Growing Up In Walnut…

I was recently asked about my experience growing up in Walnut was and thought I’d share it below.

1. How did Walnut High change or impact you?

Going to Walnut High School and living in Walnut were some of the best years I’ve had in my life that later prepared me for not only my career, but in traveling & my day to day relationships. Because our city, school and faculty are so diverse I’m able to interact & bond with various groups of people easily. Practically every celebrity or artist I meet I tell them how great Walnut is or mention that I’m still best friends with the same folks I hung out with at SUZANNE & WHS. We even have our own social media hashtag #WalnutGirls & workout group #WalnutGirlWarriors close to 20 years later. 🙂  I thought it was normal to be close to your friends from high school, but as I travel the globe & meet new people, I realized how unique our experience there is and people really admire our bonds we created in school are closer than ever. A lot of people don’t have that or stay in touch with their HS friends like we do where we still regularly get together and spend holidays or major life events together.

Career wise, in WHS ASB under Mr. Farren, I used to play the music from the big speakers at lunchtime or at school dances for my sister, WHS President Chrystal Cruz’ 2002 class, while also handing out recorded songs to classmates on cassette tapes, which led me to pursuing DJing, starting my first college Third Floor Radio show at Mt. Sac and beginning my professional music career. I interviewed artists I always admired like A Tribe Called Quest, Dwele, The Pharcyde, Jurassic 5, Mos Def, Talib Kweli & many more from a tiny studio in Walnut. Back then it was just a passion of mine, but Walnut helped me learn that if I could do what I loved locally and for friends, than I could do it on a larger scale outside of our city but always repping our city. On my first TV interview on BET I wore a WHS “Must Have Stang Pride” shirt because I am so proud of our HS!

2. Any accomplishments from high school that you remember of?

Asides being the DJ at lunch, that was a huge accomplishment and I think the reason I even ran for ASB. 😉

-1998 Class Vice President

-1998 ASB Speaker of the House and making the Hoofprint Newspaper cover when I dressed up as Superwoman with our VP Thivantha just so that we could win our final and last pep rally as Seniors because we lost everyone of them prior to the younger classes. 🙂 (picture attached)

3. Any accomplishments now?

-Co-Founder/Chief Marketing Officer of mydiveo, a global talent discovery platform that has helped in talent booking for America’s Got Talent, the White House AAPI and many more brands/events that was recently acquired by Engage:BDR for $7.4 Million dollars.

-Television host/producer of ‘mydiveo LIVE’ TV show airing in 15 Million+ homes on cable network MyxTV. (Time Warner Cable, DirecTV, Sony Roku, etc.)

-5 White House visits under the Obama administration, helping book musical talent for the White House AAPI & recently getting to bring my Mom, Eve with me

-Named one of Billboard Magazine Top Music Industry Professionals Under 30 with Justin Bieber manager Scooter Braun & Spotify Founder Daniel Ek

-The Source Magazine Power 30 cover feature with Diddy/Russell Simmons with the Co-Founders of MySpace.com.

-Recently honored at the Toast To Urban Executives 2016 for being one of the top females in the urban music industry

4. What are you up to now (career, education, etc.)?

Aside from being a MyxTV host/producer & mydiveo Co-Founder, I’ve produced over 500 live concerts/events & editorial programs with artists and brands like Justin Timberlake, JayZ, Rihanna, Bruno Mars, Justin Bieber, Drake, Kendrick Lamar, John Legend, Anderson .Paak, Miguel, AT&T & Wendy’s. I’ve previously helped launch MySpace.com & MySpace Music and spent a decade there as the Head of Artist Relations, while it was the first global social network and #1 website in the world, traveling the globe to help launch other countries like London, UK and Mexico City, MX. I love to speak at various music conferences & colleges across the globe like SXSW, Urban Network, New Skool Rules, UCLA and the LA Film School to hopefully inspire others to pursue their creative passions & utilize social media to further their careers. In my spare time I still love DJing, putting together fun filmed group workouts & working on our inspirational youth clothing line, Little B-Girl Clothing launching soon!