loves. Her parents were not on board at first with her acting, but they are now  they are 100% on board. They give her the support she needs to carry on with her journey. Before we ended the interview, she did a small scene from her movie Save the Palace. If you are interested in learning more about Tessy or you want to follow her you can visit her Facebook page at Tessy Oragwa.  You can also catch some of her movies on YouTube at Royal First Class. We will be watching her and her journey.

Damita Miller-Shanklin, is the Founder/Publisher of Ujima Magazine, Host of Ujima TV and Co-Host of Ujima Sistah Radio Show. Damita@ujimamagazine.com