Where do you find inspiration?
I think inspiration is everywhere from walking down the street, driving, listening to music, dancing, talking to someone, having a deep conversation, traveling to meeting new people. It’s a combination of both seeking and attracting it. Art. Creativity and people thinking out of the box. Laughter inspires me. Any form of heartfelt expression inspires me.
What led you to your art form?
Art has been a part of me since I was a child. I started theater school at 6 years old. I learned how to present myself and shine early on. I’m trained in theater, dance and also singing. I’m a good singer in the shower [laughs]. My mother and father were very passionate about art. My mom was a saxophonist, and my father was a DJ and very passionate about music. It’s in my blood.
Now, I write and teach girls, young women and women how to be phenomenal. I do this on many platforms.
My books, Celebrate HER Now! and Phenomenally U: A Young Woman’s Guide to Being Safe, Smart, and Successful in College support women and girls in the art of healing.
I also create and deliver programming; Phenomenally U is the brand in which I teach girls and women how to be phenomenal and to create their own reality in the reality TV era. Sometimes I use artists to help me convey this message.
Have you and your artistry ever been part of a traditional business?
My company is Sisters’ Sanctuary LLC whose mission is to heal women and girls through arts. I make presentations and teach others how to do the same. Sisters’ Sanctuary published both my books.
Name your top two role models and share why.
Two of my role models include Dr. Maya Angelou and Michelle Obama. Mother Maya because she was unapologetic about embracing all of her talents. She was a singer, dancer, poet, director, writer and producer. She modeled for me that it is OK to embrace all of who you are.
In the last conversation I had with Mother Maya, she told me to have courage.
I really appreciated that. It takes courage to embrace all of you and then share it with others. She modeled courage for me.
I think the first lady, Michelle Obama is a role model because I appreciate her strength, being well-grounded as a woman and her ability to still be in harmony with her man. I think that is important for me to see that strong women can have quality relationships with men who are also powerful and still be graceful. I haven’t worked with or met with the first lady yet, but I would love to.
Name three books, works or performances that changed your perception.
Mother Maya’s poem, “Phenomenal Woman.” At 13, I received her poem from my fierce acting teacher, Ms. Lennie Daniels at Freedom Theater. I learned the poem in my theater class and rehearsed it repeatedly with my mother for the audition to get into the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts. After performing the poem for a panel of three thespians, I got in! My commitment to memorizing lines and repetition paid off. Can you imagine me, a 13-year-old expounding about the topics in the poem? [Laughs.] Strutting around with womanly confidence? I was faking it then.
However, the sentiment in “Phenomenal Woman” became part of my fabric. I grew into that phenomenal woman, Mother Maya so eloquently speaks of. I was humbled to have the opportunity to say thank you for her influence in my life right before she passed. This is so sacred to me.
Jill Scott’s poems, “The Thickness” was really a powerful work of art for me because it really kind of encapsulated my experience growing up in the inner city. At one point of my life, I didn’t know what my power or value would be beyond my sexuality. My mother is a beautiful woman who modeled boundaries but my environment dictated something else. When I heard that poem, it really spoke to my soul. It inspired me to create my company, Sister Sanctuary, whose mission is supporting young women in knowing their wholeness and their value and self- worth. This is what I teach, so it definitely changed how I saw myself and is changing how other young women see themselves. Jill and I have worked together on several occasions with this endeavor.
One of my favorite books of all time is actually a children’s book, Tar Beach by Faith Ringgold. I love that book because I too had a little brother and we grew up in an urban environment. Tar Beach is the main character’s rooftop urban oasis where she opens herself to dream. The main character, Cassie, has an ability to wonder, “fly” and be free matched which match my desires as a child. The good news is I have been able to go a lot of places I dreamed of as a child.
Why is continued learning important?
Learning is growing. Learning is continuing to allow yourself to expand. Grow or die.
Learning is beyond just gaining information from an intellectual level. It’s about applying what you learn for the betterment of our communities and our world. There is no sense having a head full of knowledge without application. Learn and share. Make others better.
What is your favorite vacation spot?
My favorite vacation spots are in Southeast Asia. There is lots to enjoy there. I dig the beach spots, food and the break from being identified as black first. Race is not the pink elephant in the room. Asians may comment on color but its not a deep judgement laced with inferiority and superiority. You can be a foreigner without the long ugly race history that we feel in America. It is very freeing. That’s a vacation.
If you could change one thing about the world, what would it be?
If I could change one thing about the world it would be that people would be able to lead their lives and relationships with compassion and empathy. That they would seek to understand others and themselves and treat people with love. Heal the hurts and open the heart. Let love flow out. Everything else is stuff that keeps us in bondage and brokenness. I try my best to walk this in my life. Sometimes I fall short because I am a human being, but this is how I seek to live.
