[Music]
life in many ways is just one big stage
show because in our special ways we’re
all wearing some kind of mask we’re all
living in a fabricated persona
because understanding and showing the
world who you truly are is essentially
one of the largest obstacles that will
ever have to overcome mainly is because
we have to have an awareness of how
other people see you granted you don’t
have to act upon that but an awareness
is enough but maybe it’s because you
have to face up to how you see you
because when you understand who you are
when you are comfortable in your own
skin that is when you begin to
understand how much power you have as an
individual there is no quick fix it
doesn’t happen overnight there’s no easy
route it’s a journey and today I’m gonna
share my story and tell you about my
relationship with creativity and how
it’s helped ease the wheels forward into
finding my sense of self now ever since
I was a little girl I loved to smile
there’s something so pure and wholesome
about a smile and effortless energy
exchange from one person to another
it’s beautiful positive domino reaction
and so like other little young minds
around me and with my default cheesy
grin I began to take on the world a
world that I was told I could have
anything a world I was told I could do
anything a world I was told I could be
anyone after all we instinct
instinctively instilled this gift of
possibility into the next generation a
new years went by and I started to
realize that the beauty in the world
that I was seeing for other people they
didn’t even realize that very same
beauty existed I began to realize that
this big wide world that I had grown
accustomed to for my own past
source of exploration and fascination
was starting to become restricting and I
can do anything about it
and you have to note that statistics do
show that children in this early stage
of life academically aren’t quite
balanced it’s it’s not until like social
aspects start getting sprinkled into the
mix that you start to see a dynamic
shift an example my bold confidence and
my outspoken nature which was once
encouraged was now becoming repressed
because being bold and outspoken aren’t
necessarily characteristics that you
want from a little girl my assertive
nature and my inquisitive side of me the
way it was being met I started to
realize my ethnicity was starting to be
in play now this this dark unprovoked
response to you when you are just
existing in the world and that that
beautiful time of life when your sense
of self should be a wonderful wealth of
discovery this negative energy seeps
into a developing mind and it walks away
you see the world it chips away I became
upset I was hurt I was angry but I
wasn’t allowed to have a voice after all
in the eyes of society I was just
another black female now we do lump and
label people together that have similar
characteristics because it does take a
lot of time and energy to learn about an
individual it’s so ingrained in our
culture and we’ve all been guilty of
that so no one should ever feel truly
bad for prejudging however when those
same prejudgments are robbing someone of
the possibility of themselves finding
themselves for themselves that’s when it
becomes problematic I did not fit into
any of the boxes and all the labels that
were slapped on me
just slid right off that was a place for
me I was on the outside left exposed and
vulnerable so of course I was a perfect
target to be bullied from all the
directions so my identity before I even
could understand what it could be it was
ripped out of me and dissected by people
who are essentially having their own
battles of insecurity so they had to
attack the dregs of confidence that I
once held I stood and I listened to all
of these voices and all the labels and
justifications for these attacks I
started to notice they contradicted
themselves so I stopped listening
because if that’s not who I am and if
that’s not who I am if that’s not who I
am then they’re wrong why Who am I Who
am I now that is a big question for
anyone to deal with at any point in
their life but I started to understand
that the socially dictated placement for
me in this world was not where I wanted
to be and the validation that I so
craved I knew that I will never get it
from an external source I had to find it
within myself I had to understand myself
and like any major goal in life it’s
always best to break it down into
manageable bite-size chunks in order for
me to accept Who I am I have to learn
about Who I am
well I like smart being and I like
making people happy but what makes me
happy kind of night writing very the
trials and tribulations of my teenage
temptations amorous admirations of
sensations of my soul my mind melted
into muscle and I finally phoned into me
a hunger quelled a thirst quenched from
their rising was my defo writing became
my voice and with this
I threw myself into so many aspects in
my life and until something stuck and my
drama teacher miss Cunningham she saw a
spark within me she saw a beauty that I
didn’t even know existed and with the
help of my my family I tentatively took
the steps into this new creative realm
and I auditioned and gained a place at
the Birmingham repartee Youth Theatre
and the theatre became my second home I
was around people from different walks
of life that had different learning and
physical capabilities I was around boys
for the first time so it’s an all-girls
school but I also had people from
different cultures and different class
backgrounds but none of those aspects
mattered none of those labels mattered
what mattered was how we treated each
other and the content of our character
so with my newfound teenage confidence I
noticed that my grades skyrocketed up
and my academic achievements started to
build a new foundation for me but I
wanted to continue on this creative
route to see how far it would get me and
I was honored to gain a place at
Dartington College of Arts which is in
totnes and South Devon and at the time
