On the Thursday, May 9 inspirational edition of “Tamron Hall,” 20-year-old LSU basketball player and musician Flau’jae Johnson reflected on her wildly successful sports journey, already garnering over one million dollars in endorsement deals. Johnson shared how she connects through music with her late father, who tragically died before she was born, and opened up about why she owes all of her achievements to her mom. Later in the show, internet sensation Jordan Pierre discussed the message behind his viral commencement speech at Syracuse University, entitled. See more inside and a video clip….
Flau’jae Johnson on connecting with her late father through her music:
“It’s like for me that’s kind of the answer that I’ve been searching for my whole life, you know what I mean? I can only go by what my mom tells me…like ‘You act just like him. You have a kind, positive spirit just like him.’ So, the only advice that I can really take from him is when I listen to his music and I just try to be just like him. And I’m just trying to imitate everything he does, like to the ‘T.’ And I think we just connect more through music, and that’s why music has just become so important to me because it’s like I feel like for a long time it was just a missing piece of me, you know, without my dad, but now I just feel like we can connect through the music. I just think he would want me to keep being me, keep being kind and keep inspiring people.”
Flau’jae Johnson on her place in the industry and owing her success to her mom:
“Honestly, it’s just my time…and I say that so humbly because I’ve been in certain rooms before, right, and now I come back and I revisit those rooms and I’m just like wow I was a whole different person when I came here right?” She continued, “Me and my mom, we’ve been grinding this thing out since I was seven years old. I’ve been rapping for a long time, and to finally be able to walk into those rooms and get to the point where you don’t even have to introduce yourself, it’s like a gamechanger. All my praise and everything that I am, I just give it to my mom because she raised me to believe that I could do anything that I put my mind to.” Johnson added, “Everything I am is because of her – it’s how hard she pushed me and how she never took ‘no’ for an answer..”
(DISNEY/Paula Lobo)
