Talent Ain't Enough: HBCU Dance, Leadership & the Road to Professional Dance | Ep 14

What does it really take to go from an HBCU dancer to a professional performer?

In this episode of the Major Business Podcast, I sit down with Shatangela Jackson, also known as 'Tan'...former 14 Karat Gold Dancer & Captain at Bethune-Cookman University, former Miami Heat and Florida Panthers dancer, educator, and current Dance Director at Florida Memorial University.

Tangela shares how she "got it out the mud", developing her talent through hard work, discipline, and relentless training before her college coach recognized her potential and helped open doors to greater opportunities. She encourages dancers to be more intentional in dance & in life!

We discuss:
• Why HBCU dance auditions are more competitive than ever
• The progression of collegiate dance over the years
• How she trains dancers to be prepared for college and professional opportunities
• The leadership standards she cultivates within her program
• Her journey from HBCU dancer to professional performer
• The technical and performance training required to succeed at the next level
• Why education matters and how earning terminal degrees created career security while pursuing her passion
• Why performance quality matters just as much as technique

This episode is for dancers, coaches, and parents who want to understand what it truly takes to build a sustainable future in dance.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

I'm not the best. I need to go back and train a little bit more. I send them to New York. I'm sending you to Cali. I'm sending you to Atlanta. Girl, you can dance. That ain't enough, sweetie. I don't know who they are, but they look good and they wrap the goal and I want to be one of them. What it is that you look for in the cabinet and I tell them if you can't deliver this, then this is not the job for you. Gonna help you reach your goal. I'm gonna make sure I point to you because I didn't have that. I'm not here to play with y'all. You should either dot it or you cut. Which one? Figure it out.

SPEAKER_00 0:32

It's like look around, read the room. You see nobody else coming here like this? Welcome to the Major Business Podcast, where we talk all things HBCU dance for strategy structure, leadership, performance, and training. And today, and as always, I'm your host, Virshawn Lee, and we have a very special guest. Let's get into it. I'm gonna read her bio as usual, and then we'll welcome her into the room. So, first we have um, she's an educator, choreographer, and dance director of the Lioness Dance Team at Florida Memorial University. She has a background in professional sports, entertainment, and dance education. She is passionate about developing confident, disciplined performers while creating opportunities for the next generation of dancers. Her work focuses on leadership, excellence, and empowering young women through the art of dance. So, without further ado, let's go ahead and welcome into the room, Ms. Chatangela Jackson.

SPEAKER_01 1:43

Hello, hey everybody.

SPEAKER_00 1:45

Hey, right here, yes. Well, you know, first I have a burning uh question to ask. I kind of want to know from the beginning because, you know, I already know like a lot about you because I've heard a lot, a lot of great things. But can you tell us um how like where are you from and how you even got started with this thing?

SPEAKER_01 2:05

Well, I am Shatangela Jackson. I am from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, South Florida, made born and raised. Um, my journey started when I was about 14. So I'm a late bloomer. I started dancing late and I taught myself how to dance. Um, yeah, my brother was the dancer of the family. So he would all gather us together, the cousins, and we would do dance battles. So I started learning in that manner or that form. Um, I went to dance for Bitcoin Cookie University. I was a 14-caragirl dancer for all four years. I was a captain my senior year. I danced professionally for the NHL Panthers, Florida Panthers hockey team, which is here in South Florida. And I also was a Miami Heat dancer for three years as well. Wow. Um and now I'm currently the Lioness's dance director. I mean, I had the opportunity to do lots of shows, um, award shows, rolling loud, uh, anything. I kind of did it in my younger time. Right. But now I'm I'm the Lioness's dance director. I'll be going on year five, and I'm also a dance teacher at a middle school. It's a magnet middle school.

SPEAKER_00 3:18

So, like a performance arts program at the middle school?

SPEAKER_01 3:21

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 3:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:22

Yes, it's been around for quite some time. But it's in South Florida too as well.

SPEAKER_00 3:28

Nice. Okay. So I guess building from that, I want to kind of get more into where we are now in the HBCU dance space and how the requirements are building, being that you're over a HBCU dance team. It's like the expectations have like tremendously, you know, like grown. And so what just not even as a lioness coach, just in general, what what do you feel like are the baseline expectations to even make it to the collegiate level? Because we're also gonna get into professional as well. But like, what do you feel like are the baseline skills or characteristics, or both of those actually, because they could they could be two completely different things, but what are baseline about five each?

SPEAKER_01 4:23

I I can't even give five. I just feel like you gotta know it all because I'm looking like if I was auditioning this this person, I mean, I'm not making it. I'm not making it. They set the bar pretty high. Like, I mean, it's very different. It's very different from when I auditioned, like when I was just 17 or 18 years old, to like now. I'm like, y'all doing what? Like, I even have to like ask my girls, like, what are y'all doing right now? Like, what is that? What did you just do? Because I've never seen that in my life before. So I just feels like the technique part of it, it's more technical than anything that I ever seen before. Like, it's okay, like maybe you had to have the pirouettes, you know, basic jate leads and second, but now it's like you need to do that in a little bit more while dancing full out. So I just think even just the technical part of it is just like through the roof. But the characteristics, like you have to be like well disciplined, like well disciplined, well trained. You gotta come with the personality. It's kind of like you almost have to have the entire package to make these collegiate dance teams. Like it was sometimes like back then they can work with you just a little bit if it's something that you're missing, but now it's like you either have the whole package or it's a no. Yeah, yeah, like that's just a talent.

SPEAKER_00 5:52

Talent is so, yeah. The talent now is it's so fierce to where baby, if you ain't got it next.

SPEAKER_01 6:00

Yeah, that's it. That's it. Realness, go figure it out. That's my that's my favorite line. Go figure it out.

SPEAKER_00 6:08

Yeah, just yeah, come back, come back later. But I'll right here, I'm gonna hurt right now because no, yeah, no.

SPEAKER_01 6:15

The bar is the girls are set in the bar hard. Like, I I commend them. I commend all of these young ladies right now. Like, I commend any young lady that has the courage to even go audition for a collegiate dance team because I feel like it's the most pressuring thing to do, like as a young woman, especially like if you're not as trained, because it's like you go into these spaces, but it's like you think you are this great dancer, but then you go into a space and you like I'm not the best. I need to go back and train a little bit more. So it kind of like humble them in the sense to be like, I really do need to train. Like, I'm I'm really not, you know, I thought I was that girl, but it's like when you're in a room full of girls that's like passionate about dance and has been training their entire lives for this moment, like some of these girls study these teams since they were like 10 years old. I know I did. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:11

I mean, and if you're not, but if you're not, then do you really want to do this? That's also the thing. You have not been studying the teams to figure out too where you fit, you know, like ooh, skill set-wise, can I fit in here? Should I fit it? Should I try over there? You should know enough about like enough variety, not just these two little teams that everybody talk about, you know. Like, you if you're not studying the teams, don't worry about it.

