Alumni Story

Be kind to all the people you’re around, you never know when they may circle back into your life.”

Thanks to a campus visit, Catawba College moved from fifth place on Tiffany’s list of colleges to first. “It felt like home,” she shares. She initially found Catawba in a guidebook about colleges and saw that it was noted for its strong Theatre program. She had already discovered in high school that theatre was what she wanted to do.

“I decided my sophomore year of high school that I wanted to pursue acting as a profession. I was also interested in interior design, and I was playing soccer. But I did this show called “Bang Bang, You’re Dead” about the Columbine school shooting and we always did a talkback after each performance of the play. We asked the school audiences where we performed if anyone there felt like an outsider, like Josh did, the main character who shot the teachers and students. And at one talkback, a student said he did, but he said after having seen the show, ‘I now know I can’t do the things Josh did.’ Our performance of that play stopped a school shooting from happening. It saved that school.” 

That powerful affirmation of the impact of story through performance cinched Tiffany’s decision to pursue acting. Choosing Catawba felt right to Tiffany, but also surprising. Having grown up as a ‘military brat,’ moving fourteen times and living on military bases near large cities, selecting a campus that was in a small Southern town and felt a little like being in the country, was unexpected. “It was an interesting decision,” she says, but it was not one she ever would regret.

The Theatre program at Catawba still stands out to Tiffany for two reasons, she explains, “They made sure you’re a good person, they taught us to be kind, be nice. You hear that a lot in this profession, but Catawba’s theatre department does a great job of that and ensures you treat everyone well. They will call you out on that if you don’t, and they will do it until you get it.”  The second reason? “They made you feel that you are enough, what you bring to the table is enough, your body, your voice, your ability. They reiterate to you that what you have to bring to this craft is enough - and let’s hone that.” 

She focused on Musical Theatre as her major, feeling that it would provide the skills to be well-rounded in her career. “I’m Black and earning a BFA in musical theatre prepared me to be more adaptable to what a role may demand, to do anything at any time, to sing, dance, and act.” 

After graduation, Tiffany went on to secure acting roles in theatre, television, and film, as well as doing directing, writing, and producing. Her TV show credits include “Grey’s Anatomy”, “Bob Hearts Abishola”, “Good Trouble”, the Hulu streaming series “Reasonable Doubt”, and a long list of others. She has an upcoming film, “Napa Ever After” airing on the Hallmark Channel on August 26th at 8/7 p.m. CST. She commends Hallmark on their family-friendly work culture, enabling her to look after her then four-month-old son and his three-year-old big brother while she was filming. She wants to explore how to replicate it in other work environments for all parents and caregivers.

Tiffany was involved in “everything but the kitchen sink” as a student, not limiting her time only to theatre. She attended athletic games, actively volunteered, and made the most of her college experience. She served as a member of the Homecoming Court freshman year, as an RA for two years, and was chosen as Miss Catawba her senior year. She went to Costa Rica with Catawba’s former immersive Spanish program. She did not miss out on much while a student, adding in retrospect, “I do wish I had taken up learning to play an instrument. Maybe guitar.” And she wishes that she’d brushed up on Spanish since graduation.

She appreciates Catawba’s faculty both in and outside her major, and even now, she knows they are only an email or phone call away. Not long ago she reached out for helpful input when she was working on a project, THE ROADSIDE ASSISTANCE WORKSHOP, which Tiffany describes as “a space to hone our empathy muscles and build allyship. Catawba has actually been an incubator space for it,” she adds. As she thinks about what she learned at Catawba and in the years since, Tiffany considers what advice she would give to current students: “Be kind to all the people you’re around, you never know when they may circle back into your life.”