We were lucky to catch up with Yazmine Alexander recently and have shared our conversation below.

Yazmine, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

With becoming a Professional Dancer, Choreography, and CEO of my own company there was definitely a lot of obstacles that took place in my life that could have stopped me from doing what I do currently. I started dance when I was 3 years old and I started at a Studio that is based on the Westside of Detroit. Really with me I feel that there’s nothing that really could have speed up the process of becoming my own boss because everything takes patience and time to develop. The most useful skills that were very essential to me would have to have been Support, Dedication, Timeliness, and Patience. These all skills have helped me get to where I am today/currently with my business and I’m so thankful and forever grateful.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

Hello everyone my name is Yazmine Alexander I’m 19 years old and I’m a current college student at Wayne State University in Detroit Michigan. I am a BFA Dance Major with a minor in Criminal Justice. And with that all being said let’s get into the history of my story. So I have been dancing since I was 3 years old. Dancing has always been like that freeness and breakthrough of life. As I grew up, I’ve always wanted to have my own entertainment service/company because I’ve always loved dancing for an audience and big crowds. When I was in the 9th grade, I started working with a Man Named SMILEY THE HIPHOP CLOWN. I used to watch him all the time and knew of him just off of social media platforms. I also used to watch other teams that are all in the same industry as well. But one that is well known everywhere is Tommy the clown. But Smiley was one that used to caught my interest when I was younger. Now here is a little background story. Smiley was a good friend of my dad’s, but I never met him in person. In the 10 grade for my Sweet 16th party, my parents booked SMILEY to be the entertainment for my party. We had an amazing time and it was just overall fun and exciting. My guest loved it as well! After a couple hours of just dancing and having fun the party finally came to an end. As Smiley got ready to leave my parents went up to him and he told me how good of a dancer I was and I told him that I wanted to start my own entertainment business as well. So, he basically took me in and helped me learn everything there is to know about the entertainment business. I’ve already had some kind of knowledge but not a lot. Definitely wasn’t on his level of entertainment at all at that time lol. After a month went by, he called me one day and said that he had a couple Booked party and asked if I wanted to perform with him just to get me into the clowning Style in feel of entertainment in that aspect. So of course, I took the offer and went for it. Surprisingly, I did an amazing job with this being my first time ever performing with him and doing the actual clowning style. But I had so much fun doing it. And after that day I just kept working with him and started to progress more and more as the years and time went by. After a couple more months with by and with me doing more and more parties and events I finally took the time and came up with my own clown character name which is- HIPHOPYAZZY. I picked my own wig and designed my own style. It was definitely a cool experience. After a Couple of months I progress more and more and with smiley helping me with my knowledge of running my own business one day I finally started my clowning entertainment business and processed to get my LLC license and which the name of my business is called-Beyondthenormxpression.entertainment, which originally the name belongs to my mom. She has 4 black-owned businesses under that name and she is amazing and talented at what she does under her business. When I say my mom does it all, baby, SHE REALLY DOES IT ALL OKAY! Y’all better ask somebody. Anyways She does Event Decor, Customized items like t-shirts, blankets, pillows, cups, etc. Floral Arrangements with Real Fresh Flowers and she also has so many varieties of Throne Chairs! Yeah, my mom is the true definition of a TRUE BOSS!!! So that’s where I actually got my business name from, My mom! But anyway back to my main story. Then as the years went by my business has been progressing in so many positive ways. I started adding Members that do perform with me at every event/ parties. I have Two Young ladies (HipHopPrincess and HIPHOPTete). They are amazing at what they do with me and outside of me. They are just overall amazing. We have done so many different performances and events in state and out of town traveling- like Birthday parties, Gender Reveals, Family Reunions, and etc. !!! Just so many blessings have came to me and my team and I’m just so blessed to share this journey with the people that care about me the most. So ever since day one, I have been calling Smiley my God dad because he had been there since day one and pushed me to continue with my dreams. Even when I really wanted to Quit, Because trust and believe when I first started dancing doing the clown style I wasn’t getting booked as much as I wanted and hoped for. But since I first started, we have been getting booked literally every weekend! Which makes me so happy to see that my business is growing and benefiting in the community. Every event that we do makes me so happy because I’m making my clients, kids, and even families so happy and that just be the highlight of my day. So, with me looking back I will always say Dreams really can come true, you just have to work hard and be really dedicated to the things that you really want, and it’s good to have someone that can really guide you and push you even harder than you could ever imagine. And that’s my amazing background story of how I started BTNX.Ent

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My goal for my business is very simple. Entertain, Grow, learn, Build and inspire those who look up to me as a role model.

How did you build your audience on social media?

When it comes to building a social media platform, there is a couple of step when it comes to social media that I’ve been following and learning over the years 1.) First find out Which social media platforms are the most popular.
(for this it would be whatever site people stay on the most like instagram, Snapchat, Facebook, Tiktok, ect )
2.) Figure out what time and days does your audience really be on those particular platforms.
(So for me Monday-Friday I’ve noticed that my Audience may decrease with vies and likes because 9 times out of 10 majority of people are working or kids are in school during the times of 8am to 4pm. Which I’m my opinion is the worst times to post because people are mostly not active, until after 4pm. Then on weekends now those hours are different because most people are off and are online so I mostly post 3 times on the weekends 9am-3pm then I’ll post again 5pm-8pm those times are the best times on weekends. Now with Sunday I only post before 3pm-6pm.
3.) how to present your post to your audience where it can caught there eyes.
(So example’s would be What is in the picture, The background of the picture, filters, and appearance. These are all very important details for getting your audience interested and attention.

And lastly
4,) Your Caption.
(captions are very important to your audience and or viewers because that is what really captures your post to a viewer!!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/hiphopyazzyofficialll?igshid=NmNmNjAwNzg=
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/btnx.ent
• Other: TikTok: HipHopyazzyofficialll