{"id":5296,"date":"2024-03-09T11:51:22","date_gmt":"2024-03-09T16:51:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jazzinthegardens.com\/firstact\/?p=5296"},"modified":"2024-04-22T11:52:29","modified_gmt":"2024-04-22T15:52:29","slug":"fantasia-moves-crowd-to-tears-as-she-described-her-sometimes-dark-but-always-inspirational-journey-to-stardom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jazzinthegardens.com\/firstact\/2024\/fantasia-moves-crowd-to-tears-as-she-described-her-sometimes-dark-but-always-inspirational-journey-to-stardom\/","title":{"rendered":"Fantasia Moves Crowd to Tears as She Described Her Sometimes Dark, But Always Inspirational Journey to Stardom"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fantasia appeared on stage<\/a><\/span> at Jazz In The Gardens\u2019<\/a><\/span> 17th annual Women\u2019s Impact Luncheon in Florida to a standing ovation and a room packed with Black and brown women eager to hear her testimony.<\/p>\n

When asked about how she balances her busy career with motherhood, \u201c<\/em>The Color Purple\u201d star<\/a><\/span> responded with: \u201cIt\u2019s not easy. There are times when I feel very guilty…but I put my family first \u2018cause family will be there when everyone else is gone. I\u2019m gonna keep it very, very real and raw with y\u2019all\u2014cause that\u2019s what y\u2019all want right? Don\u2019t judge me and talk about me on Facebook or TikTok.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fantasia then opened up about having her first child at 19 and making it her personal mission to do \u201ceverything my parents couldn\u2019t do for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, when her daughter became older, she was more interested in having a mom who was present as opposed to material possessions.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had to switch it up, y\u2019all, because in my mind I\u2019m thinking \u2018I\u2019m going hard for her\u2019…everything they offered me I took it but I needed to work smarter.\u201d She then discussed experiencing financial peril and incorporating her children into her business ventures (\u201cTo whom much is given, much is required\u201d). When asked about her extraordinary endeavors, the \u201cFree Yourself\u201d singer burst into song reciting: \u201cTo God be all the glory.\u201d<\/p>\n

The event, which took place on Friday at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in honor of Women\u2019s History Month, was powered by the Black Promoters Collective. It also was a historic moment in Miami-Dade County.<\/p>\n

Last year, Miami-Dade became the first county in the state of Florida to have four Black women leading<\/a><\/span> major police departments in the municipalities. These powerhouses\u2014Stephanie Daniels, Cherise Gause, Harvette Smith and Delmar Noel-Pratt\u2014were celebrated at the luncheon. The event was kicked off by a stunning performance of the Negro National Anthem by 15-year-old songstress K. Nicole.<\/p>\n

Local radio personality Supa Cindy led a panel about entrepreneurship featuring Tina Douglas (Ashanti\u2019s momager), financial expert Jasmine Glover and Selling Tampa\u2019s Sharelle Rosado.<\/p>\n

Fantasia came on shortly afterwards to that standing ovation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI knew I had a gift, they knew I had a gift but everybody just wanted to see how much they could profit…nobody taught me about the industry I just knew how to sing,\u2019\u2019 she said. \u201cI came into the industry at 19…so many leeches…people smiling in my face all the while was taking things from me.\u201d Fantasia, who was \u201craised in the church,\u201d turned to prayer<\/a><\/span> in time of crisis but now attends therapy religiously.<\/p>\n

Fantasia also addressed her 2010 suicide attempt and her state of mind at that time. \u201cI\u2019m not ashamed\u2014when I took all those pills I wanted to die,\u201d she recalled. The star credited her family and God for getting her through that dark period.<\/p>\n

At the end of her address, she brought several young Black girls on stage and instructed the women in the room to teach them class and elegance (\u201cyou need to save a little for the imagination\u201d). The star thanked the women in her life for \u201cchecking her\u201d when she needed it the most and ultimately reminded attendees of her resilience by saying: \u201cEverything they said I could not be, I\u2019m doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n

SOURCE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Fantasia appeared on stage at Jazz In The Gardens\u2019 17th annual Women\u2019s Impact Luncheon in Florida to a standing ovation and a room packed with Black and brown women eager to hear her testimony. When asked about how she balances her busy career with motherhood,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5297,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-updates"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jazzinthegardens.com\/firstact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jazzinthegardens.com\/firstact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jazzinthegardens.com\/firstact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jazzinthegardens.com\/firstact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jazzinthegardens.com\/firstact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5296"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jazzinthegardens.com\/firstact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5296\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5298,"href":"https:\/\/jazzinthegardens.com\/firstact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5296\/revisions\/5298"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jazzinthegardens.com\/firstact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jazzinthegardens.com\/firstact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jazzinthegardens.com\/firstact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jazzinthegardens.com\/firstact\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}