SPEAKER_01 7:37

I tell the girls that every single time, like you have to study these teams, like whether it's professional, collegiate, like you have to stay. I studied the heat like there was no tomorrow. When I was auditioning for Cookman, could mean it was kind of like hit and miss. Because it was like, I don't know who they are, but they look good and they rap to go, and I want to be one of them. I didn't know really how to go about it because at my high school, I didn't have a coach. Like, we didn't have those resources that the young ladies have now. Like, there was no dance classes, there was no TikTok, Instagram. All I can remember was, I don't even think my space was out then. Like, I can't even recall like my space being out. Like, I used to just watch dance videos and just be like, I'm gonna learn that and figure it out along the way. Yeah, whatever else they're doing, then I'm gonna learn that too along the way. Because I wasn't a technical dancer, so I had to kind of like grind it out for real. Like, I was grinding it out like till four o'clock in the morning with my freshmen sisters. Like, what was that that y'all just did in practice? They was like, Oh, it's a pirouette of what? A what? Yeah, like I was just like, yeah, I don't know what that is. Like, they was like, you don't know what that is? I'm like, no, I don't, but I had something that the coach saw, like he seen something in me, but he was just like, You're gonna figure it out along the way. And I did figure it out along the way. But like you said, like this generation, like, do you really want it? Like, are you gonna put in a work? Are you gonna research a team? Like, don't just go there because somebody told you, oh girl, you can dance. That ain't enough, sweetie. At all, it's not enough. It's not enough. And these teams today, no. If you're not training since you were like nine years old, don't worry about it. Just don't worry about it.

SPEAKER_00 9:31

Well, you know, too, a lot of the times, um people the girls feel like what if they're the best on the team, they haven't yet seen, you know, like the rest of the talent pool. So they're not sure or or very unaware or delusional in a sense if they have a coach in telling them because sometimes they have coaches that have said, but they're unaware exactly where they fall in line until they get to the audition. And then it's like, dang. And that's the one thing actually I don't like about private. I I do think I I I think girls, you know, I think they should invest in the private. But but there's a such thing to me as too much or for too long. Because at some point you gotta be released into the real world to, you know, that's when the workshops and stuff come in to go and test the waters a little bit. And then maybe you take that feedback back to your trainer to say, okay, look, when I was there, but you also have to be observant. So I feel like half the time the town, the girls that are coming to the auditions, the ones that are like, girl, what was you thinking? Haven't yet realized until they got there that, like you said, they weren't that girl because in their town, they were. And that's where, yeah, that's where it gets.

SPEAKER_01 10:51

You get a wake up call.

SPEAKER_00 10:52

Yeah, it's fortunate because it's like, dang, well, I wish you know someone could have, you know, shown you or and it's way too many resources now to be that lost.

SPEAKER_01 11:02

It's too many resources for you to not even have a hint of what's going on in our business.

SPEAKER_00 11:08

That's the crazy part.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

You don't want to reach out, so it's like if you don't, if you don't want to reach out, how you want the opportunity? Like, I'm not gonna take you serious because it seems like you don't take Dan serious. Like, why why you want to give why you want me to give you a chance? And you ain't even pouring to yourself, you didn't even think of pouring to yourself, and y'all have too many resources. Like, I would love to be 18 and 19 now, and oh, I can go here, I can go there, I can go there. Oh, you guys got summer camps, like it's so much, and they don't take advantage of it, and I don't understand why I'm like even in my auditions. I had to ask Mike, did you train? Why? Why not? Oh, because oh, because you didn't want to be a part of the team. Oh, okay. Like, that's just what it is. Like, you can do it, you just choose not to. Because, like you said again, it's like sometimes I hold the coaches to a standard because it's like, are y'all really telling them, like, yes, girl, you gonna make the team? Like, and you know well, they probably ain't gonna make the team, but I'm like, like, at least guide them in the right direction. Like, please.

SPEAKER_00 12:17

I just don't even know. I don't think they're taking, I don't think they're taking the coach's advice. Because sometimes I'm talking to coaches and they're literally saying, I told her not to go, or they'll sneak and go to, you know, like particular auditions, and it's like they don't listen, you know. Like, I told you you weren't ready for that, but yet and still you pull up and it's like, well, I mean, you just I could I can only now support you from afar. Like, you know, I want you to go after things that you really want, but I also need this to be a lesson for you to learn. So I'm gonna let you go ahead and go ahead and go. But let's just let's talk about it afterwards because I told you that wasn't gonna be a good move, and I told you that your skills will be better fit over here. And I told, you know, but but you because you keep telling your parents that this is what you want, this is what you want, you went after it. And then perhaps you've missed opportunities because you pursued this one. So I just feel like there's some, there are lots of missed opportunities, and there's some in some degree, and then you also have still have teens in these rural areas that don't have coaches, like you like you mentioned. So then you are kind of out here like trying to think for yourself, and you do have some parents that will reach out and do different things. Um but even even with that, I do want to segue into um speaking of you know, dancers not really being ready. How do you think, like, what do you think they need to prepare? And I know we talked about social media, but you know, just speaking of something from nothing, you coming from I taught myself, I went up in here, I grinded out, and they saw something in me. What do what should they even be doing right now if they say don't have a coach, if they feel unprepared, because some coaches are just giving choreography, they're not really training them. Um, if you know, if they have if they're in a circumstance where they just need some assistance but may not have the funds, um, because I dare dare I say not say resources, because they have the resources. They're right, it's right on a phone. But what do they think they should be doing, you know, to get it out the mud?

