My experience with mental illness has altered my path for the rest of my life. I began therapy pre-pandemic sophomore year of high school. My therapist suggested I had severe anxiety and bipolar disorder which was hard to hear but in a way it was nice to understand why my mind worked the way it did. This caused me to hyper analyze all of the friendships and relationships. I ended up losing a lot of my "friends" because of this. I began to realize or assume that they used me for other people, or rides or even just to say they had friends too. With my relationships I realized I simply didn't want to be alone. Then, the pandemic hit and I never was able to go back to therapy since it was through the school and I was left to cope with everything on my own. However, the pandemic was a mirror for me, I realized that medical school wasn't the path for me and instead I wanted to create clothes that made others feel great about themselves. I arranged my classes for school with fashion classes instead of medical classes and learned to sew. I began creating clothing and in the winter of my senior year of high school I was accepted into SCAD, an art college with an amazing fashion design program. It made me realize I don't need 50+ friends to be happy, as long as I had my best friends I would be just fine. I'm now in the happiest relationship of my life and I love going out with my close friends. I do have my days where I lay in bed all day with no motivation or where I have so much energy I run around my yard or the house. It's a process that everyone with mental health has to guide, and each path is different. Doing the things you love to do has helped me through the bad days, yoga has been a sweet escape for me. I am able to listen to the trees flow in the breeze and the native animals run around the neighborhood. This experience has been an escape for my mind and my soul and I feel that it has been extremely impactful especially on the hardest days.

When I was in middle school, I was bullied a lot, and I never felt that I was as smart as everyone around me which dropped my self esteem. I would go to school, go to dance then come home. I always felt really lonely, even when I was surrounded by my friends and family. When my parents rescued Mojo, the cutest English Bulldog ever, I finally felt like I had a friend. He was always here when I came home from dance and would take up most of my bed when I slept. He made me feel better about everything. When he passed, I had lost a piece of my heart. I loved that puppy more than anything. Now, I have a cat named Luna who provides me with the same comfort he did. She loves her pets and we take walks outside together, her energy matches mine like a puzzle and she is one of the greatest comforts. She is just as adventurous as I imagine myself to be and I genuinely adore everything she does. I love pets because I know that there is another little girl or boy out there who they are providing the same comfort to just as they did me. Their unique personalities make them different but their love for their owner is strong.

My dance students have become some of the most artistically influential people in my life. I've danced since I was 8 and rapidly developed a deep connection with the stage. When I became a teacher of something I loved, I realized that I was watching my own piece of art interpreted by another dancer with the same love for an art as myself. My exposure to, not only the dedication and drive of my students, but their passionate presentations of my art have allowed me to become more vulnerable with my paintings, clothing pieces as well as my on-stage pieces. As dancers, it's much easier to perform a piece created by a choreographer, but becoming the creator and adding your own movements as secret signatures, create a deeper connection between yourself and the performance. As the end of my dance years finish up, I have been trying to discover ways to transfer this same love and passion into another art. That's when I developed a similar deep love for fashion, the way the fabric falls and flows, how it could accent a singular part of the model, especially how it can alter the entire mood of the wearer. It presents itself so insignificantly, but putting on your favorite top with the cutest maxi skirt will make you feel like the most confident individual on Earth. My fashion journey began with styling myself and friends, fashion shows at sleepovers and stepping into the world of retail. After this exposure, it escalated into taking classes at my high school for fashion designing and creating my own clothing. Once I realized how naturally designing came to me, my dancers were my first models. I would practice my hemming on their pants that would drag against the floor as they danced. I designed t-shirts for my all-boys hip hop class for their recital costume and I would fix the competition costumes that we paid way too much for but still came in odd-looking. My dancers have always been supportive and encouraged me to chase my dreams. Having them support me doing what I love has only made me want to become a better designer for myself and to show them that their encouragement has kept me loving the field I am in. My favorite experience in the arts so far was when I visited the Savannah College of Art and Design, where I got to wander their museum of beautiful pieces. On my visit, there was an exhibit of elegant gowns made for the runway. The rainbow of different colors and textures threw my brain into the world of inspiration. I truly fell in love with fashion there. I still dream of that room and the energy I felt from the people who owned and confidently walked those dresses. When I took this feeling of inspiration home, I just wanted to create and inspire my dancers in the way I felt that day and I will continually strive in the hopes that I can pass that inspiration onto anyone open to being inspired and invested by what they love.

I intend on creating a sustainable fashion company with a focus on inclusivity, environmental consciousness and trendsetting clothing. I have worked retail in big and small corporations without learning where the clothes come from and who makes them. During my high school fashion design course, I realized how damaging the fashion industry is. The apparel production industry ranks third below fossil fuels and technology for the most global pollution produced. Not only is the industry detrimental to the environment, but the way they treat their employees are some of the worst in the world. Once I fell in love with creating pieces that made me feel like the most confident girl in the world, I knew I wanted to make others feel the same, but with the consideration of my employees and the environment. I plan on creating my own textile blends which then I can know where and what it was from and that it will not harm the environment or my future employees during the creation of the fabrics. My plan to succeed is to get all of the knowledge possible from my college classes and professors as well as personal research at home and abroad to see how I can be different from our current industry situation. My goal is to change the way the entire industry produces their clothing, and create a healthier and more conscious industry.

