My Millionaire Mentor Was Unorthodox

T-Pain — yes, the guy who sings I’m In Love With A Stripper — that’s my guy. He wasn’t just my role model, he was actually my boss! I used to be a professional backup dancer for T-Pain back in my prime dancing days. I toured with him for a couple years after landing a spot at an open call audition. He is still someone I pull inspiration from to this day.

Some people talk about the word manifestation. While I do believe in manifestation, I don’t think what I’m about to share has to do anything with it. Part of my success may have been sheer dumb luck. Other parts may have been because of the few weird incidents that helped me become a professional dancer.

Before I jump into the first of these incidents, I want to give some context to what I was like in high school. I was not dancing then but I had always wanted to try it. I got bullied often which made me too afraid to learn something new. Soon, I fell victim to the box that others put me in. That being said, I somehow mustered up the confidence senior year to perform at the talent show. My friend, Ian, and I made our own version of Buy U A Drank by changing the lyrics to Imma Graduate. We went on to perform that song for the whole high school.

Was it random? For that time, sure! I had no idea that I wanted to dance back then, let alone be a backup dancer for T-Pain!

The second weird thing that happened to me happened when I was in college; I was a freshman at the time. I had learned that T-Pain was going to be in Madison, Wisconsin which was a quick drive from the University of Dubuque where I went to school. I went to the concert and noticed how cool it would be to be a dancer for T-Pain. This is where my interest first started.

My sophomore year, I started going to YouTube to learn how to dance. I gave up drinking and partying so I could really focus on doing my best and ensure myself a rewarding future. My dad came to the US from Mexico when he was just 13. My mom, who is also from Mexico, grew up in poverty. The two of them made it their life mission to make sure that both my sister and I could graduate from college debt free. Now, my sister ended up getting a full D1 scholarship. I, on the other hand, was just…