The great Nina Simone once said, “An artist’s duty, as far as I'm concerned, is to reflect the times.” That statement lit a fire in my soul. As an actor, if it's my job to observe and portray human life, then I cannot ignore the social and political issues that we, as humans, are facing. My gift is not my own; it’s for others. And I’m using it to create change. I am very interested in addressing the elephants in our rooms as a society. Because the A in acting, for me, stands for activist. I go forth for all of my people who’ve endured oppression. For the ones who were silenced, I speak for them. For those who feel alone, I stand beside them. For those who feel unseen, I see them. For those who died fighting, I continue the fight for them. And if I keep that in the forefront of my mind, then I believe I’m honoring my gift. I am enamored by the stories that are bold enough, inventive enough, to use their artistry to stand up to the indiscretions and injustices of our society. So I work to tell the stories of the past and the present, I share hope for the future, and the struggles of now. In nature, there is a sensation that involves two water flows merging to create a more powerful force. It’s called Confluence. In this case, the confluence is the ensemble working as puzzle pieces to connect. Each person has power, but when you connect to someone who has power as well, but in a different area, what you lack becomes full because you're connected to someone who has the power to fill the vacant space. This is one of the many keys to any good portrayal of human life and social evolution. At my previous institution, the first-years had to work tech for all the upperclassmen shows (catch props, move set pieces, run sound and lighting, etc.). Working tech made me realize just how many people go into making a show. As an actor, it is so easy to think that you are the thing that puts the entire show together. That the show would be nothing without you. And while that’s true…the show would also be nothing without the crew as well. Watching the crew do all the things that make a show and never seek attention or applause for what they do makes me adopt that posture of humility. Knowing that the actor is only one part of a whole, not the whole itself. Therefore, I am intentional about being respectful and welcoming to the crew because we are all in this together, and no job is more important than the other. It makes me think of life and how you can’t do it on your own, but with a community of people who are all working towards the same goal. I am deeply committed to my artistry and to seeing an education that will provide me with the tools to tell the stories that need to be told effectively. Though I am very passionate, I must acknowledge the limitations that come with pursuing an education. An increase in educational expenses has created a gap that I am striving to manage responsibly. Receiving this scholarship would significantly ease this burden and allow me to focus entirely on my craft and to speak to the issues I was put on this earth to speak to.

The great Nina Simone once said, “An artist’s duty, as far as I'm concerned, is to reflect the times.” That statement lit a fire in my soul. As an actor, it's my job to observe and portray human life, then I cannot ignore the social and political issues that we, as humans, are facing. My gift is for others. And I’m using it to create change, because the A in acting, for me, stands for activist. I go forth for all of my people who’ve endured oppression. For the ones who were silenced, I speak for them. For those who feel alone, I stand beside them. For those who feel unseen, I see them. For those who died fighting, I continue the fight for them. And if I keep that in the forefront of my mind, then I believe I’m honoring my gift. So I strive to tell the stories of the past and the present, I share hope for the future, and the struggles of now. . I was watching an episode of Iyanla: Fix My Life, and there was this woman who was raging on the inside and using alcohol to suppress her feelings. Ms. Iyanla asked her a series of questions that led to her opening up about losing her son when he was three months old. She picked him up out of bed, and his body was stiff. In my school's production of Macbeth, it focused on Lady M’s story, and the prologue showed Lady M going and reaching for her baby out of his crib, and his body was stiff. I had an immense level of empathy for that woman in that episode because I had the opportunity to step into a woman who had not properly grieved the loss of her child, and seeing what that did to her mentally, emotionally, and physically. It’s mindblowing to me that I can meet someone who has the same story as a character I portray. And because of my work, I have a small understanding of them and their life, without judgment. This craft forces me to look within. I catch myself judging my characters at times, then I look in my mirror and see my own shortcomings in my reflection, and I see all the similarities in their tendencies and my own.