that I attended it was the last
remaining Higher Education Institute in
the UK that was solely dedicated to
artistic practices and it was known
worldwide for its quite radical teaching
methods but fundamentally it was its
priority towards context and questioning
as you as an artist and toward your
practice that will hold its legacy and
it was there my bold inquisitive
confident go the little black girl in me
started smiling at the world again and I
haven’t stopped smiling since and now to
this day like I am an international
award-winning cabaret artist and I have
been so for ten years and one of the
biggest things that people ask me is how
it did I get into cabaret well all of my
life I have been on the receiving end of
prejudice stereotyping labeling and I
wanted to reclaim a sense of self for
myself I wanted to reconnect
with the body that society’s labels are
taken away from me and the joy with with
cabaret is that when with my work is
that I can I sacrifice a lot of myself
and my identity to also address a lot of
social attitudes the walls race gender
sexuality all of because those kind of
aspects on this body they don’t really
get addressed in mainstream media but in
the Cabaret stage it’s a safe space to
explore these ideals and the joy of my
performances is that I get to travel all
over the world and with Beautiful’s of
theatre venues and lavish opulent
aliased venues but I also work in
charity events and crates shows and be
work with people they’ve overcome huge
issues in their life but for one moment
it’s all about celebrating life its
celebrating being new I also do a lot of
events and shows in church halls and
community centers from performing for
the elderly adding a little bit of glitz
and glamour into an aspect of their
world the rest of society thought didn’t
exist anymore it’s emotionally draining
it’s mentally straining but it’s
beautifully empowering because I’m
allowing the world to see me in a
different light and by doing so we can
allow ourselves to look that’s each
other in a different way
the thing is culturally academically
socially I understand the joy of having
a creative outlet it’s very essence of
me however it’s the essence of all of us
because we all started from the same
page we all started to embrace the world
the same imagined imagination LED
perception of the world we all use the
question we’re all are open minded we
all are quite playful and it is still
there being creative isn’t just tangible
skills of like pen and paper in ink
those are just threads of a huge
spectrum being
creative it’s understanding what makes
you happy and injecting parts of your
personality into your everyday the world
is going to have limitations on every
single one of us but as long as those
limitations are not from you then it’s a
start
so give yourself creative freedom give
yourself a creative license understand
and enjoy what makes you happy be free
to embrace be free to explore and be
free to own who you truly are
thank you
[Applause]
life in many ways is just one big stage
show because in our special ways we’re
all wearing some kind of mask we’re all
living in a fabricated persona
because understanding and showing the
world who you truly are is essentially
one of the largest obstacles that will
ever have to overcome mainly is because
we have to have an awareness of how
other people see you granted you don’t
have to act upon that but an awareness
is enough but maybe it’s because you
have to face up to how you see you
because when you understand who you are
when you are comfortable in your own
skin that is when you begin to
understand how much power you have as an
individual there is no quick fix it
doesn’t happen overnight there’s no easy
route it’s a journey and today I’m gonna
share my story and tell you about my
relationship with creativity and how
it’s helped ease the wheels forward into
finding my sense of self now ever since
I was a little girl I loved to smile
there’s something so pure and wholesome
about a smile and effortless energy
exchange from one person to another
it’s beautiful positive domino reaction
and so like other little young minds
around me and with my default cheesy
grin I began to take on the world a
world that I was told I could have
anything a world I was told I could do
anything a world I was told I could be
anyone after all we instinct
instinctively instilled this gift of
possibility into the next generation a
new years went by and I started to
realize that the beauty in the world
that I was seeing for other people they
didn’t even realize that very same
beauty existed I began to realize that
this big wide world that I had grown
accustomed to for my own past
source of exploration and fascination
was starting to become restricting and I
can do anything about it
and you have to note that statistics do
show that children in this early stage
of life academically aren’t quite
balanced it’s it’s not until like social
aspects start getting sprinkled into the
mix that you start to see a dynamic
shift an example my bold confidence and
my outspoken nature which was once
encouraged was now becoming repressed
because being bold and outspoken aren’t
necessarily characteristics that you
want from a little girl my assertive
nature and my inquisitive side of me the
way it was being met I started to
realize my ethnicity was starting to be
in play now this this dark unprovoked
response to you when you are just
existing in the world and that that
beautiful time of life when your sense
of self should be a wonderful wealth of
discovery this negative energy seeps
into a developing mind and it walks away
you see the world it chips away I became
upset I was hurt I was angry but I
wasn’t allowed to have a voice after all
in the eyes of society I was just
another black female now we do lump and
label people together that have similar
characteristics because it does take a
lot of time and energy to learn about an
individual it’s so ingrained in our
culture and we’ve all been guilty of
that so no one should ever feel truly
