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Gerardo Yepez: Principal of Torrance Elementary Works Toward Collaboration

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Although the afternoon dismissal bell has rung at Torrance Elementary School, principal Gerardo Yepez (Class of ’93, liberal studies; ’96, teaching credential) isn’t finished working. He can be seen at the school’s entrance, greeting parents and saying goodbye to students for the day.

Gerardo Yepez
Gerardo Yepez

Yepez, a Los Angeles native, taught for many years in the Lennox and San Mateo-Foster City school districts before becoming an administrator. During his eight years as principal at Torrance Elementary, the school has consistently earned high marks on real estate sites such as redfin.com and trulia.com for its high level of service to the community, a population that Yepez regards as his “customers.”

Dateline visited Yepez in his office, where his door is always open to all at the school. The former Toros soccer midfielder discussed meeting fiscal challenges in education, parental involvement in education, and the importance of teamwork in and out of the classroom.

Dateline: What inspired you to enter education?

Gerardo Yepez: I attended El Camino College after graduating from Hawthorne High School in 1986. During that time, I played soccer there.

My younger brother was a senior [in high school] during my first year at El Camino College, so I went back to help him out [he played soccer] with some techniques that I had learned. Pretty soon, it turned from just coaching my brother to coaching the team. I was offered a position so I coached there for five years and realized that it was teaching. When I entered Dominguez Hills, I had the intention of becoming a teacher.

Dateline: What led you to move to school administration?

GY: At the time I graduated, [there was] what they called an emergency credential. I basically went from having a bachelor’s degree to jumping into teaching because they needed teachers. I taught fourth and fifth grade at Moffett Elementary School for five years in the Lennox School District. Then I moved up north and taught in the San Mateo-Foster City School District for two-and-a-half years. [There,] I walked into a school that had a lot of components missing that prevented kids from being successful. I felt frustrated, I felt frustrated for the kids. That was the reason I entered administration.

Dateline: What are some of the current challenges facing you as a school administrator besides budget cuts?

GY: Over the last two years, we lost six amazing teachers [due to budget cuts]. Class sizes have gone up. But we’ve gone from a 789 to an 850 in our API (Academic Performance Index http://www.cde.ca.gov/ta/ac/ap/ ) score in the last five years, based on STAR (Standardized Testing and Reporting) results. We’ve been able to address a lot of the needs of the students.

We are one of three Title One schools [in Torrance], which basically identifies us as a high-poverty school. Students come here with needs that other schools in the Torrance area don’t have. We have a staff that identifies the needs and looks at data and instruction. Those things are challenges but we [meet] the kids’ needs, whether they are academic or social. We’re committed to that at our school.

We have a number of English language learners, about 159 out of 500 students. We [increased by] 29 points this past year on our API for our subgroup of English learners. We brought in some intervention teachers and new programs. Again, it goes back to the idea that we looked at the data to find what we needed.

Dateline: Why and how has the need for parental involvement risen in schools?

GY: Going back to budget cuts, we don’t have instructional assistants in the classrooms anymore. If you have a teacher who has 30 kids in the first grade, it’s very helpful when you have parents who can come in to correct papers, to run a [study] group, or to help in any way.

From talking to other principals at other Torrance schools, it is a challenge in terms of not being able to [get] parents to participate. We’ve been able to establish a culture where we make it easy for parents to [participate].

For kids to see their parents at school, I think they value that. ‘My mom is here, my dad is here,’ they think. ‘School must be important.’ Also, I think that parents have a better idea of what we are doing to teach their kids. A percentage of that is work and learning that goes home. We have parents reinforce the learning. It helps us make sure the kids are really grasping the instruction and content we provide for them.

There are a number of layers as to why parental involvement is important. But the key is that the kids benefit.

Dateline: As a student at CSU Dominguez Hills, what prepared you the most for your career as a teacher and administrator?

GY: When I was an undergraduate, I had a couple of English classes, one in particular that was very useful for me as a writer. I felt at the time that it was an area where I lacked the skills. When I went through the credential program, there were very good classes that helped me. There are so many components to teaching, but I felt an awareness of what a well-rounded teacher should be like.

