JoJo Gomez is fearlessly authentic - from her dance style all the way to her personality - everything about this Dance Influencer is 100% real. During this interview, JoJo shares stories from her big break, to auditions that left her feeling negative towards the dance space which inspired her to pursue choreography.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Behind the Influence, a production of I Heart
Radio and TDC Media. How am I going to pick
myself up from this? I was embarrassed. I had never
been let go in my entire life. But it was
honestly a blessing in disguise. And I know that I'm talented,
and I know what I can give to people in
the world. I know I can inspire people. I was
literally I had no shame. I was like, this is
(00:21):
my choreography. Here it is boom boom boom. But this
is what I love and this is what I want
to do. Whether you're gonna support me or not, I'm
gonna glad and I'm gonna do this even if it
pisses you off. Jojo Gomez is in the house. Hey,
a pro dancer, choreographer. A few stats for you guys.
She has one point for a million followers on Instagram
(00:41):
one point three million subs on YouTube. Not a small
number there, Jojo. And You've performed with some really big names.
A small artist by the name of Justin Bieber is
somebody You've worked with? Pretty small factory boys? Ever heard
of them? Demilovado who is she? You've worked with some
of the biggest name aimes in music. We're gonna talk
(01:02):
about all that. We're going to talk about how you've
got to where you are today from the East Coast
all the way to l A making big moves. But yeah,
so the show is all about influence, and you are
definitely somebody who has influenced in the dance space. Not
only are you doing choreography for some of the biggest artists,
which is blatantly influencing what we see, you're also teaching people,
(01:24):
like this generation of dancers is coming up learning some
of the things that you made up. And you have
a platform of millions of followers who are also seeing
that who can't necessarily take your classes or see you
on tour. So the influence is real. Yeah, but it
didn't always start out that way, did it. You were
a young little Joe Joe not at all. Did not
(01:46):
start off that way. I'm actually from the East Coast.
I'm from Massachusetts, and there wasn't much dance out there.
I mean, I trained at a small studio in western Massachusetts.
But I was super inspired by Los Angeles and I
knew that it was something that I wanted to do.
I really wanted to for my career of being a
professional dancer, and so right after high school, I booked
the first plane ticket and it's been an amazing journey
(02:06):
ever since. You make it sound so easy version, Oh yeah, yeah,
what Trust me. I have lots of questions for you,
But I will say, every time you see somebody like
you have this amazing come up, you think it's so easy,
but there was a lot of hard work that went
into it, countless hours for you in the studio dancing,
taking that big leap to after high school, get on
(02:28):
a plane and go to a place where did you
know many people in l A? I did not know
many people in l A. When I made my move.
I left a lot of friends behind in my family
because I'm originally from Massachusetts, so it's like all the
way across the country. And I will say that I
was really really hungry and I had a lot of
drive when I moved to l A. I was the
type of person where, even though I was the underdog,
I wasn't always like as dope as I am today.
(02:51):
I didn't think I would make it because I was
that girl that had to work extra hard. Dancing didn't
come naturally to me. I wasn't the most flexible. I
didn't have the most technique, but had a lot of
passion and heart for it, and so I had to
work harder than everybody else. Basically, I took like seven
classes a day. When I moved out to l A.
I went to so many auditions and I got cut
from the majority of them, which is like the whole
(03:12):
part of the process. But again, I had to take
so many classes, I had to go to the gym
every single day. I had to watch what I was eating,
and as a Latin girl, as a Latino that that
was really difficult because food is like my whole life.
And when I moved out to l A, I was like, oh, Ship,
I need to go on a diet. I need to
like have a six pack in order for myself to
book this job or this tour dance with this artist.
(03:34):
So it was like a smack of reality. When I
moved to l A. I had a let go of
the bagels and the McDonald's. This is like some music
video commercial, Ship, I need to be on top of
my body and yeah, I also struggled with body image
as well. When I moved to l A. Again, I
wasn't always like stick thin. I had to Why why
did you feel that you had to be stick thin?
I mean, you're you're great dancer. Some of my favorite dancers,
(03:57):
like j Lo to me as iconic her she she
wasn't stick Then where did you get this idea from? Well,
when I moved out to l A. It is very
shallow in our industry because every single audition that I
went to, it was basically not about how good of
a dancer you were. It was about if you had
a six pack or if you could dance in a bikini.
It was more about what you look like and who
(04:18):
you knew. And that was always really hard for me
because I signed up for all these amazing dance conventions
growing up. My mom spent so much money on my training.
And when I moved out to l A and I realized,
oh my god, it's it's more about what I look
like and list about my talent. It really really like
painted me a little bit. It's hard. Yeah, it was
really hard because you know, well, I mean, not to
be superficial. You are very beautiful so and and I
(04:42):
mean from all the videos that I saw, you never
looked like I couldn't imagine somebody not booking you because
of your body. I mean, it's not like you were
right now, I feel you, But like being a dancer
are our bodies are temples and it's the first thing
that people look at, especially back then in music videos,
Like without social media, how are people got to know
who you are? Like for the most part, dancers were
(05:02):
only validated through the artists that they danced behind and
how big their resume was, and in order to have
that you needed to look a certain way. It was very,
very shallow back then. But now with social media, which
we're going to get into, I feel like that has
really changed my life because I can be well known
for who I am and not who I've danced behind,
and I can embrace my body. I can embrace my
(05:24):
Latino curves, and I don't have to like starve myself
from my favorite foods. I can right now. I used
to have a really unhealthy relationship with myself when I
was just a dancer and I was going to auditions
and fighting for these people's validation of myself. I was
fighting for a door to open. And then as soon
as I decided to open my own doors and just
not seek validation from anybody else anymore. It changed my
(05:46):
life completely. I love that. I feel like the Internet
has been the ultimate equalizer for everyone. It's like, you
can create your own lane. People are doing really, really
big things that maybe ten years ago would not have
even been taken seriously because people wouldn't have understood, it
wouldn't have made sense to them. But the Internet allows
people to say, I'm my own brand, Like I'm not
(06:07):
fitting into this box that you've created for me. I'm
going to create my own lane, and if I want
to swerve lanes next year, I'm going to do that.
So I think that's really cool. I'm so glad that
you decided to do you and not and not really
let that bum you out. And I'm sure it was
a shell shock coming from the East Coast and seeing
all that, because obviously for people do who do not
(06:28):
live in l A. Let me just tell you, I'm
also from the East Coast. You get off the plane
and you're like, whoa, everyone here is hot? What happened?
It's it's kind of weird. What part of Massachusetts are
you from? By the way, I'm from Seth, Massachusetts. Okay.
I dated I've always dated Massholes don't ask me why. Literally,
up until up until I moved to l A. For
some reason, every dude I met was like, oh, I'm
(06:50):
from Boston. I'm like great. And I also dated one
You're I don't even think you've heard of this town
where Massages where I live an hour away. Okay, I
dated a dude from where Massachusetts, and for the longest time,
I'm like, oh, everything in Massachusetts is just like Boston.
So I go to visit him and war and I
was like, holy sh it, this is nothing like I know.
(07:12):
So I've had my times and where Massachusetts. I know,
it's crazy, isn't it. Look at us in l A
just doing just doing it? But no, But seriously, I mean,
what a jump from Massachusetts to l A. I'm sure
you were a big fish in a little pond, especially
in the dancing world, and then you come out here
and everybody it just seems like everyone here is just
(07:33):
insanely talented. So how did you, I guess, just break
Believe it or not. It wasn't when I moved to
l A. It was in New York when I realized
what I wanted to do. My first job that I
ever booked in my life was beyoncely right, I was
still in the Queen Bee. The Queen Bee. It was honestly,
I was still in high school and I was still
(07:54):
in training mode. I had this great connection with this choreographer.
Her name is Luam and I was religious taking her class,
and she came up to me one day after her
class and she's like, Hey, are you available in the
next two days for a job for an artist? And
I was like absolutely. I mean, I've never danced for
an artist before, so this is gonna be great for me.
She did not tell me it was Beyonce. So when
(08:14):
I showed up and I saw Beyonce in the rehearsal,
I was like, is this for real? Is this for real?
Like I'm still in high school, I would be like,
where is Ash. I'm getting punked right now. Yeah. And
so honestly, her kindness and how like her work ethic
in the rehearsal and then the dancers that I was
surrounded by, I just knew in that moment that I
(08:36):
could do this, like little me Jojo from Massachusetts could
make it in Los Angeles or New York or just
like in the entertainment industry in general, like the passion
and the joy and the adrenaline rush that I experienced
while dancing for her was just unbelievable. It was for
the Get Me Bodied campaign that she collaborated with Michelle Obama.
I don't know if you saw it. Yeah, it was.
(08:57):
It was so fun. You wouldn't recognize me at all.
I look completely different. I had this like mouseie short,
brunette bob and it was just a mess. I didn't
have my look together. I didn't know the first thing
about what it took to be like a professional dancer.
I know, and it was only based off of like
my my, like what that choreographer saw in me. I
worked really, really hard, and so she gave me a chance,
(09:20):
and just that experience alone dancing behind Beyonce was something
that made me realize that I want to do this
for the rest of my life. And then when I
moved out to l A, the second job that I
booked was Britney Spears and the vm AS. It was
a Britney Spears tribute and I remember that that how
was the Michael Jackson it was, And then we were
(09:42):
introduced to the stage by Lady Gaga. Okay, I'm sorry,
Joe Joe. Right, how did you? I mean, yes, you're talented,
but this is just three winds back to back here,
I mean Lady Gaga, right, it was unreal. And again
I was still seventeen when I booked that job, So
what were you What was everyone else out there doing
(10:03):
at seventeen, I wasn't being introduced by Lady Gaga, right,
that's so so casual. And then so this is on
your resume now, so you have, at this point, at
the age of seventeen, you have danced with Beyonce maybe
arguably one of the biggest stars in the world, maybe
at that time was the biggest star in the world.
And then you're dancing behind pop icon Britney Spears. Where
(10:27):
do you go from there? I mean, these are iconic names.
So I'm assuming after you add these names to your resume,
is that did every door open or did you find
some challenges still? Oh my gosh, so many challenges still.
