J’Nai Bridges

Like something out of a movie, J’Nai Bridges’ senior year of high school she was faced with a dilemma. A choice that would alter the course of her life, she had to decide between music or basketball.

As the caption of her basketball team, her heart was set on a career in sports. Missing an arts elective she decided to sign up for the choir. Her parents loved music and she grew up singing in church, but her teacher noticed a natural talent for classical voice and suggested that she invest in some private training. Soon she had booked her first performance, Tosca at the Tacoma Opera. Up until that point she had found a way to balance the two. Her first opera happened to take place around the time of a major basketball game. She had worked out that immediately after rehearsals she would drive herself 2 hours to the game. She made it on time but her coach was not okay with her splitting her time and decided to bench Bridges.

“That day changed my life because I was kind of forced to choose in a way… I could have kept playing but music was just more important.” Bridges said.

Like something out of a movie, J’Nai Bridges' senior year of high school she was faced with a dilemma. A choice that would alter the course of her life, she had to decide between music or basketball.

Flaunt Magazine

Read the entire feature HERE.