About Me

Hello! My name is Jessica Anderson. (Formerly known as Mary Ruth Anderson) My nicknames are Jesse and Essie, and I’m also known as Essie of Who online. Essie was my nickname as a child, I’m sometimes called this online, and very rarely in person unless they knew me since I was a child. I am an artist, seamstress, and freelance writer who intended on working as an animator for Disney since I was little, but I attended college to study something else, left college due to health problems, and eventually drifted into the occupations I hold today.

I’ve been drawing since I was 3 years old, sewing since I was 8, and taking photographs since I was 14. Because of a Renaissance Festival near where I lived, I was introduced to the world of historical costuming in the 1990’s and I became interested in cosplay in 2005-ish, but didn’t cosplay for the first time until my first convention in 2009. Ever since then, I’ve become interested in not just costuming/cosplay, but making normal clothing and sewing other things that strike my fancy.

In addition to being an artist/illustrator and writer, I also run a second blog, The Estella Initiative, a lifestyle and travel blog, and three Youtube channels, Essie of Who, a craft, sewing, and DIY channel, The Estella Initiative, a YouTube extension of The Estella Initiative blog, Essie of Asgard, a fan girl lifestyle and haul channel, It’s Lady Essie, a vlog channel, and The Estella Initiative Archive, a channel dedicated to all the videos I recorded at festivals, conventions, and other places.

Although I enjoy making costumes/cosplays and clothes for myself, I don’t like to make and sell them, sans very rare occasions. I used to sell dresses and clothing I designed myself, but I stopped due to my life becoming too busy to design and sew new things to sell.

I enjoy sewing, taking photographs, roaming Renaissance festivals, admiring dresses, spending time with my dog, Brownie, exploring my home state of Arizona, and just being alive.

You can find me at the following social networking sites: