I was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, and I have a brother and sister. We are all 7 years apart, and I am the baby. My mother was a Physical Education teacher, so I naturally gravitated to sports and outdoor activities, and I ran track from elementary through high school. My mother signed me up for dance classes in the 2nd grade, and I immediately fell in love, especially with ballet. I started playing the flute in 4th grade, which became my 2nd love. We’ll say track was my 3rd love. In middle school, I was introduced to Musical Theater and played leads in The Wiz and Annie. Dance, music, and acting—I just loved performing!!
Entering high school, I got serious with my dance training and transferred to a ballet company with a training program, where I studied ballet and pointe more extensively. I’ve always had a competitive nature, so I did everything I could to excel at ANYTHING I did—dance, flute, track, and academics! Upon graduation, I received an academic scholarship to attend THE Ohio State University, where I majored in Dance Education.
I had an amazing time at OSU and broadened my technical background in dance. While I still loved and trained in ballet, modern dance became my focus because of my body aesthetic. As soon as I completed my student teaching and graduated from OSU, I auditioned for a company in Philadelphia and was selected for their apprentice company. Because I was an apprentice, I received free training but was only paid for performances. Therefore I spent the year auditioning for companies that could offer me a paid contract with health benefits. I landed with a company in Los Angeles and spent three years there, also picking up commercial work as an actress. I landed my first commercial audition with McDonalds!
After LA, I danced with a company in Denver for two years, moved to NY for a year, and then landed a job dancing with Dallas Black Dance Theatre in 2008. I spent five years with the company before retiring as a professional dancer in 2013. After retiring, I tapped back into my Dance Education degree and have spent the past eight years on the dance faculty at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing Arts. In 2017 I co-founded Dance Up Dallas Summer Intensive with a great friend and dance colleague. The intensive runs each summer for two weeks offering extensive training in multiple dance forms to students ages 8 and up. In addition to teaching dance, I have always had a love for boxing and group fitness and was offered a job as a group fitness instructor at Equinox in 2018. It’s been a while since I’ve dabbled in commercial work, and I would like to get back into it soon. In the little spare time that I have, I love to soak up the sun at the pool, spend time with friends, and crochet.
As a young girl, I rode my 10-speed pink Huffy everywhere! And mostly with no hands! I missed riding my bike. Over the years, my main workout was running, walking, yoga, lifting weights, and boxing. But when Covid happened, and all the gyms closed, I got bored with running, especially because running outdoors didn’t always feel too good on my joints. In May 2020, I walked into the bike shop and said, “$300 is my budget”. I walked out with a $400 hybrid that I loved until I met some cyclists from Ride the DFW on my first ride, and they invited me out to a group ride. I arrived at the group ride of about 12 folks, and everyone had rounded handlebars except me and another girl.
I started riding with Ride the DFW, and they are my true cycling family. They are why I fell in love with cycling. In addition, I also ride with PBA, STCC, Major Taylor DFW, and occasionally catch rides with the Celina/Prosper group and the Ladies of Lyniate. Other than that, I am mainly solo on the trails around Dallas.
To learn and grow. I try to note how my body responds to different rides and pay attention to other riders and the advice they give me to be the best and strongest rider I can be.
Ebony Rose is her(BIKE) name! Trek Domane. Bike #4 in the 1st year of cycling! She’s sleek, light, fast, and has a lot of personality, just like her mama!
One major thing that propels me through life is the will to live life to the fullest! In May of 2015, that sentiment had even more value when I was diagnosed with Stage IV Breast Cancer.
One Sunday evening, I was getting dressed to go to dinner with a friend, and I just felt the lump. It was like it appeared out of nowhere. I called my gynecologist the next day for an appointment, and she thought it was just dense tissue but wanted to err on the side of caution, so she scheduled me for a mammogram that same week. The nurse conducting the mammography said it shouldn’t hurt, but when they did my left side, it hurt like hell! Afterwards, they did an ultrasound, and the technician said it didn’t look good. I was crushed.
I was completely devastated and shocked! How could this happen to me? I was young—36 at the time. I was extremely active and had a healthy diet. And I rarely got sick! It just didn’t make sense to me. I had so many doctor appointments, and previously I only saw the doctor during my yearly women’s exam. I had a different appointment every other day and was so overwhelmed with information that I didn’t even have time to process the severity of my diagnosis. Therefore, outside of my appointments, I carried on with life as usual.
Because my cancer was fueled by my estrogen, I would be put in early menopause for life. So I started with egg preservation in hopes of using the eggs in the future to have a child via surrogacy. That was a 3-week process, and then I immediately started chemo. I completed 16 rounds of aggressive chemotherapy infusions over the course of four and a half months. In addition, I also received monthly bone infusions since cancer had spread to two parts of my vertebrae. Several weeks after completing chemo, I had a double mastectomy, followed by recovery, hospitalization for a week due to infection, and then 5 weeks of daily radiation. Since then, I have had three more reconstructive surgeries. I take a daily pill and receive a monthly shot, both serve as estrogen suppressants.
Overall it didn’t seem like my journey (in regards to treatments) was that challenging because I stayed prayerful, positive, faith-filled, and had an amazing army of supporters (family, friends, colleagues, and students). I had complete faith that even with the cancer being in stage IV and spreading to my vertebrae, that I would be healed whole. I never got sick from chemo (in fact, it always made me feel like a superhero), so that was a bonus! Even losing my hair wasn’t bad. I had about 4 different wigs, which allowed me to be a different character every day! My mantra was seeing the rainbow through the clouds. Not having to shave my legs and underarms was a rainbow. And chemo had my skin looking like I was a porcelain doll—Rainbow!
The two hardest things I had to face though were 1: losing my natural breasts, which I thought were fabulous. The vanity in me was scared of the scars that were to come. I thought I would look mutilated after surgery, and 2: the fact that I was never going ever to be able to get pregnant and carry my own child. Being unable to physically birth a child because I was diagnosed with stage IV was the most painful news I had to bear.
I’ve gone through some shit…that makes you look at life differently. My faith in God is even more solid, and I am stronger and wiser and feel like there’s NOTHING I can’t do. Hell, I beat stage IV cancer! But on the physical side, there are a couple of things. Because my medications put me in early menopause, I have hot flashes that I’ve gotten used to now and just deal with. For the first couple of years of my journey, the hot flashes were quite frequent, and I would whip my church fan out of my purse and get to flicking my wrists. But as time has progressed, I only get them while I am sleeping (they wake me up about 2-3 times a night) and sometimes when I drink vino. In addition, I often get pains in my ribcage that wrap around my back (they feel like Charlie horses and often cause me to seize up). The pain is said to be due to scar tissue and the effects of radiation.
Your thoughts have power—fill them with positivity and faith! Do not let cancer or any ailment define you and what your body can do! Surround yourself with positive and uplifting individuals that will only be a light to your life, as any negativity is an absolute no, no! Tell yourself you are strong, and you will be strong! Tell yourself that you will be healed, and the healing will begin! And LIVE YOUR LIFE!
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in America for women, except for skin cancers, and over 300,000 cases are diagnosed each year. That’s 1 in 8 women (breast cancer can also affect men)! Breast cancer can be genetic (or, in my opinion, environmental), but there’s no true way to prevent it. Taking the precautionary steps to determine early detection is key. Early detection saves lives, and it is important to know the signs. It’s imperative to do monthly self-exams, and it’s important to get yearly mammograms over the age of 40.
Visit the link below to be aware of the early signs of breast cancer and how to conduct a self-examination.
https://tinyurl.com/33485rcn
Breast Self-Exam - National Breast Cancer Foundation
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