Connect
To Top

Meet Shedia Nelson of URGENT

Avatar photo

Today we’d like to introduce you to Shedia Nelson.

Shedia, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
In 2004, I was offered an opportunity to teach dance and drama for Urgent, Inc. a non-profit organization that was seeking an artist to develop a performing arts curriculum to coordinate and facilitate for their after school program. It was a beautiful process to pull out the youth’s hidden talents in artistic expression through personal development and performing art workshops. I started to work with the youth during the spring where many of the girls came with assets and talents and an openness to learn.  I gave the girls a vision of the production and their important roles in it that incorporated their personal development.

The performing art workshops became a therapeutic expression where they could be free; which is one of the reasons why I dance. I dance because it heals hurt, challenges my ability, a fun fitness outlet and my body speaks when I can not find the words. Once the youth were engaged in the process of how dance, drama and personal expression are connected, they were able to push beyond their comfort zone to learn African dance and character expression. When they were able to free themselves from fear of failure and empower them to love and trust themselves; they shined on stage for the production with an exhilaration of pride. It is awe inspiring to create and teach dance choreography to youth and see the excitement when they challenge themselves to be open to learning.

To dance is a poetic expression like painting a canvas of melody where the heart and soul is the instrument. My passion for dancing began when I was 13 years old when my mother introduced me to African dance. African dance encompasses physical coordination, spiritual, mental and emotional connection where the body interprets the rhythm without counts. After learning a basis of African derived movement, it was easy to learn Salsa, hip-hop and Brazilian samba. I have always enjoyed dancing, learning various dance styles and performing.

When I toured with Up with People during my senior year at Hawai`i Pacific University, I was given the opportunity to lead a South and West African dance, in addition to performing an African dance solo that opened the show. I was selected to perform a rap and perform a hip-hop dance as part of a special event. By the end of the year-long program, I had performed 99 shows, toured 73 cities, eight countries with the Up with People; I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life dancing as a career. I performed for the pope for World Youth Day in 2000. I wasn’t sure how to do it, but I had heard of the phrase “when you do what you love, the money will follow.”*

Dance is as essential to me as breathing. I feel very fortunate to work with an agency that supports my passion for dance and the arts by sharing it with youth while giving me liberty to structure the arts program and production. Fortunately, I learned lighting design when I was on tour with Up with People and directing from Hawai`i Pacific University as a theater major as I have had to draw upon all my production and performing arts training in working with this agency. Every year presents a new challenge and an exciting opportunity to grow as an artist. Dance is an evolution of transcending movement that inspires the body to speak in harmony. “To love what you do and feel that it matters… Could anything be more rewarding?”*

In addition, I share my passion for poetry, spoken word, film making, visual arts, dancing, and theater production combined with youth development at URGENT, Inc. At that time in my life in 2004, my heart was aching for a career opportunity to explore and expand my artistic goals. With this opportunity I was able to produce more than 20 productions, co-create, direct, act and produce five plays with creative control with youth and then adapt them to film, produced a youth led activity book, published four youth poetry anthologies, coached youth to produce 13 short films within three years with two award-winning films and curate six exhibitions, train peer health educators to present on teen dating violence as part of our Campaign for Girls Well-Being all while seeing hundreds of youth use innovation to grow and transform.

Recently, I helped inspire talented young ladies to publish a new comic “Battle of Love” with super she-roes Love, Hip Hop, and Sunshine who use their superpower of love to heal their community.  The comic was released during Soul Basel with an art talk and youth led “Our Voice Matters” exhibition. This comic multi-media exhibition is on tour in Miami-Dade and Broward County with a new short film adaptation of the comic.  I’ve been fortunate to work with talented industry professionals in partnership with URGENT, Inc who include but not limited to Ramon “Absoloot” Robinson, Brandon Freeny, Florida Film House, PATH to Hip Hop, Amplify Me, Institute of Contemporary Art, Octavia Yearwood, Deion Wynter, Sierra Club ICO, Dade County Bar Young Lawyer’s Association: Horizons Committee, Jalen James Acosta and Rory Lee.