SPEAKER_01 14:21

I think they should just be training like consistently. Like me, I will always watch YouTube videos, like Missy Elliott, Sierra, those videos where they were like real dancing, but I also had to learn to take, like, or learn different dances or different concepts like out of my comfort zone. Yes, I know I'm a hip hop dancer, yes, I know I'm strong in that element. I'm not a contemporary dancer, I'm not a technical dancer, so I started training in those fields. I will watch YouTube videos, like even if I don't have the funds, I'm just watching YouTube videos. It's telling you how to do it. All you gotta do is practice it each and every day. How bad do you really want it? If you want it that bad, you're gonna keep watching the videos, you're gonna keep training, whether it's for an hour. Like I literally trained six months for the heat. All I did was dance every day. I danced, I went to the workshops. Anything that they had that was related to the heat, I was there. I was there front and center. They was who are you? Yeah, hey, I want you to see me every day. Oh, can you fix your hair? Sure, no problem. What you want it to look like? And I think they gotta be open to the critiques too. Like this generation shut down a lot, but they gotta be open to the critiques and they have to ask for help. Like, I don't know what it is. Maybe it's like I'm not gonna say everybody, but more black women, they're afraid to ask for help. And I feel like all you have to do is ask and they'll give it to you. Like, you never know. I can sponsor you. If you want it that bad, I'll sponsor you. Because there's there's women out here that appreciate your passion for dance. Like, it's it's like me. I appreciate it. So if I see somebody trying to go for their goals, I'm gonna help you reach your goals. I'm gonna make sure I pour it to you because I didn't have that. So I want to make sure I want to give something to you that was never given to me. But there are resources, just use your resources, dance every day, take classes out of your comfort zone. Like, don't be so stuck in the box. Like, be try everything because, like you said, you never know what's gonna fit you as a person. Like, me, I want to make sure I'm dancing somewhere where it fits me, like it matches my personality, where I feel like I belong. I feel like I want to be an outsider. Like, I look for those things like in different organizations or different dance teams. Like Cookman, I thought like, oh yeah, this is it for me. Like, even though back then it wasn't like there was no hype around other dance teams like that. Like, the only thing I knew I'm from South Florida was Cookman. I knew fam, you didn't have any dancers, so I'm like I went to the Florida Classic and it changed my life. Like, I was 10 years old going to the Florida classic, and I just was like, Who's that? What are they doing? I don't want to run track no more, I want to be one of them. I didn't know where to find them, like I didn't know any of those things. Like my sister, my older sister, she went to cook me, but she told me, like, she was like, Yeah, it's hard. Because she even tried to audition for them. So she was like, Oh wow. Oh, yeah, daddy. She's like, Oh yeah, it's hard. I'm like, for real? I'm like, dang, maybe I ain't gonna make it. But like I said, I I just I just made sure I was on YouTube because back then they were dancing in the videos, like it was real choreography. Like, yeah, they was hard. Hard choreography, like, baby, you got this. If you can get this, D, I feel like you can get anything else. But one thing about it, I just felt like God bless me with this skill set to kind of learn things so quickly. Like, I can't do it with nothing else, but with dance, I can look at you by the second time, I'm gonna be doing it with you. Like, that was one of my gifts that I had. Praise God. That was that was a gift that I had, and I had a lot of power and I had a energy, but I also I was hungry for it. Like, if you're hungry for it, you'll go for it by any means necessary. Like, there should be no ifs, ands, buts about it, especially with the resources. Yeah, everybody should just be like a pro dancer right now. Like, y'all gotta need. It's like it's it's it's right here, feed up.

SPEAKER_00 18:33

Right. And to be honest, the only thing that's standing in between them and participating in the plethora of resources available is the money. But like you said, I remember um one of my former students that was uh she she didn't have no issues, she would ask all the teachers every time she was, and we knew like her family situation. But because we would see her so hungry, everybody, we would be in the break room talking about, okay, well, if y'all give you what she said now, she said what's you all she needs? Okay, so oh, you gonna get that? Okay, well, if you get that, everybody is rallying around because we see her working so hard on her goals that like ain't no way she's not gonna do the things. Like, we just gotta figure it out. And girl, what else you need? And then what else? You know, so I feel like, you know, like you said, if a lot of times some girls that, you know, they're scared to ask people, or you know, there's some families that's you know, some parents that don't want to appear to be, you know, in a situation, but it's like, girl, I'm gonna run a fundraiser too.

SPEAKER_01 19:42

It's gonna be a great outcome. It's gonna be a great outcome because my mama cannot stop talking about me. Like she cannot. I'm like, mama, you gotta chill.

SPEAKER_02 19:54

She be proud of her baby.

SPEAKER_01 19:56

Yeah, she be proud, but you know, it it took a village. Like my parents, my teachers, like everybody poured into me because they they knew, like, oh, we know you're gonna be something great. We we about to push you. Like, whether it was with track, because I ran track my entire life. So when I switched over, it was like it shocked everybody. Everybody like, you not running no more. Like, you ran your entire life. I'm like, yeah, I kind of want to do something different because I want to be the girl in the goal. I want to be the girl in the goal. I don't know who that is, but I want to be her. So, what I need to do. So, yeah, it's you gotta have a village behind you, but they gotta see that you want it. If they don't see that you want it, I'm not gonna pour into you. I'm not gonna waste my time. That's even like today's age. Like, I'm not pouring into any young lady that you don't even look like you want to be a what for what? For what? But then he said it's favoritism, it's not favoritism. I'm just pouring into whoever wants to receive it. If you don't want to receive it, why waste my time? It don't make sense at the end of the day. But like you say, that young lady, I'm glad y'all helped her because you need more people like that. Like this generation, like, needs like a village behind them to get to where they need to go. But yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 21:10

So, okay, so say we make it to the collegiate level, right? We did all the things that we were supposed to do, we were working really hard, and now we're here. What do we need to do to maintain? You got how many girls you got on your team?

SPEAKER_01 21:25

Now, yeah, or last year, but we haven't announced it like it's a drastic difference. It's not drastic.

SPEAKER_00 21:35

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 21:36

So I guess you can't let's see, ten to twelve. It's always between it's it never goes over twelve.

unknown 21:44

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 21:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 21:45

That's a that's a lot of personalities, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 21:48

It is.

unknown 21:49

It is.

SPEAKER_00 21:51

You got a staff though, is is you have a like an assistant?

SPEAKER_01 21:55

No, it's just me.

SPEAKER_00 21:56

Oh, yeah, yeah. That's enough. That that's more than enough. females on a team for sure yeah just you but i mean at least i have my cat and she kind of like smooths everything out like i don't have to i don't have to worry at all like i'm like hey what y'all oh that's nice like i come there you make something up that's cute too i love it so go ahead and what else y'all got okay yeah just just let me know like i love that oh you made the field show too great i love it make my job easy i just want to come sit say that looks great everyone's doing a nice job and i just want to go home that's it's just place the orders i place a couple orders that's it yeah that's it but when you're on these collegiate team i don't think they understand like you have to treat it like in this audition like it's an audition every year is an audition because you have to re-audition yeah you you gotta set the tone from the time you audition to the ending of audition and every year it's it's the same thing it just keeps going this is auditioning because when you come back to audition you don't want no problems you don't want nobody to be like hey you was a little lazy hey you wasn't showing up how you supposed to show up hey this year you kind of went a little lil what's going on because then if somebody new come in and take that spot what you gonna do baby thank you thank you but no thank you so okay okay since you mentioned that what's a time you can think of that was like they weren't pulling their weight and you had to you know and but eventually because I don't want to say the time when you had to let them go okay but I'm saying when they were able because everybody and I guess the point I'm making is everybody make mistakes. So you can actually fall off but you can get right back and you can still be honest because I can now see that you you know what would happen. So like can you think of a time and maybe not specifics but just you know a gist of a story with when they kind of missed the mark a little bit and you were stern you stay you know you stayed on them and then they became a better person because of that even if it was after they left because sometimes they don't appreciate things until later.

SPEAKER_01 24:10

You know remember when you was so hard on me I I definitely do uh this one she she's a she's I hold a deer to my heart but um she's been around the team for a little minute but um she ventured off you know I had to have a hard talk with her I'm like hey it's it's time we gotta let go we gotta let go we grown now we gotta let go we gotta do different things you you have overgrown this and I want to see you in this light and I helped her I said but if you need help I'm gonna help you I helped her along the way and she became a Miami heat dancer that was so good.