bad for prejudging however when those
same prejudgments are robbing someone of
the possibility of themselves finding
themselves for themselves that’s when it
becomes problematic I did not fit into
any of the boxes and all the labels that
were slapped on me
just slid right off that was a place for
me I was on the outside left exposed and
vulnerable so of course I was a perfect
target to be bullied from all the
directions so my identity before I even
could understand what it could be it was
ripped out of me and dissected by people
who are essentially having their own
battles of insecurity so they had to
attack the dregs of confidence that I
once held I stood and I listened to all
of these voices and all the labels and
justifications for these attacks I
started to notice they contradicted
themselves so I stopped listening
because if that’s not who I am and if
that’s not who I am if that’s not who I
am then they’re wrong why Who am I Who
am I now that is a big question for
anyone to deal with at any point in
their life but I started to understand
that the socially dictated placement for
me in this world was not where I wanted
to be and the validation that I so
craved I knew that I will never get it
from an external source I had to find it
within myself I had to understand myself
and like any major goal in life it’s
always best to break it down into
manageable bite-size chunks in order for
me to accept Who I am I have to learn
about Who I am
well I like smart being and I like
making people happy but what makes me
happy kind of night writing very the
trials and tribulations of my teenage
temptations amorous admirations of
sensations of my soul my mind melted
into muscle and I finally phoned into me
a hunger quelled a thirst quenched from
their rising was my defo writing became
my voice and with this
I threw myself into so many aspects in
my life and until something stuck and my
drama teacher miss Cunningham she saw a
spark within me she saw a beauty that I
didn’t even know existed and with the
help of my my family I tentatively took
the steps into this new creative realm
and I auditioned and gained a place at
the Birmingham repartee Youth Theatre
and the theatre became my second home I
was around people from different walks
of life that had different learning and
physical capabilities I was around boys
for the first time so it’s an all-girls
school but I also had people from
different cultures and different class
backgrounds but none of those aspects
mattered none of those labels mattered
what mattered was how we treated each
other and the content of our character
so with my newfound teenage confidence I
noticed that my grades skyrocketed up
and my academic achievements started to
build a new foundation for me but I
wanted to continue on this creative
route to see how far it would get me and
I was honored to gain a place at
Dartington College of Arts which is in
totnes and South Devon and at the time
that I attended it was the last
remaining Higher Education Institute in
the UK that was solely dedicated to
artistic practices and it was known
worldwide for its quite radical teaching
methods but fundamentally it was its
priority towards context and questioning
as you as an artist and toward your
practice that will hold its legacy and
it was there my bold inquisitive
confident go the little black girl in me
started smiling at the world again and I
haven’t stopped smiling since and now to
this day like I am an international
award-winning cabaret artist and I have
been so for ten years and one of the
biggest things that people ask me is how
it did I get into cabaret well all of my
life I have been on the receiving end of
prejudice stereotyping labeling and I
wanted to reclaim a sense of self for
myself I wanted to reconnect
with the body that society’s labels are
taken away from me and the joy with with
cabaret is that when with my work is
that I can I sacrifice a lot of myself
and my identity to also address a lot of
social attitudes the walls race gender
sexuality all of because those kind of
aspects on this body they don’t really
get addressed in mainstream media but in
the Cabaret stage it’s a safe space to
explore these ideals and the joy of my
performances is that I get to travel all
over the world and with Beautiful’s of
theatre venues and lavish opulent
aliased venues but I also work in
charity events and crates shows and be
work with people they’ve overcome huge
issues in their life but for one moment
it’s all about celebrating life its
celebrating being new I also do a lot of
events and shows in church halls and
community centers from performing for
the elderly adding a little bit of glitz
and glamour into an aspect of their
world the rest of society thought didn’t
exist anymore it’s emotionally draining
it’s mentally straining but it’s
beautifully empowering because I’m
allowing the world to see me in a
different light and by doing so we can
allow ourselves to look that’s each
other in a different way
the thing is culturally academically
socially I understand the joy of having
a creative outlet it’s very essence of
me however it’s the essence of all of us
because we all started from the same
page we all started to embrace the world
the same imagined imagination LED
perception of the world we all use the
question we’re all are open minded we
all are quite playful and it is still
there being creative isn’t just tangible
skills of like pen and paper in ink
those are just threads of a huge
spectrum being
creative it’s understanding what makes
you happy and injecting parts of your
personality into your everyday the world
is going to have limitations on every
single one of us but as long as those
limitations are not from you then it’s a
start
so give yourself creative freedom give
yourself a creative license understand
and enjoy what makes you happy be free
to embrace be free to explore and be
free to own who you truly are
thank you
[Applause]
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