(uplifting music) - "Finding My Voice".

Before middle school life was simple.

I belonged.

I played sports, danced with my friends, sled down snowy hills on a joyful, snowy day.

I have friends and laughter, comfort and joy.

I never once questioned if I was enough.

Then we moved to the suburbs, the place that was supposed to be better.

Better schools, better opportunity, larger home.

But no one told me it came with a price tag, my belonging.

I walked into that new school and everything changed.

Suddenly I was too much and not enough all at the same time.

Too dark, too smart, too weird, too quiet.

I try to be social, hung with everybody, but cannot fit in a box.

Switch up my clothes, my voice, my hair, my laugh.

Tried to mold myself into something acceptable, something cool.

But no matter how hard I tried, I was never quite right, not black enough, not cool enough.

The only black kid in the room.

So I stopped trying.

I went quiet, antisocial, invisible, buried myself in books.

At least there I could escape.

but I was lonely, so lonely.

craving connection, but terrified of rejection.

Then something unexpected happened.

I was casted in a theater production.

I almost did not audition, did not think my voice was worth hearing, but something, something told me to try.

And the moment I stepped on that stage, I breathe.

For the first time in years, I was seen.

Not as to anything, just as me.

And they clapped.

Not because I was pretending to be someone else, but because I told my truth.

My truth.

In theater, I found people who do not fit into boxes either.

Artists, dreamers, poets, people who loved hard, danced wild, spoke loudly.

Some looked like me, brown skin, natural curls, loud laughs, some did not, but they loved anyway.

Kindness did not care about skin tone.

I found my people, and more importantly, I found my voice.

I was not too much.

I was enough.

I didn't have to twist myself to belong.

I expanded and the world made space.

Now?

Now I know that belonging is not something you find in other people's approval.

It's something you build when you stop apologizing for who you are.

I'm not too dark, I'm not too blonde, I'm not too anything.

I am me, and that, that is more than enough.

Belonging is not about fitting in, it is about standing out and finding those who see your light and shine with you.

(audience cheers and applauds) (uplifting music)