SPEAKER_00 24:49

At first she was oh she was hot with me she was like oh you you just you you don't want me I'm like it's not that it's your time like I see you're miserable why are you gonna be somewhere where you're miserable like I don't I don't like this for you I feel like you outgrown this program you it's time to venture off they don't like it that I pushed them but you needed to be pushed because then you would have been stuck here miserable dancing to your full of potential and then possibly lost your love for dance all because I'm just trying to like make you stay nah that's not what you want to do it's not what you want to do so tell me what you want to do what you want to do for the future what does that look like like I have to have these have I have to have these hard conversations with them yeah it's hard but it somebody has to do it somebody gotta stop patting your back in maybe it's okay no no it's time we got we gotta spread the wings now we gotta spread these wings but she can testify to it but she calls me every day she's like thank you so much coach 10 without you I'll probably still be stuck I but now what you know because sometimes they'll say they'll say things like they you know they if you gotta push them out they don't know I don't know which one do I don't know I don't know did she actually know that she wanted to do Miami heat or was that a goal but she was just wanting to stay I think it was it was a goal but like you say like you know how you feel like you just not ready like you you scare you scared go for it.

SPEAKER_01 26:20

That's what it was it's like you have the resource in front of you I was a heat dancer for three years. Use me girl use me to your full ability use me because that's what I'm able I'm like so if that's what you want to do if this is a goal of yours I'll help you reach that goal but I felt like that's something she really wanted to do but I think she was just so scared to go for it. I don't know why I was like you're beautiful you have the look you have the dance ability all you got to do is train. Yeah I trained her for six months six months the minute she thought that she was gonna slip oh I feel tired that I said don't call my phone no more she said no no no I'm gonna be that day oh okay please let me know what you're gonna do because don't waste my time my time is precious I'm trying to help you I'm trying to help you so don't waste my time like I'm just I'm cutthroat about it because I have a passion for dance like I started from nothing like I really had to grind it out like and I don't think people understand like grinding that out like that was like that was a crazy thing for me to do but it just be like I grind it out and I just be like I accomplish a lot so I'm proud of it. I'm proud of where I where I came from who I am now in the dance world like did I ever think that would be here like this in the dance world no because I thought I was gonna run truck on my body I thought I was gonna be in the Olympics like you might can still pull up to the Olympics now.

SPEAKER_00 27:50

You might I might I don't I I might can I still got a little speed because I be racing my nephew so I got a little speed behind but I'm just like that'll be on my bucket list something just to do spontaneous like bitch just trying to go for the Olympics yeah I'm about to push it 40 so I might not need to so I don't know they ain't got no like um over 30 over 40 categories I'm asking against the the children because if you got to race against the children then yeah I'm yeah I'm burned I'm burning you kids have been training their entire life yeah I stopped to be a dancer so yeah no this body is not track body it's full dancer body that's what this body is it's full dance body that's it full dance body now you did though mention about your captain and how helpful she is and how she takes initiative I've spoken to a lot of coaches that are having the hardest time I guess in a sense training uh leadership you know um getting them to fully understand what you need or want from them at that level because you know on a high school level for you know when you were captain on a high school level you didn't have as much responsibility the coach pretty much handled everything you just had to call you know lead the stands and you know maybe pass a message or two but but now on a collegiate level there's far more responsibility because y'all grown you all grown you're very grown so what what are you doing to train your leadership to be that way I think I just set the example like I'm the example of everything so it's kind of like they take heed to what I do and who I am as a person.

SPEAKER_01 29:44

Like they're very stern they know when to lay their hair down a little bit but not too much. They know when it's time to work they know when it's time to play I think I just set the example for them to know what it is or my expectations of what I look for like if this is how I'm gonna lead it then this is how I want you to lead it. Like it should be like me and you are the same person. If I'm here the team should run the same if you here the team should run the same it's no if and buts about it. Like I think it's just like you kind of know you see it throughout the season you kind of see who take on to your tactics a little bit and who kind of like lean a little bit more towards you to figure out you know what it is you look for. And sometimes they ask me you know what it is that you look for in the cabin and I tell them if you can't deliver this then this is not the job for you. Yeah it's a business it's a business your your job is here to dance you're gonna be the dancer I'm gonna coach I shouldn't have to coach I'm just a director I oversee everything.

SPEAKER_00 30:48

I make sure you look good your hair look good the routine everything look good all this extra stuff you know but what are your non-negotiables though like what do you have like a set consistent because I feel like in order for a a dancer or or a captain to mirror what a coach is doing the coach has to be doing things consistently for them to pick up on that just this generation don't they don't get like if you all over the place they don't know what the norms are so it's harder for them to they have then you leave them to have to figure something else out or like figure it out on their own. So you have to be doing something consistently for them to be able to mirror what you've already done.

SPEAKER_01 31:32

I think with me I just stay consistent I'm a real consistent person like people will know how my day is gonna go people is going to know what I eat like my family like oh what you eat they can name the things that I'm going to eat like that's how consistent I am I think I'm just consistent with the way I run practice there's no in between there's nothing this is how we're gonna when I get there we warm up we do our laps okay we're gonna run stands okay we're gonna do this like it's like strategic and I'm not I'm not here to play with y'all you should either got it or you cut which one figure it out that's it you got it or you cut because what were you doing? What were you doing to not know what's happening? I think it's just you got to be consistent across the floor like across the board with everybody it's no you're gonna get treated this way. No everybody's getting treated the same way it is what it is did you practice? No okay well then you cut like they just know I don't play like I'm not here to play with y'all like this is a job you're getting a scholarship for this treat it like a job. Well oh well speaking of all your girls got may get money oh yes we do they give they give the girl scholarship they do give the girl now when you say scholarship you mean like book scholarship you talk about like half when you talk about full rise what you talk about I don't know because sometimes it varies because sometimes if they're if they're like missing a few thousand they may help them some of them they just have the siphon money it'd be like 30 what 35 3500 or so it's not much but it's something yeah it's something rather than it's nothing yeah so I mean but there's not many many of these HBCU dance collegiate they don't give their girls scholarships.

SPEAKER_00 33:23

It's only like maybe six it's only like six to seven teams that doesn't and I don't understand why why are we not paying the girls to listen why why not paying these girls you got to find some fun and and that's why I was saying I was saying to somebody recently too like parents don't even believe that there's such a thing because it's really almost nonexistent. And I do feel like there are some schools that don't talk about it because they don't give it to them up front maybe freshmen don't get it um and then sometimes it's like well we won't advertise it but if you make the team I got a few dollars for you you know I think it's like the leftover money to be honest it's not that's why they can't tell you nothing up front for some of them for some of the programs it's what we got left that's what I can get for you type of thing.

SPEAKER_01 34:12

But I should be getting paid the girls should have scholarships like I feel like the girls work just as hard as the band members like the time and energy to like to be creative to do all these stametines to do a field show to to uphold the standard of the look your hair but just I just feel like why are we not giving out scholarships?

