Skillr Profile: Lydia Rockson

Lyd Rock is an Entrepreneur whose work spans dance, fashion, art and consulting. SKILLR Social Media and Influencer Manager Mariama Hutson sat down with Lyd to discuss mental health in the Black community, entrepreneurship and the importance of knowledge-sharing.

Mariama Hutson: I handle all of the social media content over at SKILLR. I just came on a couple of weeks ago and we were really talking heavily about, "It's Black History Month. We really need to show up for it." Not only the Black people on our staff, but our Black Skillrs as well. I think it's very important just to share, to learn about you guys and just to celebrate all of us.

If there're things you want to add, things that you want to share. Anything that's really on your heart, I'm open to everything. So you can just start by introducing yourself and what things that you do.

Lyd Rock: Okay. Well, I am Lyd Rock. I go by Lyd Rock. It's because my full name is Lydia Rockson. I am an Entrepreneur full-time so that's Dance, Fashion, Art and Consultant is in there, in the miss of all three. I do sell products as well. I have a Dance company that I've been running for six years now. Yes! I love my job. I love what I do. I am excited to be a part of SKILLR. I know I was part of the first, first, first onboarding aspect of it. So y'all kind of went dead on me for a little bit. And then, so now yes.

Mariama Hutson: We back. What kind of products do you sell?

Lyd Rock: Body products. So I do body butters, body oil and body mist. So it's all anything that's make your skin glow, feel good, moisturized.

Mariama Hutson: Okay. I'm going to need to find [crosstalk 00:02:26]

Lyd Rock: Yes! I think, I mean, I don't know how much they share with you guys, but yes, it's on my website and everything. The products and stuff.

Mariama Hutson: Okay. I'm just going to have to get that information.

Lyd Rock: Lydrock.com.

Mariama Hutson: Okay, and you said you had your Dance studio for six years?

Lyd Rock: Not studio. We willing that into existence, but I have a Dance company. So I started off by actually teaching classes on a weekly basis. Then it went from there into actually hosting classes. So as far as like other dancers in the city or people who are coming into the city who don't really have a platform. Or, I mean, they may have a platform where they are, but they don't have a... Because Houston is a very interesting market. So it's just...

Mariama Hutson: I was just in Houston.

Lyd Rock: Really? Hey girl hey!

Mariama Hutson: Yesterday I came to visit my best friend. My birthday was on February first, hers is on the second and she just moved to Houston. So I'm like, "Yes, we might as well turn up in Houston, real quick."

Lyd Rock: You have to! Well Happy Belated to both of you guys, but yes. So just giving people a platform to actually be able to teach classes. So they don't have to start from scratch. There'll be a platform already created.

Mariama Hutson: Did you go to school for any type of dancing?

Lyd Rock: No, my degree is actually in Psychology. But yes, but through college I learned a lot about the style of dancing that I am doing, which is Afrobeats. And so from there, everything just started trickling off. And there's really not a class you can take for Afrobeat as far as school wise, because everything is still very Street and very vibe based. And they're now because it is becoming so popular. Giving it a lesson type of thing, but up until then it was just everybody doing your own thing and vibing out and spreading color.

Mariama Hutson: Okay. Are you originally from America?

Lyd Rock: I'm Ghanaian. So I was born in Ghana and then I moved to New York and then from New York moved to Texas and then to Houston for school.

Mariama Hutson: Okay. So when did you finish school?

Lyd Rock: 2015.

Mariama Hutson: Okay. So you've been out of school for a while? Okay. Well, thank you for sharing. Letting us get to know you. How are you celebrating Black History Month?

Lyd Rock: By being Black.

Mariama Hutson: Period!

Lyd Rock: Period! But no, by just continuing to be great. And I feel that's the best way to do it. Is that each individual, we are all individuals. We are all obviously Black, but the better we do for ourselves, the more it is going to be for our... When we come together and also continuing it. Black History is not just one month for me. I just, this is my life. Even from the classes that I teach to the projects that I put on or help put on or to the stores that I help build up, it's all Black and that's my heart. I literally live for it. So it's just exciting that yes, everybody's on board for this month, but celebrating Black History, just being yourself, being authentic and continuing to help those who are on their way.

Mariama Hutson: Yes. I love that. Thank you. This is year long.

Lyd Rock: Yes, girl.

Mariama Hutson: Every day.

