Life is about learning and if there is no learning then there is death. I am committed to learn something new at every opportunity that is presented to me. I am currently enrolled in an online Graphic Design course this Fall at UML.

I am motivated by Motherhood itself! It is my responsibility to model life long learning to my daughter, which is why I am enrolled in an online Graphic Design Course this Fall at UML. The challenges I face are of course time and money. There never seems to be enough of either to accomplish the basics, let alone dreams and passions. With this scholarship, I can pay for supplies without ignoring my financial responsibilities as a Mother.

I am a singer/songwriter/musician that is focusing on Digital Graphics so that I can also create album covers, videos and all digital promotion for my music as well. I have a MA in Mental Health Counseling with a focus in Music Therapy and I am a working musician with three different bands. This scholarship would enable me to purchase the necessary software for my studies in Digital Graphics. While in high school, I used a Music Therapy modality of lyric replacement to memorize math equations that I struggled with. This technique of replacing the lyrics of a favorite song with formulas I needed to commit to memory worked fantastically, which is why I have such strong faith in using creative methods to teach complex disciplines.

Education is important to me because through studying comes an understanding about the world, and ones understanding of themselves and the world around them enhances. With knowledge of self comes a deeper understanding of how we are all connected and the relevance of the world outside of one's own small community expands and then the horizon, even though it grows, it also becomes more attainable. Once a scholar sees the world as attainable, nothing is impossible and the thirst for knowledge is quenched and encouraged all at once. One is now a life-long scholar and will find joy in experiences over things and build connections with people over monetary status'. This is why education is important to me, because I am fully invested in my humanity and my global community.

While in my second year of undergrad, my older Brother was murdered by Dade County, GA police in 1993. This devastating news forced me to withdraw from college for a year and upon returning with my Mother and Sister, my Mother was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, and adult form of Leukemia. I struggled to focus in my courses and eventually was placed on Academic Probation and finally leaving my college career behind. My Mother fought this crippling disease for six years and took her last breath exactly 8 years after my brother, her Son’s death. This experience has taught me that unprocessed grief is a dream killer; which is why I returned to my academic goals after my Mother’s passing to complete my undergrad degree in 2013 and my MA in Expressive Therapies: Music Therapy in 2017. I am now on the path to my second undergrad degree in Sound Recording Technology where I am being challenged in disciplines that I never thought I would be focusing on. The most challenging part is not giving up. I am a full time single Mother, and I work full time while in school. My past experiences have taught me that nothing in life is free and nothing worth having comes easy. If I am awarded this generous scholarship, it will enable me in supplementing my daughter’s academic and extracurricular interests while I am working and studying. Like I said, it would be very easy to leave school as I already have two degrees and decent employment but, decent is not good enough in a world where mediocrity has sadly become the norm.

I plan to travel to South East Asia in search of some of my ancestral lineage and practiced musical familial traditions to enhance my on-going learning of my musical DNA. I believe there is a direct correlation between musical preferences and one’s own musicality as related to one’s own genetics. My grandfather, Lee Blair II, was a left-handed autodidact on banjo, aside from a few lessons taken from Mike Pingitore, the banjoist for Paul Whiteman. He played and recorded in NYC with Thomas Morris's Seven Hot Babies in 1926, played with Charlie Skeete in 1926-28, then played and recorded with Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers in 1928-30. He played with Billy Kato in 1930-31, then played and recorded with Luis Russell (1934–35) and Louis Armstrong (1935-40). He worked part-time in music through the 1940s, then joined Wilbur De Paris' new New Orleans Jazz Band in the 1950s at Jimmy Ryan's Club on West 52nd Street in New York City. In the summer of 1957 he toured in Africa with the DeParis band for the State Department. In 2019, I submitted my DNA samples to Ancesty.com and 23&me and my ancestral DNA was revealed to me along with being reunited with long lost family members and learning of new distant relatives. It was then I realized I needed to finally travel to parts of the world that I never consciously new I had ties to but unconsciously was drawn to. In my travels, I expect to gain a deeper appreciation and understanding of all that I am and all that I am potentially capable of with some in-person, personal experiences and connections. During this global pandemic, I, along with everyone else have relied heavily on virtual connections. This has been a blessing as I have made some unexpected connections with people across the globe and with an artist scholarship to travel, those virtual connections will become a reality. I will be able to pursue my own musical passions and path as well as continue on my Grandfather’s legacy; creating opportunities for myself and generations to come. Currently, I am taking an online Precalculus course as a prerequisite to enroll in a Sound Recording Technology program in the Fall. I am also taking online Bass lessons with my fellow bandmate and mentor, Pamela Means to further my musical education and enhance our playing together. With a degree in Sound Recording Technology, I plan on being a resource for disenfranchised musicians in my local and global community. In 2008, I was awarded a grant from the Nutrition Dept. @UMASS to create a “Reggaetón” song geared toward Latin-American Youth in Holyoke, MA focusing on the importance of a healthy lifestyle, including a healthy diet. Well, I decided that if the song is to be directed toward Latin-American Youth, that is who I would reach out to be a part of the project. It was an amazing experience for everyone involved.