We had the good fortune of connecting with Jaeda Stone and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Jaeda, we’d love to start by asking you about lessons learned. Is there a lesson you can share with us?
I think the biggest lesson I had to learn, and am still accepting, is that a performer’s career is filled with endless learning. There is never a moment where we as artists know it all. I thought I had to know it all the moment my adult career started. Well, it has started… still don’t know everything and I don’t want to. Besides being physically impossible, it would be so boring! There is so much joy in growing and learning new things in each class I take, or from every mistake I make? Each lesson we learn shapes us, the ever-evolving artist, helping us find new limits to push in our art as we become better artists.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
This career is crazy! Let me just say that. It is brutal, rewarding, hard, and wonderful in the most beautiful way. Every day I wake up I get to tell a story and make something raw, honest, and so special. I think what sets me apart in this professional world is the honesty I put behind what I do. Especially in my professional multifaceted career (dancing, singing, acting, and more). It is a hard career to pursue it has never been nor do I think it will ever be easy for me, and call me crazy but I love that. Don’t get me wrong I’d love to just be handed my dream job but then what did I earn? I’m quite tall for a female dancer and most people don’t know what to do with my body. It’s long, tan, bendy, and strong. Something not showcased today as much as one would hope. It was only this year (2024) that I encountered a fellow mixed female dancer. I wish young Jaeda could have looked at her favourite dancing videos, musicals, TV shows, and movies and said “WOW she looks like me!” That’s what pushes me and motivates me to overcome the challenges I face daily in the arts.
Like most dancers, I started as a competition kid but found my way into training with ABT where I was constantly ridiculed for how I looked. In their eyes I wasn’t dark enough to be the “appropriate minority”, too tall to be a good partner even if I had great technique, and my look would just never be professional. Well, that was all I needed to say “Thanks but no thanks I’m gonna go prove you wrong now!” That’s what I did! I went back to competitive/conventional dance until I started college and earned my BFA in performing arts. Since graduating, there isn’t a moment I’m not looking for the next thing to learn. The more I learn, grow, connect, and put myself out there the more I prove them wrong.
It took me a while to get over those horrible comments. It was an awful thing to say to a tween and I held onto that pain and those beliefs for a long time. I want the next generation of artists to have safe and welcoming opportunities to share their art and beautiful souls!

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Ohhh I love this question! I am such an adventure girlie. I’m from Orange County but venture to LA daily and San Diego multiple times a month. I love taking people to my favorite spots in all of my cities. In OC we have Plums Cafe and Snooze AM eatery. Plums has the best Dutch baby, which is a fancy way to say delicious BIG FLUFFY pancake and if we go to Snooze you gotta try the pancake flight and Benny (benedict) flight! Why pick one when you can try many!! We are heading to the beach and Gaslamp district in San Diego. I was born in SD and love visiting my family down there and just taking in the fresh air! In LA I’d say coffee and nightlife for sure! I frequent some of the cutest coffee shops like The Palm Caffee Bar in Burbank and LA LA Land in Glendale a little too often! I’m always down for a theme park too. LA’s Universal, OC’s Disneyland, and SD’s SeaWorld are all-day activities that at least ONE of them has to be adventures to while a friend is in town! There are too many places and things to do that love to show my friends who are from out of town they would have to stay at least a week to touch maybe half of what I’d want to show them.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
This lady deserves more than a little recognition and credit. My mother is the reason I wake up every morning and love what I do. I have the best, mother hands down. I am an only child to a single mother. She is my world and the reason I have had the career I have. I don’t know another dance mom who while in recovery from an extremely serious spinal injury is helping their daughter run dances in the living room while giving corrections the choreographer gave! She was there for every, and I mean EVERY class watching and learning with me. I remember when I started competing at 9 years old, she sat me down and we talked about what being on a team would mean. The time, energy, and commitment she was expecting if I was going to do this. My mother is the definition of a powerhouse! Balancing her crazy cool job and my crazy schedule she did not play games. If I did something I did it 100% or not at all. She is willing to move mountains to help me get what I want. So that night she asked me the question that set up the rest of my life, “Jaeda look at me and tell me if this is really what you want to do.” I wanted to do it more than anything and she made it happen. From researching the best studios to enroll me in, to getting me into virtual schooling so I could be on set and make it to the studio for rehearsals, to learning dance steps and what they are supposed to look like so I’m the most prepared student. She has been there and I don’t thank her enough. Everyone deserves a mom who to this day as I write this, a fresh 22-year-old, is willing and able to provide the support, and financial support which in this career is a pretty penny, to thrive in this crazy career. So my Icon forever and always is my momager! She is a hard-working, goofy, and powerful woman I am beyond honoured to call my mom!

Website: https://www.jaedastone.com/

Instagram: @OfficialJaedaStone

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@jaedarina5141

Other: Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jaedarbugs

Image Credits
1. Gingersolephotography
2. Palos Verdes Performing Arts Center’s “A Chorus Line”
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5. Gingersolephotography
6. Gingersolephotography

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