My favorite hobbies include nature walks, yoga and painting. I often find inspiration through being out in nature, even though all I'm surrounded by are trees, I still find the beauty in the unique patterns of the leaves and how ridged the trunks can be. Sitting near the trees by the small pond by my house encourages me to paint whatever I see or feel within that moment. In those moments of peace, I want my painting to embody the feeling of serenity. Other times, I find my mind running from thought to thought and taking a second to breathe and do a bit of yoga calms me down. Yoga and meditation allows me to clear my mind and find new inspiration for new clothing I want to create or even an ideal textile pattern for whatever my mind is thinking of. These hobbies are genuinely what keep my mind steady as I reach for the stars with my goals for the future. From learning different yoga poses to wishing there were more colors to paint with, I appreciate the learning process I took to develop an understanding with these hobbies and I'm grateful I could find hobbies that bring my mind to a calm and peaceful state.

My talents include the creation of clothing and different varieties of dance. I often use scrap fabrics to work on sewing in straight lines and using different types of designs to create a desired look. I use pattern directions for reference then often go about making clothing without pattern pieces to create a new design. I've made hoodies, maxi skirts, tops and so much more. However, I continue to research and learn about different fabrics and new trendy to attempt on my own. I am currently teaching myself how to alter clothes without destroying the original piece itself. For example, I had a dress for our senior night which was ill-fitting in the chest area. Luckily, the dress had a hem line across the waist which allowed me to take out the side seam on the right side and sew it to create a more fitted look. I consider dancing my second talent because I've been practicing for 14 years and teaching for 3. During the pandemic, some teachers took to YouTube to teach dance class and I would keep my practice by taking their classes either through YouTube or Zoom. I also found Just Dance was another way to keep up with my skills. Now, that my studio is back to teaching in person, I have not only been able to take time to rehearse in a classroom but demonstrate to my students the process of choreography. As my final season of dance is coming to a close, I am proud to say that our season was successful, my choreographed dance has place 1st, 2nd and 7th at competitions as well as my own performed piece which has taken 1st, and 9th at those same competitions.

My future goals include creating a sustainable fashion company with a focus of inclusivity, environmentally-friendly and trendsetting clothing. I plan to achieve this by including textile creation courses into my college classes. This way, I can develop my own fabrics with materials that I know will not harm the environment or my future employees during the creation of the fabric. During my high school courses, we learned about how toxic fast fashion in the industry can be, not only environmentally, but also to the people giving their time to put these pieces together. This drove me to really start considering how and where my clothing is made. Since then, my wardrobe has become mainly second-hand and alterations have been done by myself. My plan to succeed is to get all of the knowledge possible from my college classes and professors as well as personal research at home and abroad to see how I can be different from our current industry situation.

My dance students have become some of the most artistically influential people in my life. I've danced since I was 8 and rapidly developed a deep connection with the stage. When I became a teacher of something I loved, I realized that I was watching my own piece of art interpreted by another dancer with the same love for an art as myself. My exposure to, not only the dedication and drive of my students, but their passionate presentations of my art have allowed me to become more vulnerable with my paintings, clothing pieces as well as my on-stage pieces. As dancers, it's much easier to perform a piece created by a choreographer, but becoming the creator and adding your own movements as secret signatures, create a deeper connection between yourself and the performance. As the end of my dance years finish up, I have been trying to discover ways to transfer this same love and passion into another art. That's when I developed a similar deep love for fashion, the way the fabric falls and flows, how it could accent a singular part of the model, especially how it can alter the entire mood of the wearer. It presents itself so insignificantly, but putting on your favorite top with the cutest maxi skirt will make you feel like the most confident individual on Earth. My fashion journey began with styling myself and friends, fashion shows at sleepovers and stepping into the world of retail. After this exposure, it escalated into taking classes at my high school for fashion designing and creating my own clothing. Once I realized how naturally designing came to me, my dancers were my first models. I would practice my hemming on their pants that would drag against the floor as they danced. I designed t-shirts for my all-boys hip hop class for their recital costume and I would fix the competition costumes that we paid way too much for but still came in odd-looking. My dancers have always been supportive and encouraged me to chase my dreams. Having them support me doing what I love has only made me want to become a better designer for myself and to show them that their encouragement has kept me loving the field I am in. My favorite experience in the arts so far was when I visited the Savannah College of Art and Design, where I got to wander their museum of beautiful pieces. On my visit, there was an exhibit of elegant gowns made for the runway. The rainbow of different colors and textures threw my brain into the world of inspiration. I truly fell in love with fashion there. I still dream of that room and the energy I felt from the people who owned and confidently walked those dresses. When I took this feeling of inspiration home, I just wanted to create and inspire my dancers in the way I felt that day and I will continually strive in the hopes that I can pass that inspiration onto anyone open to being inspired and invested by what they love.