Like I did have some great connections with choreographers who
would direct book me on these great jobs, but for
the most part, I went to a lot more auditions
where I heard no. And again going back to my
(10:48):
body image, I was I heard no, just because of
what my body looked like and so and did you
know this for a fact? People they would always tell me.
They would be like hey, Like they would pull me
up to the desk and they'd be like, hey, you're great,
but you just need a loose way, you need to
tighten up, you need to hit the gym more. But
we would have hired you. And so that really really
it like motivated me. But it also created a really
unhealthy relationship with myself and I would starve myself. I
(11:11):
I would weigh myself like five times a day to
see if there was like a slight difference. It was
just really really unhealthy. But a lot of dancers go
through this as well. I did have a lot of
great experiences with the jobs. Like right after that, I
dance with Justin Bieber and that was just like so
cool because he was like the biggest pop star at
the time. But then right after that job, literally the
(11:31):
next day, what's my next job that I'm doing? I
have to go to this audition and this audition. Sometimes
I would go to three auditions in one day and
I would get cut in the first round. Then the
next audition I would go to that day, I would
make it all the way to the end, and then
I would have to wait a few days to hear.
I auditioned for Rihanna, and I made it all the
way till the end. And then they said that I
looked too pretty. And I looked at them and I said,
(11:52):
I'll shave my head, I'll do whatever, because yeah, that
bothers me. That kind of bothers me. They were looking
for more of an edgy look. They're like, oh, I
think you're just like a little bit too pretty. You
have a little bit too much of a girl next
door vibe, and we're looking for an edgy or vibe.
And so I was very desperate. I was like, I
know I can do this, Like I'll shave my head,
(12:14):
I'll color my hair, I'll make it purple. What they
say they didn't. I didn't get picked. It was okay.
I was still young and it was a learning experience.
But but at the same time, I mean, to have
all these people validating you, clearly you knew that you
had talent and that that you could take it somewhere.
So even the nose, in a sense, if I heard
those kinds of nose, it wouldn't per se discourage me
(12:35):
totally because you know that it's not something I can change.
You can't change, like if you don't look edgy to them,
you don't look edge to them. But I have nothing
to do with your dancing, so I would imagine that
didn't discourage you from continuing. I mean, it sucks. It sucks.
It was something that bothered me because I can't do
anything about this, and I wish I could have so,
but you know, it's part of the process and it
(12:57):
created a gave me a thicker skin. And honestly, when
I got those experiences when they came to me, because
I heard so many knows, the yes is meant so
much more. Yeah, that makes sense. So on the on
the topic of your look or your brand or whatever
they wanted somebody edgy. They said, you were two girl
next door. You don't look girl next door to me.
You look you look like you have fashion sense. You
look I don't know, you just look like you're doing
(13:19):
your own thing, and I think that's amazing. What would
you say is your brand and your look If somebody
were to say, tell us what your brand is, pitch
us on you so we can try to book you
somewhere honestly, I can't. I guess it would just be
fearlessly and apologetically me because it changes all the time,
depending on the mood that I'm in, depending on where
(13:42):
my artistry is going. Because my artistry changes all the time.
I'm not just like a sexy dancer in heels, Like
one day i want to dance in heels and I'll
wear my hair down and i'll wear a red lip
with highlight, or then the next day I'll feel really
really emotional and I'll do like a sad Billie Eilish
song and I'll dress really baggy and i won't have
any makeup on my face. And then the next day
(14:04):
I'll do hip hop to a Sierra song and I'll
be wearing sunglasses with my hair in a bun and hoops,
like embracing my Latin side. So I have like all
different parts of me and my artistry and things that
I want to say within my art and I think
that's cool because I never know what's going to come
out of me, and people never know what I'm gonna
do next, and so it's it's hard for me to
say I'm very unpredictable, but whatever comes out comes from
(14:27):
a place of my heart and vulnerability. So so you
may not necessarily have a specific brand, but you are
absolutely authentic. Yeah, I would say authentic, unpredictable, unique. That's
so real though, because think about like how how I
dressed a year ago is different than how I dressed today.
It's just and also how I dressed last week. It's
all about your mood. And I think that in this
(14:48):
industry you're kind of forced a lot to create a brand.
Have you noticed that with dancers it's like I'm the
sexy girl, or I'm like the hip hop girl, or
I'm placed in a box basically, Yeah, So does that
work against you do not have a specific brand? Do
you think when it comes to booking where people I
don't know. I think it used to when I was
(15:09):
just a dancer, but I guess I just don't really
give a shit anymore, and I just do whatever I feel.
And whenever I create, it's not to fit a box
or to fit or to conform to the norm, or
to seek validation or an opportunity. I just kind of
create to create, and honestly, when it comes out of
me organically like that, then the opportunities and the blessings
(15:32):
come because whenever I create from a genuine place, that
comes to me like the I don't know how to
explain it, Like whatever you put out into the universe
comes back full circle. I don't know the thing that
I've realized if I'm putting something out there that's not
genuine and I have a plan like Okay, I'm gonna
this isn't me. But let's just say I was like, Okay,
this song is popular and I want to choreograph for
this artist, which is a strategic plan. But I feel
(15:54):
like if I went out there with that intention, it
wouldn't come back to me. So I have to be
in fired genuinely by whatever I'm doing. It has to
make sense to me. It has to come from a
place in my heart, whether it's like it makes me
feel sexy or it gives me courage to release that
part of me. Then I feel like I gain more
out of it, and people in my audience will believe
(16:15):
it more and they'll read me more. So at this point,
you're what seventeen eighteen, You're dancing for other people, You're
loving life, You're getting some really great opportunities. When do
you switch hats and become a choreographer. At what point
did you decide that's the lane you were gonna drive
in for a while. I love this question. So I
(16:35):
was at a point I think I was nineteen, and
I took I think I was on my way back
from an audition. It was a Nicki Minage audition, and
I remember we didn't even dance. I just had to
stand there in a thong and they had to just
look at my butt to see if it was stopped.
Like they made all of us turn around and they
all just stared at our butts. I think it was
(16:56):
like the Anacondom music I was I swear Baby Jesus.
I was about to say, don't tell me it was Antachonmoy.
That's the only song I can imagine that they would
actually give a shit about your ass, not saying it's okay, right.
But I remember I was like thinking, when the hell
am I going to dance? When the hell are they
could ask me to dancewer just like free style? When
are we learning choreography? And we didn't. We just stood
(17:17):
there and they just looked at our asses for the
longest time. And then I got cut and I remember
driving home that they like did they seriously just need
me to wear a thong and not dancing. I literally
just went to an audition when I didn't show my talent,
and it was only about how big my ass was
and how firm it looked, and I got cut and
so I just got really discouraged. And not only was
(17:38):
I discouraged, I also lit a fire under my ass,
and I was like, you know what, I've got to
create my own opportunities. I've worked too hard. I know
so many amazing dancers who are so talented and can
create their own opportunities, So why can't I do that
for myself? And so the day that I decided to
open up my own doors and create my own lane,
(17:58):
that was when my whole life changed. I took advantage
of my social media, took advantage of my my potential,
and I just completely started from the bottom and I
worked my way up. I started teaching little kids, I
started sharing my experience in the industry with them, and
I realized that I have a passion for people and
helping others throughout my passion of dance. So I started
(18:21):
teaching and choreographing more, realizing that I had this burning
desire to create because I always was an assistant. I
was a dancer that learned choreography. I was always like
this robot that learned choreo. I paid my dues, earned
my stripes of being a professional dancer, and then I realized, Wow,
I want to create. I can make up choreography. I
can do concept videos. I believe that one day I
(18:43):
could choreograph for artists. And then I just decided to
go for it, and I made a lot of people
upset by doing that. I remember there were some mentors
of mine that were like, why are you what? Why
are you transitioning into choreography when you should still be auditioning,
you should still be assisting, And I remember thinking, why
would my mentors not want me to spread my wings
(19:05):
and fly? I feel like choreography is the natural next step.
Almost feels like what is the end goal? If you're
just a backup dancer? What what is the goal? For?
Serious question? What do people expect to do after that? Well?
That was what I was asking as well. I feel
like people expect you to be at a certain place
for their own comfortability, in their own or they're they're
(19:28):
booking you as a backup dancer, and they expect that
you'll stay there because you're making that money, right, but
that's short term for you. And then exactly, it doesn't
have a big picture plan for you. Exactly, you were
thinking big picture, big picture, and not everybody wants to
support that. And so I had to literally go against
the grain and say, Okay, I hear you, but this
(19:51):
is what I love and this is what I want
to do. Whether you're going to support me or not,
I'm going to go after this because this is I
believe in myself. Whether you would believe in me or not,
I'm gonna go out and I'm gonna do this. Even
if it pisces you off, I'm gonna go do it.
And it was the best decision I ever made, because
I wouldn't be where I am today if I didn't
believe in myself, if I was scared, if I stayed
under someone's wing, which I was under so many people's
(20:13):
wings for so many years. I earned my stripes. I
was an assistant for like four or five years, and
then when I wanted to take that next step, I
had to do it or else I would stay. I
would stay where I was forever. And sometimes that's really scary.
Because you could upset people, or you could fail or
you and I was afraid of all of those things.
But I had to face it, and I had to
take it by the horns and just go for it
(20:35):
and dive into that shark tank like we were talking about,
because that was how it all started. It was scary,
but it was so unbelievably worth it because I got
to see my potential and I got to see who
I could become, and I got to face things as
my own entity. I got to like see what I
was capable of in that moment. You've done choreography for
(20:59):
so many people. Do you have a favorite. It's hard
to say. Um wow, I really really love to Nash.
I love to Nash. She inspires me so much and
she's a dancer. To Nash was a very first artist
that ever gave me a chance as a choreographer. She
found me on Instagram, which is so funny because she
(21:20):
never would have found me if I didn't create my
own social media and utilize my platform. You know, my
my classes were my home and it was what I
love to do. I love to choreograph film. I put
it on YouTube, inspire people, and then organically to Nase
saw my work and she hit me up one day.
