Skillr Profile: Trina Lyons

Trina Lyons is a Choreographer, Dance Instructor and the Owner of Mastah Tee Fitness & Dance. She’s also helping people on SKILLR find their flow. She spoke with us about her fitness classes, what it’s like starting a dance business and how she celebrates Black history 365 days a year. 

Mariama Hutson: Can you tell us who you are, how you got started and what your skill is in the app?

Trina Lyons: My skill is dance. Just dance. Anything dance. Choreography, staging, coaching, whatever, musicality, anything dance. Right now I'm teaching dance fitness. So I fuse the fitness and the dance together. I started that in year 18. My background goes way back, like 25 years. [I was the] Artistic Director for Culture Shock Dance Center on the west coast. I owned my dance companies on the west coast, and recently, well about eight years ago, we moved to Philadelphia.

Mariama Hutson: That's where you are now?

Trina Lyons: That's where I'm at now, yeah. Moved to Philadelphia. Tried to get into the dance scene here, and a lot of people here, if you're not homegrown, they ain't messing with you. So I had to start all over. And I'm like, instead of focusing on dance, a lot of people are so intimidated by, "I can't do that move," or this, that and the other. I'm like, "You know what, fitness. People want to be fit, dance, and you put that together, and you're just having fun at the end of the day." Then you're like, "Wait a minute, I done burned 500 calories dropping it low."

Mariama Hutson: That's what it sounds like to me, like you’re just having fun.

Trina Lyons: Right, I'm like okay, this is perfect for me. So my business name is Mastah Tee, and I got that nickname from my kids when I was coaching kids on the west coast. They didn't want to call me Miss Trina. And I taught them all types of dance. So one little girl was like, "I'm not calling you Miss Trina, I'm going to call you Mastah Tee. So I'm like, "Okay. That's fine." So I just had to carry that over to the business.

Mariama Hutson: That's great. Do you have a studio?

Trina Lyons: Yeah, I don't have a studio but I am actually renting out a gym. A space from a gym in south Philly. So I go there, and they allow me to go in and just do what I do. I teach a little bit of everything: aquafit, spin, sculpting, Pilates, boot camp, kickboxing, whatever you need.

Mariama Hutson: I'll take Pilates. Maybe try that kickboxing. I went to a boxing class before, and I never went back. I was exhausted.

Trina Lyons: Oh yeah, that boxing will wear you out. You're like, "Oh my God."

Mariama Hutson: Yeah, I was looking stiff for like three days. I don't know if I could do that again.

Trina Lyons: You like, "I'm scared, I ain't getting, ah-ah, you ain't whooping my butt."

Mariama Hutson: But I did want to try some Pilates, because I'd be looking at YouTube videos, and it seemed like they just overcomplicate it so much on YouTube when it's just some movements. So I was thinking about going to a class maybe.

Trina Lyons: Have you tried Pilates before?

Mariama Hutson: No. I've just heard so many people telling me it's really good.

Trina Lyons: Yeah, it is good. But you've got to go baby steps when you go in. And when you look at it, it's like, "I could do that, that's simple." And it be like wait, no it ain't simple. It's a lot of core engagement in that, you know what I'm saying. If you don't know how to use your core, you can hurt your back. So go baby steps when you go into Pilates.

Mariama Hutson: Okay. Your tip.

Trina Lyons: Yes, and whoever teaches you, let them know, "I'm a beginner. Please let me know what I need not to do."

Mariama Hutson: Yeah, so I'm not walking out of there like that.

Trina Lyons: Right, back all hurting, and you be like, "What the hell, I ain't going to Pilates ever again."

Mariama Hutson: That's exactly how I was going to go. What advice would you give to someone who kind of wants to get started in the dance/fitness space if they’d like to have their own business teaching dance classes?

Trina Lyons: My advice is, first of all, just do it. Just jump over the fear and just do it. Just know that the industry is saturated with that, so you've got to find out what is your niche, and what makes you different from everybody else. I would tell them, just do some research on what not to do and what to do when opening up a business.

Trina Lyons: One thing about opening up a business, it might not be so fun going into learning the business end of it: the accounting, spending money on marketing and all this other stuff. So get a loan so you will have some kind of cushion to push your marketing. Because that marketing is a lot of money, to put yourself out there when people don't know who you are. And then you've got to set yourself apart from everybody else. What makes you hot? Why would I want to take your place?

Mariama Hutson: That marketing is key.

Trina Lyons: It is. It's marketing. I've seen some dance fitness people, and me myself, I'm looking, I'm like, "They've got like 10 million followers, how's that?" And I'm looking at what they're doing, and I'm like, "I don't ... What?" But at the end of the day, it's the marketing. It's how they push themselves out there, you know what I'm saying. Yeah, that's what I would say. Just do it.

