I think the music began to really open up my eyes by this time and I wanted to incorporate it into every thing that I did. And since my parents were very active and employed at their alma mater, Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, the first historically black college; I was always on the campus and knew the students, professors and even knew how to sing the school song and the entire Black National Anthem. I began reciting long poems and singing at many of the events that took place at the university. This prompted my parents to enroll me in a theatre program, and I joined the Fresh Visions Youth Theatre in Germantown. The theatre director, Bruce Robinson, was so confident in my abilities that he moved me from the youth troop to the main company in 3 months, the fastest that anyone had ever moved to the main company in the history of the theater.
I became very good at swimming and joined a swim team, the Salvation Army Kroc Aquatics (SAKA) in Philadelphia, led by head coach Jim Ellis. Swimming and karate lessons were the beginning of my learning the importance of great coaching and hard work. We swam six days per week and traveled to swim meets very often. I also began gaining more exposure to singing by attending church with my Nana, Christine Dukes, who was also a member of the Morris Chapel Baptist Church choir. She was extremely influential in encouraging my singing voice. I began to love to listen to the great musicians of our time like Nina Simone and Etta James. I also had began to learn about reading music through the electives and summer opportunities that my parents chose for me through the cyber school that I attended.