I entered the world of jump rope when I was nine years old after watching the Disney movie titled Jump In! Fascinated with the endless possibilities of new skills to learn, ranging from basic crosses to multiple-unders, from releases to acrobatics, I was determined to become the best jump roper I could be. I started an after-school club at my elementary school, joined a local performance and competition team, and watched YouTube tutorials. Within a year, jump rope had become my biggest non-academic commitment. At my first two national tournaments in the summer of 2011, I didn’t receive a single medal. Fourteen years later, after countless hours of hard work and consistent training, I hold two world titles and 33 national titles, and I am the fastest jumper in the US.

Jump rope has also taught me that you don’t always need to speak in order to make a connection with someone. Having had opportunities to teach athletes from countries all over the world in Hong Kong, Sweden, Norway, Canada, and Germany, the skills involved in jump rope form a language of their own. In the summer of 2014 at my first world championships in Hong Kong, I felt lost, for I didn’t speak any language other than English. I was worried I wouldn’t be able to communicate with any of the international athletes. After a Swedish boy my age came up to me to share tricks simply by demonstrating the trick and exchanging a few gestures, though, I realized that jump rope provides me and thousands of others with a lingua franca that allows us to trade skills, make cross-cultural connections, and deepen our love for the sport.

It is the professional side of jump rope, though, that has guided me toward a path in law. About half of the day-to-day tasks involve rehearsing, auditioning, traveling, and performing. The other half is negotiating compensation and signing contracts. Working with owners and directors to ensure that I am compensated and protected fairly has been eye-opening. I am fairly new to the professional performing world, joining in 2021 and having to read and sign contracts independently, without any legal background. This is the reality for many professional performers.

Last winter, I signed a contract to jump rope in a six-week holiday show in Houston where I would perform anywhere from one to three shows per day, up to 10 shows per week, according to the contract. I signed six months before the show would open without having any advance notice of performance times or dates. Though typical, members of my cast and I noticed that, breaking the terms of our contract, we were scheduled for 11 shows during our penultimate week. We were only being compensated weekly for a maximum of 10 shows.

The entire cast banded together and demanded we be compensated for the extra show that was scheduled, otherwise we would not be performing the eleventh show. Contractually, they could not obligate us to perform. Any comeback that didn’t involve compensation was just an empty threat. We held our ground. The company manager tried to skirt the issue for weeks. She tried to convince us that because we still got paid for canceled shows during the first week—shows that were canceled well after I had signed the contract—that it should account for the eleventh show. She tried to convince us that “10 shows” was just a guideline. That it was a typo. That we read our contract wrong. It was not until the day before the eleventh show that we were notified that we would receive an extra 10 percent of our weekly salary so long as we took the stage.

Companies and employees alike enter contracts to be protected. This experience helped me realize that performing has been some of the most rewarding work I’ve done—putting smiles on people’s faces, bringing them back to their grade school days with the nostalgia of a jump rope—but it is through the law that I would be able to truly protect people, just as my cast and I protected ourselves. I could help professional performers protect their intellectual property and livelihood. I could advocate for employees’ rights as they enter into employment contracts. And I could champion my LGBTQ+ peers in equality and anti-discrimination cases.

I aim to give back to the communities that have nurtured me into the person I am today. I am eager to move from entertainment to advocacy, and I will cling to all of the values—discipline, determination, and grit—that all facets of jump rope have taught me as I pursue the law