SPEAKER_00 34:35

Yeah like dance is a real thing like dance is a real thing it's sad but they're not so okay well that's good okay so they're getting money so yeah you're gonna have to go ahead and pull up and act right you can't act right yeah for sure or you fire you fired you fired the scholarship money gone which what you want us to do like figure it out it's a job pull up to your job do your job as a dancer that's just it nobody cares about the day that you had I had a bad day too I've been at work all day my morning starts at five o'clock and it don't end till about 11 o'clock at night five o'clock because I teach at the middle school so I'm at the middle school what time school starts 7 30 we get out early so I I love okay yeah and then in the in the morning I don't have a class so I'm planning from 7 30 to nine o'clock so I don't have a class in the morning so yes first period plan is great it's perfect I love it first period first period and lunch are my favorite oh yeah but I'm not a morning I'm not a morning person so it works out perfectly fine I'm like I don't even say good morning to the children in the morning I be like go sit down it's too early to be talking so it works out perfectly fine for me so I'm not a morning person so in the afternoon I'm more like up like I'm ready to dance so if it's okay with me I love it I love it okay all right so then so then okay so boom you start your day you get there the leadership they already got everything going you don't really have to say much are you meeting though with them to discuss your goals or things that you need to have accomplished by a particular deadline like how how do they know what to push out when to push it out do you do you meet with them or they just know I only speaking to the leader and that's it.

SPEAKER_01 36:36

Yeah that's what I'm saying with your I see I speak with yeah I speak with her and we kind of do like a little a touch basis like even right now like we touching basis over the summer because they're getting material sent out so we make sure we kind of like meet we even meet up because it's like it's imperative to make sure like you stay on point as a leader as well. So I even meet with my captain just to meet up just to go over some things get her input hear my input to see what we can meet on like balance it out. Like I don't just want to seem like I'm just overpowering a team because you know they do have great ideas. I'm never shutting down the great ideas I'm open to all ideas.

SPEAKER_00 37:15

If it look good I love it kudos to y'all but we definitely do meet we do talk um just to get inspiration ideas you know she has lots of ideas so she's like I feel like she just get up and be like hey we're gonna do this we're gonna do that she's ready to dance like yeah and I be like oh you ready so it seems like she's gonna keep me on my toes this year for sure love that now okay she's not returning she's not a returning captain she wasn't leadership last year I guess is what I'm asking no so my my last year captain uh she's she's on tour right now so touring got crazy for her she was actually touring while being a lioness's dancer so but it kind of got like too crazy just like I'm too busy like I commend her like I'm like this is what I wanted for you like I want these things for my girls I want y'all to go be professional dancers I want you to tour and see the world because you're young you should you should live life a little bit so she's touring she works with different artists right now so she did give me a heads of like stand I'm not coming back and I'm like what like in my mind I'm like what am I gonna do because I've I've land on you being two years counting it so it's like you sure like you gonna leave me like and I had her since she was 14 because I was her high school coach so it was like I watched her from a kid like she followed me to the lioness and so and I just like to see her grow and dance like in a professional setting and see her on these big stages it just make me so proud like oh I did my job I I feel good about that yeah so I wasn't I wasn't mad at her at all I'm just like just made me proud I say but one thing you better promise me you better finish school I don't care what's going on in the world you need a degree you need a backup plan you need something I always tell them school is the most important thing ever because that's what my mama told me like she always be like oh that dancer stuff real cute but what you gonna do after that like and I was like you know what you might be right mom you might be right so I did I do I do have a degree in education I do have my master's in reading so I was a primary teacher for 10 years but my principal always knew that I was a dancer so when the opportunity presented itself for me to be a dance teacher I'm like cool why not I don't want to be in the classroom anyways so I started being a dance teacher but like my captain I'm so well my previous captain I'm super proud of her but my new captain this year is crazy I don't know if anybody ever did this before but she was a freshman last year on the team so this this is gonna be her second year on the team this is gonna be her second year on the team so that's why I meet with her to kind of like she has also you said she hasn't coached her high school though so you already knew her temperament so this is the same no my previous captain the captain from last year you coached her i i coached her i never coached this young lady who's the captain this year oh never never i never encountered anything with her my only encounter with her is when she got when she danced with me last year so so it's still like she's still kind of like trying to figure out the style a little bit because it is different from where she comes from like we a more down south team we're a little bit more urban we're a little bit more get low in your squat like we give it to you like it's it's power it's fierce it's energy so it's her trying to like still kind of fill us out and find that style of the lionesses but she has it she has the passion she has the drive she's I mean she's a force to be reckoned with yeah you have to have seen it like when you got it you got it though that's that's what it is like you can you can kind of see it throughout the season I I can see it like at first you know I thought my captain was coming back but then I'm like when she hit me with that I'm like oh I really need to pay attention right now like I'm thrilled like I don't know what to do but I was like is this gonna make sense like if I'm gonna be crazy for doing that like I never heard of a freshman being a captain well no because my first year captain she was a freshman and she had to become a captain um I think to be honest I'm sure it happens I mean you know yeah we don't usually know the backstory of it but I'm sure it happens I mean because it because in situations like this you never know correct what moves you gotta make but but that's why the girls gotta stay ready they think it's like sometimes I think they think like well they're not looking at me yet because they're not gonna pick well I mean but what if they can and and what if you shine it more to her I'm looking the entire time I'm looking from the time you audition to the ending of the next audition I'm gonna continue to look I'm gonna see everything you do everything that you have done I'm gonna read it back to you I'm gonna read it back to you because you think I'm not watching I'm watching everything I watch everything if one thing my coach ain't teach me when I was at cooking he he watched everything and you're gonna know he watched everything he's gonna tell you what you did like what so you think you need to come back here I be like you know what let me just let me just do what I need to do as a dancer so I don't get that that's that list right there and that story I don't I don't want to be that girl at all I never want to be that girl I never want to be the girl that told you can't come back like what what what you need like especially nowadays with the social media because you know back then you can move around and do a whole lot of things and nobody knew but now yeah social media got you in the truck hole you gotta watch what you're over I mean y'all you just got let go five minutes later it's already it's already out viral it's crazy like living in this day and age is why I I have a love hate relationship for social media I really do I can't I just cannot take so I feel like why is there social media why why y'all gotta put everything on there why don't just know I just I gotta hate keeping up with I gotta keep up with it I gotta keep posting I gotta keep I don't want to do none of that I just want to be a coach training who I need to train like I don't understand but everything you know it's this new generation so I guess you gotta thrive now this is how they thrive again you

SPEAKER_01 44:00

Right, and that's how you get booked. That's how you get booked.

SPEAKER_00 44:03

It's I mean, it's your whole resume real at this point. Like book a job, uh anything, you know, which is also the girls gotta they don't really sometimes put the dancing stuff on there, but if you want to dance real, you're gonna have to put it on there.

SPEAKER_01 44:18

Yeah, what you doing to get the to get the job, to get the job, you're gonna have to put it on there.

