I grew up on soul music.
My family says I sang while lying in my crib as a baby. They would try to sing me to sleep, and instead of drifting off quietly, I would sing back.
Music became part of the rhythm of my life. I played it almost nonstop on my little boombox and record player. I rotated between radio stations, cassettes and albums. I would fall asleep with my head near the speaker and rarely went anywhere without a portable music player and headphones.
My parents loved music too. They loved watching performances, and some of my fondest memories are of watching them dance all night in our living room or at get-togethers, playing one record after another.
I loved to dance too. As I got older and began going to dances and other events, I didn’t care if I was the only person on the dance floor. If there was music, I was probably going to move.
But creativity in my family wasn’t limited to music.
My mother made many of my performance costumes and dresses for special occasions. My grandmothers could cook, sew and dress beautifully, all while caring for their families, working in other people’s homes and serving as leaders in their churches. My mother’s father worked in a bakery, and her stepfather worked in the airline service industry.
Looking back, I can see some of the beginnings of my love for food, fashion, hospitality, service and gathering people together in the lives around me.
Creativity Became a Language
The arts continued to find me as I grew.
At Betty-Lin Early Childhood Learning Center on Ledbetter in Dallas, where I attended from nursery through first grade, I was cared for and trained by dedicated individuals who truly believed in the power of education. I got a solid scholastic foundation and also experienced live music, participated in productions, and took dance through Mary Lois Dance. The top photo features me dancing in a cute flapper dress made by my mother for our performance of Bubbling Brown Sugar, and the photos below in this navy blue leotard are from our production of The Wiz.
At R.L. Thornton Elementary, where I attended from second through sixth grade, I sang in chorale, took group music, began learning piano and discovered another voice through creative writing. I was also part of the talented and gifted program.
At W. H. Atwell Middle School, I loved art and woodshop.
By the time I attended high school at Skyline Career Development Center, my interests were becoming even more expansive. I studied home economics and became part of its groundbreaking hospitality program. I learned more about cooking, business and serving people. I sang in choirs, danced wherever I could, took sewing classes and continued developing my love for fashion.
Throughout those school years, I competed in math, writing, oratory, and partner dance. I participated in a teen modeling program and fashion events. I attended girls empowerment gatherings. I learned how to stand before crowded rooms and deliver speeches.
My first paying job was at a jewelry store located inside The Fairmont Hotel. I later went on to take staff positions with the Fairmont Hotel and The Mansion on Turtle Creek.
Even the way I dressed became a form of creative expression. I dressed according to how I felt, but sometimes I also dressed in the image of who I believed I was—and who I was becoming.
That realization has stayed with me.
Sometimes creativity allows us to express who we already are.
Sometimes it helps us imagine who we can become.
Culture, Hospitality & the Art of Caring for People
At Texas Tech University, I continued my studies in the hospitality industry while continuing to take music classes and perform with bands, ensembles and choirs. I hosted women’s events and explored other interests, including fashion, horticulture and fitness. Later, my college studies extended into graduate coursework in conflict resolution and business ethics.
For much of my life, I didn’t necessarily think of all these interests as belonging to one another.
Music. Dance. Writing. Fashion. Food. Hospitality. Gardens. Business. Wellness. Service.
Now I do.
Culture isn’t experienced through only one medium. We encounter it through the music people make, the food they prepare, the clothing they wear, the stories they tell, the ways they move, the spaces they create, the traditions they preserve and the ways they welcome one another.
Hospitality taught me that creating an experience for someone is itself an art.
And life taught me that caring for ourselves matters just as much.
Why Wellness Became Personal
My relationship with wellness was shaped not only by the beautiful things I experienced, but also by some very difficult ones.
My family went through tough times that took a toll on our emotional well-being. My mother struggled with depression while pregnant with me. My paternal grandfather became ill, was overwhelmed by depression and ultimately died by suicide.
Family members and others in my environment struggled with substance misuse that led to life-threatening and life-altering consequences. At a young age, I developed my own affinity for alcohol and unhealthy relationships.
I also witnessed the effects of chronic health challenges within my family. My parents and many other family members eventually died as a result of chronic health conditions. Those experiences gave me another reason to think deeply about how we care for ourselves throughout our lives.
Eventually, I had to learn to make different choices for myself.
Wellness became more than something that sounded good. It became personal.
I began to understand the importance of caring for the mind, body, heart and spirit—and of recognizing what strengthens us, what depletes us, what helps us heal and what helps us remain whole.
I don’t believe the arts solve every problem. But I know from my own life that music can reach places words sometimes cannot. Movement can give the body another way to speak. Writing can help us understand what we’re carrying. Beauty can remind us to look again. Food can gather people around a table. A garden can invite us to slow down. Creativity can give us somewhere to put what we’re feeling.
And community can remind us that our lives were never meant to be lived entirely alone.
A Life That Kept Creating
As an adult, I kept creating.
I kept writing. I remained involved in arts and culture. I helped creative people and businesses. I continued learning to prioritize wellness. I hosted experiences for women and girls and found ways to serve my community.
One of my greatest joys has also been nurturing and watching my children—and now my grandson—discover and develop creative gifts of their own.
Through all the different seasons, the thread remained.
Create.
Gather.
Learn.
Serve.
Express.
Become.
And Then Came The Music Stand
I founded The Music Stand with a vision to uplift lives through music, the arts and empowerment.
But another vision has lived with me for more than twenty years: creating a physical place where arts, culture, creativity and community could come together.
Today, that vision has a home.
I call it The Music Stand ARTSHOUSE.
The Music Stand ARTSHOUSE is a haven for creativity, culture and community—a place where many of the things I have valued throughout my life can meet under one roof.
It is a place for artists and those who love the arts. A place for music and movement, visual expression, cultural discovery, learning, gathering and creative entrepreneurship. A place where experiences can be intimate, imaginative, educational, celebratory and meaningful.
In many ways, The Music Stand ARTSHOUSE feels new.
In other ways, I have been walking toward it almost my entire life.
From the little girl singing back from her crib, to the child listening to records and watching her parents dance, to the student singing, writing, sewing, cooking, creating and performing, to the hospitality professional learning the art of service, to the woman learning to make choices for her own wellness, to the mother and grandmother nurturing creativity in another generation.
It all belongs.
Arts matter to me because they give us ways to express what it means to be human.
Culture matters to me because it connects us to people, history, place, tradition and one another.
Wellness matters to me because experiencing a full life means learning how to care for the person living it.
And creating spaces where those things can come together matters to me because I know what they have meant in my own life. Making room for growing minds to have opportunities like the incredible ones I had is another special part of this vision.
The Music Stand ARTSHOUSE is one more chapter in that story.
And I’m looking forward to seeing what grows there.
Learn more about The Music Stand ARTSHOUSE
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