She's like, Hey, Jojo Gomez, do you want to carry
you off my next music video. I thought it was
a joke. I couldn't believe it. I will say I
(21:42):
didn't realize how big the world of dance was on
Instagram until we started booking people for this show. I'm like,
oh my god. There are so many dancers on Instagram
who have millions and millions of followers, and every day
or every other day, it seems like they're putting out top,
very top quality dance videos on their Instagram or on
(22:03):
their YouTube. Not all of them have as many followers
as you, but people are taking it really seriously and
they have a ton of followers. So how did she
find you in this sea of dancers and choreographers? Honestly,
I was very consistent with my content on my social
media because I feel like dance has become so universal
(22:24):
now because of social media, and now dancers are treating
their instagrams as their resumes and almost like an opportunity
for potential work. So the more that you post and
the more consistent that you are with it, the more
that these you know executives directors, these artists will be
able to find you and see your work, because back
then it was more about word of mouth to get
(22:47):
hired or to go to auditions and then get validated.
But now you can have control of your own platform,
in your own artistry and talents, and you can get
recognized just based off of that. And I think that's
so fly, and that's what I was doing. I was
just having fun with my social media, being very consistent,
believing in my art and putting it out there in
an authentic way. And then that was read by to Nash.
(23:10):
I was just uploading a whole bunch of videos to
her songs, and she saw it and she thought my
work was really dope, and she hit me up asking
me to choregraph her next music video. And honestly, if
I sat around and just prayed for it, and I
just went about it the cookie cutter route, waiting for
it and waiting for my mentor to tell me when
it was the right time or the job or your
(23:30):
agent to find the opportunity. Yeah, if I, if I
wasn't my own boss, and if I wasn't my own
entity to Nash, I wouldn't have reached out to me.
She she I guess she she saw me as my
own boss and she was inspired by that and she
wanted to work with me. And I've loved working with her.
I've worked with her so many times, and she's actually,
you know, working on her own stuff right now that
I'm a part of. I'm really excited for her. She's
(23:52):
an amazing, beautiful person. But working with her is just
so unreal because her work ethic is top notch. And
I connect with her because she's a dam She's such
an amazing dancer. Whenever I rehearsed whether, she's always so committed,
and it's just fun because it doesn't feel forced, it
doesn't feel like I'm pulling teeth. She's just always in
it and she's always ready. And I would say she's
(24:13):
like my favorite artist that I've ever worked with. And
it also is a soft spot because she was the
first artist to ever give me a chance. Yeah, that's
that's a special exactly. So do you recommend? Because I
think back to your origin story, you flew out to
l A to make your dreams come true. Your story
(24:33):
that you just told I think is hugely inspiring for
people who might not be able to get on a
plane and travel. They can basically be discovered wherever they
are because of social media, because of YouTube. Do you
think that that's the case for you know, somebody's an
aspiring dancer, they live in Arkansas. Let's say hypothetically, they
(24:55):
can't afford to fly out to l A. They can't
afford to take all the classes, but they're wildly talent.
Did do you recommend that they just put content out?
What would you what would be your your advice? Absolutely?
I think that if you have a dream and if
you have a goal your work ethic. It's like my
father always told me, a dream without a plan is
simply a wish. So you need to plan in order
for your dreams to come true. Like I had a
(25:16):
crazy drive and I saw social media as a way
for me to become my own person. And again I
went through a lot of hardships. I went to so
many auditions, I heard nose and I was in l A.
I felt like, oh my god, where am I gonna go?
Like some people don't want to give me a chance,
or some people think I'm to this or I'm to that.
But I know my worth and I know that I'm
(25:37):
talented and I know what I can give to people
in the world. I know I can inspire people, and
so I had to look at myself and say, what
am I gonna do? How am I going to open
these doors? How can I utilize my social media so
that people know who I am without someone, you know,
showing me to somebody, How can I show myself to
the world? And so I think social media has really
become an amazing like route for individuals and for for
(26:02):
underdogs as well. I was always an underdog. I wasn't
always dope. I had to work really hard. I had
to figure out what my strategy was. I had to
figure out, you know, what made me me, and social
media allowed me to reach out to others, to inspire
them and to share my art in a way where
it was appreciated. When did you notice an incline and
(26:24):
because you didn't always have millions of followers, was there
a secret sauce or something that you had to do
where you noticed an incline in following and visibility. I
was just very consistent. I was really passionate about putting
my work out there. I wanted everybody to see what
I was doing, especially when I first got started I
I really, really really was hungry. I was hungry for
(26:45):
opportunity and I put myself out there. I was I
was literally I had no shame. I was like, this
is my choreography here. It is boom boom boom consistency
within putting my work out there. I was really fearless
about it. I didn't care what people and even if
there was a small percentage of me that did everybody
starts somewhere. It's like, I love that saying you have
(27:06):
to look stupid before you look amazing, or you have
to fall before you you learn how to fly. Like
you you have to be willing to put yourself out
there to succeed and to want to become the best
version of yourself. So that's why I say, like social
media is so great because it's it's like a chance
for you to be who you want to be. Honestly. Yeah,
And I think a big part of the journey that
(27:28):
gets skipped over or maybe not highlighted are those failures
because people don't, you know, they always say Instagram is
the highlight reel. Right, You're seeing all the winds, you're
seeing all the times that the person feels like they're
on top of the world and they've had and people
often think this is coming so easy to that person.
It's not fair. It hasn't come easy for you or
(27:48):
for a lot of the people that we have on
the show that are wildly they're influential, they're big, big names.
What would you say it was a moment if you
can think about it in your career that you almost
quit there, Like, was there a day in your career
where something was so devastating or you know, made you
(28:09):
rethink the whole career path? Oh my god? A few times.
There was one in particular where I was actually bullied
on a job and it was my dream job and
it was something that I had on my vision board,
something that I really prayed for. And something about me
is that I'm I'm really passionate about dance. I'm really
passionate about my choreography. And I was on a job
(28:31):
where I was bullied by a higher up and I actually,
you know, silenced myself out of fear. And that's something
that I It was It was so against my my
character because what I teached my students has always utilize
their voices and to never allow someone to make them
feel inferior, and because this opportunity was so big, it
(28:51):
made me fear. It made it made me silence myself
out of fear. I actually got let go from the
job because I decided to end up for myself on
literally like the last stop on that job, and the
moment I decided to stand up for myself and do
the right thing. I was let go for simply using
my voice in a professional way. I was being mistreated.
(29:14):
I got my choreography stolen, my money was stolen. It
was It was just a heartbreaking experience, a learning experience.
But I realized in that moment that it's not worth
it to change who you are just because of a
job or how big it is or who you're working for.
And it really really tainted my spirit for a minute,
(29:34):
because you know, I again, I'm very, very passionate, and
sometimes with people you can trust them, especially in l
A sometimes it's hard to trust people. But I put
all my trust into an individual and I ended up
getting really really hurt in the end, and it was
on a job like my dream job, So I ended
up being really really hurt, and it tainted me for
a minute. But at the end of the day, I
had to pick myself up and remember why I love
(29:56):
to do this, and it's not about the fame. It's
not about the glory, it's not about the money. It's
about the feeling that I get when I'm on stage
and that adrenaline rush that I feel. It's my therapeutic tool.
It's what saves me, and so I had to It
took me about a year to pick myself up again.
That was a moment where I felt like, oh my God,
(30:16):
like what am I gonna do or how am I
going to pick myself up from this? I was embarrassed.
I had never been let go in my entire life.
But it was honestly a blessing in disguise because it
was an unhealthy It was like an unhealthy environment, and
I don't think that's worth it. I know so many
dancers and grown adults who have gotten bullied or have
(30:37):
been you know, like sexually assaulted on a job, or
have been you know, mistreated. It's there's like so much
stuff that goes on behind the scenes, and like you
were saying, there's people look at the glitz and the
glamour of social media and everything that I am doing,
but they don't know the backstory, what happens behind the scenes,
and I've been through all of that. I've been through
so much heartbreak. I've I've I've been let go from
(30:58):
a job for just standing up for myself because I
was bullied and I was just trying to do the
right thing. So honestly, you know, I had to learn
from that because it is what it is. L A
can be a really really shady place, you know. Yeah,
and I'm I'm from western Massachusetts. So again, it still
feels like a smack of reality sometimes when I'm in
(31:19):
l A, because I just want to be around loving,
genuine people who I'm inspired by, who are real, and
sometimes it's not always the case. So I had to
literally heal and recover from that, and I know so
many people who have had experiences like that as well.
It's it's unfair, but that is the business, and I'm
glad I experienced it, and I'm glad that I learned
(31:39):
from it, and now I can help other dancers know
they're worth and know how to value themselves and how
to handle themselves in a situation where they're being tested
with their character, their integrity. It's it's really not worth it.
In the end to silence yourself based on you know,
a job and wanting to fit in. I've been bullied
as an adult. I was bullied in high school. I'm
still lead as an adult on social media, on jobs.
(32:03):
It's it's a thing. How do you respond to that? Um,
it depends. I'm a spicy Latina, so you never know
what you're gonna get. But for the most part, I
just have to I just have to be the bigger person,
and I have to remember how blessed I am. And
I'm really blessed that I have an amazing family, an
amazing boyfriend who's here with me right now, supporting me.
(32:24):
I have to remember the real people in my life
who love me for who I am. And I just
have to remember who I am and that doesn't say
anything about me. And that's advice I'll give to everyone else,
Like if how people treat you says nothing about who
you are, it says everything about who they are, and
I have to deal with that. In this industry, a
lot a lot of great comes with the world of dance.
(32:48):
You get to travel the world, you get to meet
some of your favorite artists. I mean, you were seventeen
hanging out with Britney Spears and Beyonce. Basically, what is
the one thing about the dance industry that if you
could wave a magic wand and change about the that
specific world, what would you do? How would you change
(33:09):
the space? It's hard to say. Um, I would say,
you know, dancers, we're at the bottom of the entertainment industry,
like that chain. It's like singers blah blah blah, and
then there's dancers right here. And I feel like as dancers,
(33:29):
we really elevate performances and we put our hearts in
our bodies and our athleticism into everything, and I feel
as though it's for Sometimes dancers aren't treated the best
way and they don't get compensated correctly. And I'm really
grateful for SAG and for Dancers Alliance because they are
really changing the game and they're making sure that dancers
(33:51):
get the proper treatment on jobs, they're paid properly. I
just feel like dancers don't always get treated the best way,
and we really really take for amnce is to the
next level, especially the most iconic music videos that exist.
