Be Inspired

Below is the article I will be writing on a monthly basis for Cassidy Haley's online magazine. I will post it here as well.

Lessons Learned
By Barbie Q.
Lesson #1: Be Inspired

Hey there,

How you doing? Let me take a moment to introduce myself (sounds like the intro to that Rolling Stones song). My name is Barbie Q. I’m a entertainer here in the city of angels, and been performing for about ten years. I have choreographed about seven musicals, taught dance, been tapping for about twenty years, and working on projects as you read this, including this column. You can say that I have a career going on.
So enough about me, I will share more about me in stories in upcoming columns and the lessons learned along the way. Or the lessons I am still learning. Okay?!
OK, so when Cassidy asked me to write a column, I thought he wanted me to write stuff on make up tips, fashion, or how to be a fierce drag queen. But after talking to him, it became clear that I don’t need to write on how to be a fierce drag queen, but on how to be a fierce person in life. I know, tall order huh?

So I sat and thought about it and right now, the word that comes to mind is inspiration. I know corny right? Cliché? Maybe, but true.

I just saw This Is It, you know the documentary about Michael Jackson? I couldn’t bring myself to see it the theatres just yet because I was so heart broken. It’s funny, I have never really cried over a celebrity death until his last year (but that’s another article or is it for my shrink to help me figure out? hmm…)so I saw it on DVD. I assumed that it would be about just the tour and the footage from the rehearsals. A behind the scenes kind of flick.

I was in for something more. I left feeling inspired. He had so much planned for us in that concert. He had a journey, a new avenue that he wanted to take us on. He reinvented his own music. He could have stood there and sang any song he wanted, in the original version and we would have all loved it. But he had more, he wanted more, well, he needed more.

I left thinking that he is one of a kind and he is awesome at what he does. He is an artist. Then I thought of people that inspire me, not just Michael Jackson, but those around me that I see all the time, sharing their art, sharing themselves through whatever medium and I am inspired. We are good at what we do, we love what we do and if we could just get a smidge of the talent MJ, then we will be awesome at what we do.

No I admit, I cried a lot through it, watching him in his element, we never got to see him in those in between times. The times in between pictures and performance. He inspired me. He continues to inspire me even after his sudden death. (yeah, I cried, what?)

So I tell ya what. It was also a wake up call as well. I mean look around you. Your parents, your friends, your co-workers. What is about them that makes you want to be a better person? What about you do you inspire to others as well? I know it is a tall order to think about it, but it can be such the motivator.

I was telling my little sister that people from high school have been contacting me because of a commercial I did for High School Reunion Season 3. And she asked me if I wanted to be friends with people I hardly spoke to in high school let alone over the years. Know what I told her? You would be amazed how much you have an effect on people and don’t even know it. And how much they have affected you as well.

You are an inspiration by just being you, and it is infectious if you let it. A gesture, a smile, an unexpected email, phone call or just allowing others to do for you.

So that’s my lesson learned, be inspired not just by a celebrity, but by the people around you, the people that let you know it is possible. Let people tell you that you inspire them as well. Because remember, you never know what or how you can inspire someone else.

Take care for now,
xo baby xo
Barbie Q