The UB Interview: Tamaira Sandifer Talks ‘Studio T Arts & Entertainment’

Award-winning entrepreneur, impact leader and youth arts program innovator Tamaira “Miss Tee” Sandifer has recently announced the national expansion of her acclaimed non-profit organization, Studio T Arts & Entertainment.

Founded in 2005, the organization’s mission is to help youth develop critical creative and life skills through exposure to the healing power of the arts.

Raised in dangerous Richmond, CA, and raised by a single mother with five siblings…her story of becoming a nationally recognized entrepreneur and non-profit leader is nothing short of astonishing.

Through her tireless efforts, Tamaira “Miss Tee” Sandifer has mentored over 880,000 youth across the country in underserved communities beyond California with her non-profit organization, Studio T Arts & Entertainment. Studio T Arts provides real-life skills, hope, and a sense of belonging through groundbreaking programming, trauma-informed instructors and cutting-edge technology.

Studio T Arts has developed some of Hollywood’s most sought-after young dancers including the 2016 winner of “So You Think You Can Dance“, 2018 World of Dance stars, members of the Jabbawockeez, and more. Her graduates currently travel the world performing with stars such as Justin Beiber, Jennifer Lopez, Selena Gomez, Rihanna, Chris Brown, Usher, Beyonce, Ellen & more. Her students have gone on to work for the White House and be seen on the stages of MTV Music Awards, Nick Choice Awards, BET Awards & more.

Miss Tee has received numerous accolades such as Forbes Culture 50 Champion, “Woman of the Year” by Assembly Member Kevin McCarty and The California Legislative Women’s Caucus, NAWBO Outstanding Woman Leader, and Hub Magazine’s “Exceptional Women of Color.” Sandifer is the founder of California’s Day of Dance, a board member of California Arts Council, a member of the City of Sacramento’s Race & Cultural Equity Task Force, and Chair of Americans for The Arts’ Arts Education Council.

Studio T Arts’ will continue to expand with locations opening in cultural and technological hubs like Tulsa, OK, Philadelphia, PA, Harlem, NY, and Atlanta, GA through 2026, and will also launch a mobile app featuring Miss Tee’s popular distance learning platform, PasstoClass.com.

Aries from UB recently spoke with Miss Tee about “Studio T Arts & Entertainment.”

Tamaira shares the importance of mentoring, and gives advice to dreamers.

Plus she speaks on motivation, black history and Soul Train!

UrbanBridgez.com: First up, tell us about studio T Arts and Entertainment and how you first started it?
Tamaira Sandifer: Oh my goodness, that is such a big question. Do you want to know about studio T Arts or how I started it? Two completely different things, but equally entertaining and remarkable.

UrbanBridgez.com: Started it.
Tamaira Sandifer: Well, I relocated from the Bay area, which is where I’m from, to Sacramento, California, and I started a lot of Bay area natives, you know, moved here. And I started noticing that, our kids were struggling. There was a lot of leaning into, you know, drugs and suicide had become one of our predators as far as our young people of color. And that was a newish thing. Our kids didn’t really participate in that kind of stuff, but they started to. And so I knew that we were experiencing a kind of hopelessness that was really, really bad for our people, especially as, because we set trends. And so, I just started doing what I know to do, and that’s teaching hip hop, and I would do it anywhere that I could. So churches and volunteering at dance studios. I didn’t get paid or anything like that. I wasn’t looking for it. I was just kind of trying to keep the kids gathered. And so I started with that. And then I ended up at the park in hot Sacramento in the summer with about, you know, 50, 60, 70 kids. And I said, okay, I’m obviously on to something. I’d better figure something real out. And so I bought my first building and I started studio T at the same time I birthed studio T, I gave birth to my third born my son. And so as a single mom building a company serving the community and helping as many kids as I can all at the same time, I don’t recommend that recipe. It was very stressful, but I did it right.

UrbanBridgez.com: That’s what’s up. And then getting a little bit into the company, talk a little bit about mentoring and the talent that you work with.
Tamaira Sandifer: Oh my goodness. I think mentorship is critical. Especially in the day and time that we’re in. Definitely. Prior to that, I know that that’s how I learned a great majority of what I do by way of business. I didn’t necessarily learn in college, and I didn’t necessarily gather it all from books. I learned from people that were kind enough to mentor me. So that’s something that is a crucial part of the makeup of every single program that we do is there’s a mentorship component. And so with the young people that we’re able to service, sometimes we weren’t teaching them how to dance. Well, sometimes we were teaching them the business of the industry. Then there were times where we were teaching them how to budget and how to save money and how to get out of debt, or not go into debt, or how to not shop the McDonald’s dollar menu because they think that’s cheaper than, you know, going to the grocery store and then meal prepping. So sometimes the mentorship wasn’t necessarily and helping them be successes as it pertains to their talent. But the wraparound things that keep you successful as a person and a leader. And so there’s a lot of character building and integrity building with my young people. And again, it’s still something I do all day, every day.