Lyd Rock: Every day.

Mariama Hutson: Yes. Well the overall years Black History Month theme is Black Health and Wellness. And what comes to mind for you when you think of that statement?

Lyd Rock: I think that in the recent years, it's been a little bit more prevalent to talk about that. To be more, Mental Health and stuff. I recently lost a friend to suicide last year. That's a shocker and that's just this big thing. So I feel like the ability to be able to talk about it, and to be able to find those safe havens. And share and not feel alone or not feel like nobody cares or is thinking about you. Or even if you know that people care, is the idea that you feel safe and comfortable enough to be able to be expressive. And that you are not alone. Not necessarily like, "Oh, we your friends." But, we are all going through something. So I think just that community feeling. Community and feeling like, being able to share.

Mariama Hutson: Yes. And I totally feel that and sorry for your loss. That also just made me think about Cheslie Kryst, Miss USA.

Lyd Rock: The model?

Mariama Hutson: Yes. And she was only 30 years old and it's feeling like that was the only place...

Lyd Rock: The only way to get out of it.

Mariama Hutson: Yes. It had to be really, really tough. And even I can relate to that. It's like strong Black woman. You always got to be strong in this community. So even and with the people that I really trust and I feel comfortable with, there's still certain things. Sometimes I'm like...

Lyd Rock: That you just don't share.

Mariama Hutson: Don't know if I really want to share it. It might be a little embarrassing, even though I know they won't judge me. I know they won't have anything, but it's still kind of that feeling. Of, I don't know.

Lyd Rock: Exactly, exactly, exactly. And I think we can all resonate with it in some type of way. So I feel, just the conversation and beyond the conversation, it's the availability and being able to... Not just say, "Oh, Black health, Mental health." But actually being that person and causing yourself... If you are not the one struggling with it, always have this energy or aura about you or somebody. Regardless of what they're going through, feeling comfortable enough to be able to express to you.

Mariama Hutson: Yes. And what you said about not just saying it, talking to talk, but literally walking the walk. Because I feel like even with Black Lives Matter, it became such a big thing of 2020 in the last couple of years. But there were still companies with one Black person working for them, but you all posting Black Lives Matter.

Lyd Rock: Right, because you want to be a part of the hashtag. You want to be a part of the conversation, without actually doing work because who's checking you though.

Mariama Hutson: Yes.

Lyd Rock: Who's checking you? That one Black person is still working there and that's their job. They don't have to carry that whole plight of "Oh, I'm responsible for the whole Black movement." But no one's checking them. No one's going behind the companies and saying, "Okay well, we only see one Black person." Or whatever the case may be. So they just feel like as long as... We are a culture that likes attention. I mean, I don't want to say it's a bad thing because I mean, it is what it is for us. But at the same time that that can be used as a tool to negate us from the real problem or the real issue. As long as somebody say, "Oh, I mess with Black people!" Or "Hashtag!"

Mariama Hutson: "I have a Black friend!"

Lyd Rock: Yes. We like "Okay, yay! You invited to the cookout!" But it's just...

Mariama Hutson: Don't get me started on the cookout!

Lyd Rock: So yes. So it's literally stuff like that. We love attention. We love to be heard. We love to be supported. So the moment somebody just gives us an inkling of support we take that and we run with it. Without really checking the Carfax. Without being like, "Yo! You just said that, but what did you do the next day?" Or you know what I'm saying so.

Mariama Hutson: Yes. I really wish, I'm trying to think what can be in place as far as accountability for people. Because it is so... Even outside of bigger companies, it's just people in general, like "Yes, I got Black Lives Matter shirts, but I'd be clutching my purse when a Black person walk by."

Lyd Rock: Okay!

Mariama Hutson: It's just, I don't know exactly what we can do.

Lyd Rock: How do we go from there?

Mariama Hutson: Yes.

Lyd Rock: Yes. And I think it's a journey that we are all unanimously, finally understanding. And so I think that's where it has started. You know what I'm saying, because it was a point where we won't even talk about that. You even being able to admit like, "Oh, I say this, but I clutch my purse." That's not something that everybody's going to admit to, you know what I'm saying? I feel like the idea of admitting that there's this interview. The ideas of people actually actively being like, "Yo no, let me check that person." I think that we're all naturally starting to get it. And once we get our mental and our minds connected like, "I got your back, you got my back." Because nothing that's going to hinder the progression. The biggest part is all of us connecting and standing with each other, you know what I'm saying?

