More About Me

All my life I’ve loved acting. Would you believe that I actually grew up on top of a theater? I was born and raised in Baltimore City and spent most of my childhood in Mount Vernon. Apartment 111 was right above the Spotlighters Theater. When I pressed my ear to the floor hard enough, I could hear the musicals sometimes. I begged my mom to take me to a show, and the rest is history. Being the youngest person in the audience, I immediately struck a connection with the director and owner of the theater, Fuzz Roark. He took a liking to me and my passion, and Spotlighters became my home. I was given a full ride scholarship to their Shakespeare high school and middle school training program when I was just in 4th grade. Playing Olivia in Twelfth Night amongst high schoolers and being pushed to my limits, I learned that I loved the craft of pulling apart words and putting them back together in ways that suit the story I was telling.

As I grew older and more serious about my craft, I auditioned and was accepted into Baltimore School for the Arts. Being part of a prestigious professional training prepared me for my career as an actor, which at the time was all that I thought I wanted to be. Everything changed in February of 2017. I was hired as a Youth Producer at Wide Angle Youth Media, a non-profit that hires Baltimore youth to gain film expertise and skill through working for actual companies such as Kaiser Permanente, CSX, Outward Bound, etc. This amazing opportunity was so rare for me as I had no film experience starting out. I first found out about Wide Angle when I had seen a casting call they posted in my high school for a national project they were working on for CSX about train safety. I received the lead role and began working with Wide Angle as an actress.

During the filming, I became captivated as I watched young people my age, and who looked like me, being an active part of the film process and I knew I really wanted to do that. I asked Wide Angle’s executive producer who had worked with me on set for an internship. He explained to me that they usually hire students that have years of experience with camera equipment and filming, but that he was willing to give me a chance. At Wide angle, I’ve been able to create multiple national and internationally award-winning films, moderate panels with celebrities I grew up watching, and learn how to self-produce an entire learning series where I produced, edited, and of course, acted, in a series of videos for Baltimore City.

Now a newly graduate from NYU Tisch, I can now say I am a full-time multi-hyphenate artist and educator. While pursuing my career in acting and filmmaking, I now teach at Vertex Partnership Academies in the Bronx enabling youth to grow their creativity and confidence through theater class. Though our work in the class remains creative, I also am able to work with them to prepare them for life after high school, as I am teaching them from my own experiences- and mistakes.

Through my work at Wide Angle, albeit on a local scale, I’ve been able to make a difference in my community utilizing my artistic abilities. In the future, I want to use creativity to build a legacy that will open doors for future generations. As part of my mission, I will create a non-profit organization, Destiny’s Children, that will focus on empowering youth from all races, genders, and socioeconomic backgrounds to unlock the courage they have within them to take risks and create their own legacies. My organization will connect young leaders who are exemplifying leadership in their local communities with younger students. Having these examples will inspire students from all walks of life to see that they too can make a lasting impact, even if it begins at a local level.