There was good diversity. I felt that the interaction that I had with my classmates was very positive. I think that was important for me because I was able to interact with not just one group of students but various ethnic groups that I felt I benefited from, whether in the classroom or the soccer field.

Dateline: How do you think CSU Dominguez Hills has established and maintained its reputation as a school that prepares future teachers and administrators?

GY: I think that [the university] has done a great job of preparing students for this profession. It’s demanding. The bottom line is that if we want kids to be successful, we need to bring in teachers who have the skills and the knowledge that [they can] transfer to the kids. It makes it easy for us as administrators, knowing that [new teachers] have the skills and quality to provide great classroom instruction.

Dateline: How would you encourage students to best prepare themselves for careers in education?

GY: I would tell them in addition to taking courses, to be volunteers at schools. I feel when they get into a school as a volunteer they get a true sense of what’s going on.

The first three teachers that I hired were here volunteering. I got to know that they were committed to teaching and to the kids. Actually, one of them started when she came straight out of high school. She volunteered for seven years, went to junior college, university, and did her student teaching here.

One of the things that I look at when I hire teachers is to make sure that they’re strong educators. Based on their resume, we kind of get a sense [if they are]. But what is important for me and my interview team to see is the idea of [an applicant] being flexible and able to work with others.

It used to be that you put yourself in the classroom [and just taught]. It doesn’t work that way anymore. It’s very important because so much of what schools are doing is about collaboration. If you don’t have that skill, work on getting it.

Dateline: How do you influence students at Torrance Elementary to earn their college degrees?

GY: I talk to kids a lot about making sure that what they’re doing now is going to prepare them for the future, whether they’re going to be teachers, lawyers, doctors. I speak to them in the broad aspect of professions and that they can achieve whatever they like. If they ask me, I speak about my experiences as an educator and that might create some curiosity or inclinations toward that. But it’s more about telling them that the possibilities are out there.

Dateline: What is the secret of your success as a principal?

GY: My goal is to provide the kids here with the best education possible. I tell parents that if I know the kids are happy, I know [the parents] will be happy. I build relationships with parents and am constantly trying to find out what they need, how I can help them. They respect that, and for me, that’s important. They are our customers and I want to give them the best service.

I just like people. I feel that when you respect people and provide honest services and talk to them, [they know] you have their best interests at heart.

Tammy Tumbling: SCE’s Director of Philanthropy Plants Seeds For Green Education

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Tammy Tumbling
Tammy Tumbling; courtesy SCE

As the new director of philanthropy and community involvement at Southern California Edison (SCE), Tammy Tumbling (Class of ’90, B.S., business administration; ’94, MPA) is responsible for overseeing the company’s philanthropic interests and strategizing funding programs and priorities. Among these is Edison’s commitment to educating a “green” workforce through its $1,000,000 Green Jobs Education Initiative, which was conceived and launched by Tumbling earlier this year. The initiative provides 10 community colleges throughout the state with funding to support training programs in areas such as green building, renewable energy, energy efficiency, water and waste management, biofuels production, and alternative transportation.

Prior to her current position, Tumbling served as senior manager of SCE’s community involvement unit and senior manager in quality assurance in the company’s transmission and distribution business unit. She joined SCE in 1998 after serving as director of corporate development for the Music Center of Los Angeles and working on funding development and distribution for United Way of Greater Los Angeles. She is a board member of the National College Resource Foundation, the Conference Board Contributions Council, and serves on the advisory board of the Research & Policy Institute of California.

Dateline spoke recently to the 1987 CSU Dominguez Hills Homecoming Queen and former president of the university’s Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority about her mission to keep SCE at the forefront of a growing diverse green workforce, the importance of being a mother, and “paying it forward” as a mentor to her employees and the underserved students that Edison supports.

Dateline: What is SCE’s responsibility to the community – students in particular – in order to secure a better future for the environment?

Tammy Tumbling: Southern California Edison has been around for almost 125 years. We’ve been supporting our community for that amount of time and we will continue to do so in years to come.

It is the responsibility of the utility industry to be good corporate citizens, and how we do that is to set our focus on philanthropic resources in areas where our customer base is. Edison takes great pride in partnering with community-based organizations to address the immediate academic and social needs of the community during these difficult economic times.

