As I continue my education and begin to enter my career, I would like to use my knowledge and experience to help young musicians that are part of underrepresented groups to succeed by assisting them in their music journey via music theory and history tutoring/lessons and connecting them to resources where they can further grow. In the future, I hope to create a program for aspiring musicians that would connect them to a vast resource of teachers, tutors, and mentors that would enjoy building the next generation of musicians, in doing so, encouraging them to follow their passions while diversifying this art field. I believe in the importance of uplifting younger generations and helping them to believe they can accomplish their goals while also providing them access to knowledge and resources that they might not have. I hope that nurturing this courage will create powerful individuals that are leaders who are successful in their career field whether it is within music or not. I would also like to mention that I am not only entering this profession as a black woman but also as a transgender black woman. In the 21st century, orchestras and organizations are starting to recognize the limits that they have placed on themselves that keep out anyone of color who would like to enter the profession and represent a demographic that has been oppressed and overlooked. As the world of classical music expands, more representation of black men, men of color, and women of color are beginning to become recognized, however, the field still lacks adequate representation of black women and more specifically women who are black and transgender. As I begin to enter the field, I would like to create more opportunities for cis/trans black women in music administration and performance.

My greatest achievement to date would be getting myself into college and reaching the stage where I am almost to the completion of my degree. In October 2018, my senior year of high school, I lost my mother to unforeseen circumstances. My mother was the person who primarily provided for my older sister and me since she divorced my father in 2017. Processing her loss and applying for college was one of the toughest challenges I have faced to this day. The countless sacrifices that she made to ensure that I received a quality education and followed my passion is something that I could never repay. I had planned to audition for four institutions along the East Coast of the United States. Navigating how to pay expenses such as travel, logging, and food was quite difficult to manage while also handling the responsibilities of being a senior in high school. If it weren’t for the community of friends, teachers, and faculty members that I had become close to over the two years spent at that institution, it’s doubtful that I would have been able to make it into college. Fast forward to now, I am living on my own in upstate NY and have managed to make it to the last year of my undergraduate degree while working through the grief of my mother’s passing, Covid-19, moving across five different states, and financing my college education. There have been times that I had thought about giving up on higher education, battled depression, and considered changing career paths but the lessons and experiences that I endured have kept me grounded. These experiences have taught me to have faith in myself, not to be afraid to ask for help, to keep a positive mindset and the results will come, to not stress about things that I cannot control, what family is to me, the importance of patience and rest, and most importantly to love myself. These experiences, good and bad, have made me the person I am today, and I do not regret any of them. As I continue to pursue my education, my hope for the future is that I can create opportunities and resources for underrepresented groups of people and younger generations. I hope to develop an organization that inspires individuals to follow their passions and provides them with anything needed to eliminate obstacles that they might face as they navigate their journeys.

Since becoming abandoned by my only living parent following my transition, I have been forced to discover means of supporting my education here at Eastman while finding ways to offset the cost of living independently as a young college student. The obstacle of this endeavor was proving my case to the school via a third-party therapist or a letter from a social worker who knows my situation and can attest that what I am saying is true. Considering I had just moved across multiple states to continue my education, I could not afford the cost of therapy at that time. In addition to this, I did not have enough time to figure out how to contact a local social worker to get this situation sorted before the next semester began. Fortunately, I was able to contact someone who was a social worker that knew my mother before she passed. Their knowledge of how troublesome my father was and my explanation of the direness of the situation allowed them to assist me with what was required by my institution. It is now my last year at Eastman and I have exhausted the amount of aid that I can receive and still have several educational costs that are needed to successfully finish my undergraduate degree. I am hoping being granted this scholarship would ease these burdens and aid in managing them easier. I currently study Double Bass Performance at the Eastman School of Music. My goal in attending this school is to gain a solid understanding of music history and music theory in an environment that considers both equally important to the performance aspect of the degree program. In the past two years, I have taken an interest in the work of D.E.I. and how my campus community can work to create a more safe and inclusive campus environment that can be enjoyed and appreciate the many different identities that we have between students, faculty, and local community members. I hope that with this experience, I can lead conversations and develop methods that can make this campus and other institutions more thoughtful and inclusive regarding decisions about campus life and academic studies. I would like to create more opportunities for underrepresented groups in music administration and performance. Having this representation across the field would motivate younger generations that take an interest and follow through with their ambitions and goals because it would be evident that being successful is possible for people who are similar to them. I find it important to have the strength to uplift younger generations and help them to believe they can accomplish their goals while also providing access to knowledge and resources that they might not have. In addition, I hope that throughout my career, my experience and personal journey will help others recognize that trans individuals are people too. While doing so, I want to help others realize that although they may disagree with how some individuals live their lives, they still deserve the same rights and respect they would give anyone else they would come across as they navigate their lives. I hope to have the opportunity to work with different platforms/organizations that focus on holding orchestras and institutions accountable for their bias while ensuring fair treatment in the audition/interview processes, wages, and workplace environments. While doing so, I would also like to gain knowledge and experience in creating networks where people can connect and have access to resources such as scholarships and grants that can be used to support their educations or careers in any way that is needed.