How I Stumbled Into Performing
There are lots of events that happen out there: weddings, receptions, Gala’s, awards banquets, and the list goes on. And every time I have the honor of performing at special events it brings me great joy and great responsibility. Music sets the tone and creates the atmosphere and that is what I strive to do when people request my services for their events. But I never anticipated that I would be singing at events and doing nearly half of the things on my musical journey that I have.
You might now be thinking so How did you get into that?
Background: I grew up actually seeing my mom sing, hence the vocals have been passed down from one generation to the next. Occasionally my mom and dad would sing at weddings together sometimes. So there you go, I grew up seeing people perform at weddings and events but at that time I never really sang as a little girl. It’s funny to think that I was actually shy at one point in my life becuase now I’m a total social butterfly! I think my earliest memory of singing was somewhere between age 7 and 9 and my mom had a friend over and asked me to sing and I went to the next room and hid behind the weil and sang.
How cute right?…
Fast forward all these years later and I’m doing the same thing. Performing at weddings, private events, birthday parties helps me really strengthen my performance muscles which can always use improvement. I remember when I was in high school, my principal said that I was now going to be singing the anthem on Friday nights for the football games (Spartan Nation! ). That was the beginning of that journey outside of church. As I continued to sing under the Friday Night Lights I was then asked to perform the anthem for the 2014 NCHSAA Mens Basketball State Championship. Not only did I perform solo but briefly I would perform as a vocalist for the Southern Groove jazz band headed by Mr. Leonardo Williams. One of my happiest moments prior to college was singing at the USA Youth Track and Field Nationals for the opening ceremonies and I had the honor of meeting one of my heroes, Jackie Joyner Kersee!!!
I carried on singing while in college singing at several NCAA Men’s Basketball Games for Clemson and other events across campus and that led to me being invited to sing before the Board of Trustees at Clemson, the National Men of Color
Summit hosted by Clemson two years in a row., and the Annual MLK Celebration. What an incredible journey I’ve had and can’t wait for continued growth and opportunity. I’m thankful for all the people who have been instrumental in my journey. I’ve always know I wanted to perform but haven’t always felt confident in knowing what my next step should be but I remember a quote from Oprah that really has stuck with me and she says…
"The way through the challenge is to get still and ask yourself, 'What is the next right move?' Not think about, 'Ooh, I got all of this to figure out.' What is the next right move? And then from that space, make the next right move and the next right move ... then you won't be overwhelmed by it, because you know your life is bigger than that one moment."
In pursuing something that I love and enjoy so much using that advice has been apart of what keeps me grounded even when I start to feel overwhelmed. Beyond college I have performed in some really interesting places and spaces from Open Mics in Charlotte, NC and radio stations in Zimbabwe ( more about this story later)…
My most recent opportunity was a wedding in NC watch on my Youtube. I collaborated with musicians from Raleigh/Durham to perform for a couple’s beautiful wedding day . Zakiya + Joseph had a beautiful ceremony, pure and serene and I’m so thankful that she chose me to be apart of her big day as the live music. One thing that I thought made her ceremony special is that it was an unplugged ceremony so people weren’t distracted by their phones and could be fully present for the different aspects of the ceremony including the music. Bride’s are typically stressed and worried about everything running perfectly but she shared that the music brought her a sense of peace. Check out some of my performance below!
I’ll be sharing more about my performance, upcoming performances and just my experience all around being a performer. Stay tuned for more good stuff!