The great Nina Simone once said, “An artist’s duty, as far as I'm concerned, is to reflect the times.” That statement lit a fire in my soul. As an actor, it's my job to observe and portray human life. And I cannot ignore the social and political issues that we, as humans, are facing. My gift is for others. And I’m using it to create change. The A in acting, for me, stands for activist. I go forth for all of my people who’ve endured oppression. For the ones who were silenced, I speak for them. For those who feel alone, I stand beside them. For those who feel unseen, I see them. For those who died fighting, I continue the fight for them. And if I keep that in the forefront of my mind, then I believe I’m honoring my gift. I am enamored by the stories that are bold enough, inventive enough, to use their artistry to stand up to the indiscretions and injustices of our society. So I work to tell the stories of the past and the present, I share hope for the future, and the struggles of now. I like to say that whenever I step out of a character’s perspective of the world, I am glad that I met them. Because they're not characters…to me, they’re people. The characters themselves may be fictitious, but the personality of the character and the story of the play are based on someone in this world’s truth. I was watching an episode of Iyanla: Fix My Life, and there was this woman who was raging on the inside and using alcohol to suppress her feelings. Ms. Iyanla asked her a series of questions that led to her opening up about losing her son when he was three months old. She picked him up out of bed, and his body was stiff. In my school's production of Macbeth, it focused on Lady M’s story, and the prologue showed Lady M going and reaching for her baby out of his crib, and his body was stiff. I had an immense level of empathy for that woman in that episode because I had the opportunity to step into a woman who had not properly grieved the loss of her child, and seeing what that did to her mentally, emotionally, and physically. It’s mindblowing to me that I can meet someone who has the same story as a character I portray. And because of my work, I have a small understanding of them and their life, without judgment. Acting makes me a better person. It makes me more sympathetic to those around me. It makes me inquire about everything that I see. It has me sitting on my bed and pulling out my journal and asking myself, “Why?” to everything that contributes to my being. This craft forces me to look within. I catch myself judging my characters at times, then I look in my mirror and see my own shortcomings in my reflection, and I see all the similarities in their tendencies and my own. Sometimes it’s the artists’ duty to reflect themselves too. So they can realize who they are becoming, their contribution, and where they need to redirect.

I have dreamed of attending Juilliard since I was a little girl. So when I was a senior in high school, of course, I auditioned for the school. I enter the audition room, say hello, and perform my two pieces. When the callback list was posted. I was the last one to go up and see whose names were on it. I looked and saw my name. I went back into the audition room, and I did my pieces again and sang my song. And that was it. But the auditioning wasn't over. From there, they combined all the people they saw from all of the auditions they did, and from there decided who they would invite to callback weekend. I had a week until those decisions came out. In that week, I meditated and prayed and reminded myself of all the ways God showed me that Juilliard would be my school. The day came for the invitations to come out, and it was a Friday. I anxiously opened the email, and when I looked at the letter, it thanked me for auditioning. No invitation. I felt my heart shatter into a million pieces. I began to hyperventilate. I was confused, angry, embarrassed. But most of all, I was mad at God, He promised me. That was the first time I questioned my faith and thought God could be a liar. I gave myself three days to cry and grieve my dream, then I had to suck it up because we were in the middle of putting on a devised show at my school, and my classmates were depending on me, and I couldn’t just clock out and sulk. That monday I walked into class as if everything was okay and I was okay, but really I was falling apart on the inside. It was in that time of grieving that I gained this burning desire to know what it feels like to be filled with the holy spirit at its maximum capacity. After that, I had a prophetic dream where God told me to audition for Juilliard again. Then over the summer, I kept having dreams about me auditioning. I decided to take a leap of faith and to trust God and audition for Juilliard again, but this time my mind wasn’t focused on getting into the school, but rather experiencing the fullness of God. That was at the forefront of my mind throughout my entire audition process. I want to experience God and what it means for him to favor me. The day came for my audition, and I prayed a prayer that God gave me in my time of solitude. I could feel God in the room. And I got an end-of-day callback. But, the miraculous thing was, God was giving me dreams that foretold me getting that end-of-day callback even before my initial audition. Then came the time of waiting to see if I got invited to callback weekend. Five days after my audition, God gave me a dream that I got invited to callback weekend. Then I received an invitation to callback weekend. Throughout callback weekend, my mind was focused on encountering God, and I encountered Him. He called out a power in me that has been lying dormant. The week following the callback weekend, I received a call with my offer of admission into the school. The rejection the first time was not a no…it was not yet. It took a multitude of faith and courage for me to audition again. But it was always in God’s plan for me to be at Juilliard.

