MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A Memphis woman is living out her dreams and bringing her hometown along for the ride.
Memphis native Brandee Evans started her career as a Shelby County teacher and she managed to dance her way into living rooms across the country after landing a starring role in a new STARZ series called “P-Valley.”
The story is set inside a fictional small Mississippi strip club but everything about it screams Memphis from the show writer, Memphis native Katori Hall, to Evans, landing a starring role in her acting debut.
You’re going to notice in “P-Valley,” there are a lot of references to Memphis from the music to the neighborhoods.
Evans, an Overton High School graduate, danced on the pom squad while attending the University of Memphis. She was a teacher at Southwind High School who coached dance and cheer squads on the side but gave it all up to chase bigger dreams.
“I put a title loan on my car off Germantown Parkway and went to Los Angeles just for two weeks before school started back and was like you know what I like to dance,” she said.
“I haven’t been back since.”
Evans supported herself by teaching hip hop and heels classes, but in the 10 years she’s been in California she admits she experienced tough times.
“I slept on the floor for two years. My momma was cooking soup and shipping it to L.A. and we were freezing it and eating it for two weeks.”
Ironically, she left Memphis to pursue her dream and began living it out on the set of fictional “P-Valley,” which bears the nickname of a housing complex once located in Memphis’ Westwood neighborhood.
“It’s finally something we feel like is authentic to the South and it’s showing the good, the bad and the ugly, but it’s showing it authentically.”
She too is true to her roots, opting for a small opening night watch party with close family and friends in Memphis, back home with the people who’s supported her in her journey to success.
“Any of my dance team girls out there know I’ve been telling them this from the beginning and even my students. There is no ‘no.’ It’s just find another way and go after your dream. Dreams don’t have expiration dates.”
P-Valley airs Sunday night at 8 p.m. on Starz.