You know, dancers have been in it, and I feel
like dancers should be treated more like more like stars
and less like props, because I mean, you are blatantly
(34:15):
treated like a prop at that music video, yeah, audition,
And that's something that I want to change. I want
there to be more respect inequality towards dancers. I feel
like that's something that needs to happen. Also, I'm just
gonna say it's a very male heavy industry. I would
I would just say as a whole in general, it
(34:35):
is very you know, and it's amazing, But I would
just in general, more equality, more equality, more respect for everyone. Yeah,
there's so many things are answers. When you were talking
about bullying, I was wondering to myself if there's bullying
dancer on dancer bullying versus because you experienced bullying from
(34:56):
a higher up on a dream job that you were
afraid to speak up because you did not want to
lose that opportunity. Have you ever experienced that where you
know a fellow dancer might do something shady or not. No,
just in general, is there a lot of caddy competition?
Because I see all these videos being put out on
(35:17):
an Instagram and I'm like, I wonder if all these
dancers hang out. I wonder if they all collaborate. But
then I don't see a ton of collaborating because I
will say I've interviewed a ton of people who are
influencers and in the YouTube space, collaborating is everything. Yeah,
I don't see a ton of collaborating with dancers right, Honestly,
it is very, very competitive in the dance and is
(35:38):
more of a solo thing. Yeah, especially with social media now,
everybody's out for themselves. Everybody wants to be their own brand.
Everybody wants fame, and which is great. Everybody wants opportunity.
There is there's always been competition in the dance industry.
It's it's honestly never changed. It's going to keep growing.
But something that I love is collaborating. I personally love collaborations.
(36:00):
I collaborated with my girl Elia Janelle recently. I'm not
real this year, I collaborated with her and she is
just so amazing. And you would think, like another competitive
female choreographer, like people like to make up tea, especially
on social media, like oh, let's see Joe Joe Comas
versus Alia Janelle or like a Nicole Kirkland, and they
(36:20):
create this unnecessary tea within the dance industry, but I
stay away from that because I'm all about support and
I'm all about, um, female empowerment. I'm all about empowering
each other because I know what it's like to feel
like someone is jealous of me or isn't happy for me,
and it's not a good feeling and it does exist.
(36:40):
So I like to stay away from that and surround
myself with people who support me as well, just like
I support them. Um. But yeah, there's a lot of
shady and cattiness that goes on, just like everywhere else
in this industry in the world, But it's all about
how you choose to surround yourself with it. And yeah,
(37:01):
I mean I'm just not around that. Well, whatever you're doing,
you're doing right. I mean, we were scouring the internet
for the top of the top of each industry for
this show. We're like, Okay, we want the top dancers,
we want the top makeup artist, and you were a
clear choice for us. You are very talented. You are
a choreographer. You have this insane resume. What if you
(37:25):
could make a wish Aladdin style the Genies, Like, you've
got a wish, he gives you one wish? What's your wish?
For your career. Let's put it out there, because I'm
all about putting things out because I think if we
do that, they happen. Oh shit, I have to you
get three. I believe. I believe in the Aladdin he
got three wishes. So I'm gonna give you three. Okay,
(37:45):
I'm gonna give you three. Number one. I want to
work with Billie Eilish so bad. And I love the
choreographer that she works with now, he's so amazing. I
love the content that he puts out with her. But
I would love, love, love to collaborate with Billie Eilish
one day. I really resonate with her music and her lyrics.
And she's only seventeen years old. And I just see
the music video that you did. By the way, I'm
(38:07):
not sure. I mean honestly, two days ago she liked
one of my videos on the Internet and I died.
But I'm I'm not afraid to admit. I am a
fan of Billie Eilish, like a super fan, and I
think that she's so fly, So I would love to
work with her one day too. I want to create
my own, my own workshop that travels around the world.
Something that's different, something that's really intimate and personal, something
(38:30):
that's life changing for dancers all over the world to
struggle with body image and security and people who need
to heal from whatever inner demons that they're dealing with.
And I want to be able to create an amazing
faculty who can inspire other people. And I just want
to be known for that how I made people feel. Um,
I want to create something that's bigger than myself, something
(38:52):
that's bigger than anything I've ever done, and I wanted
to be something that's really inspirational and something that people
want to come to to heal and just feel amazing
about themselves. So I would call that Fearlessly Me, a
Fearlessly Me convention that travels. I feel like that should
be a clothing brand, yeah, merchandise. That's something that I'm
also working on. I'm going to that thank you. I
(39:15):
just I feel like that's something that I had to
really work towards. Especially at a young age. I always
felt like I needed to conform to the norm and
I needed to like look a certain way to hear
it yes. And so until I decided to be unapologetically
fearlessly me, that changed my whole life and That's what
I want to give back to the dance community and
to just people in general, is to be fearlessly themselves
(39:35):
and to embrace that. So that would be a huge goal.
That would be a wish. And then, honestly, my third
wish would be to just have genuine happiness in my life,
because my career isn't everything to me. Like I'm not validated.
I'm not defined by my career or my my talent.
I'm defined by how I make people feel, the person
(39:56):
that I am, my family, my boyfriend. I I just
want to have amazing people around me and happiness and
health forever. That's what I want. Your wishes are granted
from the genie Tatiana. I love that. No, seriously, I
I really First of all, all of your wishes I
(40:17):
feel like are already in the works. I feel like
you've planted those seeds. Billie Eilish is going to come
for you. Billy Hollow will connect the two of you. Also,
the second thing that you listed, you're well on your
way to doing that. You're already teaching right now. Can
you tell us a little bit about what you're doing
with teaching. You're renting out studios, you're teaching young kids, right, Yeah.
(40:38):
So I started teaching my own classes recently because I
usually taught it dance studios in the area in North Hollywood,
and I decided that I wanted to create my own
environment that felt really intimate and more personal. So what
I do is I rent out studio space every week
and I teach and I allow as many people and
as possible, like my most recent class at all for
(41:00):
a hundred people in the room, and usually in studios
they cap it to a certain amount. And I just
I always hate when there's like a wait list and
I see people who can't get in and they've driven
or flown out trying to take my class, but they
couldn't sign in on time. So I let everybody in
and I make sure to book like a really really
big space. I can hold that capacity. I don't know,
(41:20):
it just feels really good to have my own little
baby where I could run a class the way that
I want. I could have. My amazing boyfriend. His name
is Donovan o'kimura, Rude Boy. Donovan just want to shout
out to my friend. He created his own company this
year and it's called Rude Entertainment, and he produces my
classes for me, and it's just such a joy to
(41:41):
be able to work with him as well, because A
he's my boyfriend. B love his work and see, he
has so much respect for you know, what I want
to create, and he has so much respect for my
environment that it's just always such a joy to work
with him. Yeah, we create such an amazing environment for
dancers to be themselves. We hold off a two and
a half hour time because usually in studios it's an
(42:04):
hour and fifteen minutes, hopefully an hour and a half.
But I have two and a half hours in my classes,
so we have time to learn the choreography, go into groups.
I can give them amazing words of advice and inspirational
speeches because I don't just teach steps in my class.
I want to change their lives in the few hours
that they gave me with them. And where can people
(42:24):
see your classes? Do you post those on YouTube? I
post them on my social media. I post them on Instagram, YouTube.
I also do live streams of my classes just because
I also know that not everybody has the opportunity to
fly out to l A or fly out to this
convention that I teach at. And you know it's a
lot of money to be able to invest into your career.
So I remember living in Massachusetts and wanting so badly
(42:48):
to be in l A. And I was super inspired
by the YouTube videos and I would learn them all
in my room. I would look watch them at school
at lunch, and I was really inspired by them. So
I like to give back to the people who watch
my videos, people who are fans, and I post my
videos and I allow them to be part of the
live streams. I comment back to them, and all I
can do is just like share my little world with them,
(43:09):
especially if they won't ever have the opportunity to fly
out and experience it in real life forms. So I
keep my my supporters in the loop by posting videos.
I should be posting more frequently, but I needed to
take a little bit of a break to just like
kind of heal my spirit kinda went through a little
bit of a funk like everyone else does. So I'm
(43:31):
do for my next YouTube video. But yes, stay tuned
for more YouTube videos that I'm going to be dropping.
And I'm really excited about it. I love all of this.
I feel like, um, your your success story is one
that's super inspirational to everyone. It's not just you're not
sitting here just giving a bunch of inspirational quotes and
not living them. I feel like your life has been
(43:52):
a true indication of all the things that you believe
you're teaching, but you're you're living it as well. And
your influence, you know, your social media influence has created
an open so many doors for you. So to everyone
out there, I think it's it's pretty inspiring to know
that you really can create your own lane, and you
really can do whatever you set your mind to. You
(44:15):
you weren't limited by anything. So if you could give
a piece of advice to young Jojo before she got
started in this industry, to somebody else who's right now
starting out, what would you Because they always say hindsight,
So what what would be your piece of advice for
that young new dancer? I would say, don't change anything
(44:37):
about yourself. And the reason why I say this is
because when I was younger, I thought I needed to
change everything about myself in order to like, get a
like or to get a view. Especially now with social media,
kids feel like they need to wear all this makeup
or overly sexualize themselves and were minimal clothing, and I
remember thinking that I needed to do that too. But
be you, embrace who you are in brace your inner weirdo,
(45:01):
your inner unique self, and be that on social media.
Like a dream without a plan is simply a wish. Really,
really take your future by the horns and just go
for it and be you every step of the way.
Don't try to be anybody else, because then what's the point.
Be you love the ups and the downs, and just
(45:24):
keep your head up high and just go for it.
I love that you have so many big things going
on in your life. Please come back when you do that.
Billie Eilish collab. So I'm just gonna put it out there.
You're both going to sit across because I selfishly would
love to interview her too, So we're gonna do a
fun interview all three of us. Next time it's gonna happen. Hey,
(45:45):
we're putting it out there right all right, guys, So
next time JoJo's here, she'll be with Billie Eilish. Hey,
thank you so much for stopping by. I'm really excited
to continue to follow your journey. I know, big, big
things or whatever you decide to do is on the corner,
so thank you so much. We'll see you guys next time.