Mariama Hutson: Yes. I feel that. And even just speaking on progress and while we're on the topic, do you feel since 2020 has happened that there has been progress? Are you hopeful for the future? Have you seen anything personally that's like, "Yes we're in the right direction."

Lyd Rock: Yes, I think so. I think that 2020 just shook up the whole entire world and it wasn't just a race thing. But I think within that... Because if we take away 'race', right. It's as a human being, this is just what you should try to emulate or try to be. So I think when it came and shut down everybody, it kind of caused everybody to start at ground zero in terms of really, really looking inwards. And then from there on now it's like, "Okay, we add in the race." But the bare minimum is Humanity. And so I do feel like since everything has stopped, that everybody is more cautious. Is more understanding. Is talking more, is communicating. So I do think that it is progressing. I really do. I do. It may not be a big like, "Oh my goodness, look at this!" But I feel the small little, little ones that everybody's doing. And those conversations that everybody's having on their own, is those little nuggets that's going to help make those bigger changes bigger.

Mariama Hutson: Yes, and start moving in the right direction. I think it's just for me, I kind of feel like, we've being beat a dead horse and it does feel like some shifts have been being made. And change is not something that happens overnight, but it can feel like sometimes, it's kind of hopeless.

Lyd Rock: Stagnant.

Mariama Hutson: This again? Yes.

Lyd Rock: Yes.

Mariama Hutson: Same things again.

Lyd Rock: Facts. And I think that those are... It's always dependent on the situation. The problem whatever's going on. So it's like in one aspect, as far as business, communicating, talking. We're getting there. We're actually progressing. But as far as changing other people's minds about how to treat us and having to deal with the same issues over and over again. Yes. That it's just this ongoing battle that we are always, always having to face. But I am hopeful and I am grateful that all the other things that are surrounding it, is going to cause for that to shift because it's us caring about each other. It's us talking about Mental health. It's us whatever, that's us banding together. That's going to be like, "Nah, we are not going for this for real, for real, for real, for real." Not just, "Oh, Black Lives Matter! We're not going for it!" But our mental is going to be like, "Nah, we ain't going for it!"

Mariama Hutson: Yes.

Lyd Rock: It's going to take a little bit more time, but we believe in us.

Mariama Hutson: Yes we do. And I think just hearing what you just said, got me thinking the people that came before us, we're also fighting the same fight. And we are in a way different position than them and different opportunities and different things. And they kind of fought for that. So we still fighting for the next generation.

Lyd Rock: Exactly! Exactly. Exactly. It's all a Domino Effect. I think the biggest thing too is we're always downing on ourselves. And we're always talking about how "Oh, we're just not there yet! And this is still going on and da, da, da!" It's just like "No, yes, those are very, very much true." But what about the things that we are progressing in? That we are doing that the generation before us can look at us and say, "Nah, they doing it!" You know what I'm saying? Being proud in those moments, not settling in them. But are still giving us a little motivation. Because if we just always say, "Oh yes we try, but we ain't there yet." It's not motivational. It's not exciting. Who wants to fight for something like that? So it was just take our Wins and focus on that and using that great energy to progress into, "All right, we got this settled, I bet! Now let's handle the next one." Not like already shutting ourselves off before we even tried.

Mariama Hutson: Yes. And I can know that there's a lot of people that feel the same way on both ends. "Oh, it's just we're hopeless." And then there's people like "We're hanging in there." So yes.

Lyd Rock: And both are true. And both are very, very true. And that's...

Mariama Hutson: Valid.

Lyd Rock: Both are true and valid.

Mariama Hutson: Yes. Great conversation.

Lyd Rock: Thank you.

Mariama Hutson: I'm just trying to look at... I guess just going back to what you do as far as dancing and being an Entrepreneur. What kind of advice would you have to someone who's just getting started?

Lyd Rock: Yes. As far as that, I would say make sure it's what you want to do. Make sure it's what you love. Because I do also think that since 2020, we've become this culture of, "Oh, if you not doing a business, then you ain't doing something." And it's just like, "Dog, maybe they don't want to do that!" You know what I'm saying? And so it's just not feeling like, "I have to start a business now just be because everybody is starting it and I'm going to be looked at as you're not a progressive Black person or progressive individual because I don't have a business." A business is not necessarily for everybody because it takes a lot of work. Every business that you're working for started with one person. And they took years and years and years.

