They say I have it all, Looks, brains, talent-and the opportunity to fall on my face in front of an enormous audience. It is what makes me human, and it’s what constantly reminds me that I am not much different than everyone else. I like to think it keeps me humble, but situations like that happen. While on an obstacle Corse for the Marines I fell on my first day of the Crucible, The punishing 54-hour field training exercise that marks a recruit’s official passage to Marine. The fall only resulted in a few broken ribs, however, several months later at a Marine softball game, (yes I was a marine) I was hit in the face with a ball. My nose was crushed and my left orbit fractured. Thirty hours of facial reconstructive surgery later I emerged with a newfound respect for “what’s inside a person. People think they will look the way they do their whole life. I’m a walking testimony to the fact that you can have that taken from you in seconds.â€
While my appearance served me well pre-accident, my post-surgery appearance seems to be well-received having just finished a cover shoot for Maxim. Still I insist, “You can’t rely solely on your looks, you have to be a good person and have a good work ethic.†Many women who appear in these magazines are solely perceived on they’re looks which makes it extremely difficult to get your message out to the universe and be accepted and recognized as a valuable human being with many ambitions, struggles and success’s.
Some of the strengths that I like to believe I poses are strength, heart and determinatio. How nice would it be to just want something and receive it instantly? However I can honestly say that I worked hard and made sure to stay focused to who I wanted to be? And what I wanted to be looked on as an individual. With these goals in mind I was able to stay in tune with facing challenges both in my personal and professional life.
One of the turning points in my life came in August 2006 when I attended the American Idol concert. I told my roommate I would meet Taylor Hicks and I did just that. At intermission, I mingled with the press waiting to meet the new Idol star and struck up a conversation with a man who happened to be Taylor’s friend. All of a sudden Mr. Hicks emerged from backstage and said, “hey darling’, you wanna come meet everyone?†The meeting resulted in a photo of Me with Hicks. Weeks later, with copies of the photo and demo dispatched to Will Smith, I received an early morning call and an apology. Smith said to me, “I’m sorry I didn’t listen to your demo sooner, now we’re a week behind.†With that I was invited to record immediately. While I was on location it resulted in one more fortuitous meeting , this time with Spoon, Universal’s A&R coordinator who asked to come and watch me record. Spoon soon after suggested I produce a demo for a reality-based TV show about my journey from church choir to Marine to singer.
The album is now complete and includes three songs I co-wrote, as well as several songs written by Bon Jovi. So what’s next for me I ask? “I’m just going to focus on getting signed and getting my album out.†I’m still in disbelief that I have been so blessed, so I do appreciate and embrace it as just that a blessing and with the old saying taking it “one day at a time†for now I know no boundaries and I will work and strive to knock all of the hurdles in my path down with being Me, working hard and growing and learning from every situation and of course from all of YOU my support team. Thank You for stopping by and there will be much more to come.