Education is one of our top priorities at Edison. We want to strategically align our dollars with organizations that are supporting the environment and education [for] underserved populations.

Dateline: How can female and minority students begin to prepare for jobs in the environmental and energy fields?

TT: My recommendation is to get the right credentials. Prior to starting your degrees, find mentors in the industry you want to be in to make sure you are taking the right courses, working with the right people, and are staying abreast of the most current issues related to your field. Since we are a global society, it’s important to know what’s going on related to your field of interest, and what the key issues are at an international level.

Dateline: How did your education at CSU Dominguez Hills prepare you to work in a wide variety of roles at Edison?

TT: Dominguez Hills is a special place for me. It helped me to create the strong academic and leadership foundation that I needed in order to be a successful executive at Southern California Edison.

I chose Dominguez Hills because I grew up in the area, in the city of Compton, and it was one of the schools attended by people who I looked up to in my neighborhood. The [professors] had a genuine interest in the success of their students. It was an open campus with lots of diversity and a place – at the time I was a teen mom – that was able to accommodate the fact that I was raising a 2-year-old child.

During graduate school, I had the privilege of being in public administration classes with Drs. Justine Bell, David Karber and Foraker Smith. It was through their lectures and life experiences that I was able to transfer that knowledge to corporate America.

Dateline: What do you think has made you successful in your career and as a role model?

TT: I believe what has made me successful in my career are my perseverance, focus, and commitment to my own personal values, and not wavering, not going against those regardless of [my] environment. I was surrounded by so many great people along the way in my career and throughout college, that [mentoring is] a natural thing for me to do.

My two primary areas of focus in my life are the work that I do here at So Cal Edison and most importantly, being a parent to my four children, Aaron, Ashton, Amanda and Sekai. It is a juggling act but family always comes first. I’m fortunate to work for a company that recognizes the importance of their employees and their families.

My education at Cal State Dominguez Hills prepared me for the job I do today because of the diversity of the school, its focus on excellence, and each professor believing in the success of every student. I have taken the same approach that the school provided me in nurturing my employees.

I believe that as a leader in a corporation, my job extends beyond my staff. When you’re visible to every employee in the company, it is your responsibility to share your story and provide mentoring and coaching to employees to ensure that we’re preparing our future workforce.

Teatro Dominguez: Local Second Graders Learn From Multicultural Theatre

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Elementary school students are entertained and enlightened by Teatro Dominguez's multicultural fables at Carson Street School
Elementary school students are entertained and enlightened by Teatro Dominguez’s multicultural fables at Carson Street School; photo by Laura Perdew

There are few better ways to start the day than to watch kids having fun, unless you’re an actor from California State University, Dominguez Hills who gets to perform for an auditorium full of second-graders. Theatre major Eduardo Frias got to do just that recently. On Nov. 9, he and 18 fellow Teatro Dominguez members wrapped up a five-week tour performing “The Storytellers” for Carson area second-graders.

In the folktale play, Frias portrayed a young boy who learns patience.

“Telling folktales to children uses their experiences and what they are exposed to, so they can relate to the story,” said Frias. “Using talking animals, insects, birds… it’s a way to get children’s attention. ‘The Storytellers’ is so children-centered. We have a spider, a crane, and a Native American doll. Using those characters is a way to prove the themes of the story: Being patient, being kind to people, being good to the land, not being greedy.”

Children relate well to things they understand, Frias explained, and that was the reason for changing a reference to the Mona Lisa in one of the folktales to the animated characters SpongeBob SquarePants and Krabby Patty. With loud laughter, a Carson Elementary School audience demonstrated the edit was a wise one.

Another indication of the times in which we live, was the collective gasp from the young audience as one of the stage characters said, “…in a time when there were no TVs or computers…” But, such technology didn’t seem to be on the minds of the children as they quickly became captivated by the play.

Taking a time-tested theatrical genre to the community has its benefits.

“It was a rewarding experience and a learning experience,” said Frias. “We were able to go to the local schools in Carson and Gardena and expose children to theatre. And not just theatre, but a folktale that’s about ideas like community and patience. To give the kids something positive was special. There’s not really a lot of theatre [available to children] in grade school.”

