Tahjanay McKnight.

My name is Tahjanay McKnight, I’m from Brooklyn, New York, but I was raised in New Haven Connecticut.

Some fun facts that I will list are, I’m creative, I’m unintentionally funny, I love Nicki Minaj, I love bright colors, I love to go on adventures, I’m a dancer, I adore children and I do absolutely adore makeup.

I attend Southern Connecticut State University, my major is Early Childhood Education and I’m thinking about minoring in English and Business Management.

   Finding a field to study in was a difficult task.. I knew that I wanted to be a teacher and I had the dream of becoming a makeup artist with my own shop.. when I first enrolled in school I was undeclared which means I didn’t declare a major. My senior year in high school I had to do community service. I ended up doing it at the Monk center, my performance was so outstanding that she hired me for the summer and then she hired me permanently. As I work with the kids I’m becoming attached to them, I’m learning how to handle them, I’m learning how to care for their needs, I’m learning how to interact with them, I’m learning how to solve problems with them, I’m constantly learning something new from them and for some reason In those moments of teaching them I felt like this is something I want to do. With business management I want to have the ability to open up my shop, I want my skills to be question, and critically analyzed by a professional. Which would be a professor. With English I just love the thought of speaking on issues in today’s society. I just love being able to speak and being understood, I feel like English offers a lot to the mind. We should treat like math. We need math in-order to survive but we need English as well. Without English no one would really have the courage or ability to speak and do so freely.

     I’ve became interested in doing makeup my sophomore year in high school. But it goes deeper than that. I’ve always been an artist, in middle school, I use to draw, i loved the thought of creating characters that had no existence to the real world to others. Eventually I stopped drawing and I became more interested in dance. I wasn’t able to be in an actual dance class, but I was a dancer at heart. My 7th grade year I heard about a high school name Cooperative Arts and Humanities High School, it offered free dance classes and other arts as well. I applied and got accepted and I’ve been dancing ever since. Walking through the hall of coop was like walking through high school musical, and mean girls. There were arts, which mean people were singing and dancing down the hallway constantly. There was also a lot of girls that wore makeup. At first I hated it.. eventually I decided to try it out for myself. I purchased the items I needed and I sat in my room for hours teaching myself how to perfect my brow. After that I started to watch YouTube videos on full faces, before I knew it I was a girl doing my makeup. Then I started to blow up, I was receiving customers, and then I decided to create my YouTube channel and makeup page.

   This art has impacted my life in a numerous amount of ways. First I would say that it helped me cope with my problems when I felt alone. If I was upset I would use my body in dance, or I would go home and do my makeup. Finding a talent and using it as a tool is the best invention anyone can create. If it wasn’t for dance, or makeup I don’t know how I would’ve made it this far..

  I believe that I have talents, intelligence, and persistence. I have talents because I was born with the ability to do things without being aware: I would dance like no one is watching and then all of a sudden all eyes are on me. Talents aren’t things that can be built they just connected to people and no one can take them away. I’m intelligent because I can critically analyze things and figure out a problem quickly. Instead of staying in one spot I need to move above it, I need to learn more, I need to prepare myself for more. Intelligence is insightful, you have to have a deep understanding of something before you can speak or act on it, but you can’t be wrong.. that is intelligence. I am persistent because I am able to work over obstacles that come my way. A difficult opposition can occur but in the ending the job will get done, I love to be constant, I love to be steady, but only in situations that I need to be. All of these characteristics helped me in life because it helped shape me into the young lady I am today. I’m able to speak and have credibility, I’m able to do things without thinking, I’m able to learn more everyday, I am able to overcome every obstacle. I love who I am because of it.

   I feel like I grew over the past few years, when I was younger I did face some things that no child should go through, but it made me have a open mind and it made me a stronger women, back then I was weak, I was seeking attention, I was something I wouldn’t want anyone to be. Now I’m the complete opposite, I don’t want attention, I’m strong and I love it this way.. it shaped me but it did not break me.   I did carry trust issues along the way, And I carry the fear of being abandoned, however I left that weak girl behind. If that makes sense. All of the hate is gone, the coldness that was in my bones has vanished.

   I have a heart, talents and radiance to contribute to today’s society. Without a heart we cannot love, without love, there would be chaos and hatred. Without talents there are no skills, without skills nothing will get done. Without radiance there is no sunlight, without sunlight there is no day, without day there is no time to follow your dreams and no time to help others succeed. Connect the 3 and this world would be such a better place. If everyone has a heart, talents, and radiance everyone will win. There would be no need for chaos.

The advice I will give to you all is to LOVE, be NICE, be KIND, do not be selfish, and do not be afraid to open yourself up to New beginnings! Never forget how important you are, never forget how relevant you are. Do not let anyone shorten your dreams. Being alive is hard, but trust god and never give in to the darkness.