Jojo go, Thank you bye. Behind the Influences, a production
(46:09):
of I Heart Radio and TDC Media
Welcome to Behind the Influence, a production of I Heart
Radio and TDC Media. How am I going to pick
myself up from this? I was embarrassed. I had never
been let go in my entire life. But it was
honestly a blessing in disguise. And I know that I'm talented,
and I know what I can give to people in
the world. I know I can inspire people. I was
literally I had no shame. I was like, this is
(00:21):
my choreography. Here it is boom boom boom. But this
is what I love and this is what I want
to do. Whether you're gonna support me or not, I'm
gonna glad and I'm gonna do this even if it
pisses you off. Jojo Gomez is in the house. Hey,
a pro dancer, choreographer. A few stats for you guys.
She has one point for a million followers on Instagram
(00:41):
one point three million subs on YouTube. Not a small
number there, Jojo. And You've performed with some really big names.
A small artist by the name of Justin Bieber is
somebody You've worked with? Pretty small factory boys? Ever heard
of them? Demilovado who is she? You've worked with some
of the biggest name aimes in music. We're gonna talk
(01:02):
about all that. We're going to talk about how you've
got to where you are today from the East Coast
all the way to l A making big moves. But yeah,
so the show is all about influence, and you are
definitely somebody who has influenced in the dance space. Not
only are you doing choreography for some of the biggest artists,
which is blatantly influencing what we see, you're also teaching people,
(01:24):
like this generation of dancers is coming up learning some
of the things that you made up. And you have
a platform of millions of followers who are also seeing
that who can't necessarily take your classes or see you
on tour. So the influence is real. Yeah, but it
didn't always start out that way, did it. You were
a young little Joe Joe not at all. Did not
(01:46):
start off that way. I'm actually from the East Coast.
I'm from Massachusetts, and there wasn't much dance out there.
I mean, I trained at a small studio in western Massachusetts.
But I was super inspired by Los Angeles and I
knew that it was something that I wanted to do.
I really wanted to for my career of being a
professional dancer, and so right after high school, I booked
the first plane ticket and it's been an amazing journey
(02:06):
ever since. You make it sound so easy version, Oh yeah, yeah,
what Trust me. I have lots of questions for you,
But I will say, every time you see somebody like
you have this amazing come up, you think it's so easy,
but there was a lot of hard work that went
into it, countless hours for you in the studio dancing,
taking that big leap to after high school, get on
(02:28):
a plane and go to a place where did you
know many people in l A? I did not know
many people in l A. When I made my move.
I left a lot of friends behind in my family
because I'm originally from Massachusetts, so it's like all the
way across the country. And I will say that I
was really really hungry and I had a lot of
drive when I moved to l A. I was the
type of person where, even though I was the underdog,
I wasn't always like as dope as I am today.
(02:51):
I didn't think I would make it because I was
that girl that had to work extra hard. Dancing didn't
come naturally to me. I wasn't the most flexible. I
didn't have the most technique, but had a lot of
passion and heart for it, and so I had to
work harder than everybody else. Basically, I took like seven
classes a day. When I moved out to l A.
I went to so many auditions and I got cut
from the majority of them, which is like the whole
(03:12):
part of the process. But again, I had to take
so many classes, I had to go to the gym
every single day. I had to watch what I was eating,
and as a Latin girl, as a Latino that that
was really difficult because food is like my whole life.
And when I moved out to l A, I was like, oh, Ship,
I need to go on a diet. I need to
like have a six pack in order for myself to
book this job or this tour dance with this artist.
(03:34):
So it was like a smack of reality. When I
moved to l A. I had a let go of
the bagels and the McDonald's. This is like some music
video commercial, Ship, I need to be on top of
my body and yeah, I also struggled with body image
as well. When I moved to l A. Again, I
wasn't always like stick thin. I had to Why why
did you feel that you had to be stick thin?
I mean, you're you're great dancer. Some of my favorite dancers,
(03:57):
like j Lo to me as iconic her she she
wasn't stick Then where did you get this idea from? Well,
when I moved out to l A. It is very
shallow in our industry because every single audition that I
went to, it was basically not about how good of
a dancer you were. It was about if you had
a six pack or if you could dance in a bikini.
It was more about what you look like and who
(04:18):
you knew. And that was always really hard for me
because I signed up for all these amazing dance conventions
growing up. My mom spent so much money on my training.
And when I moved out to l A and I realized,
oh my god, it's it's more about what I look
like and list about my talent. It really really like
painted me a little bit. It's hard. Yeah, it was
really hard because you know, well, I mean, not to
be superficial. You are very beautiful so and and I
(04:42):
mean from all the videos that I saw, you never
looked like I couldn't imagine somebody not booking you because
of your body. I mean, it's not like you were
right now, I feel you, But like being a dancer
are our bodies are temples and it's the first thing
that people look at, especially back then in music videos,
Like without social media, how are people got to know
who you are? Like for the most part, dancers were
(05:02):
only validated through the artists that they danced behind and
how big their resume was, and in order to have
that you needed to look a certain way. It was very,
very shallow back then. But now with social media, which
we're going to get into, I feel like that has
really changed my life because I can be well known
for who I am and not who I've danced behind,
and I can embrace my body. I can embrace my
(05:24):
Latino curves, and I don't have to like starve myself
from my favorite foods. I can right now. I used
to have a really unhealthy relationship with myself when I
was just a dancer and I was going to auditions
and fighting for these people's validation of myself. I was
fighting for a door to open. And then as soon
as I decided to open my own doors and just
not seek validation from anybody else anymore. It changed my
(05:46):
life completely. I love that. I feel like the Internet
has been the ultimate equalizer for everyone. It's like, you
can create your own lane. People are doing really, really
big things that maybe ten years ago would not have
even been taken seriously because people wouldn't have understood, it
wouldn't have made sense to them. But the Internet allows
people to say, I'm my own brand, Like I'm not
(06:07):
fitting into this box that you've created for me. I'm
going to create my own lane, and if I want
to swerve lanes next year, I'm going to do that.
So I think that's really cool. I'm so glad that
you decided to do you and not and not really
let that bum you out. And I'm sure it was
a shell shock coming from the East Coast and seeing
all that, because obviously for people do who do not
(06:28):
live in l A. Let me just tell you, I'm
also from the East Coast. You get off the plane
and you're like, whoa, everyone here is hot? What happened?
It's it's kind of weird. What part of Massachusetts are
you from? By the way, I'm from Seth, Massachusetts. Okay.
I dated I've always dated Massholes don't ask me why. Literally,
up until up until I moved to l A. For
some reason, every dude I met was like, oh, I'm
(06:50):
from Boston. I'm like great. And I also dated one
You're I don't even think you've heard of this town
where Massages where I live an hour away. Okay, I
dated a dude from where Massachusetts, and for the longest time,
I'm like, oh, everything in Massachusetts is just like Boston.
So I go to visit him and war and I
was like, holy sh it, this is nothing like I know.
(07:12):
So I've had my times and where Massachusetts. I know,
it's crazy, isn't it. Look at us in l A
just doing just doing it? But no, But seriously, I mean,
what a jump from Massachusetts to l A. I'm sure
you were a big fish in a little pond, especially
in the dancing world, and then you come out here
and everybody it just seems like everyone here is just
(07:33):
insanely talented. So how did you, I guess, just break
Believe it or not. It wasn't when I moved to
l A. It was in New York when I realized
what I wanted to do. My first job that I
ever booked in my life was beyoncely right, I was
still in the Queen Bee. The Queen Bee. It was honestly,
I was still in high school and I was still
(07:54):
in training mode. I had this great connection with this choreographer.
Her name is Luam and I was religious taking her class,
and she came up to me one day after her
class and she's like, Hey, are you available in the
next two days for a job for an artist? And
I was like absolutely. I mean, I've never danced for
an artist before, so this is gonna be great for me.
She did not tell me it was Beyonce. So when
(08:14):
I showed up and I saw Beyonce in the rehearsal,
I was like, is this for real? Is this for real?
Like I'm still in high school, I would be like,
where is Ash. I'm getting punked right now. Yeah. And
so honestly, her kindness and how like her work ethic
in the rehearsal and then the dancers that I was
surrounded by, I just knew in that moment that I
(08:36):
could do this, like little me Jojo from Massachusetts could
make it in Los Angeles or New York or just
like in the entertainment industry in general, like the passion
and the joy and the adrenaline rush that I experienced
while dancing for her was just unbelievable. It was for
the Get Me Bodied campaign that she collaborated with Michelle Obama.
I don't know if you saw it. Yeah, it was.
(08:57):
It was so fun. You wouldn't recognize me at all.
I look completely different. I had this like mouseie short,
brunette bob and it was just a mess. I didn't
have my look together. I didn't know the first thing
about what it took to be like a professional dancer.
I know, and it was only based off of like
my my, like what that choreographer saw in me. I
worked really, really hard, and so she gave me a chance,
(09:20):
and just that experience alone dancing behind Beyonce was something
that made me realize that I want to do this
for the rest of my life. And then when I
moved out to l A, the second job that I
booked was Britney Spears and the vm AS. It was
a Britney Spears tribute and I remember that that how
was the Michael Jackson it was, And then we were
(09:42):
introduced to the stage by Lady Gaga. Okay, I'm sorry,
Joe Joe. Right, how did you? I mean, yes, you're talented,
but this is just three winds back to back here,
I mean Lady Gaga, right, it was unreal. And again
I was still seventeen when I booked that job, So
what were you What was everyone else out there doing
(10:03):
at seventeen, I wasn't being introduced by Lady Gaga, right,
that's so so casual. And then so this is on
your resume now, so you have, at this point, at
the age of seventeen, you have danced with Beyonce maybe
arguably one of the biggest stars in the world, maybe
at that time was the biggest star in the world.
And then you're dancing behind pop icon Britney Spears. Where
(10:27):
do you go from there? I mean, these are iconic names.
So I'm assuming after you add these names to your resume,
is that did every door open or did you find
some challenges still? Oh my gosh, so many challenges still.
Like I did have some great connections with choreographers who
would direct book me on these great jobs, but for
the most part, I went to a lot more auditions
where I heard no. And again going back to my
(10:48):
body image, I was I heard no, just because of
what my body looked like and so and did you
know this for a fact? People they would always tell me.