Mariama Hutson: How are you celebrating Black History Month this year?

Trina Lyons: I celebrate Black history every day in my life, how about that? No 28 days, 29 days. It's no one will stop me from studying my Black history. So I am in celebration, and I learn something new all the time. Every day I'm like, "I didn't know that. I didn't know that." Wow, we set it off.

Mariama Hutson: Wow.

Trina Lyons: We did, and I'm just like, and we're not getting any accolades, no acknowledgment of it. We've been just stripped from all our excellence, and everybody's monetizing and making money off of what we created, and we still trying to.

Mariama Hutson: Do you feel like that in the dance and fitness space, that Black instructors may not be getting as much push or ability to monetize their platforms?

Trina Lyons: Oh yeah. Oh my God, yes. Definitely. Especially, I experienced that in Philadelphia. Dance fitness owners who ... I don't want to brag, but level. When it comes to the level, where I'm like, I'll blow y'all out of the water. And people just grab this, "Well you're a Black business, and she's white, so I'm just going to go over here." Maybe it's safer? I'm like, wow. We get no love because I'm Black? I actually experience that here in Philly.

Mariama Hutson: Yeah, and I think that's a whole other conversation, just the fact that you've got to be 10 times better to even be considered on the same level.

Trina Lyons: Exactly.

Mariama Hutson: "I'm better than her, what are you saying?"

Trina Lyons: Yeah, way better than her. Like 20 times. I could tapdance on her head. What are you doing, why are you over here? Yeah.

Mariama Hutson: It doesn't be adding up, it doesn't.

Trina Lyons: It doesn't be adding up, and I keep scratching my head, I'm like dang, being a Black person is very difficult. It is. And it's crazy because I was raised on the west coast, and being on the west coast, it was like 6% Black. Everybody else was other. So I was in a bubble with a lot of Filipinos, Mexicans, a little bit of white. I'd meet some Black people, but not that many of them. So I was in a bubble, it wasn't really segregated. It was segregated by money. If you're rich, you in this area; if you’re poor, you’re in this area. It doesn't matter what color you are. So I wasn't really experiencing that kind of racism until I moved to Philly.

When I moved to the east coast, it was a culture shock. I was just like, "You got the Chinese people over here, the white people in this area, the Black people in this area." I'm like, "How is that ... Wow!" I'd walk in there, as far as shopping and stuff, and I walked past, doing my own thing, and then I'd get, the white women have the audacity just to stand in my way on purpose, just to start something. And I'm like, I'm not used to that. Everybody has manners from where I came from. You just move. "No, I'm going to stay right here, because I own this place." Like a lot of Karens, I met a lot of Karens.

Mariama Hutson: A lot of Karens. Noted, there's a lot of Karens in Philly.

Trina Lyons: You know what I'm saying. I was like, man, I woke up. When I say woke up, I was asleep. When I moved here to Philly, I woke up. I was in a dang old bubble. This is real life right here.

Mariama Hutson: Yeah, that was what they doing out here.

Trina Lyons: Where you at?

Mariama Hutson: I'm in New York, so basically everybody is everywhere. We all just here.

Trina Lyons: You kind of feel me.

Mariama Hutson: It's definitely less of that, but I went to college in Nashville, Tennessee, so I can definitely see where there's... I've had experiences. But I'm sure we've all had these experiences, like following you around the store, like, "Why are you looking over my back? I have money." You looking at me, and meanwhile, this white lady just put 10 things in her bag. But you're looking at me, and I actually have money. It's not adding up.

Trina Lyons: Right. What's going on here? Did you not see her? Oh no, I'm sorry, you looking at this beauty. This Black beauty over here. You need to be looking at her.

Mariama Hutson: Literally. It just be ironic. Like, you're worried about me stealing, but you literally just got robbed because you worrying about me.

Trina Lyons: Right.

Mariama Hutson: Only based on my skin color. I definitely feel like, just since moving to New York, anything goes here, everybody just do their own thing. But I definitely know that New York is a bubble.

Trina Lyons: Yeah, that could be, you're right.

Mariama Hutson: That's not what they're doing everywhere else. I definitely feel that. There was something else that I wanted to ask you, just because, like you said, Black history, we're Black 365 days of the year. It's not something you can choose for 28 days.

Yeah. But did you have any things that you've read, or things that you've watched, that have really helped you get more into your history?

Trina Lyons: Oh my god, it's so much that I can't even pinpoint what, exactly. You know what, if you would've typed this question for me last night, I would've had it for you. Because I'm like, it's so much! It's on overload. I'm just like, on top of my head, Betty Boop. Remember Betty Boop?

Mariama Hutson: Mm-hmm.