A community outreach event is what got Frias interested in theatre when he was in grade school.

“Ronald McDonald came by my school in Inglewood in 1987,” recalled Frias, who is now 28. “He said he needed five rappers. I said, ‘ooh, ooh, ooh, me, me, me!’ He picked me and I was in shock. He gave me a big clock, a big hat, and a mic. There was a big audience–big stage. Five of us rapped. I [made some sound effects] and Ronald said, ‘Say it, don’t spray it.’ The crowd cheered me on. At that moment I looked at everyone cheering for me and I thought, this feels good. And that’s when it started for me. That got me into theatre. It seems like a small thing, but a corporation [got] involved with the community and they have an influence. Now, through Teatro Dominguez, I get to influence someone else.”

Community outreach also benefits the actors, as well as the audience, and serves as a rich learning experience, Frias discovered.

“It was a learning experience, because, as actors, we [cast members] were able to fine-tune our craft and our characters,” said Frias. “My character has evolved over the five weeks of the tour. I’ve learned, through this character, not to look for a laugh, but to stay committed to the objective, true to the character and everything falls into place. To see the kids smile was a whole other thing. We do it for the grade and the experience, but ultimately it’s all for the kids. That’s what we all signed up for–the kids.”

Frias sees another benefit of Teatro Dominguez getting out into the community.

“A lot of people don’t know about [CSU Dominguez Hills],” said the aspiring playwright, and film and live-theatre actor. “It’s tucked away. It’s a secret gem.”

CSU Dominguez Hills serves as a cultural center for the community, through programs such as Teatro Dominguez. Under the direction of Bill DeLuca, M.A., M.F.A., professor of theatre arts and Teatro Dominguez director, the group has produced a long-line of community-based projects since 1992, with more than 100 works overall, according to its website.

“I was concerned about going into the schools with 19 college students,” DeLuca said of the cast of “The Storytellers,” the largest in Teatro Dominguez’s history. “I average a cast of seven or eight, so it’s been fun to have this many. It was absolute magic that they all fit together as one touring piece.”

“The Storytellers” was written, directed, and performed by students enrolled in the Theatre 339-Multicultural Children’s Theatre course. Teatro Dominguez student and veteran playwright Melissa Riojas adapted the play from three African, Chinese, and Native American folktales, “Anansi the Spider,” “Carving the Buddha,” and “The Legend of Bluebonnet.”

Of the selection process, Riojas said, “These were the three stories I thought were best suited for the age group, time constraints, and the ability to cast as little or as many actors as we would ultimately have.”

Working in a large ensemble cast is one acting skill Frias is hoping to learn.

“I did some acting when I was younger, auditioning for commercials and TV sitcoms,” said Frias. “But then I wasn’t getting the call backs I wanted. My manager at the time suggested I go back to school to learn and increase the depth of my acting skills. I returned to college and I’m glad. I’m grateful to be here and to be a theatre major. This is a good launching pad for my professional career. My education will help set me up for future success.”

Teatro Dominguez is a multicultural theatre company dedicated to promoting cross-cultural understanding in neighboring communities. In spring 2011, Teatro Dominguez will present “The Brenda Project,” a play inspired by the memory of theatre arts alumna Brenda (Arrieta) Killian (Class of ’01, B.A., theatre arts/history), who died of breast cancer in 2009. The play was developed and written from interviews conducted with local breast cancer survivors, caretakers, and family members.

For more information on Teatro Dominguez, click here.

For more information on the CSU Dominguez Hills Theatre Arts and Dance program, contact the theatre office at (310) 243-3588, or visit csudh.edu/theatre.

Annual CBAPP Awards Luncheon Celebrates Scholarships, Community Partners

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The 4th annual College of Business Administration and Public Policy (CBAPP) Awards Luncheon took place on Nov. 4 in the Loker Student Union at California State University, Dominguez Hills. The event, which is the college’s main fundraiser, brought together nearly 400 students, faculty, and members of the local business community that support CBAPP.