Lyd Rock: And now you're looking at it at a full building and you're like, "Ooh, wow, I'm about to do that!" No, but did you see 1906 when Nordstrom started? It's 2020, so yes. Just not looking at it like that. So just making sure it's what you want to do. And then having checks and balances. I feel would be a very big thing because you... As an Entrepreneur, you are doing everything. And so it becomes overwhelming and sometimes you miss parts. And sometimes you overdo parts and you're like, "Okay..." That you maybe not have to. So just going behind yourself or having somebody that you're able to just be like, "Hey, I just did this, what do you think?" Or you know what I'm saying? Just having that...

Mariama Hutson: Accountability.

Lyd Rock: That accountability, the feedback, the help. You know what I'm saying? I know starting out, you may not have a team. But having at least one person that you can just say, "Hey, I did this thing. What do you think?" Just kind of checking and balancing. And then having fun. Having fun with it because you chose this path so that you don't have to feel the stresses of everything else. You know what I'm saying? So you go in it and you're not having fun. It's like you could have just went and got a nine to five for that. You know what I'm saying?

Lyd Rock: So just making sure that you are enjoying the process. You have to enjoy the process, no matter how difficult. No matter how hard. No matter how down or how broke or how, whatever you are. Enjoy the process because it's your process. And that's where you're at. This is what you chose. You know what I'm saying? So just being happy. Well, not happy but happy. But enjoying the process. But I think that if you do the... If it's something that you want it to do and you do have those checks and balances, or somebody that you can feed back off of. Then it kind of makes a little it easier to enjoy the process.

Mariama Hutson: Yes. I feel that. And from what you said. Brought up a few things for me. Well my mom, she... Her and my dad, they ran a business together. And ever since I was a kid, I've always just been very entrepreneurial. Lemonade stands, cookies. I love for anything... I started a few things in college and... I'm a photographer now. I work in social media as my nine to five, but I'm a photographer. And I discovered that in 2020 as well. I just picked up a camera and I'm like, "Yes, this feels right."

Lyd Rock: "I'm cool with this. I'm actually cold."

Mariama Hutson: Right. But I totally am in a space. And I was kind of feeling bad before because... Parents being Entrepreneurs, especially my mom. She's like, "That's the only route. What are you doing?" My dad was the one who kind of encouraged me to go to college to get a degree. "See what else it is that you like out there." She was very much 'business, business is where it is'. I can kind of... sometimes I feel guilty. I'm supposed to be a business owner and everything that I know about just business and working for yourself and having ownership over something can make me feel like I'm not really doing what I'm supposed to be doing. But on the other hand of that, I haven't gotten my Photography to a place where I feel comfortable just with no other source of income.

Lyd Rock: Right.

Mariama Hutson: And I love photography as a creative outlet. So I would never want to be putting those kind of constraints like, "Oh, I need this much. I got to..." It sucks all of the fun of it.

Lyd Rock: Fun out of it.

Mariama Hutson: Yes. So it feels like I just create another job for myself is what it was feeling like. So I definitely don't want to be in that space. And kind of what you said about just being on your journey and where you are and enjoying the space where I'm at. Cause I feel like I'm in a good spot. When it comes time for me to actually have the business or the one, the business, that's going to be the one. I think it's going to be all just in perfect timing and everything that I've learned will all come to a point where it's like, "This is it."

Lyd Rock: Yes, no. Yes. And that's the other thing that I will always say is that I feel like, it's okay to have both. And I think that's that whole conversation of don't allow other people at 2020 or social media to make you feel like you have to have a business. And then X out your nine to five or that you can't have neither. I think both are very valid. And that's another thing that I will always, I would like share and say that's an advice is, if you do have a nine to five, I don't necessarily think that you have to quit it. You get what I'm saying? I think that work both until you can't any longer. If it's physically draining, then don't do it. But I don't think that you have to pick one or the other because the average millionaire has seven streams of income.

Lyd Rock: You get what I'm saying? So you quitting and just going to an Entrepreneur is one. You know what I'm saying? So it's okay to have your nine to five because that's feeding you, but it's also helping you to put it in your energy, into your thing. So just adding it like you said. Adding it as a fun thing that is business wise and it is whatever, but you don't have to pick one or the other. I think that just calm down, breathe it out and do both until you can't do both any longer, then it's okay, bad. But I don't think that you have to quit one for the other, unless it's draining.