I come from a small town in the deep South. I grew up on dirt roads. All my family spoke about was the injustices of African Americans and how the world was rigged against us. They have this mindset that this is the way it'll always be and that we must settle for what it is that we are receiving. But, even though those conversations were had in my family, I do think that those conversations are about as sub-level as it could possibly get whenever speaking about African Americans' experience in general. I was always told of the injustices of African Americans, but rarely was I told of our success. It's as if that part of our history has been overlooked. I now understand the reasoning that my parents didn't speak of the gruesome and heinous things that are rooted in our history. I have gratitude for the fact that they were trying to preserve my innocence. However, there is a moment in every black child's life when their parents must sit them down and begin to educate them on who they are. It is those conversations that give that child their identity, their resilience, the drive, and tenacity. And yes, that may come with depriving us of our innocence and making us aware of the life-threatening situations we may encounter. I don't believe I ever had that moment with my family. There was never a time when I was sat down and taught my history, and told stories about my ancestors and what we fought for. I need to know my history in its entirety, not sugar-coated. There was a day when I was sitting at my paternal great-grandmother's house, and she was telling me about our family history. But she told me that she forgot a lot of information, and explained that all of our history was passed down orally and that no one had written anything down. And in that moment, I realized that whoever my grandmother passes away...all the knowledge of our history that she has in her mind will go with her. And there will be a gap in our family's story that will be unchangeable. That's alarming to me, and it was alarming that whoever I brought it up to in my family shrugged their shoulders and said that's the way life is. I was talking to Tony's maternal Aunt one afternoon and expressed to her that I don't know anything about myself or our history, and I asked her why her and the rest of my family never speak about it. She told me it was because they didn't know their own history themselves. Her mother never told her because they were embarrassed by their lifestyle and what they went through, and she shrugged it off as if that was a normal thing. And that day, I realized that I was the only one in my family who had a revelation of the importance of our history and how detrimental that would be to our concepts of ourselves and our identity if it remained lost. From that day forward, I began to do more research about my history. And not just the injustices of African Americans, but the joys and successes. I learned that I must take it upon myself to learn who I am, and that I must also be the one to inform my family. Every gathering that we have, I make sure to make space to discuss what is going on in our climate as it pertains to my people, and ensure that my family knows that our history and story are nothing to be ashamed of but to be proud of. I learned throughout these conversations that sometimes your family or people around you are waiting on that one person to come in and challenge the narrative. I now see that I am that person. And have seen a great impact in my family as we now discuss the truth of our history more, and its entirety. I use my craft and my voice to be the voice that challenges the narrative and creates a new one. Because that's what I'm here to do. Shake things up.

