All about Ahdis

“I was born to be on stage.”

Ahdis Jones is a model and actress from Greenville, Mississippi, working out of New York City. Theatre since she was five, thirteen pageant titles, a Howard BFA in acting, and modeling with MMG Model & Talent Management. This is the long version.

Start at the beginning Skip to now

Delta Center Stage

Ahdis has been performing since the age of five, when she joined theatre productions at Delta Center Stage in Greenville, Mississippi. She stayed for ten years and appeared in ten productions, among them The Wiz as the Scarecrow, Fiddler on the Roof, Les Misérables and The Color Purple as Young Nettie.

The stage settled the question of what she wanted to do. By middle school she pictured herself graduating from an arts program as an actress and film director, the one on set calling “Action!”

Greenville

At Greenville High School she played basketball, ran track, cheered and was co-captain of the volleyball team. She was named a 2019 Lindy Callahan Scholar Athlete, and she graduated valedictorian of her class.

For three years she served on the Greenville Mayor’s Youth Council, including a term as its President. The council brought leadership training and a public platform: in 2019 she introduced Mayor Simmons at the City of Greenville State of the City Address.

She took seven dual-enrollment courses, 21 college credit hours, and kept Superintendent List Scholar status with all A’s from grades 6 through 12. In 2018 she received the Most Outstanding Exhibit Award from the Yale Science and Engineering Association at the Region III MSEF Science Fair.

First work in front of a camera

Her first credits came early and close to home: two commercials for the Greenville School District, an underage-drinking PSA for Fox TV 13, a local television commercial for Greenville High School, television and print advertising for a local formalwear store, a photo shoot for Elvis Presley Enterprises, and the music video Before the Morn for Hope Presbyterian Ministries.

Her modeling began on the runway. She walked the Macy’s Spring Fashion Show at Memphis Fashion Week, modeled and sat on a panel at Little Rock Fashion Week, and modeled on Good Morning Arkansas (Channel 7). Her work has been featured in Amazing Kids Magazine, Christian Unity Magazine, Krystle Bell Pageantry Magazine and Pageantry Magazine.

Ahdis in a Christian Unity Magazine spotlight

On air

In high school Ahdis produced, wrote and hosted her own youth-focused radio program, Tell Me About Yourself, on WDSV 91.9 FM, interviewing young adults and adults alike. She was also the Mississippi teen host of Teen Talk, a weekly internet radio program on JoyNet Radio hosted by Mr. Melvin Moss in Arkansas.

Dance and training

She attended Interlochen Musical Theatre Camp and was accepted to Interlochen School of Performing Arts. She taught and choreographed tap at Lisa’s Dance Studio in spring 2017 and at Amber’s Dance Company in spring 2018. In 2018 she was a Nuvo Dance Category Winner and a Bravo Dance Category and Scholarship Winner, alongside further acting and dance awards and scholarships.

Service

In 2018 Ahdis received the Gold Level Presidential Award for Volunteer Service for more than 3,000 hours of community service. Through YEAH! (Youth Encouraging and Actively Helping), the nonprofit she founded, she encouraged other young people to volunteer in their communities. With Greenville High School she ran the Soap and Socks Project, which let students earn community-service hours and track them by joining YEAH!. The city’s Local Organizing Committee presented her with its Youth Leadership Award.

From drama queen to beauty queen

At her first National American Miss pageant Ahdis won the modeling category, which came with a scholarship to train at John Robert Powers in Memphis, Tennessee. While training at John Robert Powers she went on to the International Presentation of Performers (IPOP) in Las Vegas, where she won the dance category with her tap routine and drew interest from Wilhelmina Models. Abby Elzemeyer represented her for her early-childhood projects.

Her introduction on the National American Miss stage became her signature line: “From Drama Queen to Beauty Queen, I was born to be on stage.” As her pageant training went on, Ahdis developed her specialty, two backup modeling movements and leg swings out of spins and turns, which won over audiences and judges alike with her smooth, regal and upbeat flair.

Her writing, development and first training came from her mother, who reigned as Miss Valley State University. Pageantry taught her elegance, professionalism, execution and networking. One of her favorite memories is meeting Sherri Hill in 2018 at an IJM party at the designer’s headquarters in Texas.

She campaigned for and was voted Miss Greenville High School for 2018–2019, appearing on television and in two commercials for the Greenville School District in connection with the title. Selected as Miss Mississippi International Junior Miss Teen 2018–2019, she competed at the national pageant in San Antonio, Texas, and won America’s Junior Miss Teen 2018–2019. She has won thirteen pageant titles.

Ahdis in her America’s Junior Miss Teen sash and crown, holding her award

Now

Ahdis went on to Howard University for her BFA in Acting and is completing an MFA in Creative Writing at New England College, expected in January 2027. She lives and works in New York City, represented for modeling by MMG Model & Talent Management.

In 2026, I Am Because We Are, a short film she co-wrote with Cyan Shreve, Lauren Young and Mya Hunter, was named a production grant finalist in the Shore Scripts Short Film Fund.

Her artistic vision has not changed since Greenville: to create films, plays and television series that bring her poetry and short stories to life, shed a positive light on Black culture, and empower the next generation of Black artists.

“The key to getting ahead is getting started.”
Mark Twain. The words Ahdis lives by: begin what you envision.

Her mantraAll aspects of you have value.

View portfolio Work with Ahdis