Jenessa was born in rural North Louisiana and was raised by her grandparents.  Her Papa was a pipeline welder and her Meme stayed home to raise her.  They taught her to work hard and to believe in herself.  She was a Valedictorian of her high school class, graduating with a perfect GPA.  She is the first person in her family to attend college.  She graduated summa cum laude from Louisiana Tech University in 2006, receiving her B.A. in Political Science with a Pre-Law concentration and a minor in English.  While at Tech, she was a Phi Mu, serving on the Executive Council, and a member of the Louisiana Tech Regal Blues dance team.  She and her high school sweetheart, Garron, married the summer after she graduated college and together they relocated to Oxford, where she attended The University of Mississippi School of Law.  She received her J.D. in 2009, graduating from Ole Miss magna cum laude.  During law school, she served as Associate Mississippi Cases Editor of the Mississippi Law Journal and was a member of the Dean's Leadership Council.  After graduating law school, she went into private practice.  As is the case for a small town Mississippi lawyer, she became a general practitioner, handling all manner of cases.  She felt a special calling toward Chancery matters, recognizing the personal and profound impacts these types of matters have on everyday people.  After a couple of years of practice, she decided that, one day, she knew her calling was to become a Chancery Judge.  As her Meme and Papa taught her, she had a dream and the time is now right for her to fulfill it.  

For the past 17 years, Jenessa has handled all types of Chancery matters, including divorces, child custody matters, visitation disputes, child support cases, guardianships, conservatorships, land disputes, and everything in between.  In short, if a type of case falls within Chancery Court jurisdiction, Jenessa has most likely personally handled it.  She also has extensive experience in civil litigation, having tried numerous cases to jury verdict in venues across the state.  Jenessa has earned the respect of judges across the state and of her peers through thoughtful preparation and showing basic fairness.  She was rated AV Preeminent by Martindale Hubbell, which is the highest honor bestowed by the company's attorney rating system.  

Jenessa believes in fairness and firmness from the bench.  She believes that every person deserves the opportunity to be heard when before a Court.  She understands that our judicial system functions best when the attorneys and the Judges are carefully and thoughtfully prepared and when everyone is treated with dignity and respect.  Jenessa is not running for this position as just another job:  she has been called to serve her community.  She believes that the Court should be open and accessible to those who need it, that the Judge should be readily and reliably available, and she pledges that she will be devoted to the citizens of the 18th District.  

Jenessa lives in Abbeville with her husband, Garron.  They have two children, Kylee-Jo and Luke, and are the proud legal guardians of their nephew and niece, Zach and Abby.  The Hicks family also consists of a loyal Laborador retriever, a clueless cocker spaniel, and three ornery cats.