But the importance of that, you know, that handholding with our kids has proven to be the ingredient, the secret ingredient that that keeps them evolving and growing and succeeding. Many of which we dance with the likes of, oh, my goodness, the list is very long, but I have two that just finished working on Beyonce’s Renaissance tour. I have a So You Think You Can Dance winner. I have young people that dance with anywhere from again Beyonce’ to, you know, Britney Spears, J.Lo, Usher, Rihanna, Chris Brown you, Selena Gomez. The list is very long. But this is what this is. It’s not necessarily what they do. It’s who they who they’ve become. And I started this, you know, 27 years ago, the company and then 37 years ago just working with kids in this way. And it’s remarkable how they’ve all grown up, and now I’m working with their kids, and they are positioned in entertainment as some of the most credible talent and creators in industry. So I get to call them every now and again and tell them, hey, I got one more, just like you help them out. And so it’s created a pipeline for all of our kids and program to have creative careers.

UrbanBridgez.com: Yeah, that actually was my next question. It was pretty much for you to tell us about some of the talent that you’ve helped develop that have gone on to great things. You kind of answered it, but if you want to elaborate more on any specifics or any type of talent, please.
Tamaira Sandifer: I know most often people are enamored with, what we do by way of, you know, Hollywood and industry and theater and music and dance and movement. But some of my bigger victories are my young people that, we got out of juvenile hall and now they’re working with a headlining show called the Jabbawockeez in Las Vegas. But the victory is not that they’re working with the Jabbawockeez in Vegas. The victory is that they’re not in jail. So when people ask me about my successes, I have I have high school graduates. That’s a success. I have college graduates. I have kids that have graduated with degrees and no debt from college, and they have their own businesses that to me is victory. So we can look at the stuff that’s super star studded, but I like to make sure that we always shine a light on the fact that we have kids that deal with some of the most trying and traumatic experiences in life, and yet they showed up every day and they did the work and they made it. And when I say made it, they made it where they don’t live on the block no more. They made it where they’re not thinking the way they used to think while living on the block. They’re not thinking, you know, with the hustle mentality. They’re thinking with an entrepreneurial mentality which has caused a shift financially in not just them but their families. So when I, when I, when I get the opportunity to shine the light on success, I like to point out the fact that we have kids that that simply made it. They beat the odds, they beat the statistics, and they come home and they help other people.

UrbanBridgez.com: Yeah, I like that a lot. What’s some advice you would give to someone who has a dream and kind of afraid to take a chance on it?
Tamaira Sandifer: Well, I find that once you can see the fact that you have fear, you can face it. So just identifying where the source of the fear comes from. But but being very clear about your dream. I do a great deal of coaching in this area. Number one, vague dreams get vague results. If it’s not real down to the minute in detail to you, you can’t. It can’t present itself in in the real realm, if you will. And so most often people have vague dreams so they get vague results. I wish I was rich. No. I’m rich. What makes you rich? What does rich look like to you? What does rich smell like to you? Who do you know that’s rich? Have you had a conversation with with this rich person? What are the responsibilities that are connected to being rich? What product service, talent, gifting do you have that you can multiply and increase? That will cause you to be rich? And once I start asking those sorts of sorts of questions, it makes people think differently about what their dream is and getting serious about defining it so it can present itself.

So my advice would be, yes, fear is a tool. Use it so that you can you know, David, I’m a, you know, a studier of the Bible. But David was made famous by facing the fear of Goliath. So it’s not until you face the fear that you can beat the fear. Fear is not a bad thing, but it should propel you in a direction either forward or you know, hopefully forward. Some people let fear, you know, push them backward. I’m not I don’t I’m not of that practice. But it should propel you if you face it. So it’s not a bad thing. It’s just an indicator of where you’re at. So anyhow, my advice, if I could bottom line it, is number one, be clear about your dreams and your goals. I mean, be be crystal clear about your dreams and goals and write everything down. And whenever you’re faced with a situation or circumstances that cause you to have fear, go back to your written dreams and goals. Whatever you focus on is what you’ll have. And if you focus on fear, you’ll have more fear. But if you focus on your dreams and goals, you will have them.

UrbanBridgez.com: And I like that a lot. And then what motivates you? What motivates Tamaira?
Tamaira Sandifer: I am privileged to serve people. So my motivation is, is always to help people have better lives. I get to help people see who they really are. Sometimes life can be a challenge. Life can tell you that you’re a failure. Life can tell you that you’re not making it. Life can tell you that you’re not enough. But I get to help people see who they really are and how and dispel lies like that. So what motivates me is I get to show up, you know, people let me show up in their lives every day and be some kind of help to them. And that, that that to me is worth living every single minute of every day for me.

UrbanBridgez.com: Beautiful. What’s next for you?
Tamaira Sandifer: Well, we just acquired a 36,000 square foot series of buildings. I bought an entire city block. So just making sure that we do our development with excellence. I tell people most often, they’re like, oh, so you’re building another dance studio? I said, no, no, no, I’m building a destination. People will come from all over the country to study this model so that hopefully they go home and build something for their young people, similar to what we’re doing. So I have a light task ahead as far as that’s concerned. And then I would also offer that once we complete the building of this, our next stage is to delve into boarding and education. We started here in Sacramento with our headquarters. But we’ll be adding other cities, and we’re in the process of doing that. So we have Tulsa, Oklahoma is our next hop, then Philadelphia, then Harlem, New York, and then Atlanta, Georgia. And then once we complete those, we are heading to Ghana.