They would be like hey, Like they would pull me
up to the desk and they'd be like, hey, you're great,
but you just need a loose way, you need to
tighten up, you need to hit the gym more. But
we would have hired you. And so that really really
it like motivated me. But it also created a really
unhealthy relationship with myself and I would starve myself. I
(11:11):
I would weigh myself like five times a day to
see if there was like a slight difference. It was
just really really unhealthy. But a lot of dancers go
through this as well. I did have a lot of
great experiences with the jobs. Like right after that, I
dance with Justin Bieber and that was just like so
cool because he was like the biggest pop star at
the time. But then right after that job, literally the
(11:31):
next day, what's my next job that I'm doing? I
have to go to this audition and this audition. Sometimes
I would go to three auditions in one day and
I would get cut in the first round. Then the
next audition I would go to that day, I would
make it all the way to the end, and then
I would have to wait a few days to hear.
I auditioned for Rihanna, and I made it all the
way till the end. And then they said that I
looked too pretty. And I looked at them and I said,
(11:52):
I'll shave my head, I'll do whatever, because yeah, that
bothers me. That kind of bothers me. They were looking
for more of an edgy look. They're like, oh, I
think you're just like a little bit too pretty. You
have a little bit too much of a girl next
door vibe, and we're looking for an edgy or vibe.
And so I was very desperate. I was like, I
know I can do this, Like I'll shave my head,
(12:14):
I'll color my hair, I'll make it purple. What they
say they didn't. I didn't get picked. It was okay.
I was still young and it was a learning experience.
But but at the same time, I mean, to have
all these people validating you, clearly you knew that you
had talent and that that you could take it somewhere.
So even the nose, in a sense, if I heard
those kinds of nose, it wouldn't per se discourage me
(12:35):
totally because you know that it's not something I can change.
You can't change, like if you don't look edgy to them,
you don't look edge to them. But I have nothing
to do with your dancing, so I would imagine that
didn't discourage you from continuing. I mean, it sucks. It sucks.
It was something that bothered me because I can't do
anything about this, and I wish I could have so,
but you know, it's part of the process and it
(12:57):
created a gave me a thicker skin. And honestly, when
I got those experiences when they came to me, because
I heard so many knows, the yes is meant so
much more. Yeah, that makes sense. So on the on
the topic of your look or your brand or whatever
they wanted somebody edgy. They said, you were two girl
next door. You don't look girl next door to me.
You look you look like you have fashion sense. You
look I don't know, you just look like you're doing
(13:19):
your own thing, and I think that's amazing. What would
you say is your brand and your look If somebody
were to say, tell us what your brand is, pitch
us on you so we can try to book you
somewhere honestly, I can't. I guess it would just be
fearlessly and apologetically me because it changes all the time,
depending on the mood that I'm in, depending on where
(13:42):
my artistry is going. Because my artistry changes all the time.
I'm not just like a sexy dancer in heels, Like
one day i want to dance in heels and I'll
wear my hair down and i'll wear a red lip
with highlight, or then the next day I'll feel really
really emotional and I'll do like a sad Billie Eilish
song and I'll dress really baggy and i won't have
any makeup on my face. And then the next day
(14:04):
I'll do hip hop to a Sierra song and I'll
be wearing sunglasses with my hair in a bun and hoops,
like embracing my Latin side. So I have like all
different parts of me and my artistry and things that
I want to say within my art and I think
that's cool because I never know what's going to come
out of me, and people never know what I'm gonna
do next, and so it's it's hard for me to
say I'm very unpredictable, but whatever comes out comes from
(14:27):
a place of my heart and vulnerability. So so you
may not necessarily have a specific brand, but you are
absolutely authentic. Yeah, I would say authentic, unpredictable, unique. That's
so real though, because think about like how how I
dressed a year ago is different than how I dressed today.
It's just and also how I dressed last week. It's
all about your mood. And I think that in this
(14:48):
industry you're kind of forced a lot to create a brand.
Have you noticed that with dancers it's like I'm the
sexy girl, or I'm like the hip hop girl, or
I'm placed in a box basically, Yeah, So does that
work against you do not have a specific brand? Do
you think when it comes to booking where people I
don't know. I think it used to when I was
(15:09):
just a dancer, but I guess I just don't really
give a shit anymore, and I just do whatever I feel.
And whenever I create, it's not to fit a box
or to fit or to conform to the norm, or
to seek validation or an opportunity. I just kind of
create to create, and honestly, when it comes out of
me organically like that, then the opportunities and the blessings
(15:32):
come because whenever I create from a genuine place, that
comes to me like the I don't know how to
explain it, Like whatever you put out into the universe
comes back full circle. I don't know the thing that
I've realized if I'm putting something out there that's not
genuine and I have a plan like Okay, I'm gonna
this isn't me. But let's just say I was like, Okay,
this song is popular and I want to choreograph for
this artist, which is a strategic plan. But I feel
(15:54):
like if I went out there with that intention, it
wouldn't come back to me. So I have to be
in fired genuinely by whatever I'm doing. It has to
make sense to me. It has to come from a
place in my heart, whether it's like it makes me
feel sexy or it gives me courage to release that
part of me. Then I feel like I gain more
out of it, and people in my audience will believe
(16:15):
it more and they'll read me more. So at this point,
you're what seventeen eighteen, You're dancing for other people, You're
loving life, You're getting some really great opportunities. When do
you switch hats and become a choreographer. At what point
did you decide that's the lane you were gonna drive
in for a while. I love this question. So I
(16:35):
was at a point I think I was nineteen, and
I took I think I was on my way back
from an audition. It was a Nicki Minage audition, and
I remember we didn't even dance. I just had to
stand there in a thong and they had to just
look at my butt to see if it was stopped.
Like they made all of us turn around and they
all just stared at our butts. I think it was
(16:56):
like the Anacondom music I was I swear Baby Jesus.
I was about to say, don't tell me it was Antachonmoy.
That's the only song I can imagine that they would
actually give a shit about your ass, not saying it's okay, right.
But I remember I was like thinking, when the hell
am I going to dance? When the hell are they
could ask me to dancewer just like free style? When
are we learning choreography? And we didn't. We just stood
(17:17):
there and they just looked at our asses for the
longest time. And then I got cut and I remember
driving home that they like did they seriously just need
me to wear a thong and not dancing. I literally
just went to an audition when I didn't show my talent,
and it was only about how big my ass was
and how firm it looked, and I got cut and
so I just got really discouraged. And not only was
(17:38):
I discouraged, I also lit a fire under my ass,
and I was like, you know what, I've got to
create my own opportunities. I've worked too hard. I know
so many amazing dancers who are so talented and can
create their own opportunities, So why can't I do that
for myself? And so the day that I decided to
open up my own doors and create my own lane,
(17:58):
that was when my whole life changed. I took advantage
of my social media, took advantage of my my potential,
and I just completely started from the bottom and I
worked my way up. I started teaching little kids, I
started sharing my experience in the industry with them, and
I realized that I have a passion for people and
helping others throughout my passion of dance. So I started
(18:21):
teaching and choreographing more, realizing that I had this burning
desire to create because I always was an assistant. I
was a dancer that learned choreography. I was always like
this robot that learned choreo. I paid my dues, earned
my stripes of being a professional dancer, and then I realized, Wow,
I want to create. I can make up choreography. I
can do concept videos. I believe that one day I
(18:43):
could choreograph for artists. And then I just decided to
go for it, and I made a lot of people
upset by doing that. I remember there were some mentors
of mine that were like, why are you what? Why
are you transitioning into choreography when you should still be auditioning,
you should still be assisting, And I remember thinking, why
would my mentors not want me to spread my wings
(19:05):
and fly? I feel like choreography is the natural next step.
Almost feels like what is the end goal? If you're
just a backup dancer? What what is the goal? For?
Serious question? What do people expect to do after that? Well?
That was what I was asking as well. I feel
like people expect you to be at a certain place
for their own comfortability, in their own or they're they're
(19:28):
booking you as a backup dancer, and they expect that
you'll stay there because you're making that money, right, but
that's short term for you. And then exactly, it doesn't
have a big picture plan for you. Exactly, you were
thinking big picture, big picture, and not everybody wants to
support that. And so I had to literally go against
the grain and say, Okay, I hear you, but this
(19:51):
is what I love and this is what I want
to do. Whether you're going to support me or not,
I'm going to go after this because this is I
believe in myself. Whether you would believe in me or not,
I'm gonna go out and I'm gonna do this. Even
if it pisces you off, I'm gonna go do it.
And it was the best decision I ever made, because
I wouldn't be where I am today if I didn't
believe in myself, if I was scared, if I stayed
under someone's wing, which I was under so many people's
(20:13):
wings for so many years. I earned my stripes. I
was an assistant for like four or five years, and
then when I wanted to take that next step, I
had to do it or else I would stay. I
would stay where I was forever. And sometimes that's really scary.
Because you could upset people, or you could fail or
you and I was afraid of all of those things.
But I had to face it, and I had to
take it by the horns and just go for it
(20:35):
and dive into that shark tank like we were talking about,
because that was how it all started. It was scary,
but it was so unbelievably worth it because I got
to see my potential and I got to see who
I could become, and I got to face things as
my own entity. I got to like see what I
was capable of in that moment. You've done choreography for
(20:59):
so many people. Do you have a favorite. It's hard
to say. Um wow, I really really love to Nash.
I love to Nash. She inspires me so much and
she's a dancer. To Nash was a very first artist
that ever gave me a chance as a choreographer. She
found me on Instagram, which is so funny because she
(21:20):
never would have found me if I didn't create my
own social media and utilize my platform. You know, my
my classes were my home and it was what I
love to do. I love to choreograph film. I put
it on YouTube, inspire people, and then organically to Nase
saw my work and she hit me up one day.
