About Me

Hey there! My name is “Elise.”

I’ve been an ‘Elise’ since my Cajun grandmother, Eunice, visited me at birth and couldn’t seem to pronounce my real name, “Kathryn.” Thanks to her bloodcurdling patois and mom’s waning tolerance for butchered speech, I shed the skin of “Kathryn” and was reforged as '“Elise”.

So, who am I really? (Other than “Elise,” of course.)

I’m a Portland-born, Texas-raised artist with a Bachelors in English & Comparative Literature from Columbia University and an MFA degree in Film Directing from UCLA. I’ve got a poet’s soul, a wanderer’s ambition, and a wry sense of humor that usually finds me laughing at something I shouldn’t.

The daughter of a Wall Street attorney and an Olympic athlete, I stem from loving traditions of scholastic pursuit and competitive sports—all served up with a winking splash of southern pageantry. I love goats, rivers, animation, matcha, and dancing the Texas Two-Step.

Interesting fact: A fit of wanderlust once saw me through living off one deflated air mattress across three continents, but no matter where life has taken me, storytelling remains my forever home. I enjoy narratives steeped in history and fact, as well as those that explore the uncharted territory of life's what if's. Much of my work deals with the unique subjectivity of the Black American female and imagining how she might move through past, present, and perhaps impossible worlds.

Most recently in my career, I’ve had the pleasure of working as a creative and personal assistant to Gina Prince-Bythewood and then as a writers’ assistant on Apple TV’s upcoming drama, Swagger, produced by Reggie Rock Bythewood, Kevin Durant, and Brian Grazer. Currently, you can find me working as a Post Production PA for Lucasfilm!

Ta-da! That’s me!