--Hey guys! It's Haley. I'm here at home on my living room floor. Welcome to the final
week of my One Small Girl vlog with Broadway.com. Eight weeks goes by fast,
and, you know, when I was initially doing the vlog, my whole goal was that you
would get to see me and this family that I've been so lucky to to be a part of
here in New York. I've been thinking, you know, the past few weeks about what I was
gonna do for my final video. What I wanted to say... the point that I wanted to
make and do I want to make it silly? Do I want to make it funny?
What do I want to do? I realized after thinking about you know how long we've
been doing the vlog. I guess there's something that I want everyone to know
and take away from from this. If you know um my story... is...my story and not my story
getting to the show. A lot of people think they know that history and it's a
beautiful story and it's a beautiful opportunity I've been given and I loved
doing the show but I thought I would share my story
the story of me because... well I'll get there at the end of the video. But I was
born in Humble, Texas on February 16 1999, right at the turn of the century. I was adopted
as an infant baby. Um and I was raised by my two parents in
this small town called Happy Valley, Oregon. I grew up very energetic and very
loud and obnoxious, and I was always moving and I was always making noise and
I was just I was just one of those crazy kids that you know wanted to do it do it
all. I did gymnastics, I played chess, I was a cheerleader, I did swimming, I
looked at playing basketball, I love soccer. So I really I grew up doing a lot
of different things, but I was always I was always very awkward and like you
know when it came time for middle school and high school when kids really get into
the team sports, I was on the track team for a little while. It's competitive and
I remember I was super competitive, and I pushed myself really hard.
I decided that I needed to stop and focus on the one thing that I really
truly loved all my life and that was music and the theater and storytelling. So
my freshman year of high school I got into my high school's theater department,
thespian department, drama department and I did all the things. I did the plays, I
did musicals, I worked backstage. I was a house manager.
Did all the things and I struggled. I struggled with feeling like I was an
outcast. I didn't have a lot of friends, but the friends that I did happen that I
still have today, I was very very close with,
but I did I struggled with with social anxiety and
just being around other kids my age. I dealt with bullying quite a bit growing
up, but I always, I always had theater. Always. Even even on my worst days, I always had
and I carried around the little iPod shuffle that my dad gave me when I was 14
and there was Sweeney Todd on there, there was Phantom of the Opera, Carousel,
Hamilton, Chicago, Something Rotten, like everything. I even had some
opera some ballet hip-hop and then pop. And on my hardest days I I always would
just pull out the music and I would just go into a music room, and I would sing,
and I'd play the piano and I would just drown out you know everything. And I know
that there are a lot of kids that do that and there are a lot of kids that
don't have that outlet to do that. What I really wanted to say all that being said
is what I've learned about myself in this process,
of moving to New York and going to school and being away from home and and
doing a Broadway show and meeting all these incredible people and people who
really truly changed my life and and inspire me every day... you have the
right to love yourself. And you have the right to speak up for yourself, and you
have the right to be goofy, and obnoxious, and loud, and funny, and crazy, and and
loving and a light to everyone. You have that right.
And you will face even even when you feel like you've made it and and you
have nothing more to learn and my brain is so full and my heart is so full...there's
always something to learn. There is always a way to be better. I tell myself
that I will never be perfect, and I also tell myself that I that it's okay to
hate the fact that I will never be perfect. But I am also teaching myself to
to to love who I am, and surround myself with people who are beautiful inside and
out and strong-willed and and inspirational and kind and giving and
honest and and earnest, and all the things all the
things you have the right to be you, no matter what anyone says. No matter what
the social norms are, no matter what the status quo is, or what everybody's doing.
You have the right to be you, and you don't have to apologize to be your you
don't have to apologize to anyone about being yourself. Don't ever apologize to
anyone for being yourself and for being you.
Be nice, be kind, smile. I like to say hello to strangers I try to strike up
conversations with strangers, but it's New York so that's a little weird, but
say thank you. But be humble, be gracious, be kind, be you, do you. Um because at the
end of the day, you wake up in the morning, and you look at you in the
mirror and you see your heart, and then you go to bed at night, and it's you. And
you have to protect your heart, and yourself, and love yourself, and I think, I
I think that I figured that out for myself, but I'm still learning. You are
enough. For the longest time, I struggled, honestly. I struggled with answering the
question how are you and Ti Moune, because there were the obvious things
like being adopted and I'm 18 and I love adventure and you know all of those
things that make me very similar to her, and I really used that when I brought
her her story to Broadway. Um but the other thing that I just just discovered,
and I've been I've been Ti Moune for six 6 almost seven months now I've been playing
with her, and and living with her, and breathing as her, and performing every
night. Ti Moune never apologizes for who she is,
ever.
She perseveres and she pushes through, she pushes through pain, both
physical, and mental, and emotional pain. And and and and she speaks up when no
one thinks it's okay are allowed. She doesn't let anyone or anything get in
the way of her dreams. A revelation that I found almost half a year after
starting. Wow, I have so much to learn and we have so much to learn as people.
That's that's what I wanted to share with you. Thank you for being a part of
this journey, thank you for allowing me to share my heart and my life with you,
and thank you for allowing me to be goofy and crazy. I am so lucky,
and I want you to know I am always here. You can reach out to me on Twitter,
Instagram, I'm just, even though I'm a millennial,
I'm just now really figuring all of those things out, but you know ask me
questions, tell me stories, you could, we can talk about things I have nothing to
do with the show, but please please please reach out to me. Let's help each
other and let's lift each other up. As Heather Headley said a couple of
months ago, You have to to to raise someone else's white flag. You have to
raise a flag to cheer on and to support and to lead someone else. So I will leave
you with that. But thank you so much for being a part of this journey and I will
see you around. Bye!