Trina Lyons: She was Black. They took her image and made her white.

Mariama Hutson: Dang, I did not know that.

Trina Lyons: Yeah. Just, they're stealing our images. Just making billions off of Betty. All this time I'm thinking Betty Boop was a white little lady, white little cartoon. Light-skinned Black woman.

My feelings was hurt. I felt a type of way, I did. I'm like, all this time. All this time. We don't hear. This little white character lady and it's a light-skinned Black woman that they stole from her. This is a real-life woman. Stole, made billions, probably on top of billions, off of her image. And none of her family got a dime. Took it!

Mariama Hutson: I think that's the most harmful thing, that erasure. Like it never even existed.

Trina Lyons: Exactly.

Mariama Hutson: Because now a lot of people, I didn't know that, a lot of people didn't know that, but we all just walk around like, okay, a white person made this or they did this, and the whole time it was invented by a Black person. It's just that complete erasure. So we don't know, we like, "Have we been doing stuff? Are we really these people?" It's crazy.

This year the theme that they're having for Black History Month is Black health and wellness. What comes to mind for you when you think of that, Black health and wellness?

Trina Lyons: Okay, Black health and wellness. Well, one thing I do know, is that Black people as a whole need to take care of their wellness. Not only their physical health but their mental health as well. We're traumatized every day, you know what I'm saying, so mental is number one. Now once we get that locked in, then we can work on our physical. [And during slavery, all we were eating was scraps]: the chitlins, the hog maws, and all the lard and other stuff. And we today, as a whole, are still eating that way. Then they wonder why we have diabetes, and why we have heart disease, strokes and kidney disease. Just all kinds, you know. Then on top of that, the liquor, the alcohol, and stuff like that. They just keep pushing that on Black people. Because that's killing us. So you put all the chicken wings and the hog maws and chitlins and all that, and some jenny, you're going to be dead real soon.

And I understand why people eat like ... I understand why, because we're so used to eating like that. And you say, "Eat vegetables." They're like, "What are you talking about, fruits and vegetables?" We have to take care of ourselves, and it has to start from home. It starts from women, you know what I'm saying. We have to, as women, teach our kids how to eat. Eat to live, not live to eat. And that's our problem as a Black community, is that we got, "I'm going to eat, and I'm going to..." No. We got to live, man. They trying to take us out. They trying to take us out, yo, with the food, and the drink. And we have to wake up from that.

Mariama Hutson: I was talking to somebody else just on that subject. Even looking in communities that are predominantly Black, there are fast-food restaurants and liquor stores, and that's it.

Trina Lyons: It's everywhere. Just in the Black community.

Mariama Hutson: Yeah. And if that's all you looking around, that's all you got to look to. It's like, what other options are there?

Trina Lyons: Right. Yep, Burger King and McDonald's and some drink. Pizza Hut... And especially if you need it fast. You out and about, you doing your thing, we're like, "Okay, I'm just going to ..." In your head, "It ain't hurt to just get a cheeseburger. It's just a cheeseburger." But you eat that all the time, all the time, all the time, and then you end up with a stroke. And you might not even live through that, you know what I'm saying. Or the way of life is not the same anymore, you can't walk, can't talk because of that. Heart attacks, out of the blue. These young kids, one young kid that I know of in my past was eating just nothing but how we eat and was playing football and died, bam. Yep, heart attack. 22 years old.

And it's a lot of us that actually pass away like that, because of what we put in our mouth. Nate Dogg died at 40 years old. All his eating chicken wings and jenny. That was his lifestyle. You would think that, okay he has money, he's going to take care his physical. Well guess what, he didn't get that mental right, to actually go to that next level where he has to focus on what type of food that he's put ... Food is medicine.

Mariama Hutson: Yeah, that plays a part in your mental as well. Like your brain food.

Trina Lyons: It's brain food, you have to eat right. I don't knock having a little cheat day, whatever, don't deprive yourself if you want to have a cookie, you know what I'm saying, but dang. At the end of the day, that's what we have to do as Black women because we have these kids. We need to train our family how to eat better. So that's what I think when I hear Black wellness.

Black health and wellness, number one, it's mental health. Because we are so gone, we are so traumatized.

Mariama Hutson: Yeah. Even just speaking on that, I try to not be watching the news and keep up with everything, but it's like the second that I go on Twitter to find out what's going on in the world, it's like some guy was saying the N-word, and some Black Congress lady was attacked, and I'm just like this is too much. And all the time, that type of stimulation into your brain can't be good. Seeing people shot dead on video through your phone cannot be healthy.

