Growing up I always thought I had to fit into the mold, but the truth is I am the mold. We all are and that’s something that I want to emphasize with my work as an artist. I want the stigmatization around black women to be erased. We are strong, powerful, resilient and forces to be reckoned with, but I don’t want that to be our only identity. I don’t want it to be the norm to only showcase black women when there's a story about pain and struggle to be told. We can be the girl next door, we can be a part of love triangles, we can be princesses and anything else our heart desires. Effective change doesn’t happen in seconds, it's slow and gradual. But when the impact is made, it's significant. Nobody said black women will be destigmatized in a day, but we as artists can put in the effort to make the shift in our brains and help curate the shift for others.

As seen above, I have a strong will to erase the stigmatization of black women. Hey, what do you know, it's like I live through it or something haha. But being able to erase the stigmatization of black women is not my only goal as an actor. As an actor I look to put myself in spaces that have a desire to be innovative. I want the question to be asked of “how can we shift the story so that it fits the time now”? I want to be a part of bodies of work that challenges its audience to think of different perspectives. Humans are unique with beautiful brains and vastly different life stories, how can we bring those stories to life?

Not only do I want to take the innovative approach, I want to create sincerity of life onstage and on screen. That’s my main goal as a director. Whatever the world may be, with humans, mythical creatures, and so on, I want to make sure that life is shown sincerely. Whether or not the story is “relatable” to the audience, the story is real to the writer and the characters that have been developed; personally, that’s where the true beauty lies and I strive to display that beauty through my direction. In light of striving for sincerity, I choose to make my space one where I am a collaborator alongside my team. I don’t find the value in only portraying my perspective; I like to act as a medium for my team and less of a dictator.

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