Today marked 10 years since the world lost “Baby Girl.” I had the opportunity of meeting Aaliyah in July of 2001 at an event I attended with my uncle.
The one thing that resonated with me the most was her spirit. I have met many celebrities during my internships with labels and a lot of them treated me like I was nothing until they realized that my uncle was a label executive. But she was the complete opposite. From our initial encounter, she was genuinely a very cool person!
We started off by talking about the event we were attending which eventually led to us comparing whose feet were in more pain from the heels that we were trying to look cute in. It really felt as if I was speaking with a girlfriend that I had known all of my life. She never spoke of her album that had just been released or anything industry-related for that matter. She was more interested in hearing stories from others about what was going on in their lives- including my own.
I have heard my uncle and others who have worked with or were friends with Aaliyah always say how sweet of a person she was, but I can honestly say that none of this was exaggerated. Just within the 20 minutes that I was around her, I was in awe of her spirit.
So today as we remember this angel, I hope that we can look at ourselves and think about what type of spirit we are exuding. You never know what type of impression you will leave with others. Although we may not live forever, the memories we create for others do live on…
Make it Memorable!