Approximately $54,000 was raised, the largest amount since the luncheon’s inception in 2007. In addition, three Paragon Sponsors joined the roll call of donors. Club Deportivo Chivas USA, Providence Little Company of Mary Community Health Foundation, and Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. each gave a gift of $10,000 to support CBAPP student scholarships and faculty professional development activities.

W. Guy Fox, a longtime member of the CBAPP Advisory Board, opened the luncheon and introduced President Mildred García, who thanked the assembled donors and supporters of the college.

“Even in these difficult economic times, each one of you has helped us exceed attendance from last year with a packed ballroom, because you believe in helping our [students] to go out to the South Bay and beyond,” she said. “Your generous support helps us provide the margin of excellence that enhances students’ success and gives our faculty the tools to develop the future leaders of this state and of this nation.”

John Melendez, a business administration student, thanked CBAPP supporters for their contributions to scholarships.
John Melendez, a business administration student, thanked CBAPP supporters for their contributions to scholarships.

John Melendez, a senior majoring in business administration, represented the 2010-2011 Scholarship

Recipients and gave a heartfelt testimony to the struggles of his return to college after a 28-year career

that ended with a layoff due to the flagging economy. He thanked CBAPP donors, the Advisory Board,

and Dr. Kaye Bragg, CBAPP’s acting dean for their support.

“With a family and the state of the economy, you have to make a decision, a difficult decision whether to pay for a degree or take care of your family,” he said. “The benefit of a scholarship such as this one makes the decision easy.”

The achievements of CBAPP faculty were presented by Bragg and Dr. Natasa Christodoulidou, assistant professor of management and marketing.

“I work with an outstanding group of faculty and professional staff… dedicated to building a set of academic programs,” said Bragg. “These programs take the dreams of students and make them into a career path. This is an amazing task that I get to be part of.”

Bragg said that the luncheon represented for her the past, present, and future of CBAPP.

Dr. Kaye Bragg, acting dean of the College of Business Administration and Public Policy, welcomed students, faculty, staff, and community business leaders.
Dr. Kaye Bragg, acting dean of the College of Business Administration and Public Policy, welcomed students, faculty, staff, and community business leaders.

“I see the past with the alumni and people from the community who come to this event again,” she said. “You are returning to a place that you believe in and programs that you want to be part of. I see the present in the staff and various individuals here from the Advisory Board. This year, you are involved in advising activities, internships, class presentations, a little mentoring in your office – it is [your] participation that allows us to move forward. And I see the future. I see it in every student sitting in this room.
“The mission of CBAPP is to educate the future leaders of our community. I am looking at leaders of our community and I see students who will move into those positions. This is the nexus moment for our college.”

Community partnerships were celebrated at the 4th Annual CBAPP Awards. L-R: Antonio Cué Sánchez-Navarro, owner of Club Deportivo Chivas USA; Nancy Carlson (Class of '94, B.S., nursing; '96, MPA), chief executive officer of Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center; Bob Daly, Senior Vice President for Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A.; President Mildred García, and Jerome Miller, Vice President, Diversity and Inclusion for Toyota and member of the College of Business Administration Public Policy Advisory Board

The Dean’s Medallion Awards were given in recognition to representatives of the local CSU Dominguez Hills community. The Organization of the Year Award was presented to Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. Antonio Cué Sánchez-Navarro, owner of Club Deportivo Chivas USA, was honored as Executive of the Year, and Nancy Carlson (Class of ’94, B.S., nursing; ’96, MPA), chief executive officer of Providence Little Company of Mary Medical Center in San Pedro was awarded as Alumni of the Year.

Sánchez-Navarro thanked the university for his award as Executive of the Year and told the students present that, “When you are at a university like Dominguez Hills and you have a president like Dr. García, there is no way you cannot be inspired. It’s about dreaming and this is a house of dreams. This is where you prepare your dreams to come true.”

Students from not only CBAPP but a number of disciplines were in attendance at the luncheon at the invitation of the college, in hopes of practicing their networking skills. Elijah J. Sims, a graduate student in education counseling, is an intern in the CSU Dominguez Hills Career Center and in academic counseling at Long Beach City College. He said that he hoped to connect with more individuals at the luncheon who could use his services as a counselor or part-time web designer in his own start-up company, Against the Grain Web Designs.