A lot of times in life we have to step out on a leap of faith. And trust that things will work out for us. I did that my junior year of high school when I moved two hours away from home to attend a perfomring arts high school. That school was a completley different atmosphere from my public high school, but I knew that's where God called me to. No one in my family has ever done something like that, so I had to have courage and be bold in knowing I didn't have a blueprint for navigating that next phase of my life, but that I to trust that my steps would be ordered. When arriving at the school I made the conscious decision to be a light in everyone's life that I walked into, I made it a point to not gossip about anyone else, but only to speak highly of others. I found that has uplifted and inspired others because everyone needs that person in their life who they know they can trust, and who believes in them even if they don’t believe in themselves. Growing up I never had that person in my life (In regards to friendships) but sometimes in life, you have to become for someone else what you want someone to be for you. This has made an impact on my life by allowing me to gain a different outlook on certain things. I realized the harm I was doing when talking about someone else. Plenty of times I talked about the wrong person and that came to bite me in the behind because they had something special in their life and I tried to taint that by being jealous, envious, or just downright rude. It gave me the understanding of how just one person being a light, can shift the whole room, and make everyone around me take on new morals and values that benefit themselves and others. A specific moment that I’ll never forget is whenever I was leaving my old high school because I was transferring to the one I am currently at now, I didn’t realize the impact that I had on those around me, and I watched the confidence of those people grow because they had someone to tell them that they can do it. To not worry about what anyone else has going on, but that if they stay on track then everything will fall into place. Just by speaking positively to others, telling them they can do it, and making it a point not to indulge nor say anything negative about anyone else. I helped someone see the greatness that God has placed within them. No person can do anything on their own, and I believe in the power of community. We have to uplift and encourage each other. Luke 6:43-44 " “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers." There's no reason to feel jealous because each person has power, but when you connect to someone who has power as well, in a different area, what you lack becomes full because you're connected to someone who has the power to fill the vacant space.

We all have that one person who's had such a huge impact on our lives. For me, that's my conditioning teacher. I met Mrs. Caldwell during my junior year of high school. I moved two hours away from home during my junior year of high school, to attend a performing arts high school. During that time I was having trouble adjusting to the new environment. I will never forget the way she encouraged my class during our first conditioning class. It was some days that I didn't know if I made the right choice, and she said something that just allowed me to keep going. After a few weeks of the school year, I asked her to be my mentor. During those first few months, I confided in her about what I was dealing with mentally at school, and she always knew the right words to say. The words that inspired me,encouraged me, and pushed me. One thing I admire the most about her is her humility, and how she always emphasizes the importance of community. Her son is successful and accomplished in acting, and instead of bragging about him, she doesn't say much. That says so much about her character and it shows her self-assurance, she doesn't need everyone to hear about her successes or her son's successes to seek their validation. I've truly taken those traits and incorporated them into my everyday life. I used to struggle with telling people what I have accomplished so they can see my worth, but watching her and the way she goes about that has allowed me to realize that my accomplishments don't make me, and I don't need anyone's validation but my own. I remember one day in class when she mentioned her son whenever he had a full-page cover in Vogue Magazine. She brought in the magazine in class and told us. "I brought this magazine in to show you, that you can do it too, he graduated from this same high school and provided the same opportunities as you. So why not you?" She's the type of woman to speak life into you, and let you know that if you're committed then it has every possibility to come to pass for you. I'm the most appreciative of her for the way she pushes me. Even though she's my mentor she show favor over me than the other students, but I know she holds a different expectation for me. She saw a version of me that I had to see in myself. And she was speaking life into me so much, that I began to believe it. You show up differently whenever you know the expectations are higher for you. Whenever we're doing our exercises in class, she's right there doing it with us. And we're her last class of the day she's had two other classes before us. But, she still gets down and does the exercises with us full out. If she can do three classes doing the same rigorous workout, then I can push myself to do it just one time. I see Mrs. Caldwell as a second mother to me, and she has blessed my life in ways I can't explain. She was the light in my life when it all seemed dark and uncertain. She has been a vital part of my journey, in my craft, and as a young woman. She was someone I didn't know I needed until I met her. we all need a Mrs. Caldwell in our lives, and I'm blessed that she's in mine.