Youth continue to inspire me to grow, innovate and transform as an artist, educator and coach. I am fortunate to have the opportunity to affect so many amazing dynamic young people whom I help pull out their hidden talents while they challenge me to continuously learn from listening and validating their narratives through critical discussions and artistic expression.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Life is not a smooth road rather full of life lessons that come in varied forms from a stranger passing by who says “smile, you’re beautiful” on the day when it hurt to smile to the day of a healing birth of my daughter who made me whole. My bright and beautiful daughter continues to teach me patience, love beyond words, compassion, laughter, and perseverance.

Like becoming a mother, life does not come with a manual. My teachings come from my daughter, mother, family, friends, strangers, books, writing, storytellers and all the arts. I remind myself to listen to those whispers that say “get up, you can do it,” “slow down,” “breathe” and “you have everything you need.” I continue to learn the balance between motherhood with my career at URGENT., Inc and my artistic professional life. I make regular quality time dates and moments with my daughter whether it be bedtime stories, playing cards, snuggling on movie nights at home, tea time and drawing/coloring parties.

Professionally, there’s nothing like an organization that believes in you and pushes you to grow, innovate and transform at URGENT, Inc. It is important to me to work with an organization who continues to work with me as I have evolved as a mother without reducing the quality of my work performance. I am more than grateful to have been provided opportunities to explore and demonstrate my artistry with young people. I learn from multiple approaches in teaching/coaching, creating, colleagues and the strong executive leadership team who pushes me to grow more professionally which transfers to my personal growth. Who knew I would use math everyday in my career?

I laugh when I tell the kids I work with that you’ll use what you learn in school in your career as I constantly draw on my life experiences, resources, and academic knowledge every day. The best part of my career is that I get to use everything I have learned when I toured internationally with Up With People as a performer, intern and advance team event coordination, high school Debutante, Aaron Price Fellow, lifeguard training in college and my college degree in communication with a concentration in theater every day. No day is ever the same which I love. I draw on my time and stress management strategies I used in college. My mistakes are teachable moments.

URGENT, INC. – What should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
URGENT, Inc is an exemplary example of elevating youth voice through the literary, performing, visual and film arts to activate young social change agents by cultivating young film makers and activating young entrepreneurs. URGENT celebrates, recognizes and validates youth and families in community expos, town hall talks, annual Youth Economic Development Conference, Rites of Passage Community Recognition Ceremony and celebrates women at our This Woman’s Work event during Women’s History month. We believe elders are the anchors of the community, parents are the coaches and youth are the drivers for change.  URGENT demonstrates youth development through an asset and project based approach coupled with 21st century skills to support their transition to adulthood.

As the program’s manager of URGENT, Inc., I conduct staff, peer educator and ambassador leadership development training. I received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications with a concentration in Theater from Hawai`i Pacific University.

I manage four programs, provide data management, program quality assurance, qualitative and quantitative reporting, event coordination and empower young minds to transform their communities. As well as artistic director of programming in film, photography, curate youth art exhibitions, film making, photography, coordinate industry professionals, video editing, event coordination, music production, poetry publications and manage youth talent.

I have extensive training and certification in best practice curriculums: College Bound, Life Skills Training, National Foundation of Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), Why Am I Tempted (WAIT) Training and Rites of Passage Youth Empowerment.

My experience includes facilitation of mentioned curriculums plus Reality Care Pregnancy Simulation, Peace Education, Kids and the Power of Work curriculums. Additional training include creative teaching through the arts, how to communicate with kids and creative teaching and communication strategies with kids. I utilize my creativity and passion for challenging youth to move beyond their comfort zone to transcend their thoughts, behavior, leadership and hidden talents to guide them through their passage to adulthood as my motivation to provide a comprehensive learning development for youth.

I developed a comprehensive curriculum module for URGENT, Inc. to include: employability hard skills with SCANS, comprehensive sexuality education, personal developmental assets, etiquette, drug, alcohol and tobacco prevention, conflict resolution, reproductive justice fused with performing and visual arts with a culminating production reflective of the curriculum.