“I hope to network and meet various people throughout the university who might be in need of web design or might lead me to a counseling position,” he said. “I like the idea of helping students do what they need to do and learn what they need to learn and be successful academically. The at-risk population that Dominguez Hills serves is of interest to me. I can have a great impact with that demographic.”

Nancy Carlson, who was awarded Alumni of the Year, proudly displays her "CSUDH" sweatshirt.
Nancy Carlson, who was awarded Alumni of the Year, proudly displays her “CSUDH” sweatshirt.

Carlson, who was recognized as Alumni of the Year, proudly displayed two worn pieces of Dominguez Hills memorabilia: a sweatshirt emblazoned with “CSUDH” that she wore as a student, and another sweatshirt that designated her as a “CSUDH Mom.”

“My daughter and I were students on this campus at the same time, much to her chagrin, I’m quite sure,” Carlson quipped. “She was 18; I was not. Although this is visible evidence of my… experience here, I believe that today I still wear in a non-visible way the education I received here, the graduate degree that has allowed me to be a better leader.

“The reason that these [sweatshirts] are important is that they show the availability of fantastic education in this global community,” said Carlson. “As an 18-year-old, my daughter’s needs were very different from mine. I was an older student and my needs had to fit my schedule as a working mom. This campus was local to me and allowed me to get a degree, meet all the needs of my family, and go back into the community and serve with the education that I received here.”

Platinum Sponsors for the CBAPP Awards Luncheon included Broadway Federal Bank, Schools Federal Credit Union, and the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California. Gold Sponsors are The Home Depot Center, SA Recycling, and Watson Land Company. Silver Sponsors are California United Bank, the CSUDH Alumni Association, Paula Moore, Patricia Williams of NKP Management, Staples Center, and Teledyne Controls.

For more information on the College of Business Administration and Public Policy at CSU Dominguez Hills, click here.

Niecy Nash: Alumna Takes the Stage to Talk About Her Journey to Fame

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On Nov. 3, California State University, Dominguez Hills welcomed actress/comedienne and theatre arts alumna Niecy Nash back to campus, where she spoke to students, faculty and the community at the Loker Student Union. Until last August, she has been the original host and producer of the Style Network’s number one-rated program, “Clean House.” Nash is also well-known for her role as Officer Raineesha Williams in Comedy Central’s “Reno 911!,” which aired from 2003 to 2009. She is currently a celebrity host on CBS Entertainment’s “The Insider,” for which she won a Daytime Emmy Award last summer.

Niecy Nash
Niecy Nash

Nash addressed her audience at CSU Dominguez Hills with the story of her journey to a successful acting career. With her trademark no-nonsense humor, she described her reaction as a five-year-old to seeing entertainer Lola Falana on television.

“I said, ‘My God, who is that?,’” recalled Nash. “My grandmother said, ‘Baby, that’s Lola Falana.’ I started to hyperventilate right there. I said, ‘That’s what I’m going to be! Glamorous! Black! On TV! Gimme that!””

Nash recounted the struggles that propelled her to stardom, including proving herself in acting classes as a teenager, where she aspired to be “the next Cicely Tyson.” A natural entertainer, she soon found most people were drawn to her gift for comedy.

“Plan A was to be an actor,” Nash said. “Plan B was to make Plan A work. The three words I adopted along the journey were ‘no matter what.’”

While in her early 20s, she witnessed her mother being shot and wounded by a former boyfriend. In addition, Nash’s only brother Michael, was killed in a high school shooting, which sent her mother into a deep depression. Nash discovered comedy helped to ease some of their shared grief.

“She said, ‘I’m getting in the bed and I’m not getting back up,’” said Nash. “At that young age, I didn’t know what to do. But I knew that I was funny. I knew I could make my mama laugh. So I went to her house everyday: I’m standing at the front of her bed, I’m telling her jokes, stories, I’m tap dancing … whatever else I could come up with.

“My mother goes from lying down in the bed to sitting up in the bed. One day I went to my mother’s house and she’s not in the bed,” said Nash.

Nash found her mother in the living room after she had invited the neigbors over, and insisted that her daughter perform for them right there and then. “[My mama said,] ‘I went across the street and got the neighbors, I told them you were funny – you all are gonna love this!,’” recalled Nash.