Trina Lyons: No, it's not. Especially when they look like you. And the first thing you think of, then you start getting paranoid going outside shopping. You're like, "Dang, should I go shopping? I'm scared. Are the cops going to stop me and think I'm somebody else and shoot me dead if I move a certain way?" It's like, you could be driving, and then these gangs shoot at each other, and you get caught up in the crossfire. It's crazy.

Mariama Hutson: Do you think there's a lack of education when it comes to food? Obviously, we know there are some forces that be that's trying to take us out of here, but do you think the lack of education is also contributing to these ongoing problems?

Trina Lyons: Education is number one. But they don't even want to learn, even if I try to teach them something. Because I meet young kids all the time, and my husband, he'll try to teach the kids what they need to really focus on, especially in our Black world. “Oh no, oh no OG, uh-huh, I don't want to know. I just want to live, I want to make my coins.” That's why I said, what you said, education starts from home. It starts from the mother. We ... Period. We have to educate our kids. And once they get educated, you do your part, you know what I'm saying.

Because every human has a choice of where they want to go, go stage left or stage right, after you teach them. But at least you put that in their head in the beginning, have them grow from it, you know what I'm saying. That in itself, education, is just so needed in our community, especially with the health situation.

Because I talked to somebody who was a little bit older than me, and I was telling him he needs to cut down because he was having heart problems. He was telling me all kinds of stuff. And I said, "What do you eat?" He was like, "I love ice cream and cookies." I said, "You know what, for the end of the day, you really need to cut down on the sugar. Because that sugar feeds off your illness." If you have cancer, sugar dances on cancer. It grows and gets bigger and bigger and bigger. But a lot of us don't even know that. They don't know, they think, "I'm going to eat sugar, like a donut. I'm eating macaroni and cheese, that's not sugar." Yes, it is. It's sugar. Yes, all the enriched bread, or pasta, turns into sugar, which causes diseases, cancer.

Yeah. So, educated. They definitely need to be educated. We all do.

Mariama Hutson: How do you think something like SKILLR or skill-sharing can benefit our community?

Trina Lyons: It could benefit our community depending on what SKILLR professional you have, who is willing to promote health into our Black community. So if somebody comes into my SKILLR and they talking about, they want to dance or they want coaching or whatever, we as professionals need to just slide in seeds. Seeds, not being like, "You need to do this," you know what I'm saying. It's like, just plant seeds. First of all, you need to get to know who that person is who you're actually giving instruction to. Then you get to know how they eat, and you kind of slide in, slide in the seed of health.

So, depending on who the SKILLR professional is, I would think that that would be awesome to get a lot of people who are well-rounded and open-minded and want to give back to our community when it comes to health and wealth.

Mariama Hutson: They go hand in hand.

Trina Lyons: Because we lack that too. Black people as a unit don't have any wealth. We don't have a legacy to give our kids. And we need to teach our kids that, we need to teach each other that. Because financial illiteracy is real. You know what I'm saying, we have to really know how to move our money.

And we don't know how to do it. What we do is, we get the money and spend it on things.

Not on our future, not for our kids. So as a SKILLR pro, whoever that pro is that is a Black pro for our community, I think it's our responsibility. That's what I think, it's our responsibility to plant those seeds in our people, period. We're so far gone, we need to feed... Whatever we've got to do, we've got to feed it to each other. We have to. We can't do this anymore. We can't do that anymore. We can't. Look at where we at. Look at the politics of what they doing, look at that. We've got to come together. We can't do that no more, we have to pull each other together. So if any means necessary, I feel it's my responsibility to pull any goodness, and any Black person that wants better in their life, I'm there for you. And whatever I give you, I'm going to give it to you. Because it's time to change. Even if in our lifetime, we might not see it, at least we can push it.

Mariama Hutson: I just feel like, for me personally, even just seeing all of the trauma that you are taking on the daily, and just seeing everything and learning more about history here, it can feel very hopeless sometimes. Like where do we even go from here? Everything that we try to do, it gets burned down, they bomb it, they erase it. Where do we go from here, and what kind of things can we start to do to see some glimpse of hope?

I get the other side of that is we had ancestors before us, and they were in way worse situations, and everything that they did was for us to live like we live. So kind of staying focused on the next generation, but I do be just having those feelings of just feeling like, what do we do? What can you do? It seems like there are just so many forces from everywhere against you.

Trina Lyons: Yeah. You right, all these forces are against us. Everybody, I feel like... I do feel hopeless sometimes like, “Oh my God.” It would take time, but if we get a group and we all get on one page and do the same thing, and put all this education out, we could start planting seeds for our next generation. I mean right now it feels like it's hopeless, but if we can plant that in our younger babies, then they going to take it and they going to run, you know what I'm saying.

It's basically our babies. We just need to be all in one accord, teach our babies what we need as a Black community to push us forward and let them take it.

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