Portrait of Claudia

This is a portrait of Claudia who ran track and attended Pepperdine University, Malibu, California, USA, as a Marketing and Spanish undergraduate. Her ambition for her future was talent management, particularly in the music field. She believed that Los Angeles, California, USA was the perfect place to get a foot in the door in that industry.

Claudia’s favorite music group was Earth Wind & Fire, which Blue Breeze Band (see previous portrait) was playing as we spoke. Earth Wind & Fire was the group that actually got her interested in talent management. Claudia noted that Charlie Wilson and other artists who influenced Rhythm and Blues (R&B) and Hip Hop today, helped her make this decision. Of course, she also appreciated contemporary R&B and Hip Hop.

Claudia defined Earth Wind & Fire‘s style as definitely R&B, but she also considered them funky. “They dabbled in disco a little, even though that wasn’t their preference. They are a feel good music. Everyone can get down to it no matter who they are,” she said.

Claudia was not from Los Angeles, but from Nashville, Tenn, USA, where she excelled at Hume-Fogg AcademiMagnet High School  Claudia came to the Martin Luther King Day Event because the team didn’t have practice and her coach asserted that each student/athlete had to volunteer somewhere. Claudia googled events for Martin Luther King Day, and the Big Sunday 5th Annual MLK Day Clothing Collection & Community Breakfast was one of the first things that came up. The event was accessible to her and a fellow teammate because Claudia had a car.

Claudia believed in the importance of helping out every single day and was hoping she could do more throughout the year as a volunteer. The two teammates were having a blast helping out on Martin Luther King Day.

It was such a pleasure to meet Claudia. At the time of the posting, I knew so many people her age who were cry babies, didn’t get things done, were chronically late, made excuses for everything, etc. Claudia knew what she wanted, was intelligent about it and expressed her views perfectly. Talking to her made me look forward to the future and to what young people could achieve.

Image Credits: Bat-Ami Gordin © 2017 all rights reserved. Credit if you use it, please.