SPEAKER_00 44:22

You're gonna put it on there. Um, okay, so then so then if they once they are leaving, like you said, you got your baby that she flew, she flew from the nest. Okay, how are you training the girls or what what what would be your method of training to get them ready for the next level? When do you even start that process? Like, if they're okay, you see the potential, you see the talent, then it's like, okay, well, like you talk, like you saw, oh girl, it's wish you wish a ghost. She was like, Oh, I know like go. How how what's your method of of getting them up out of there and moving on to a more professional opportunist?

SPEAKER_01 45:03

I do it now. I start now. I know a lot of dance teams don't allow their girls to kind of like venture off a little bit, but I feel like you're in your prime. That's when it's supposed to happen. Like, you don't want to be a late bloomer like me, like I was 24 or 25, somewhere in there. But I I let them go take dance classes, I put them in the rooms with these choreographers who I know work with these artists. I want you to go show your face. I want you go to to try something different, like, because sometimes it's hard as an HBCU dancer to transfer to a professional dancer because you're so stuck on like this style of dancing when you don't have no swag. I always tell them, they'll tell you real quick. My girlfriend's like, oh, Cosine gonna tell you you ain't got no swag. Like when I dance, I dance with a lot of swag. It's very swaggy, it's very texturized. They be, how you move your body like that? I'm like, don't worry about it, you ain't got no swag. You have no swag, baby. So, what you need to go do is you need to go take some dance classes so you can be very swaggy. I said, But I was just like them, so I know. When I came from out of Cookman, my movements were so big, but I danced so fast. The people was like, Can you please slow down? Just we want to see your face for a second. But that's because I didn't go take those classes I needed. So I allow my girls to go take a hip-hop class, a technique class, but I want them to be in a room with those choreographers. I send them to New York. I'm sending you to Cali. I'm sending you to Atlanta. You need to be in their face because they're looking for new dances every single time. I want you to be in those rooms. And will I be sad that you leave it like Macadney? Yes, I will, but at least I know I did my job. Yeah. Like, I don't want you to think like this is just it. I want you to know it's something beyond like being a collegiate dancer in a band. Like, I want you to stretch your wings as far as you can go. So I never limit my dances, and I think my dancers appreciate that the most because they be like, yeah, nah, these other coaches aren't letting us do that. Like, for you to even let us do that, like, that's a plus. I'm like, yeah, like y'all should be able to. Like, that's the only way you're gonna be a great dancer. Like, versus you doing it all four years, graduating, you trying to go dance professionally, but you getting cut because you you just don't have no no sense of anything. You just I'm gonna dance big and I'm gonna do this. Nah, it comes with more than that.

SPEAKER_00 47:27

Or they go in them auditions and be strutting, girl. Go on, do not strut in here.

SPEAKER_01 47:32

Do not get out. What are you doing? This is this is not the eight, this is not the best thing.

SPEAKER_00 47:39

That is the very first indication that you ain't never did this before. This how they come in here. He's like, look around, read the room. You see anybody else doing that? You see nobody else coming here like this?

SPEAKER_01 47:51

I tell I tell them, I say, please don't be like me. I said, I went to the heat auditions with a major red outfit on. They said, This is why we said this why we ain't picky right here. This you right here? I said, Yes, it is. He said, That's why we ain't pick you. What you had on? I said, I don't know. I didn't know. Like, I did not know. I really did not know. I'm just like, oh, I'm a great dancer, they're gonna pick me. But then I said, Nah, they ain't fit me, so I had to go do my research again. Research.

SPEAKER_00 48:19

So your first year you didn't make it your first time.

SPEAKER_01 48:22

The first year I didn't make the heat. So then I went and auditioned for the Panthers because my godmom, she worked there and she knew how upset I was. I literally cried 40 minutes home. That's a long drive to be crying. I cried for 40 minutes, and she was like, just go audition for the Panthers. I'm like, whatever, I see. So I went and auditioned. I actually made it, but I'm glad that I did make it because it like it helped prepare me for the heat. Like it helped me know like the business side of it, like the logic of how I need to present myself, how I need to speak, how my hair needs to be, how my makeup should be, like, what is my look? I kind of like find myself with dancing for the Panthers versus me going in blind kind of. So when I went back to the heat, they was like, Oh, where you been at? I was like, Oh, I was here, y'all cut me. Like, just like me cut you, you sure? I said, Yes. So he found a picture of me. He was like, wait a minute, is this you? Pulled it up in the interview. They died laughing at me. I was like, Yes, that's me. They was like, You look like a toddler with your little outfit on then because it's like it's me, and then you I was standing next to a heat dancer. Mind you, you look like she looked like a grown woman. Like, I said, and I just got everything covered up. Like, I'm like, I don't know. I said, Well, I really didn't know. I said, but thanks to the Panthers, I kind of know now. I know what I should look like, like, so it helped prepare me for the heat, and I actually ended up making a dance for the Panthers for two years, and then I told my coach, I was like, All right, I think I'm gonna try to go back and audition for the heat. I think I'm ready now, and I actually made it, so yeah, you know, it's it's a lesson learned. It's a nice lesson, but again, y'all got to do y'all research dances, do your research. But that's what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_00 50:09

That's like we said, it's so many resources now. Like, ain't no way you ain't no way you're doing that. Ain't no way you're doing that. Read the room, read the room. They are not coming in here like this. Please don't do that. Please don't wear that. I wasn't even what they're wearing.

SPEAKER_01 50:23

I wasn't even reading the room. I'm just like, yeah, I'm a dancer, I can dance, put me on the team. I wasn't even reading the room. That was crazy. I look back at that, I laughed so hard. I was like, I can't believe I wore that. Like, what was I even thinking? Like, I said, but you know what? You live and you learn. It is what it is. But I made it, so I was grateful, and I had the opportunity to be on there for three years. So I'm like, I'm grateful for that. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 50:49

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_01 50:50

For sure.

SPEAKER_00 50:52

Okay, so what now? How do you um what what would you consider to be a training for someone that's say they graduated, they're pursuing, you know, opportunities professionally, but what should they be doing to maybe prepare themselves or put themselves in a position to get a coaching job? Or, you know, so like what should they be doing outside of just like dance training? Because, you know, and and too, a lot of dancers believe, right? Because they really believe that the dance is just my dancing, my dance ability will get me there. But but then you also have to have a personality, you have to still have some integrity, you still have to be, you know, so like what else should they be doing outside of the dancing to prepare them for the next day.

SPEAKER_01 51:39

You should be in the rooms where these these choreographers are, like you should be mixing and mingling, you should be putting yourself out there in the in a like manner where it's likable, like where to where it's like years later, they can still come back to you. Like, I tell them, like, I I know I tell my dancers, like, make sure your face is good everywhere. Because you just never know. You never want to like kind of dirty your face. Like, even my dancers can't tell me, like, oh, your face is so good. Like, people, people love you. Like, what you be doing? I say, I stay true to me. Yeah, I don't I never I never switched up for anything. I stayed true to who I was as a person, as a dancer. I made sure I was networking. I've just made sure I was in those rooms where they were. How I looked, my presentation, how you carry yourself, because now social media is out. So now I gotta make sure what my social media look like. Is it a pleasing to them? Like, am I carrying myself in a great manner? Am I speaking well? Like, it's a time and a place for everything. You kind of just gotta know, like, I'm gonna be this person here, but then you know, with my friends, I can be a different person. Like, everybody can't everybody can't get it.