One of my most notable youth-led theater production series of “She Kept Her Bra On” promote teen dating violence awareness.  The “She Kept Her Bra On” series and three volumes of poetry are now available on Apple Books as of January 2019.  The series concludes with a short film adaptation of “Keeping it On” based on “She Kept Her Bra On Chronicles of a Teenage Love Affair” debuted under the direction of Jalen James Acosta. My role as an actress and screenwriter with the supporting dynamic original cast from the play was well received. As a storyteller in fiction, non-fiction, poetry screen and playwriting, I find that writing is an art of healing.

Poetry sings me in silence, storytelling validates my narratives, elevates my thoughts and fulfills my mission as a healing artist like my favorite haikus I wrote below.  My poetry is published in volumes: “Moments of Healing”, “It’s in My Poetry” and “Love Letters” on Apple Books.

Corner of time, blink and you miss me, open your heart to find me there.

My dance career highlights include:

By the end of the year-long Up with People program, I had performed 99 shows, toured 73 cities and eight countries with Up with People; I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life dancing as a career. I performed for the pope for World Youth Day in 2000. I was given the opportunity to lead a South and West African dance, in addition to performing an African dance solo that opened the show. I was selected to perform rap and perform a hip-hop dance as part of a special event hosted by a youth-led organization SAVE, stands for Stop All Violence Everywhere in Washington, DC.

All of my dance training and performance over the years has helped me to evolve to be an accomplished artist who has taught community dance classes, travel the world, teach youth and perform with dance companies: Venus Rising, Delou Africa, Papaloko Loray Mystik, Djian Tie Entertainment, Afric Agba De, Full Circle and Samba Axe. Some performance highlights include performing for Nelson Mandela’s daughter and granddaughter for the House of Mandela wine tasting, Nelson Mandela’s memorial service at Adrienne Arsht Center, Inez Barlatier’s Climakaze concert, Miami International Book Fair, Florida Folk Festival, Renaissance Festival and grand opening of Adrienne Arsht Center and South Miami-Dade Performing Arts Center.

I am so proud of all the talented young people who have graduated high school and college and chose to give back to URGENT, Inc as a mentor on field trips, events, a tutor and be of support to members in our programs. I’m happy to celebrate all of their accomplishments and milestones no matter how small or big. From the kids who had stage freight to overcoming it as a published author of a new comic to the ones who realize they have multiple talents and skills and are provided a platform and opportunities to practice their craft and be validated through performance and exhibition.  

In addition to working with amazing young people I have had the honor to learn from the grandparents in our Intergenerational Project who are raising grandchildren.  They are authentically the matriarchs of Overtown community who share wisdom, wit and tell it like it is. They share their stories, seen the the history of Overtown and enjoy living their best lives who inspire us all to be the best versions of ourselves.  

Tell us about your favorite and least favorites things about our city.
I like the taste of Miami as I can travel around the world by going to Little Haiti for some tasty vegan legume, pikliz, peas, and rice, hop over to Lil Havanna for yucca fries and fish and up north Miami for some rice and peas, plantains and brown stew fish. I grew up in sunny San Diego California and lived in Waianae on Oahu in Hawai’i, so I’m used to the sandal life in Miami’s heat. The arts community is tight where everybody knows the go-to people for African dance, Haitian dance, belly dance, visual arts, photography, spoken word artists, DJ’s and recording artists. I have been able to grow as an artist most here in Miami than any city I have lived. I like that Miami can be a launchpad to greater opportunities to expand my career as an artist.

It is sadly frustrating about the education system where low performing students are pushed out of school to elevate the school’s grade, late students miss a day of education, so it does not promote youth’s motivation to attend school, arbitrary state testing standards that promotes the prison to pipeline with schools across the street from detention centers and two types of high school diplomas that dictates and limits the trajectory of student’s higher education and career aspiration opportunities. From a compassionate and relaxed ‘no worries’ attitude lifestyle in Hawai’i scented with plumerias to Miami’s daily road rage discourages personal vehicle commuting with more bicyclists on the road add to the dynamics of the Miami’s culture.

Pricing:

Contact Info:

Image Credit:
Joey Ashley, Shedia Nelson, Marcus Williams

Getting in touch: VoyageMIA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.

Related Items

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

More in