She's like, Hey, Jojo Gomez, do you want to carry
you off my next music video. I thought it was
a joke. I couldn't believe it. I will say I
(21:42):
didn't realize how big the world of dance was on
Instagram until we started booking people for this show. I'm like,
oh my god. There are so many dancers on Instagram
who have millions and millions of followers, and every day
or every other day, it seems like they're putting out top,
very top quality dance videos on their Instagram or on
(22:03):
their YouTube. Not all of them have as many followers
as you, but people are taking it really seriously and
they have a ton of followers. So how did she
find you in this sea of dancers and choreographers? Honestly,
I was very consistent with my content on my social
media because I feel like dance has become so universal
(22:24):
now because of social media, and now dancers are treating
their instagrams as their resumes and almost like an opportunity
for potential work. So the more that you post and
the more consistent that you are with it, the more
that these you know executives directors, these artists will be
able to find you and see your work, because back
then it was more about word of mouth to get
(22:47):
hired or to go to auditions and then get validated.
But now you can have control of your own platform,
in your own artistry and talents, and you can get
recognized just based off of that. And I think that's
so fly, and that's what I was doing. I was
just having fun with my social media, being very consistent,
believing in my art and putting it out there in
an authentic way. And then that was read by to Nash.
(23:10):
I was just uploading a whole bunch of videos to
her songs, and she saw it and she thought my
work was really dope, and she hit me up asking
me to choregraph her next music video. And honestly, if
I sat around and just prayed for it, and I
just went about it the cookie cutter route, waiting for
it and waiting for my mentor to tell me when
it was the right time or the job or your
(23:30):
agent to find the opportunity. Yeah, if I, if I
wasn't my own boss, and if I wasn't my own
entity to Nash, I wouldn't have reached out to me.
She she I guess she she saw me as my
own boss and she was inspired by that and she
wanted to work with me. And I've loved working with her.
I've worked with her so many times, and she's actually,
you know, working on her own stuff right now that
I'm a part of. I'm really excited for her. She's
(23:52):
an amazing, beautiful person. But working with her is just
so unreal because her work ethic is top notch. And
I connect with her because she's a dam She's such
an amazing dancer. Whenever I rehearsed whether, she's always so committed,
and it's just fun because it doesn't feel forced, it
doesn't feel like I'm pulling teeth. She's just always in
it and she's always ready. And I would say she's
(24:13):
like my favorite artist that I've ever worked with. And
it also is a soft spot because she was the
first artist to ever give me a chance. Yeah, that's
that's a special exactly. So do you recommend? Because I
think back to your origin story, you flew out to
l A to make your dreams come true. Your story
(24:33):
that you just told I think is hugely inspiring for
people who might not be able to get on a
plane and travel. They can basically be discovered wherever they
are because of social media, because of YouTube. Do you
think that that's the case for you know, somebody's an
aspiring dancer, they live in Arkansas. Let's say hypothetically, they
(24:55):
can't afford to fly out to l A. They can't
afford to take all the classes, but they're wildly talent.
Did do you recommend that they just put content out?
What would you what would be your your advice? Absolutely?
I think that if you have a dream and if
you have a goal your work ethic. It's like my
father always told me, a dream without a plan is
simply a wish. So you need to plan in order
for your dreams to come true. Like I had a
(25:16):
crazy drive and I saw social media as a way
for me to become my own person. And again I
went through a lot of hardships. I went to so
many auditions, I heard nose and I was in l A.
I felt like, oh my god, where am I gonna go?
Like some people don't want to give me a chance,
or some people think I'm to this or I'm to that.
But I know my worth and I know that I'm
(25:37):
talented and I know what I can give to people
in the world. I know I can inspire people, and
so I had to look at myself and say, what
am I gonna do? How am I going to open
these doors? How can I utilize my social media so
that people know who I am without someone, you know,
showing me to somebody, How can I show myself to
the world? And so I think social media has really
become an amazing like route for individuals and for for
(26:02):
underdogs as well. I was always an underdog. I wasn't
always dope. I had to work really hard. I had
to figure out what my strategy was. I had to
figure out, you know, what made me me, and social
media allowed me to reach out to others, to inspire
them and to share my art in a way where
it was appreciated. When did you notice an incline and
(26:24):
because you didn't always have millions of followers, was there
a secret sauce or something that you had to do
where you noticed an incline in following and visibility. I
was just very consistent. I was really passionate about putting
my work out there. I wanted everybody to see what
I was doing, especially when I first got started I
I really, really really was hungry. I was hungry for
(26:45):
opportunity and I put myself out there. I was I
was literally I had no shame. I was like, this
is my choreography here. It is boom boom boom consistency
within putting my work out there. I was really fearless
about it. I didn't care what people and even if
there was a small percentage of me that did everybody
starts somewhere. It's like, I love that saying you have
(27:06):
to look stupid before you look amazing, or you have
to fall before you you learn how to fly. Like
you you have to be willing to put yourself out
there to succeed and to want to become the best
version of yourself. So that's why I say, like social
media is so great because it's it's like a chance
for you to be who you want to be. Honestly. Yeah,
And I think a big part of the journey that
(27:28):
gets skipped over or maybe not highlighted are those failures
because people don't, you know, they always say Instagram is
the highlight reel. Right, You're seeing all the winds, you're
seeing all the times that the person feels like they're
on top of the world and they've had and people
often think this is coming so easy to that person.
It's not fair. It hasn't come easy for you or
(27:48):
for a lot of the people that we have on
the show that are wildly they're influential, they're big, big names.
What would you say it was a moment if you
can think about it in your career that you almost
quit there, Like, was there a day in your career
where something was so devastating or you know, made you
(28:09):
rethink the whole career path? Oh my god? A few times.
There was one in particular where I was actually bullied
on a job and it was my dream job and
it was something that I had on my vision board,
something that I really prayed for. And something about me
is that I'm I'm really passionate about dance. I'm really
passionate about my choreography. And I was on a job
(28:31):
where I was bullied by a higher up and I actually,
you know, silenced myself out of fear. And that's something
that I It was It was so against my my
character because what I teached my students has always utilize
their voices and to never allow someone to make them
feel inferior, and because this opportunity was so big, it
(28:51):
made me fear. It made it made me silence myself
out of fear. I actually got let go from the
job because I decided to end up for myself on
literally like the last stop on that job, and the
moment I decided to stand up for myself and do
the right thing. I was let go for simply using
my voice in a professional way. I was being mistreated.
(29:14):
I got my choreography stolen, my money was stolen. It
was It was just a heartbreaking experience, a learning experience.
But I realized in that moment that it's not worth
it to change who you are just because of a
job or how big it is or who you're working for.
And it really really tainted my spirit for a minute,
(29:34):
because you know, I again, I'm very, very passionate, and
sometimes with people you can trust them, especially in l
A sometimes it's hard to trust people. But I put
all my trust into an individual and I ended up
getting really really hurt in the end, and it was
on a job like my dream job, So I ended
up being really really hurt, and it tainted me for
a minute. But at the end of the day, I
had to pick myself up and remember why I love
(29:56):
to do this, and it's not about the fame. It's
not about the glory, it's not about the money. It's
about the feeling that I get when I'm on stage
and that adrenaline rush that I feel. It's my therapeutic tool.
It's what saves me, and so I had to It
took me about a year to pick myself up again.
That was a moment where I felt like, oh my God,
(30:16):
like what am I gonna do or how am I
going to pick myself up from this? I was embarrassed.
I had never been let go in my entire life.
But it was honestly a blessing in disguise because it
was an unhealthy It was like an unhealthy environment, and
I don't think that's worth it. I know so many
dancers and grown adults who have gotten bullied or have
(30:37):
been you know, like sexually assaulted on a job, or
have been you know, mistreated. It's there's like so much
stuff that goes on behind the scenes, and like you
were saying, there's people look at the glitz and the
glamour of social media and everything that I am doing,
but they don't know the backstory, what happens behind the scenes,
and I've been through all of that. I've been through
so much heartbreak. I've I've I've been let go from
(30:58):
a job for just standing up for myself because I
was bullied and I was just trying to do the
right thing. So honestly, you know, I had to learn
from that because it is what it is. L A
can be a really really shady place, you know. Yeah,
and I'm I'm from western Massachusetts. So again, it still
feels like a smack of reality sometimes when I'm in
(31:19):
l A, because I just want to be around loving,
genuine people who I'm inspired by, who are real, and
sometimes it's not always the case. So I had to
literally heal and recover from that, and I know so
many people who have had experiences like that as well.
It's it's unfair, but that is the business, and I'm
glad I experienced it, and I'm glad that I learned
(31:39):
from it, and now I can help other dancers know
they're worth and know how to value themselves and how
to handle themselves in a situation where they're being tested
with their character, their integrity. It's it's really not worth it.
In the end to silence yourself based on you know,
a job and wanting to fit in. I've been bullied
as an adult. I was bullied in high school. I'm
still lead as an adult on social media, on jobs.
(32:03):
It's it's a thing. How do you respond to that? Um,
it depends. I'm a spicy Latina, so you never know
what you're gonna get. But for the most part, I
just have to I just have to be the bigger person,
and I have to remember how blessed I am. And
I'm really blessed that I have an amazing family, an
amazing boyfriend who's here with me right now, supporting me.
(32:24):
I have to remember the real people in my life
who love me for who I am. And I just
have to remember who I am and that doesn't say
anything about me. And that's advice I'll give to everyone else,
Like if how people treat you says nothing about who
you are, it says everything about who they are, and
I have to deal with that. In this industry, a
lot a lot of great comes with the world of dance.
(32:48):
You get to travel the world, you get to meet
some of your favorite artists. I mean, you were seventeen
hanging out with Britney Spears and Beyonce. Basically, what is
the one thing about the dance industry that if you
could wave a magic wand and change about the that
specific world, what would you do? How would you change
(33:09):
the space? It's hard to say. Um, I would say,
you know, dancers, we're at the bottom of the entertainment industry,
like that chain. It's like singers blah blah blah, and
then there's dancers right here. And I feel like as dancers,
(33:29):
we really elevate performances and we put our hearts in
our bodies and our athleticism into everything, and I feel
as though it's for Sometimes dancers aren't treated the best
way and they don't get compensated correctly. And I'm really
grateful for SAG and for Dancers Alliance because they are
really changing the game and they're making sure that dancers
(33:51):
get the proper treatment on jobs, they're paid properly. I
just feel like dancers don't always get treated the best way,
and we really really take for amnce is to the
next level, especially the most iconic music videos that exist.
