• Personal

I recently had someone say I was the most interesting person they had met. WHY? Was this a compliment? Confusion? 😀 haha They went on to explain that they were impressed by all the many things I have dabbled in over my 33 years of life. This lead me to look back on my life and realize–wow, I have done some interesting stuff. So…here we go! Side note: I am a gemini (the twin sign) which means I lead many different lives. I think this is definitely true in my case!

Gleek

I was your high school glee girl. I was the singer that sang at all of the football games and big events. I was the section leader of all the sections in choir. It was the one place I shined. Singing was my thing. Solo competitions were always a blast and walking away with 1st place awards wasn’t foreign to me. So, yeah, I could sing–now what? My choir director my junior and senior year, Jason Sneed, talked me into auditioning for scholarships. His wife drove me to Denton and helped me audition at TWU for the music program. I got in! I finally had decided I was going to pursue music.

Circa 1995 / Sophomore 

Start early;  Finish lastI was your average teenage girl. I attended church, hung out with family and was at football games cheering for my high school football team. In the blink of an eye my life forever changed when I was given my daughter, Madison, at the age of 17. My family rallied together and stood by me as I took on another humans life and decided to raise her on my own. Madison was a gift and still is to this day. She is the motivation that makes me strive to be a better person and finish the things I had dreamed of my whole life. I give her credit for helping me to always keep my focus in my college years. She was 4 when I graduated college. I just recently had my son who will be turning 2 soon. A 15 year old & a 2 year old. She will graduate high school when he starts kindergarten. Start early; finish last 🙂

Me & Madi

Madi & Trace

 photo by Chandi Warner

Somewhere in the middle of all this story was Jeffrey. My cajun heart throb. 🙂 In 2008 we made it official in NYC. Love you baby!

Music Education Degree

Being a single mom motivated me to make something of myself. I didn’t want to be a statistic on paper…again. I graduated in 4 years with my Music Degree from Texas Women’s University. I thought this was the end of my education adventure, but boy was I wrong. I ended up going back for two more years to get my Music Ed Certification for Music K-12. While in college I studied voice and piano. I’m not even going to lie–I hated piano theory. In my head I wanted to be amazing, but my fingers could never agree. I passed enough to graduate, but still to this day cannot jam out like I wish I could.  I focused in Classical/Musical Theater/Opera.  My favorite to watch: Musical Theater, My favorite to perform: Opera. On a side note- my daughter is an awesome cellist and singer…It’s so cool to see her enjoy something that I too love so much.

 

I’m a singer….not a teacher….

I had a degree and no idea what to do with it. I remember my last semester of my music teaching certification classes. My teacher got ill and wasn’t able to teach that semester and we had a guest teacher subbing. Enters Cecile Johnson. It was a general music class so people from all degrees were in the class and I was one of three music students. She called me out pretty early on and wanted me to demonstrate some things to the rest of my non-musical classmates. After class one day she asked me where I would student teach. I had no idea. I had a teaching degree and didn’t want to teach. She told me I had not seen the world of teaching that she could offer and asked me to student teach with her. First off–this lady was legit and I was scared out of my britches. I agreed to at least come for  week and observe. This was a week of transformation. Her children were sight singing and reading music like I did in middle school and they were 2nd graders. I didn’t even know how to read music entering into college. HOW were they doing this? She said I should go to Kodaly classes at UNT over the summer and study. She said it would be the hardest thing I have ever done, but would help me develop the skills to teach children like she did. I was so hungry to know HOW this worked. I immediately enrolled for the intensive course and student taught with her in the Fall. Scariest and best thing I have ever done. And then it was born….I was a music teacher. A Kodaly music teacher. I continued Kodaly and finished up at UNT. I got my first job the next Fall and started to make things happen. Maybe I was destined to be a teacher after all.

 

Mrs.”B”

I’m literally crying as I type this. Being a teacher was one of the single most rewarding choices of my life. I felt accomplished and loved by everyone at that school. It was the first job I had really ever had before. I taught Kinder-5th grade, wrote all my lessons from scratch, created break dancing programs, threw killer talent shows and built relationships I will forever cherish. I LOVED THOSE KIDS. I shook every hand of every kid, every day. I had the largest choir in the district. Everyone said it was because I had the biggest school. I disagreed. 150 kids from 2 grade levels of 250 kids total–I almost had every kid in both 4th and 5th grades in my choir. WHY? Because they knew I was dedicated to them as people. I had a relationship with every single one of them. They were my life. I dedicated 7 years of my life to my school before God gave me the desire to stay home with my new baby. I felt like I was giving up generations of children to go home and raise mine! It was the hardest thing I have ever done.  I once heard it is better to leave when things are good rather than wait till they are bad. Leave on a good “note”. This is what I did.  I grew up as an adult right along side all the kids. There is not enough blog space on the internet for me to explain all the lessons and love I walked away with. Shout out to all my Justin Elementary Kids. 😀

 

Music Artist & Producer

Remember the title of this blog? Yah, this kind of blows me away. From the years 2001-2005 I was producing and playing my own music.  I was half of the well known breakbeat duo “Burufunk”. Dance music was something I had been into since 1998. Actually, even before that. I had been making tapes of dance music off of the radio since high school. It all came together with my music degree and dance music merging together when I became a part of Burufunk. We produced, played live shows, wrote music for video games & worked with some of the industries leading musicians such as BT, Deepsky & Nick Warren. It was one of the most fun experiences of my life. It was a FUN experience, but just like teaching— I knew when the time had come to hang up that hat and move forward. It was fun to be a rockstar for a while and I’m glad I have the records, videos and photos to prove it. My name is on this wall somewhere! ha!

 

LISTEN TO MY MUSIC HERE

Photographer & Business Owner

In 2007, I bought my first DSLR camera and decided to pick up a new hobby. By 2009 I had upgraded to a professional camera. By 2010 I was running a small business on the side. Now in 2011 I have a full blown company offering photography and wedding video! It was no easy road and in no way have I “arrived”, but I sure am enjoying the travels with my friends. You can read more about how this all came to be here. Being a photographer really came out of no where. It’s like God handed me a camera and planted a seed in my heart. He provided a way for me to be home with my family and do something extraordinary! I was still able to be a MOM, TEACH, CREATE PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS, PRODUCE, CONTINUE MY EDUCATION & WORK WITH MUSIC. woooooow! ONLY God can do that. He took all the desires of my past experiences and merged them into one. Photography is so much more than..photography. It has created a lifestyle that I never knew was possible. I am forever grateful.

I love to look back on my story and remember where God has brought me from and what He has brought me through. I want to be a living testimony to what CAN be done. So, maybe he thought it would be good if I was a Rockstar Photographic Opera Singing Music Producing Camera Loving Mommy. 😀

I often get asked if this is what I will do for the rest of my life. I don’t have that answer. With my track record–its pretty obvious what will happen…..but the one common thing in all of my adventures is PEOPLE. I want to make a difference and leave a story worth telling….. My music teacher in high school, Ann Smith, once told me “If I could describe you Leaha, it would be a girl who will always persevere”. I will never forget that and I will never stop trying 🙂

 

xx Leaha