SPEAKER_00 52:55

Cold switching.

SPEAKER_01 52:56

Oh, I be cold switching, but yeah, I don't know. Yeah. But I just think like you just you just have to just you just have to be mindful of everything around you and how you carry yourself. The way you carry yourself can take you a long way with dancing. Like, I would never forget, like, I think I came, we went to Paris with the band, and we came back. Literally the next day, I had somebody call me, like, no audition, just call me. Hey, what you doing? You gonna dance for the city girls? I said, Oh, sure, bet. Because my face is good. Yeah, I can't.

SPEAKER_00 53:35

Somebody threw your name around when you weren't there, and that's the part a lot of them don't, you know, they're not understanding how how this works. It's it's the that three degrees of separation is very real. And to to make an impact on people so much so that they're speaking your name in rooms before you even get there is like the type of presence you're gonna have, and they're not um, they're not grasping that part. And I I do feel like there are high schools. I think it's I think it has to start in high school too, to push because, like you said, a lot of a lot of girls don't know, and they may not get this at home. So on being a part of the team is a good opportunity to learn new skills, and and then so that's where we gotta start having the conversation. Like, um, yeah, like this person.

SPEAKER_01 54:30

I became a very disciplined young lady thanks to Batul Club University. Because I was a little look, I was like, I'm gonna say what I want to say, and I'm gonna say how I want to say it. I was just very hot-headed. Like my coach would tell you, he be like, Maybe I could tell you a story about this girl. I'm like, I know you can tell Mr. Helmet. He could tell you some stories, but he be so proud of me. He'd be like, Look at where you go. I was like, thanks to you. Because if it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be who I am there. I wouldn't know how to carry myself in these rooms and knowing like the last impression that you leave on somebody, like leave with someone goes a long way. Like, I don't think they understand that. Like, who you are as a person, like that that goes along with your character as a dancer. Like, they gotta understand that. Like, you can't be switching because this is what's going on over here, that's what's going on over there. Just stay true to who you are, and everything's gonna fall into place. It's gonna fall into place as long as you keep doing being you, doing you, and just just be in that light, just be in that light for everybody, and everything's gonna fall into place. But I'm praying, I'm gonna pray this generation again.

SPEAKER_00 55:42

They're gonna get it, they're gonna get it. I think it, I think definitely though, before before, before they get it, we will have to get the coaches on board. And that's what that's kind of where this this, you know, how this all started with this whole movement of a podcast, having these types of discussions is more so about because from a coach, it's we're we're responsible for this generation. And if we don't get it right, they don't get it right. And so that's where I think we're not we're missing opportunities with making sure they are prepared to show up at your auditions. Like, I and I mean not just not just in their dancing, like there's other aspects that because I don't care how great you dance, if you got a bad attitude, no, thank you. You know, so it's like having just those types of like you got to teach all the things. All of this is a part of the process, not just the dancing. And that's that's why I feel like we just are having a lot of missed opportunities and a lot and it is um they're not realizing those that are really talented are not realizing that there's there's more, like there's more beyond the HBCU aspect. So which is that's that's what I was telling you earlier. Like that's why I wanted to talk to you because I'm like, you've been there, you've seen it, and you came from, like you said, from the bottom, like you had to teach yourself, like you, but you still had goals and you were pushing towards these things that to some a lot of these girls today that's unattainable, like they couldn't fathom. Right. Because they don't believe that they belong in those spaces. So, but you did. They do like I don't know how to dance, but I'm about to figure this out. I really want to do it.

SPEAKER_01 57:22

I'm gonna figure it out. I figured it out, and I put myself, I put myself in many rooms that I didn't even think I should be in. Like, just coming from my background, you know, being black already, that's just like a black woman, and it's like you you you uphill to the caliber, it's no mistakes with you, like, and I think our black women have to understand, like, when you auditioning, you gotta come top tier. I mean, it's it's it's a lot harder for us. We don't know why, but that is it is what it is. But it's either you're gonna come with it or you're gonna get left. And I baby, I came with it every time, every single time. I played no games, no games. I'm like, yeah nah.

SPEAKER_00 58:08

It was probably outshine it and probably outshine some girls that have been training in the studio oh yes for years, but that doesn't make you like, you know what I'm saying? That doesn't make you have a personality, that doesn't make you have, like you said, the swag. There's some bun heads. I remember I couldn't do hip-hop, like because I grew up, I was one of them grew up in the studio, I could not do hip-hop. It was like I was probably seen years still struggling because I had been so pulled up doing my little jazz and hip-hop competition dancer. And I'm like, do what? I mean, it wasn't until I got the Morris Brown. I literally got and I had made the basketball dance team. I was on bubbling, but when I made that basketball dance team and it was hip-hop-based, I was like, I'm gonna get behind this girl because I can do the step, you know what I'm saying? But it looked real probably robotic. So, but it was one girl, oh, I won't forget, she was killing it. I was like, I want to dance just like her, and I would dance behind her every practice because I wanted I need my body to what how did she get her body to move like that? And that's what I want to do. So I just had to that's exactly what I do. Basically, I train with her in practice. Yeah, that's it.

SPEAKER_01 59:15

So do that again, do it again, stand in front of me and do that again because I need to figure this out. Yeah, we're gonna figure it out together, but you know it, and I need to know it.

SPEAKER_00 59:26

Yeah, so sure. So even if you know they don't have this that you didn't start training when you was three. Well, baby, get going, get started right now. Like it's sometimes that don't even matter.

SPEAKER_02 59:39

Yeah, that don't even matter.

SPEAKER_01 59:40

I have people oh, I've been I've been four years old. It's not giving four, like what? Because what somebody lied, somebody lied, yeah. It don't matter where you start.

SPEAKER_00 59:52

I started I don't even ask no more. Yeah, how long you've been dancing. I I'll find out in a minute. Let's get started.

SPEAKER_01 59:58

Tell me what you can do because I I started late. So what just because you was dancing at four, it don't mean nothing. Like it's not gonna give, it's not giving four, it's giving I don't even know what it's giving. It's giving yesterday. You just started dancing. What are you doing? What are you doing?

SPEAKER_00 1:00:17

No, no, most definitely. So, well, I guess last but not least, I know you have um a training program that you do. Yes, so can you just give us a little snippet about what you offer, what you're doing, what what types of talent are you training, and what are you training them for?