UrbanBridgez.com: Wow, exciting times.
Tamaira Sandifer: Well, there’s a lot of work to do. There’s a lot of young people that need good, strong guidance and support and love. And that’s what we’re here for.

UrbanBridgez.com: No doubt. Is there anything else you want to leave or share?
Tamaira Sandifer: Certainly I document, I’m a heavy documenter. I’m a firm believer in legacy. So, you know, I make sure that I’m documenting my steps and I do that in a couple of different ways. I have e-courses that just kind of share all the different tips, tricks and strategies that have helped me get to where I am and others like me. I also have excuse me, an online learning platform that I created shortly prior to Covid, which was one of the tools when the whole world shut down and schools couldn’t figure out how to connect with their kids. We had a tool called Path to Class, and it’s an online learning platform with an emphasis on social emotional learning that every major school district in California and school districts across the country became licensees to. And it’s what again, exploded. It also landed me on a Forbes list. So just developing the next level as far as that’s concerned for on demand learning in things like, you know, creative movement, but also entrepreneurship is a big deal. And then I would also offer continuing the process of rescuing our kiddos, aligning with the right partners so that we can continue to develop safe spaces for them to grow and create and innovate. And so anybody that is interested in that, we’re asking for help just just by way of letting people know that we exist and there’s opportunity to lock arms and do some good work.

UrbanBridgez.com: I learned we had something in common, as a fanatic of the classic music series Soul Train, what was it about that show that made you such a fan?
Tamaira Sandifer: That was what I grew up in, you know, Oakland and Richmond, California, and we grew up in the broke, broke parts like like I was broke. We lived in extreme poverty. So no one was building a business for kids to go to because we didn’t have the money to pay for it. My dance classes, how I learned dance, how I learned fashion and culture was we we went to, you know, Soul Train University every Saturday morning after the cartoons. And that’s how we learned. And there are people that have inspired what has become a national empire, servicing kids that I’ve never met. There’s some printers all over everything we do. Miss Debbie Allen, Soul Train. I got to meet her last year to thank her, but I just got to meet Juliet, one of the original Soul Train dancers, and I thanked her. Popin’ Pete and Boogaloo Sam also.< Got to thank them for everything they brought to the table. That's all Soul Train was doing once they came out was locking and stuff. So just being able to learn from them and then build something that is a servicing tool through the creativity that they made mainstream. Anything that you see anybody doing on TikTok by way of dance, they're the ones that broke the door down for all of this stuff. This stuff is mainstream. But they were mainstream first and they took so much heat for it. But they stood and they kept coming and they kept doing it. And now it's a multi-billion dollar industry. That's what Soul Train did for me. I was one of those kids that I was able to learn and grow and then build entrepreneurship through it. And then they looked like me. So it was rare watching a show with somebody successful in it and they look like us. They looked like us. They dressed like us. And then when they would do the scramble, they talk like us. They were speaking English, but they were speaking our English. So Soul Train was a massive influence on my life, massive influence on my business. I'm still soul training every day.

UrbanBridgez.com: I love it. Thank you for that black history lesson too. We always appreciative of those. Let them know.
Tamaira Sandifer: That’s why I went to my mayor’s office when we started, and I know you didn’t ask for this information, but I’m just going to tell you because you said our culture is so influential. I started when we started seeing our young people take their own lives. I said, listen to me. This is what I know about my my people. Whatever we do, it’ll trend. I remember, you know, I’m I’m in Richmond, California, and we was putting 22s on our cars, and there was an article that came out about how stupid we were until five years down the line. You can’t drive a Lincoln off the lot without it being a stock standard set of 22 rims on it, but it took them eight years to catch up. So I’m telling my mayor, listen, these babies are doing this now. We got to get ahead of this by way of prevention. Otherwise this is going to trend. I know what we do. We trend. And I couldn’t get anybody to listen. Now it’s so common today. But it started in community. So again you said it. They classify us as a minority, but we really the majority, the majority because we bring culture to the world and everybody adopts it. Again, 27, 28 years ago. Oh, I can’t believe those, you know, whatever, whatever with their weaves and their nails. Who do you know that don’t have long hair and and nails now?

UrbanBridgez.com: Exactly.
Tamaira Sandifer: So we’re we’re a culture of people that really help the world stay passionate, colorful, innovative, creative. That’s what we bring to the table. And I just, I’m gifted with being able to build entrepreneurship around the essence of who we are.

Thank you and thank you for just giving voice or amplified voice to what we do. It’s important that people know. So I think it’s a remarkable thing when people are willing to share their platforms and talk about the good that other people are doing. So thank you for that.

UrbanBridgez.com: I appreciate that a lot. Continue successes and blessings!