She moved to Lucrest with her family and white, fluffy cat from France when she was really little. Unfortunately, her father died not too long afterward. She doesn't know much about him or his old country of Haiti, but she visits extended family in Blois with her mom every Christmas. That doesn't mean she's that great at French. In fact, to her mother's immense disappointment, she has a better grade in Spanish.
She deeply admires her mother as a strong, loving, successful tradeswoman, so she gives back some of her time to help in her studio. Several days a week, she can be found hand-sewing fabric flowers, or serving as a fit model.
She would rather spend every moment outside, though, forever hiking, jogging, and poking her nose into her neighbors' business. Her cat is an outside cat and joins in on her adventures most of the time. Tessa's the instigator in her friend group, daring or begging to rope everyone into her wild adventures. She's all fun all the time, so she doesn't always know where the boundary is between playful teasing and outright bullying.
She is a light-skinned black girl of Haitian-French descent with silver eyes and a short, very athletic build. Her hair is dyed with darker streaks, and styled with short, choppy hime bangs. She never leaves the house without eyeliner and loves dressing in athleisure or trying new trends. Her favorite color changes with the season, but gunmetal is a consistent love. Her ears are pierced.