I didn’t know I was going to be a dancer, choreographer, and filmmaker; it was a desire. It all started in theatre. I couldn’t speak English so I started with mime and movement. The dream was to dance but I always thought I was too late. By the time I went to dance school, I was 24, so I had to catch up with everyone else. Once you put your mind to it, even if you break something, you go ahead and do it.

It was a surreal and full-circle moment because as a little girl, and a little girl of color, the pinnacle was always dancing for the Ailey company…. Then coming back and now teaching the company, running rehearsals, and setting choreography on the company and some dancers that I have been idolizing since I was a young girl… I had to really get my nerves together the first time I walked into the room because it was just unbelievable. The goal was to get in the room with them not knowing that I would be at the front of the room.

He said it was about patience and I thought that art was always a thing about patience and it didn’t matter that it hurt you, it was about the outcome of this beautiful thing. I fell in love with the process despite being so uncomfortable with it. I started drawing from there, then I realized I could sculpt things, which was even better because I could create things with polymer clay - things I saw in my dreams that I could bring to life. I could do anything, I was unstoppable.

That’s when I had an epiphany. What I was doing before, with my job, I wasn’t happy with. It was not something I truly wanted to do or something that truly brought joy. It felt like I was just letting my life go by, like so many of us do. So I decided to do something that scared me. I’m going to start my business. It’s risky because it’s new, it’s different, and I knew I wouldn’t be earning money for quite some time. I thought the best thing I could do was just jump in and dive in right away. That’s the day I decided that I was going to start telling my story…