Acting, to me, is a way to shine a light on people's stories. It wasn't until recent years that I discovered what acting truly means to me, and how big of a part it plays in my life. I feel that it is my responsibility to tell the left-out stories and represent the left-out people. I oftentimes ask myself "How many people are suffering because they feel alone and unheard?" It's been placed within me to shed light on their situation. And I will use the gift given to me at birth to do just that. A memory I hold dear to my heart was in 2014 when my mom and I saw “Annie”. I remember looking at that movie screen and thinking, “She looks like me.” I saw a black girl, with her 4C hair fro, my age, and my skin tone -– she looked like me. Young black girls need to see black women and black girls on screen and stage because it shapes how they see themselves. Media is one, if not the, biggest form of influence. As a black woman, I'm especially concerned with how we are portrayed, and how that impacts our youth. We need to see a wave of new images of black women, not limited to onstage and onscreen but off stage and off-screen. And I’m gonna be a part of the movement. If all girls see is the hardships and discrimination that black women face, then that’s what they’ll think all black women will succumb to. That’s a story, but that does not have to be their story. Acting is not a one-person job but requires a group of people who are willing to humble themselves and work together for the vitality of the story being told. To me, there is no such thing as a “star”. I call it a “star system.” That's the ensemble working as puzzle pieces to connect. Each person has power, but when you connect to someone who has power as well, but in a different area, what you lack becomes full because you're connected to someone who has the power to fill the vacant space. One of the many keys to any good portrayal of human life and social evolution is the confluence within the ensemble. We need to see a wave of new images of black women, not limited to onstage and onscreen but off stage and off-screen. And I’m showing up for the occasion. If all girls see is the hardships and discrimination that black women face, then that’s what they’ll think all black women will succumb to. That’s a story, but that does not have to be their story. My drive to act intensified when I figured out my why. My work ethic changed. It's not about the applause anymore, it’s about the representation, the education. Sometimes all it takes is one person to have had enough, to create change. I don't act with the goals of fame, and money. I do it to inspire and uplift, to make people feel seen and heard. I remember times when I would leave from seeing a play and feel like I couldn't do anything. I have to be for someone else, what someone was for me.

I remember the day I realized why I act. But that day wasn't significant for me just because I figured out why I did it; but because I was finally able to name what I felt for acting. It was passion. December 4th, 2023 was the date the light bulb went off. I realized that even if these stories and characters are fictional, they’re still human truths. I always loved theatre when I was younger but I never knew that it was something I could do as a career. I had people in my ear telling me that I should have a backup plan and that acting was a financially sufficient career. I believed that for a while. Until my junior year of high school, I attended a performing arts high school and grew a foundation in my acting. That's when I decided that I don't care what anyone says about my career choice, if it's for me it'll work for me. I find that it is my responsibility to show people that they’re not alone. My lifetime commitment and personal artistic goal is to tell the left-out stories and represent the left-out people. My drive and motivation are to inspire and set an example for young black girls. We need to see a wave of new images of black women, not limited to onstage and onscreen but off stage and off-screen. And I’m showing up for the occasion. If all girls see is the hardships and discrimination that black women face, then that’s what they’ll think all black women will succumb to. That’s a story, but that does not have to be their story. My drive to act intensified when I figured out my why. My work ethic changed. It's not about the applause anymore, it’s about the representation, the education. In theatre, the ensemble is such a powerful component to the portrayal of the story. And I never felt a community like I've felt when I'm doing a play. To me, there is no such thing as a “star”. I call it a “star system.” That's the ensemble working as puzzle pieces to connect. Each person has power, but when you connect to someone who has power as well, but in a different area, what you lack becomes full because you're connected to someone who has the power to fill the vacant space. One of the many keys to any good portrayal of human life and social evolution is the confluence within the ensemble. There's nothing like watching a movie and seeing your story being told, and relating to it. But it's different when you're in the room, and your story's being told right in front of you. That's what I feel whenever I'm watching a play, and that's the feeling I strive to give when I'm on the stage. We all deserve to feel seen and heard. No human has had a struggle that another one has not overcome. Theatre is a way to educate the audience. Some people say we're playing make-believe; But I say, we're conveying social and systematic truth.