SPEAKER_01 1:00:35

So most of them are training for you know, either their high school dance team or collegiate dance team, um, whether it's brushing up on your technique skills, across the floors, performance, stamina ability, um, pretty much of that matter. It's like a two-a two-hour class that I do maybe every Wednesday. But I do host my hip hop jams. They love those. I host my ride out classes. Everybody likes to ride out down south. Rideout, what's that? I mean, y'all, y'all call it booking, but it's it's actually called ride now. Oh, it started from the bottom of the map.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:09

The way y'all kind of okay, we can go back.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:14

We go forward. So we call that riding out of aka booty shaking. That's what it's called down south. So I teach ride out classes, and I also now start to do uh family hip hop jams where the families come together and they do like hip-hop jams. Like I just did a mama and me hip hop jam where the mamas came out of dance with their minis. It was cute. They dressed up. So that's that's kind of what I'm doing down here in South Florida.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:42

Now, do you do this as you have like your own studio or you like rent a space?

SPEAKER_01 1:01:46

No, I I actually rent a space down here. Um, she's a good friend of mine. Um, so you know, sometimes it's tick for tat, like you know, I help her, she helped me. It's kind of that thing, but we have a great relationship. So I use the dance studio here. It's not too far away from the house, it's right in the area. It's like where I grew up at. It's like homes. Like, so I I try to get everybody to come. I just want everybody to have a good time and have the things that I didn't have. Like, I think it's beautiful. Like when I see my classes, I just like this is just a beautiful healing. I don't care if it's one, two, three. I don't care who here. As long as you here, like it makes me happy that you here, like you want to do something. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:26

Wait, how how close is you said Fort Lauderdale, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:02:30

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:30

How close is that Fort Lauderdale?

SPEAKER_01 1:02:33

Orlando is like uh two hours.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:36

Oh, okay. Like two hours. I'm coming to Orlando soon. I was about to say, let me find out I gotta make a little detour or something. But no, I don't know. That's another trip.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:46

It's like two, yeah, it's it's two, it's two hours away. It's not that close. No. Okay. Oh, if you were saying you was in Palm Beach, like Palm Beach, it's Palm Beach Browder in Miami. So like those are like the tri the tri-state city right there. So if you like in Palm Beach, it's nothing for you to like draw the browder or me draw to Palm Beach, like or your high school you went to?

SPEAKER_00 1:03:09

I know a lot of the um Miami high schools, I see their uh posts, like their dancers and stuff like that. What high school did you go to?

SPEAKER_01 1:03:16

Yeah, I went to I went to Boy H. Anderson High School. It's in Lauderdale 8. Oh my cobra.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:23

I heard of that one. They they got like a their band be like out there like that, or they dancers.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:30

Well, now they are. They just started back, they rebuilt the program. So it's getting there. It's uh they actually did good because we just had RFS. They were actually good. So they they they they come. Okay, okay, we had a good time, but I had a good time.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:44

Yeah, I like what I see out there. Because them Florida teens, them Florida teens, they different, baby. They they differ. It is it's nothing like it, nowhere else, okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:54

No, it's nothing, it's nothing like Florida. We love it down here. It's the the sun is shining, we booty shaking, we're riding out, we doing it.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:03

The way y'all dress and everything, it's it's a whole nother something else. Like the culture is way different.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:09

Even when I go somewhere, they be like, Where you from? You from I'd be like, Oh, I'm from down south, like the bottom of the mouth. They be like, Yeah, that gives you be like your outfits be to a T, like your hair. And I'm like, Is that not how you're supposed to be?

SPEAKER_00 1:04:22

What not? It'd be your colors, and then like you is now okay. Now I'm from Atlanta, so you probably hear my Atlanta accent, but I can also hear your Florida accent for sure.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:32

Like it's really they say I don't I don't understand like what it sounds like.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:36

I mean it sounds like the Florida girls. Uh I can't I can't describe it, and I guess they can't talk like you or nothing, but really I feel like it's just I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:50

I feel like it's just a normal, I don't know, it seemed normal to me. I think I've just been around so many cultures, so I don't know. I feel like I can tell the difference. Like, well, I don't know if they from North Carolina or something. I thought they was Bahamian at one point.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:04

I was like, where are you from?

SPEAKER_01 1:05:06

Yeah, South Carolina, like it was like North Carolina, you're right.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:10

They do.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:11

It's like, but I thought they were Bahamian because that's how Bahamians speak. Like that's what I'm like, are you from the Bahamas?

SPEAKER_00 1:05:16

Oh, because they sound like in the Bahamas, they sound just like that.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:22

Like I was like, you not from the Bahamas? Then no, I'm from South Carolina. I'm like, okay, yeah, it's yeah, it's it's it's weird there too.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:31

Now that was something I learned. Like I said, coming from Atlanta, I went to South Carolina State. I after went going to Morris Brown, then I transferred to South Carolina State. And yeah, I was I was taken aback too. Like I had never, I didn't know the people in South Carolina could sound like that. So it was really throwing me away. Even even outside of I forget what they call it now. I can't even, they gonna get me too, but I can say it's a it's their culture of where they're where they're from is called uh up. Is it uh up state? It's I don't know. Anyway, but it's a it's a certain region, it's a certain region of South Carolina that they call it, that all of them's talk like that. And it's so it's not just Charleston, there's some other cities attached to that. They all sound, yeah, they all sound just like that. It's it's very, it's very strong. I've been in South Carolina for three years, I was like, this is interesting. Well, yes, Tan, I really feel like um the people are gonna get it. They're gonna get it. And I and I wanna see, um, and I hope y'all comment um here or whether it's on uh Instagram, but I really want to like if you learn something, if you're feeling like you are making progress, I want y'all to let us know. Like, you know what I'm saying? Because I like I was telling you, saying I really feel like it's it's it gotta catch on for the word to get out even to the parents and you know, all the people that all the adults that are involved of gathering the girls from high school, and I won't even say for middle school because there's not always middle school opportunity, but from high school because before they get to you, um, yeah, then hopefully we can start making more progress with what we see in these auditions, um, and and what we see once they make it. Because sometimes we meet the representative or you know, it's the honeymoon phase, and it's like, well, what you got going on? Um so yeah, I really hope uh we can make an impact, you know, together, all of us. Um just spread the word to make sure that the kids are gonna start being showing up, being the best sales, and being more prepared, and that the parents will have to come on board with us to make sure they're doing the same thing. So, yes, girl, I am so glad you were able to uh join me today. I'm so thankful you thank you for having me to the invitation. Um you were definitely for having me.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:54

I appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:55

Great asset, great asset to have, you know, a person to have this conversation with um regarding, you know, elevating beyond the HBCU level and what we need to be doing to prepare. So I'm just so thankful and yeah, can't wait to come on to Fort Lauderdale so I can give me a little ride class. Right, to a ride out session, yes. I'll ride out. Right.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:17

I'll ride out, yes. You got to catch one of those.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:23

Right, everybody. So we've had a great time talking to Miss Tangela, um, better known as Tan. We had a great conversation. I'm so glad you guys tuned in. So I want to make sure you go and follow us at Major BusinessPod on Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook. Thank you all for watching. See you on the next.