Mariama Hutson: Yes. And that's the thing. Entrepreneur, it's hard.

Lyd Rock: That's a 24-hour job. It's not a nine to five. It's a 24-hour job. It's a two AM job. It's a three AM. It's a six AM. It's a 12:00 PM. At any given moment you can be working. And even when you're not working, you're working because your brain is thinking about something creative. There's something like this. It's something like that. But that's not what people talk about.

Mariama Hutson: Yes. Right. They like, "I'm on a beach sipping Pina Coladas and working from my laptop."

Lyd Rock: Right. And that, "I want to be a business owner too!"

Mariama Hutson: Yes. That's so true. Wow. Well, I guess I'll pose one more question to you. It's 1:47 and so we have a little... Oh no, this is an important question. Okay. What interests you about SKILLR?

Lyd Rock: I literally went on LinkedIn looking for jobs around the time. Still always was looking for a job and then SKILLR popped up. And it was the ideal. It felt ideal in terms of like... I'm a fashion stylist. I'm also a Dancer. And I did see that you all have a Dance portion on there now.

Mariama Hutson: You're on there as a stylist?

Lyd Rock: Yes. I didn't add it yet, but I did see that. And so it was that. It was the idea of using, continuing to be an Entrepreneur, but finding different ways to continue to make connections or to make that financial stability happen. Right? So, if it's in that field, but it's also a little bit more structured where it's like, "I'm on somebody else's thing that they already built. Why not?" You know what I'm saying? So I think that was... It was the freedom makes me like, "Oh, this is cool! This is something that I was looking for." It literally fell right into space around the time when I was looking for. Yes.

Mariama Hutson: Okay. How do you think that skill-sharing can benefit our community?

Lyd Rock: I think that skill-sharing can benefit our community because it's almost like a barter system in my mind a little bit. It's like, "I have this right? You have that. How do we make it make sense?" Or switch it out like, "I can do this really, really well. You can do that really, really well." So if it's we don't have anything financial to give each other, exchanging that skill is teaching a man to fish. Almost, in that vibe of it all. And so that's that one aspect that I think that it just helps us to continue to be stronger as a community. Continue to fend for ourselves, continue to lean on each other. And know that together, we really, really can get somewhere because we are really cold.

Mariama Hutson: For real.

Lyd Rock: We are really cold. We are really cold. And I think that that is something that we have innate. It's just something that I just really believe. And I've seen it. We are just innate with it. It's like, if God didn't bless us with nothing else, he was like, "I'm going to bless you with just this." And we just have it! We may not have all the other components, but we have what people are crying for. People are dying for people. If they lost their job, they can't survive because they don't have a skill. You know what I'm saying? So I feel like...

Mariama Hutson: Magic.

Lyd Rock: I'm so grateful. Now we just lining it all up and making it make sense.

Mariama Hutson: What is your proudest accomplishment? I would say.

Lyd Rock: Wow. I think I would go with my proudest accomplishment is my Dance company. I never really even thought of it in that way, because I was just doing it because there was a lack in the city. But now after the last couple of classes that I've had, in the recent times, I'm just like, "Wow, this is something..." I don't even see it as me. It's literally its own person. I talk to it. Don't talk about it as if I'm not running it. So I'm just grateful that it serves as a platform or it serves as something that's like a skill that can help people. It's literally there to continuously help people. And so it's just fulfilling to hear whether the instructor who's teaching saying, "Wow, this was amazing!" And then also the student themselves saying. Being appreciative of the fact that this is something that's available to them because that's something that they're missing. So I'm really, really grateful for that. And I think that's the biggest accomplishment that I can... Yes.

Mariama Hutson: And congrats! That's great!

Lyd Rock: Thank you.

Mariama Hutson: I love that for you. And I just need your Instagram so I can stalk you after this call.

Lyd Rock: Okay! My Instagram is at Lyd Rock. So everything is Lyd Rock. L.Y.D.R.O.C.K. I'm super excited for SKILLR.

Mariama Hutson: Okay great. That's what we like to hear. I'm going to send him all of your information and just thank you so much for taking the time out to talk with me. I love having these conversations and I love just being able to be open with you. You created a comfortable, safe space for me. I hope I did the same for you. And on that note, happy Black History Month!

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