“It finally dawned on me: comedy is a gift,” said Nash. “Not that it completely healed my mother but I do believe it served as a salve when it came to piecing her together. So I said to myself, ‘Don’t be a selfish heifer – there are more people out there suffering! Go out there and spread it around!’”

Nash went on to tell students about the trials and tribulations of landing her first role with Whoopi Goldberg and Drew Barrymore in the 1995 film, “Boys on the Side,” going on auditions with her three young children, and her time as a student at CSU Dominguez Hills.

“I remember doing ‘The Colored Museum,’ ‘Fences,’” Nash reminisced. “There was one play where I was this pregnant. I appreciate this department because they asked, ‘You’re not going to have that baby before opening night, are you?’ I said, ‘No.’ They said, ‘Come on.’”

Along with the inclusivity of the theatre department at CSU Dominguez Hills, Nash remembered the classical stage training she received from faculty, including lecturer Charles Walker.

“I did not know how much I would love [live theatre] and this was the one place that gave me the chance to be… Cicely Tyson,” she said. “I got to flex my dramatic muscle here so I was always grateful for having this foundation. You have to know how to perform in front of a live audience. It was very rich and it was very real.”

Nash joked about giving trade secrets to the theatre arts majors present, and said that the most important thing she has learned is that “They call this show business for a reason. It’s not ‘show friend,’ it’s not ‘show you’re alright’ – it’s not even ‘sho ’nuff.’

“I would say get the business of it real quick,” she cautioned. “It’s more than just them giving you a script and a role. It really is the business of creating your career, understanding the power of ‘no,’ understanding a good deal versus a bad deal.”

Students from other disciplines also looked forward to hearing from one of their favorite stars that evening. Brenda Valiente, a senior majoring in negotiation, conflict resolution, and peace building, said she could identify with where Nash came from and what it took for her to become an accomplished professional.

“She’s had a lot of success and she knows what it’s like to come from the background that most of the students here at Dominguez [Hills] are coming from, and how to succeed, she said.”

Damien Sanchez, a sophomore majoring in art and design, said that he enjoyed Nash’s work on “Reno 911!”.

“I’m also looking forward to being an actor,” he said. “This is a learning experience where she can teach us the secrets she has.”

Nash closed her talk by telling the aspiring actors and their fellow students from across the university to trust their instincts about their dreams.

“When you go somewhere that you feel is a part of your destiny, you do have to go with the spirit of bold,” she said. “Not arrogant, but you have to believe there is something there for you to lay hold of. Hold on to the thing that you feel has been stamped on the canvas of your imagination. Hold on to it and walk it out–no matter what.”

Nash has numerous feature films to her credit, including “Cookie’s Fortune,” “The Bachelor,” “Malibu’s Most Wanted,” and “Reno 911!: Miami.” She has also lent her voice to countless animated features and television shows including “Horton Hears a Who!,” “American Dad,” and “The Boondocks.” Her television credits, which most recently featured a widely-viewed stint on “Dancing with the Stars,” include roles on “The Bernie Mac Show,” “Monk,” “ER,” and “NYPD Blue.”

Nash is currently developing television and film projects through her own production company, Chocolate Chick, Inc. She is also actively working on causes such as the prevention and awareness of HIV/AIDS, breast cancer, school violence, and domestic abuse. Nash is the spokesperson for M.A.V.I.S. (Mothers Against Violence In Schools), an organization established by her mother after losing her son.

Latoya Getter, a senior majoring in theatre arts, said that hearing about Nash’s experiences will help students understand “how to make better decisions once we get into the entertainment business.”

Getter also appreciated Nash’s perspectives on the industry as a woman and a woman of color, who is a role model for all students–and particularly women of color–at CSU Dominguez Hills.

“It’s not all the time that you see African American women in the entertainment industry,” said Getter. “She’s giving us a broader perspective not only on how to be successful but also the issues of being a woman and African American woman. It’s something I’m always willing… to gain more insight on. Being at Dominguez Hills is the best way to start… everything.”

For more information on theatre arts at CSU Dominguez Hills, click here.