Debutant's Message

I’ve learned that growing up isn’t as simple as it looks in stories.

There are moments of quiet beauty; days when everything feels soft, when life seems to fall into place. There are also moments that are harder, when you feel a little wild, a little untamed, when the world asks more of you than you think you can give. Both of these sides live within me, and I’ve come to see that neither can exist without the other. Like beauty and the beast, the tenderness I hold and the strength I’ve learned to carry are part of the same story.

Tonight, I want to share this moment with the people who have been part of my story. The ones who saw me in my softness, and the ones who stayed when I felt like a mess, who helped me grow without ever asking me to be anything other than myself. You’ve made the difficult parts lighter, the quiet victories sweeter, and this journey feel less lonely than it could have been.



Eighteen is a beginning I can’t fully see yet, and I know I will stumble. I will confront uncertainty, and yet that uncertainty is itself a form of beauty.

On March 7, I turn the page, not as someone who has it all figured out, but as someone who has learned that both the gentle and the wild within me have value, that every step has meaning, and that this new chapter is ready to be lived, slowly, carefully, and with

hope.