Shelly Jackson

So we can just start there.

I never saw myself like that.

I grew up thinking I was going to be a nurse because my grandma was a nurse.

I wanted to be just like her.

And I got to my senior year of high school and realized that

I like taking care of her.

I don't think I would actually like taking care of other people.

Yeah.

And so I was in this crossroads, but I had a dance teacher who was like, look, Shelly, you've danced your entire life.

Why don't you become a dance teacher?

And I said, sounds like a plan.

So I went to school for dance and dance education.

And during that time, I actually had the opportunity to teach dance all over Arizona, working with an organization.

And that was really eye-opening for me and was my...

entry point to really critically thinking about systems and resources.

And I started to wonder why when I'm in Scottsdale or when I'm in Chandler, like these students get X, Y, and Z. But when I'm on the South side in the neighborhood I grew up in, we actually don't have as much, as many accesses to afterschool programs or the arts or these other essential pieces that I was seeing in other places.

And so that had already kind of like opened up my mind.

And that's how I started to get into organizing.

I was really lucky that a former teacher of mine at the time was now a state representative.

And he had posted on Facebook one day, I'm looking for young black organizers to get involved.