I’ve always loved Disney movies. I love 'Moana.' A lot. Her hair. Her independence. Her songs. I’d be in my house just singing ‘How far I’ll go.’ My mom heard me singing and she put me in a free online class she saw during COVID taught by a woman named Alison, and that turned into private lessons. Dance was my first love. My mom would play music in the living room when I was little, and I couldn’t stop dancing. So she put me into dance at Alvin Ailey. Every day if I was home I’d ask her, do I have Alvin Ailey today? I started with ballet. As I grew, I felt like I had a more energetic feeling inside of me. When I tried hip hop I was like, oh this is me. In hip hop, you’re so free. 

It was my aunt's idea for me to audition for 'The Lion King' to play young Nala. I practiced so much for that audition. My aunt would come over to my house and we would practice acting skills. We’d do warm-ups and scenes. And then I sent in my audition tape. I got to the final round of auditions and was on a Zoom with all the directors and producers, and they said, 'We really love your videos, and we’ll get back to you soon.'

I had the choice to do the show in New York City or go across the country on tour. I chose to travel. I had only lived in New York, and I just wanted to see other places and experience new things. I wanted to go to Texas because Beyonce lives in Texas, and I wanted to go to California because Disney is in California. My mom was with me the whole time. We would spend two or three weeks at a time in a city. Pack up everything, travel, unpack again. It was really fun getting to know the kids. Traveling together everywhere, being in the hotel, it was really fun. We would switch off show days, and on the days I wasn’t Nala, I’d have to stay in the back and do school with a tutor, be ready to stand in at any moment in case my friend the other baby Nala got sick or couldn’t finish.