You know, dancers have been in it, and I feel
like dancers should be treated more like more like stars
and less like props, because I mean, you are blatantly
(34:15):
treated like a prop at that music video, yeah, audition,
And that's something that I want to change. I want
there to be more respect inequality towards dancers. I feel
like that's something that needs to happen. Also, I'm just
gonna say it's a very male heavy industry. I would
I would just say as a whole in general, it
(34:35):
is very you know, and it's amazing, But I would
just in general, more equality, more equality, more respect for everyone. Yeah,
there's so many things are answers. When you were talking
about bullying, I was wondering to myself if there's bullying
dancer on dancer bullying versus because you experienced bullying from
(34:56):
a higher up on a dream job that you were
afraid to speak up because you did not want to
lose that opportunity. Have you ever experienced that where you
know a fellow dancer might do something shady or not. No,
just in general, is there a lot of caddy competition?
Because I see all these videos being put out on
(35:17):
an Instagram and I'm like, I wonder if all these
dancers hang out. I wonder if they all collaborate. But
then I don't see a ton of collaborating because I
will say I've interviewed a ton of people who are
influencers and in the YouTube space, collaborating is everything. Yeah,
I don't see a ton of collaborating with dancers right, Honestly,
it is very, very competitive in the dance and is
(35:38):
more of a solo thing. Yeah, especially with social media now,
everybody's out for themselves. Everybody wants to be their own brand.
Everybody wants fame, and which is great. Everybody wants opportunity.
There is there's always been competition in the dance industry.
It's it's honestly never changed. It's going to keep growing.
But something that I love is collaborating. I personally love collaborations.
(36:00):
I collaborated with my girl Elia Janelle recently. I'm not
real this year, I collaborated with her and she is
just so amazing. And you would think, like another competitive
female choreographer, like people like to make up tea, especially
on social media, like oh, let's see Joe Joe Comas
versus Alia Janelle or like a Nicole Kirkland, and they
(36:20):
create this unnecessary tea within the dance industry, but I
stay away from that because I'm all about support and
I'm all about, um, female empowerment. I'm all about empowering
each other because I know what it's like to feel
like someone is jealous of me or isn't happy for me,
and it's not a good feeling and it does exist.
(36:40):
So I like to stay away from that and surround
myself with people who support me as well, just like
I support them. Um. But yeah, there's a lot of
shady and cattiness that goes on, just like everywhere else
in this industry in the world, But it's all about
how you choose to surround yourself with it. And yeah,
(37:01):
I mean I'm just not around that. Well, whatever you're doing,
you're doing right. I mean, we were scouring the internet
for the top of the top of each industry for
this show. We're like, Okay, we want the top dancers,
we want the top makeup artist, and you were a
clear choice for us. You are very talented. You are
a choreographer. You have this insane resume. What if you
(37:25):
could make a wish Aladdin style the Genies, Like, you've
got a wish, he gives you one wish? What's your wish?
For your career. Let's put it out there, because I'm
all about putting things out because I think if we
do that, they happen. Oh shit, I have to you
get three. I believe. I believe in the Aladdin he
got three wishes. So I'm gonna give you three. Okay,
(37:45):
I'm gonna give you three. Number one. I want to
work with Billie Eilish so bad. And I love the
choreographer that she works with now, he's so amazing. I
love the content that he puts out with her. But
I would love, love, love to collaborate with Billie Eilish
one day. I really resonate with her music and her lyrics.
And she's only seventeen years old. And I just see
the music video that you did. By the way, I'm
(38:07):
not sure. I mean honestly, two days ago she liked
one of my videos on the Internet and I died.
But I'm I'm not afraid to admit. I am a
fan of Billie Eilish, like a super fan, and I
think that she's so fly, So I would love to
work with her one day too. I want to create
my own, my own workshop that travels around the world.
Something that's different, something that's really intimate and personal, something
(38:30):
that's life changing for dancers all over the world to
struggle with body image and security and people who need
to heal from whatever inner demons that they're dealing with.
And I want to be able to create an amazing
faculty who can inspire other people. And I just want
to be known for that how I made people feel. Um,
I want to create something that's bigger than myself, something
(38:52):
that's bigger than anything I've ever done, and I wanted
to be something that's really inspirational and something that people
want to come to to heal and just feel amazing
about themselves. So I would call that Fearlessly Me, a
Fearlessly Me convention that travels. I feel like that should
be a clothing brand, yeah, merchandise. That's something that I'm
also working on. I'm going to that thank you. I
(39:15):
just I feel like that's something that I had to
really work towards. Especially at a young age. I always
felt like I needed to conform to the norm and
I needed to like look a certain way to hear
it yes. And so until I decided to be unapologetically
fearlessly me, that changed my whole life and That's what
I want to give back to the dance community and
to just people in general, is to be fearlessly themselves
(39:35):
and to embrace that. So that would be a huge goal.
That would be a wish. And then, honestly, my third
wish would be to just have genuine happiness in my life,
because my career isn't everything to me. Like I'm not validated.
I'm not defined by my career or my my talent.
I'm defined by how I make people feel, the person
(39:56):
that I am, my family, my boyfriend. I I just
want to have amazing people around me and happiness and
health forever. That's what I want. Your wishes are granted
from the genie Tatiana. I love that. No, seriously, I
I really First of all, all of your wishes I
(40:17):
feel like are already in the works. I feel like
you've planted those seeds. Billie Eilish is going to come
for you. Billy Hollow will connect the two of you. Also,
the second thing that you listed, you're well on your
way to doing that. You're already teaching right now. Can
you tell us a little bit about what you're doing
with teaching. You're renting out studios, you're teaching young kids, right, Yeah.
(40:38):
So I started teaching my own classes recently because I
usually taught it dance studios in the area in North Hollywood,
and I decided that I wanted to create my own
environment that felt really intimate and more personal. So what
I do is I rent out studio space every week
and I teach and I allow as many people and
as possible, like my most recent class at all for
(41:00):
a hundred people in the room, and usually in studios
they cap it to a certain amount. And I just
I always hate when there's like a wait list and
I see people who can't get in and they've driven
or flown out trying to take my class, but they
couldn't sign in on time. So I let everybody in
and I make sure to book like a really really
big space. I can hold that capacity. I don't know,
(41:20):
it just feels really good to have my own little
baby where I could run a class the way that
I want. I could have. My amazing boyfriend. His name
is Donovan o'kimura, Rude Boy. Donovan just want to shout
out to my friend. He created his own company this
year and it's called Rude Entertainment, and he produces my
classes for me, and it's just such a joy to
(41:41):
be able to work with him as well, because A
he's my boyfriend. B love his work and see, he
has so much respect for you know, what I want
to create, and he has so much respect for my
environment that it's just always such a joy to work
with him. Yeah, we create such an amazing environment for
dancers to be themselves. We hold off a two and
a half hour time because usually in studios it's an
(42:04):
hour and fifteen minutes, hopefully an hour and a half.
But I have two and a half hours in my classes,
so we have time to learn the choreography, go into groups.
I can give them amazing words of advice and inspirational
speeches because I don't just teach steps in my class.
I want to change their lives in the few hours
that they gave me with them. And where can people
(42:24):
see your classes? Do you post those on YouTube? I
post them on my social media. I post them on Instagram, YouTube.
I also do live streams of my classes just because
I also know that not everybody has the opportunity to
fly out to l A or fly out to this
convention that I teach at. And you know it's a
lot of money to be able to invest into your career.
So I remember living in Massachusetts and wanting so badly
(42:48):
to be in l A. And I was super inspired
by the YouTube videos and I would learn them all
in my room. I would look watch them at school
at lunch, and I was really inspired by them. So
I like to give back to the people who watch
my videos, people who are fans, and I post my
videos and I allow them to be part of the
live streams. I comment back to them, and all I
can do is just like share my little world with them,
(43:09):
especially if they won't ever have the opportunity to fly
out and experience it in real life forms. So I
keep my my supporters in the loop by posting videos.
I should be posting more frequently, but I needed to
take a little bit of a break to just like
kind of heal my spirit kinda went through a little
bit of a funk like everyone else does. So I'm
(43:31):
do for my next YouTube video. But yes, stay tuned
for more YouTube videos that I'm going to be dropping.
And I'm really excited about it. I love all of this.
I feel like, um, your your success story is one
that's super inspirational to everyone. It's not just you're not
sitting here just giving a bunch of inspirational quotes and
not living them. I feel like your life has been
(43:52):
a true indication of all the things that you believe
you're teaching, but you're you're living it as well. And
your influence, you know, your social media influence has created
an open so many doors for you. So to everyone
out there, I think it's it's pretty inspiring to know
that you really can create your own lane, and you
really can do whatever you set your mind to. You
(44:15):
you weren't limited by anything. So if you could give
a piece of advice to young Jojo before she got
started in this industry, to somebody else who's right now
starting out, what would you Because they always say hindsight,
So what what would be your piece of advice for
that young new dancer? I would say, don't change anything
(44:37):
about yourself. And the reason why I say this is
because when I was younger, I thought I needed to
change everything about myself in order to like, get a
like or to get a view. Especially now with social media,
kids feel like they need to wear all this makeup
or overly sexualize themselves and were minimal clothing, and I
remember thinking that I needed to do that too. But
be you, embrace who you are in brace your inner weirdo,
(45:01):
your inner unique self, and be that on social media.
Like a dream without a plan is simply a wish. Really,
really take your future by the horns and just go
for it and be you every step of the way.
Don't try to be anybody else, because then what's the point.
Be you love the ups and the downs, and just
(45:24):
keep your head up high and just go for it.
I love that you have so many big things going
on in your life. Please come back when you do that.
Billie Eilish collab. So I'm just gonna put it out there.
You're both going to sit across because I selfishly would
love to interview her too, So we're gonna do a
fun interview all three of us. Next time it's gonna happen. Hey,
(45:45):
we're putting it out there right all right, guys, So
next time JoJo's here, she'll be with Billie Eilish. Hey,
thank you so much for stopping by. I'm really excited
to continue to follow your journey. I know, big, big
things or whatever you decide to do is on the corner,
so thank you so much. We'll see you guys next time.
Jojo go, Thank you bye. Behind the Influences, a production
(46:09):
of I Heart Radio and TDC Media
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