I am deeply honored to be here today and greatly appreciate this award. As I stand here today with the DSHA community for the first time in 10 years, I am filled with gratitude not only for this great honor, but for your endless support. As I have traveled across the country, I have had the opportunity to catch up with many DSHA graduates along the way, and I have learned how important community and family — whether that be chosen or blood-related — are. I truly believe I would not be here without my family (my parents and my four siblings), my friends who I consider to be family, and my community. Without them and all of you, I wouldn’t have the foundation that has allowed me to launch into my life and my career.

Growing up, we were taught to never settle and to pay it forward. All five of us kids were blessed to have amazing educations and parents who supported us no matter what — even when their child wanted to pursue a career that was extremely foreign to them and statistically near impossible to achieve success, such as being a Broadway performer.

The thing is being a Broadway performer is so much more than the wigs, the costumes, the applause, and the green makeup — the copious amounts of green makeup. What you don’t see are the countless auditions and “no"s that lead to this one “yes.” The pounds upon pounds of honey and tea consumed in order to give the same performance to thousands of people eight times a week. And most importantly, what you don’t see is the burning desire to make this world a better place, to make it better by telling a story that entertains hungry patrons and somehow tricks them into a new perspective and broader understanding of our diverse and complicated world.

Night after night, I get to the tell the story of a confident and capable woman who is deeply misunderstood based off of how she looks and her unconventional pursuit to make good. Judie Taylor, DSHA ’87, the amazing 2022 Alumna of the Year, she talked a lot about finding one’s north star. She described it as finding one’s purpose, the purpose that drives you to get up in the morning, that makes you go the extra mile, that makes you want to make a difference. My north star is to continuously grow to become a better person and to assist in making this world a better place. How do I do this? By continuously finding the truths in the actual work and shows I do, and by using these platforms, I’m able to pay it forward.

I work with an organization called Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, doing fundraisers and concerts multiple times a year. I work with a non-profit called Sing for Hope, where I perform concerts and give master classes to the elderly or mentally handicapped. I work with the New York Department of Aging, to get those who care for the kids of their incarcerated children a place to escape and find joy. And lastly and currently, I am with the audience members at the stage door each and every night where I hear over and over again how this show brought them joy that they don’t feel on a regular basis. That this show reminds them of their purpose, that this show inspires them to make good.

I truly believe you don’t get where you are alone. I could not have made it where I am today without my friends, family, and this DSHA community. As Stephen Schwartz, the composer of Wicked the Musical, so beautifully wrote: "I’ve heard it said that people come into our lives for a reason, bringing something we must learn. And we are led to those who help us most grow if we let them and we help them in return."

So I want to leave you today with a reminder to go forth in your pursuit to make good. Thank you so much for your support and for this award. I am so extremely proud and honored to be a part of this DSHA community. And I mean this from the bottom of my heart: "Because I knew you, I have been changed for good."