Why is ballet not widely recognized in the Black Community?
Well, I hope, that’s changing. I grew up in a school called Jones-Haywood School of Ballet in Washington, D.C. that was created by two Black women, Doris W. Jones and Claire Haywood in 1941. We celebrated our 80th anniversary in 2021, and those women recognized the importance of … the life skills that could be instilled in young Black children in the community and the fact that now in my second chapter of life I have gone back to teach at the school where I grew up. I teach young Black girls, some of whom will become professional dancers, and [others] who will take those skill sets into whatever they do.
How has ballet brought you gratification?
Throughout my life, whether it was as a diplomat in the Foreign Service with some of the first Black women in the U.S. Foreign Services, or whether it was in corporate America, or whether it was working with Ron Brown, who was the first Black Chairman of the Democratic Party [as well as] Secretary of Commerce.
Part of the reason I wrote this book was although as privileged as I have been to be in wonderful positions, to go to Vassar College, to get a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins and to travel the world to work in many places, it has not been easy. I am really honored and blessed to have had such a multifaceted and successful career, but I wanted people to look at the inside workings of how that happens, and how to deal with discrimination sexism, and stereotypes that people put on us as Black folks and as women.
