We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Tay Scandrick a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Tay, thanks for joining us today. One of the toughest things about progressing in your creative career is that there are almost always unexpected problems that come up – problems that you often can’t read about in advance, can’t prepare for, etc. Have you had such and experience and if so, can you tell us the story of one of those unexpected problems you’ve encountered?

As a dancer, I never expected something I enjoy so much to be so mentally draining. I’ve had many opportunities to capitalize off my talents with dancing but mental fatigue is a real thing and a real problem. I feel like it’s not spoken of a lot. I speak for all dancers when I say that, we have some form of mental or creative block that holds us back from reaching our potential with any piece that we make. I feel like I have yet to outwork my talent because of a mental block that holds me back from creating choreo. There isn’t a specific moment that completely halted me from dancing but a gradual build up that made me realize I was in fact going through a mental block. After seeking ways to hurdle this wall, I learned that I loved life more than life itself. This turned me to recording my favorite parts of my life and showing them to people that I cherish in life. Regardless if it’s friends, family, or total strangers, I love displaying positivity to anyone who could need it. This helps me through any and everything. Especially dancing!

Tay, 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?

For the people that don’t know me or who I am, my name is Martavious Scandrick. I was born March 13, 1998. I’m better known as Tay Scandrick or Tayaiko. I’m an African American multi talented dancer-entrepreneur. I gained more notability as a dancer after winning Megastar Millionaire in 2016 to be the first ever winner of an online talent competition. I later went on to be a successful in collaboration with brands such as A.$.L.T.W, Villamore House of Love, Perfect Soccer, Gadis and many more. I later went on to creating my own brand, Aiko in 2018. I’’m also son of R&B Legend, Grammy award winner, Slim from 112. I aspire to be as successful as him and I currently take inspiration in dancing from dancers such as KK Harris, Bam Martin, and Sorah Yang.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

In my view, I feel like in order for creatives to thrive in any ecosystem, we must support each other to the up most potential. When I say support each other I mean that we must learn to collaborate more effectively and relay resources to uplift each other. Clicking that SoundCloud link, clicking that YouTube link, leaving a like, leaving a comment, all of those things are free. If we continue to build a stronger relationship through each other as creatives, there’s no way we can fail as an ecosystem.

: Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Anytime I create these montages of the best times of life, I pray and hope that the positivity and fun energy that come from these videos shower on viewers and get them through hard times. I thrive in helping others and my goal is to continue showing these moments in hopes to encourage others to be positive and happy.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://tayscandrick.weebly.com/
• Instagram: Http://Instagram.com/Tayaiko

Image Credits
Alexis Moung Instagram @alexisrinaa