Adjua Ferguson is known mainly through her daughter, Stranger Things actress Priah Ferguson, but she has her own career as a graphic designer and entrepreneur. This piece covers what’s actually documented about her: her background, her business, her family, and the part she played in getting Priah into acting.
Profile Summary
| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Full name | Adjua Ferguson |
| Relation to Priah Ferguson | Mother |
| Profession | Graphic designer; founder of party décor brand P.J. Tuttles |
| Based in | Atlanta, Georgia |
| Spouse | John Ferguson, a design director who has worked with musician Janelle Monáe |
| Children | Priah Ferguson (born October 1, 2006) and her sister Jayda; some accounts also mention a sister named Anya |
| Public presence | Minimal. She doesn’t run a public personal brand and mostly appears in interviews about Priah or in posts on Priah’s accounts |
Who Is Adjua Ferguson?
Adjua Ferguson is a graphic designer from Atlanta who spent years running a design studio called Buttercream Station before founding P.J. Tuttles, a party supply brand. She’s also the mother of Priah Ferguson, who plays Erica Sinclair on Stranger Things. Outside of interviews tied to her daughter’s career, she keeps a low profile. There’s no public evidence of her running a foundation, giving regular interviews about parenting, or building any kind of personal media presence.
Background and Career
Adjua studied at the Art Institute of Atlanta, where she met her future husband, John Ferguson. Her design background led her toward brand work and party décor rather than acting or entertainment management. According to interviews, she started P.J. Tuttles after being laid off while pregnant. Rather than look for another job, she built the brand around a gap she’d noticed in the market: party supplies and character-based décor aimed at children of color, an area she felt major retailers underserved compared to the range of themes available for white children.
The brand’s name and mascot were built around her daughters, Priah and Jayda. Buttercream Station, her studio, produced the products, and P.J. Tuttles sold plates, cups, invitations, and themed party kits.
As Priah’s acting career picked up, Adjua said she would step back from running P.J. Tuttles indefinitely to focus on supporting her daughter’s schedule. That’s a specific, sourced detail — not a general claim about “sacrifice,” but an actual business decision she talked about publicly.
Family Life
John and Adjua Ferguson raised Priah in Atlanta alongside her sister Jayda. John has worked as a design director and photographer, and has collaborated professionally with Janelle Monáe. Some sources describe him as having a basketball background as well, though the design and photography work is the better-documented part of his career.
Priah has said her parents introduced her to the arts early and that her mother was the first person to explain what acting as a profession actually involved, after Priah started asking questions about it around age nine.
Her Role in Priah’s Early Career
By several accounts, Priah asked her mother how to get on TV when she was nine years old. That question led to formal training: acting camps, local classes, and eventually community theater and independent film work in Atlanta. One acting coach, Jemal McNeil, who had worked with actors including Taraji P. Henson and Octavia Spencer, reportedly told Adjua directly that Priah had real talent and that the family should take it seriously. That conversation is often cited as the turning point that led her parents to pursue agency representation.
From there, Priah moved through small television roles — including parts in Mercy Street and Donald Glover’s Atlanta — before landing the role of Erica Sinclair in Stranger Things Season 2, which became her breakout part.
Privacy and Public Visibility
Adjua Ferguson doesn’t run a public-facing brand around motherhood or parenting. She hasn’t given the kind of press-tour interviews that some parents of child actors do, and there’s no indication she’s positioned herself as a spokesperson on parenting or child stardom. What’s public about her comes from a handful of interviews connected to Priah’s press coverage, plus occasional social media posts — including one where Adjua publicly congratulated Priah on a career milestone and credited her daughter’s own hard work rather than industry connections.
It’s worth being direct about a limit here: beyond the facts above, there isn’t a documented record of her personal parenting philosophy, values she’s stated for the public, or any charitable work tied to her name. Some articles online present detailed claims about her outlook on fame, faith, or “lessons” she’s passed down — none of that is sourced to anything she’s actually said, so it’s not included here.
What’s Actually Known vs. What Gets Repeated
A few details about Adjua show up inconsistently across articles:
- One source describes her as a stay-at-home mom; multiple others, including entertainment coverage from around the time Priah joined Stranger Things, describe her as a working graphic designer and business owner. The design-and-business version is better supported and appears in more independent sources.
- Some pages describe an extended, detailed “parenting philosophy” attributed to her. No original interview or quote backs this up — it appears to be added by content sites rather than reported from Adjua herself.
When a public figure’s family member keeps a low profile, gaps like this tend to get filled in with confident-sounding but unverifiable detail. Worth keeping in mind if you come across other profiles of her.
Where Things Stand
Priah Ferguson, now in her late teens, has built a career spanning Stranger Things, Atlanta, and other film and TV credits. Her mother’s part in that path is documented at a specific, concrete level: encouraging the initial acting classes, being present when a coach flagged her daughter’s talent, and later stepping back from her own business to support Priah’s schedule. Beyond that, Adjua Ferguson has kept her life private, and that appears to be a deliberate choice rather than an absence of involvement.
FAQs
What does Adjua Ferguson do for work?
She’s a graphic designer and founded P.J. Tuttles, a party décor brand, through her studio Buttercream Station.
Is Adjua Ferguson a stay-at-home mom or does she work?
Reports differ. Most sourced coverage describes her as a working graphic designer and entrepreneur rather than a stay-at-home parent, though at least one source uses that description.
Did Adjua Ferguson manage Priah’s acting career?
There’s no evidence she works as a formal manager. What’s documented is that she supported Priah’s early training and, at points, stepped back from her own business to accommodate Priah’s schedule.
Does Adjua Ferguson have social media?
She doesn’t appear to run a public personal account focused on her own life. Public mentions of her mostly come through Priah’s accounts or press coverage.
How many children does Adjua Ferguson have?
Priah and her sister Jayda are consistently mentioned. A third sister, Anya, appears in some sources but isn’t as well corroborated.
