DREAM WEAVER

EGOT WINNER AND ENTREPRENEUR JENNIFER HUDSON ON GIVING BACK, CREATING CONNECTION AND MAKING THE BEST OF EVERY MOMENT

- L'OREAL THOMPSON PAYTON

LONG BEFORE Jennifer Hudson made her big-screen debut as Effie White in the movie adaptation of Dreamgirls, she was a little girl with big dreams of her own. Counting Aretha Franklin, Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston among her musical idols, Hudson got her start in the church choir and also enjoyed doing community theater.

Today, Hudson is an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony (EGOT) winner, nationally syndicated talk show host and producer. One could assume she has achieved all her dreams. But those assumptions would be wrong.

“I'm your dream girl,” Hudson tells Business Traveler. “I'm always dreaming.”

Among those dreams is adding another EGOT to her name and expanding her production credits. She'd also like to add director to her already impressive résumé.

“I was able to achieve my personal dreams by the time I was 30,” she says. “Now I'm 43 and God has blessed me with so much more beyond what I could dream. But you will always see me try and I'm open to what's next.”

In one of her initiatives, Hudson joined fellow Chicagoans Chance the Rapper and the late Quincy Jones in becoming owners of the city's historic Ramova Theatre, which served as the primary movie theater for the Bridgeport neighborhood from 1929 to 1985. After lying dormant for nearly 40 years, the theater reopened in December 2023 as a live music venue with a restaurant, beer garden and brewery.