Q: What has been your professional performing arts journey?‍

I started out singing in the subways in NYC on 42nd Street. I got a tour with Hamilton and have been with them for two years, and was able to release two of my original albums during this time. In college, I majored in theater at BMCC [Borough of Manhattan Community College]. ‍

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

Yes, my theater mom — she was the head of the theater department at my college and she used to give me books and interviews to watch. She got me into wanting to go to the open call for Hamilton. I also have a lot of creative friends that I call my “board”, and I get feedback on my own creative work from them. ‍

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Q: What have been some challenges in your pre-professional or professional dance career? ‍

Courage—having the courage to go on the train and sing in front of strangers; taking that first step and believing I was able to do the things I wanted to do successfully. Professionally, it’s been patience, discipline, and leaving space to be open to learning new things. ‍

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Q: Do you believe arts can be a platform for social justice topics? If so, how? ‍

I think the arts are the perfect platform [for social justice] because we are both the storytellers and the messengers. We create realities through our perception-altering messages. We can show the future before it’s even something real. We can write songs about freedom before it becomes a reality. We wrote songs about love equality before there was space for it. Now, in Quarantine, social justice is so important because people are waiting to hear what will come next, and what to listen to. We are able to communicate those things more clearly than someone who is just talking.

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

It’s being my best self in the world, in the way I was meant to be: as a songstress, as a writer, as someone who can bend perception through acting, and put on empathetics. Through acting, the best thing I can do is maintain an understanding of myself, and share that self with the world. If I can show you what I've done, maybe it will help someone else’s journey toward self-understanding.

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

I had a bunch of auditions that were cancelled or made later. I had a bunch of fellow artists that were in Broadway shows that were stopped, so a lot of the Broadway world is in a standstill. But, people are still getting online to share the songs from the shows. It has made the physical appearance of art less “physical”, because of social distancing, but it has made people more creative in how they share and express themselves. Now, we are so dependent on our laptops and phones, but we still have to find other ways to perform for people. People need to hear music and hear what we are still saying and creating. ‍

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

I can say that people are taking better care of their relationships with family and friends. I see people reaching out more, making sure they’re checking on their elders, and making sure they’re keeping them safe. People are thinking about taking care more than ever before. Everyone is doing their best.... In NYC, there is a feeling of ‘make sure you're ready and prepared’.‍

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

I think it already has, because now all the people that didn't have time to reach out, or time to get on a phone call, or time to do all these things, now have the time. So, it will make us way more socially aware, because we have access to social media. Tiktok has made families come together to do choreography. I did a workout the other day on Instagram Live. People are finding new ways to be social, and after this there will be a refreshment, like you haven’t had water for a few hours, and then you take a sip, and it’s the best thing you have ever tasted. I hope we can get back to our lives and connect even more deeply. ‍

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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 imagine more space for more art. I think that this is going to push our understanding of one another, which will bring us together and mold our future and our children's minds. In the future, I would like to see more art. I would like to see art that is free, and costs nothing to share and receive. Also, artists would be given credit for shaping the world, and changing minds and to create revolutions and destroy hierarchies. Credit and appreciation, I would say. I think the government should pay us for what we do as well. ‍

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Q: What is one thing you think we can all do each day to lift our spirits and help uplift the people around us (physically present or virtually present)?

I think that we can reach out to one person and do something. I think that it's very fulfilling, to reach out to someone and encourage them to talk about something difficult. At least one conversation a day that is selfless, and feeds the idea that you're still important. I see some people feeling that they’re not important. ‍

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Q: What have you seen artists doing online? Specifically the musical theater world?

Rosie O'Donnell went live and had 10,000 people watching her show. She did an Instagram version of her show and interviewed a bunch of upcoming musical theater creators. They sang for the show, or they talked about what they have been up to. The musical theater world is in a place where we have to share online. But the access to the arts—going live on Instagram—I think it's adjusted the ability to perform in the musical theater world. I saw a chain of Hamilton lyrics, someone sang one bar of the song and it was passed on. We are keeping the shows alive because Broadway will be back and it will have the same appeal. And I think, until then, we are keeping the stories of these shows alive to bring awareness to them and bring awareness to the musical theater world. I think it's pretty cool.