Sam Kessie: In The Director's Seat

Written By: Sam Kessie—I was born in Camden Town, England. At a very young age my father took a job with a mining company and we had to move from London to Obuasi, in the Ashanti region of Ghana. Growing up in England at a very young age exposed me to a completely different culture and way of life from how it was when I moved to Ghana. I hated it and didn’t really have a lot of friends. My parents were pretty protective of me; one could say I had very strict parents, though in the end I am glad they were. I spent a lot of time reading and watching TV. At the same time I was pretty adventurous, getting into trouble occasionally and therefore ending up grounded numerous times. I did write occasionally as an outlet, and had a few articles make it into the local newspaper. However, in school I was always on the path to go into the sciences. Writing, or anything artistic, was encouraged to be more of a hobby. I started Wesley Girls High School in Cape Coast in the mid 90’s and although I graduated as a science student, I was a very active member in the Drama Club. Funny enough, one of my prizes at speech day was a book entitled Movie and Methods (I still have that book on my shelf!). I entered college with the intention of becoming a computer engineer, but very quickly realized I was not at all in love with that major.

I struggled for a few years still trying to figure out what I really wanted to do. I even took a few business classes believing I wanted to be like my dad, who worked in finance. I was actually good at it, but once again there was something missing. I hated going to class because I wasn’t really enjoying it. I had a few internships and couldn’t stand it. Then I had to take a requirement for psychology. The complexities of the mind, and attempting to understand individual and social behavior as well as the physiological and neurological processes absolutely fascinated me. I took a few more classes and then decided to change my major and study psychology. The more I delved into this world, the more I was drawn to certain people with all sorts of characteristics. I took several theatre classes and found it intriguing to break down a character to the very core and trying to understand them in a psychological sense.

Read the rest of In The Director's Seat in the latest issue of MIMI, Unapologetically Modern.African.Female.