Q: What has been your professional journey?

I went to [the University of] Michigan and that is no easy feat — pretty grueling, but also really great. I learned everything I know from Michigan — not only from professors, but the people and the community. There are always so many projects going on! That helped me grow as a person and an artist. So I graduated and the casting director for ‘The Lion King’ was at my showcase in NYC. And I auditioned for ‘The Lion King’ two days after my showcase… And after that I didn’t hear from them so I got an agent and then they called me back and I was to be a Nala cover on Broadway. And I went in twice for them then didn’t hear anything for weeks. I went in one last time to audition and I went in for a swing on the national tour and I got the call the next day that I was in it! 

Q: Do you have any mentors or important people in your life that have shaped the way you dance and or think about art?

My high school drama teacher. She taught me professionalism from out of the gate. She was hard hitting and believed in me a lot. She took me to my Michigan audition. All my professors at the University of Michigan — every single one of them — shaped me into the performer I am… My class at Michigan (Musical Theatre Class of 2019) definitely are huge inspirations for me. We are always here for each other. We had a class group chat yesterday in quarantine… My parents are musicians and molded me as well.

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Q: What have been some challenges in your pre-professional or professional career? (Adversity as a minority artist…)

Discipline. It is something you have to learn as time goes on. For me, if I’m in a role like [I have in] ‘The Lion King,’ I am a swing so I cover seven tracks and they are all very different... And the discipline of sometimes having to not talk for a day or not go out and not hangout with friends so I am mindful of my voice. It’s my instrument and my instrument is my job. I have struggled with this and [am] still getting the hang of it but it gets a lot easier as time goes by.

Q: Do you believe the arts can be a platform for social justice topics? If so, how? and/or have you used your art form to make a difference?

Of course. I feel like with the performing arts in general, you have to have a level of confidence in front of other people to share your story or the story of someone else through what you do. That is an amazing skill ... to get specific ideas across... I think the general population is very visual and music is very powerful as well, so I think those are beautiful ways to connect to people. We are people who get up and talk... The people from March for Our Lives were drama kids and had the ability to get up there and use their voice. Us as performers, we have a platform where people listen … and we can help make a change.

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Q: What inspires you and drives you forward as an artist and a person?

People. I am a people person in the non-negative sense... I find people fascinating, especially driven people. And it inspires me to be a driven person and take steps to make changes. That drives me and inspires me to not be complacent in my power. I’ve been given a gift, and to not use it or use it frivolously is a waste of time. What drives me is seeing other people be as driven as myself.

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Q: How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected you as a performing artist?

It’s been crazy… I just got an email from our company manager, who is figuring things out as they come. We don’t know if we need to file for unemployment. A lot of us aren’t being paid after this week. It is a lot of shuffling and trying to figure out what is next or what I need to be doing to save money but also to stay sane. I can’t think about financial stuff all the time. It is very stressful. I think a lot of us are trying to figure it out and it is so weird not going to the theater at 6:30 everyday and not carrying the first note of “Circle of Life” every night. It is a weird transition. We were in Indiana on tour when everything was cancelled.

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Q: How do you think we can continue to create and share art during this time?

Social media is a beautiful thing. Things like this that you are doing — just connecting with other artists — is a privilege we have now that we didn’t have before. At 7 p.m. every day I have my performer friends come on and say something that brings them joy… We can still make art and hopefully inspire others to stay positive. I am seeing artists creating videos and posting and writing positive messages or short stories — different things we can do since we can’t necessarily work from home.

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Q: What social changes and responsibilities have you seen people making during the pandemic?

I think that personally I have been experiencing a lot of positivity. And I think that is a beautiful social change. We could take this in a negative way and sit in depression or anxiety but I am seeing my artist friends … choose not to do so. I’m not saying we can always choose our feelings but I am seeing people choose to see the positive or get out of depression through doing what we love. I am seeing people check in on people… Having the time on our hands to FaceTime a friend who you haven’t talked to in a few months. I am seeing people [post] videos to make people feel better. I see people being active in their homes and I think that is a beautiful social change — that we could go one way but we are choosing to go the positive way.

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Q: Do you think the pandemic will make us a more socially conscious society? If so, how?

I hope it will, at least for a time. We are human and we tend to revert back to a specific way of being. I think this is a wakeup call to appreciate the things you have. Personally, I didn’t realize I had so much privilege doing a show I love every night. I didn’t appreciate being with a group of people who also loved what they were doing. Certain privileges were taken away and now I can fight for them more and appreciate this more. I think this was a wakeup call for America to not take things for granted.

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Q: Using the idea of “worldmaking” how do you imagine the performing arts world after the pandemic? (Worldmaking: How you can re-imagine the world in your own terms, the way you want it to be. Using this tool one can construct new worlds and write themselves into narratives that have excluded them and systems that have disabled them.)

I think that ideally there will be a level of drive within everyone that I think people, including me, were losing after a show becomes a job and you get into a routine. This is my job that ... in a way becomes an office job. And for some people it becomes an autopilot thing. I think having this forced break makes us reignite this drive. And getting back into this there will be a deeper level of gratefulness on stage. That opening night high will be an every night thing now. Even casting in art, I think art will skyrocket. I hope we will sit with our art and we will be able to create something out of this. I hope there will be a heightened sense in art and art-making after being alone. I think a new mind and a new growth in the arts.