What started as a teenage side hustle to dodge a fast-food gig has grown into a dream career for Jesse Collins—now the DJ and production mastermind behind the world-famous Savannah Bananas. 

Collins’ passion for technical production started young. In elementary school theater, he quickly gravitated from the stage to the tech booth. By high school, after realizing sports weren't his future, he dove headfirst into theater production, finding his niche in sound, lighting, and eventually DJing. By age 16, he was balancing schoolwork by day and DJing weddings and nightclubs by night.  

When exploring college options, Trinity Valley Community College stood out to him. It offered the essentials—affordability and a solid foundation for his technical theatre career. What he didn’t realize then was that TVCC would become the launching pad that shaped his entire journey. 

"I had an offer to work on cruise ships, and I went to my theatre director Mr. Lee [TVCC Theater Director Craig Lee] thinking he’d discourage me from taking the job," Collins recalls. "Instead, he told me to go for it—and that gave me the confidence to chase the opportunity fully. That conversation changed everything." 

After his time at TVCC, Collins took to the seas, entertaining guests on cruise ships as a DJ before moving into large-scale production work. He toured nationally with artists like Thomas Rhett and Mariah Carey, but something was missing. 

"I missed being part of the performance," he says. "I didn’t want to just set up stages; I wanted to be a part of the performance aspect of the show." 

That missing piece fell into place when he auditioned for a position as the DJ and production guru for the Savannah Bananas, a viral baseball team known for their fast-paced, fan-first experience called "Banana Ball." After submitting a creative audition video, Collins was offered the opportunity to join the team during its explosive national growth on social media. 

Today, he flies out weekly to entertain crowds of up to 65,000 fans, including at landmark events like the Bananas’ first-ever game in a National Football League (NFL) stadium. 

"It’s a wild experience—kids ask for autographs, people recognize my voice, and I get to live a dream I didn’t even know I had," he shares. 

Looking ahead, he’s excited to continue growing with the Bananas and eventually grow his own wedding and event production company. 

"This journey taught me never to be afraid to explore new possibilities," Collins reflects. "If you're passionate about something, there’s a way to turn it into a career—you just have to find the right people and opportunities to support you." 

He credits Trinity Valley with giving him the strong foundation he needed. 

My biggest takeaway from TVCC was having a professor who believed in me—at a time when I didn’t even believe in myself," he says. "That encouragement gave me the confidence I needed to chase my goals. Trinity Valley gave me the full college experience, without the $100,000 price tag of the universities I considered. Sure, I wasn’t exactly thrilled to wake up for 8 a.m. classes after DJing the night before, but every bit of it was worth it. 

"I’ll admit, I had a stigma about junior colleges before I came here, but TVCC shattered that. It didn’t feel like the community college experience I imagined—it felt like a real university, and I’d recommend it to anyone and everyone.”