“Take your passion. . . and make it happen!” 10-year-old me bopped around my living room to the theme song from the movie Flashdance. Irene Cara belted out lyrics that summed it all the way up for me. “Dancer or bust baby!” I knew this when I was three years old. Dance was my life, what I wanted to do, and who I was. Back then, I took classes at Studio E, a small but mighty neighborhood dance school in Queens, New York. Several of my classmates were accepted to the prestigious School of American Ballet, from which they went on to dance in companies such as the Suzanne Farrell Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, and Miami City Ballet. Studio E nurtured my talents and my young dancer’s soul.

I was awarded a work-study scholarship to take classes at Steps on Broadway when I was 14. Steps is a big-time supercenter of dance, where master teachers host dance icons from American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, and Broadway. Throughout high school, I supplemented my Studio E lessons with big city classes, progressing from a little to a medium fish in the big pond. As a studious Black girl, college—and a prestigious one at that—was a must. I began my first year at Princeton University at the age of 17, in 1989, back in the days when getting into an Ivy League school was like emerging victorious at the church raffle as opposed to simultaneously winning the Powerball and being struck by lightning.

After college, I returned home to New York City and did what I still advise my contemporary dance students to do: audition for everything. After a few months I booked my first job, dancing in the German tour of the rock musical Tabaluga und Lilli. After Tabaluga I opted for concert dance, instead of musical theater. I performed with several small modern dance companies (Steeledance, Amy Marshall Dance Company) and independent choreographers. I also began teaching at the Spence School and Trinity School, where I was introduced to the world of elite Manhattan private schools.

To escape the NYC grind, my then fiancé, now husband, and I moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, where after teaching at a small competition studio, I was blessed with the opportunity to teach brilliant pre-professional students at the academy of the North Carolina Dance Theatre, an acclaimed company that is now Charlotte Ballet. After three years we moved again to Chicago. I was hired as an adjunct professor at The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, and as faculty member at Dance Center Evanston, a little gem of a school that sends dancers to powerhouse college programs such as USC Kaufman, Juilliard, and State University of New York at Purchase.

I remain an adjunct faculty member at The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago, where I have taught jazz, modern, and ballet since 2006. I also serve as the Youth Division Liaison and as a faculty member at The Joffrey Academy of Dance, Official School of the Joffrey Ballet, teaching children through adults and beginners through trainee level. I am a sought-after instructor in the Chicago area, where my guest teaching credits include Chicago National Association of Dance Masters (CNADM), DMW (Dance Masters of Wisconsin), The Cecchetti Workshop, and teaching company class for professional companies such as Thodos Dance Chicago and Luna Negra Dance Chicago. I am an innovator at the Joffrey Academy, where I recently launched two successful and significant entities: the BIPOC Academy Committee, a group where families and dancers of color can find support, and I co-founded the JATTÉ (Joffrey Academy Trainee Teaching Endorsement) a program to give trainee level students practical teaching experience to prepare them to successfully train students if they choose to do so.

Two of my best pieces about dance, Words of Wisdom From An Older Dancer and A Letter From Your Dance Teacher have appeared in the Huffington Post. My work also appears in Scary Mommy, in the anthology You Have Lipstick on Your Teeth, and in the NYT bestselling I Just Want to Pee Alone anthologies. My piece “Dear White Mom” was viewed over 1 million times and won a 2015 BlogHer Voice of the Year Award for Impact.