We recently connected with Aaliyah Warren and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Aaliyah thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. I’m sure there have been days where the challenges of being an artist or creative force you to think about what it would be like to just have a regular job. When’s the last time you felt that way? Did you have any insights from the experience?
I am very happy at where I am at in my career. I make a living off of rollerskating and being a “influencer” basically. Not everyone can say they make a living off of doing something they love. At the same time I do question what it would be like to have a more normal career. Who knows, maybe I will go back to school so I can give my more knowledge and opportunities in the future.
Aaliyah, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Hey! My name is Aaliyah and I’m a professional roller skater. I started roller-skating when i was 2 years old and now I’m 22, so I’ve been at this for about 20 years. I come from a family of roller skaters so it was just bound to happen. As a professional roller skater, people or companies can book me to skate in music videos, tv shows, movies etc. I also can perform live at events… free styling or choreography. I am also apart of the skate entertainment company called LARollerGirls, they can make almost anything you envision with rollerskating come to life. Im mostly proud of my accomplishments and how I’ve held myself to a certain standard in this industry. One of my very first jobs was performing live at the BET awards when I was 17 years old. And now at 22 I am apart of the cast for the new Disney Channel series “Saturdays”. I want everyone to know that yes, this is my career but it always has been my passion. I am proud and appreciative that I have been a role model for girls, boys, women, and men in the skate world. One thing I want people to know… is if i couldn’t make a living off roller-skating anymore… I would still skate because of the love I have for it. It isn’t just a job or a way to be seen on the internet (yes those are blessings that i have been offered) but it has always been my life. I doubt a lot of “known” roller skaters would still skate if they didn’t make money from it and that is my personal opinion.
How did you build your audience on social media?
I want to start this off by saying I have never made or posted anything for social media with the intent of it “blowing up”. What I share on instagram or fiktok is always for my own pleasure and fun. Just have fun with it, post what you want to post and hopefully it will come naturally. I have always been bad at posting consistently on all of my social media accounts but when I do post consistently… I do see a change in my views, likes, all of my activity in general.
So overall if you want to grow your platform on instagram. tiktok etc… have fun with what you post, be creative and be consistent
We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.
A lot of people went through dramatic experiences during 2020 and was one of them. It was my senior year, covid happened. I didn’t get to experience prom or graduation so that already sucked. All of the skating rinks closed down. stopped skating for a bit until we found a few outdoor rinks we could skate at. wasn t working etc. But when I thought nothing could get worse, one of my best friends was killed in a car crash. His name is Tee, some people may know him as keon and tee was my skate partner, my skate best friend, my brother. lee and I had a very special connection, he was one of the few people that just understood me inside and out. Tee and I shared a mutual love for rollerskating, he might’ve even loved it more than me. But when Tee passed, I was very lost… and for about a year I thought I lost my love for skating. In my head I kept thinking, why should keep doing it? Do even deserve to keep growing in my skate career when he lost his chance to grow with me? It took me a very long time to pull myself out of that depression but I did with the help from the people I Love. My family and friends always kept reminding me that Tee was one of, if not. my biggest supporter of my skate career.. so l coulant give up or he would not be happy. Here I am. 3 years later accomplishing things never saw happening and that it because Tee, my brother, is living through me!
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/aaliyah913
- TikTok: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZTdprEAST/