I started really dancing in high school. I went to Kennedy High School in Richmond. Dancing gave me an opportunity to be another person who I wasn’t regularly. I’m very shy, but at the club, at the party — it’s a different thing. It allows me to be my authentic self.
Our principal, Mr. Greenwood, was the best. He would allow us to have DJs, and we would have parties on the quad. Oh, my goodness. Those things were the get down, when I tell you.
One day, I was in the quad dancing, minding my business, when a dancer — he ended up being my first boyfriend — came up on me, and I was like, “Oh, you’re challenging me right now!” So we went at it, and the next thing you know, there was a crowd around us. And to this day, I am deemed the winner. You can ask anyone. From that moment, it was like, “Oh, this is who I am in this space.” I didn’t realize how much of a turning point that was for me moving into this dance world.