Rising Stars: Meet Isaiah Lane

Today we’d like to introduce you to Isaiah Lane.

Hi Isaiah, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
My interests in fashion design, performing, and roller skating all come from influence of my family’s backgrounds. My mother, Nikia Lane, was a performer in areas including dance and acting. My father, Michael Lane, was a designer for both military tactical gear and woodworking architecture. My roller skating resides with my grandmother, Shirley Long, who was said by my mother to be one of the coolest skaters back in Chicago. Being exposed to my family’s past accomplishments in these areas opened my view to the things that I would find to bring the most joy and happiest out of me. Throughout middle school, I found my love for musical theater when I joined my school’s drama class. Always aiming to play the leading roles, on stage was one area where I felt my emotions and feelings could be expressed through the characters I played. Especially when my friends and family were there to support me. Roller skating also became a big part of my life after I joined Mini Mafia, a younger version of one of the most popular west coast skate crews, Skate Mafia. Who was founded by Travis Horne, A.K.A. Smuurda. Being a part of this team taught me the values of friends who truly care about you being able to become a version of a second family. Our goals as a team were to open directional path alternatives for younger generations that steered away from being involved in unhealthy lifestyles, habits, and mindsets. Raising fundraisers and hosting events at World On Wheels was a big way for attention to be grasped.

However, after the rink had shut down, our fundraiser became hard to conduct. But with our love for skating still strong and our success prior to the closing, the community had grown substantially. Our efforts were all driven by our passion to skate. Skate Mafias culture has impacted the skating community drastically and has shaped many styles, fundamentals, and morals of roller skating. After graduating middle school, over the summer is when I was enrolled for APA (Academy For The Performing Arts) summer program. From this amazing experience, in-depth, I was able to see the bigger picture of what Musical Theater is all about. My time meeting the staff and teachers not only showed how passionate they are about their craft but also how much potential they saw in me. This gave me the confidence to audition to be a full-time student in the APA program throughout my Freshman, Sophomore, and Junior Years. As my Senior year approached I began to see my goals of being a Musical Theater Performer shift. With my personality growing and wisdom maturing, my style and fashion creativity began to become my biggest sight.

Learning about the histories of different brands and designers paved a pathway for another endeavor that I saw myself going down. Expression through fabric had shone a light that glowed many opportunities. That is when I started to create my own pieces of clothing that would soon become my up-and-coming brand of Zaelane. My goals of being a designer have made a way for me to connect to those that work within areas of fashion industries or know of people in the specific line of work. Continuing further into my senior year is when my passion for roller skating began to become another career-driven endeavor. Meeting the founder of LA Roller Girls, Crystal Roseborough, changed my life completely. With her abilities to open opportunities of showcasing my talents in skating, I was able to be a part of so many amazing events and jobs. And for me, working is never turned to how much money or exposure is involved, but instead how much love, fun, and happiness I will get from it. Together, all these corners of my life come together as one. Working off each other. Growing and building off each other. Continuing to appreciate every single atmosphere of my life.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Through all the good in my life, there were also times that were hard. My first feeling of true heartbreak is when the friendships of those who were like family to me were lost and dissipated. When the strongest connections of love are broken, it feels as though the universe has shifted. Lack of communication and misinformation being spread around is the worst poison to any relationship. Losing those who felt like blood siblings was one experience that had many setbacks to my life. Though it seemed my second family had been torn apart, I have to thank my first family for always being there for me. Throughout my school years, bullying was a major problem that I faced. Being made fun of for things such as my afro-styled hair, my clothing, and my personality made my self-esteem and confidence subside. Times got more rough as time passed by. Making my years of middle school and beginning years of high school the hardest. I had always received jokes about my hair since I was in kindergarten, and although it got very tiring hearing the same thing, I could handle it. But when I got to middle school, that’s when my last shield of armor was completely crushed. The worst memory I have was in my P.E. class when my bullies pulled me by my hair on the ground and dumped my head into a mud puddle.

After that moment, I decided that I could no longer take the embarrassment that was being caused by my afro. That’s when I decided to get my first haircut. Cutting my hair was one moment where I felt my love for myself grow in an instant. However, though I thought that my bullies would not have my hair to tease about anymore, they still found other alternatives about me to pick on. Lack of home development is a huge part of bullying and mistreatment of others, especially when the main focus of bullying is based on a person’s racial appearance, personality, or style choice. Dealing with this type of treatment at such a young age convinced my mind to think very poorly of myself, feeling like a waste of space. This is when I fell into another struggle of my life, dealing with depression. From my dad’s side of the family, mental health issues have been passed down and have tortured many parts of our lives. My experiences lie within the feelings of loneliness, being incurable, and unworthy of life. Hiding my feelings from everybody, yet using alternate ways of calling out for help made my secret life of depression toxic and exhausting.

My circumstances got worse and worse until the point where I did not want to live anymore. I believe that the only reason I am still alive today is because of my little brother, Jaxon. He saw things that I did not want him to see, but by the purpose of our love, he was meant to. The worry and heartbreak I saw in his eyes showed me how selfish it would be for me to leave his side. Learning different steps to understand how to control my feelings was becoming easier and easier. To this day, I am always finding ways to grow inner peace with myself and the world around me. Accepting that life will take unexpected turns and knowing how to control your energy is how I am able to forgive and move forward with anything that I am faced with.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
For me, art is my medium of expression and feelings. To explain, art can be expelled by almost anything. Fashion design, writing, roller skating, acting, singing, and dancing are all ways I can release anything I am feeling. My mindset towards life and the way I perceive it is very different from the way many others think of it. I say this because with every interaction I have ever had in my life, it never fails for the other person to say how special I am. This is no way of bragging or saying that I am any better than another person. But sharing that with the way my mind works, I only wish for the best upon anyone. My love for the world is endless. I cherish every little part of my life, even the bad parts. Every single thing that exists plays a part into my storyline, my soul, the future of humanity, and most of all, my desire of my art to set an impact on the world.

If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
Before I was born, my journey to becoming an embryo was corrupted by an unexpected displacement of my egg. Stranded without any way of help, I was stuck in my mother’s fallopian tube. Waiting for a miracle of further movement took the toll of when to decide that my birth would be foreclosed. As the thought of lost hope was given from the nurses to my parents, it was decided that I was lodged, and would not be able to move on my own. My grandmother however, had a feeling in her heart, that something had changed. So she told the nurses to check one more time, and as she had felt, I was again, starting my journey to my birth. When my parents first told me this story of how my life was almost non-existent, I was struck with the mindset that out of all the bad things that we don’t expect, the feeling we get from the outcome of the better is what makes life worth living for, no matter how long down the line it takes for us to reach it. If my grandmother had not been there or did not go with her instinct feeling. I would not be writing this today.

When I was born, I was said to not have made a single cry or shed a single tear. Just looking around. At everything and everyone. This shocked the doctors and my family as if I had knew exactly what was going on. Through my days of elementary school, my teachers, classmates, and family saw the light within my spirit that they said set me apart from others. Being taught the importance of manners and being humble from my parents had a huge impact on how my work ethics, desires, and motivations contribute to my life today. Looking back, my home life as a child had always been full of love. Everything that is envisioned to be what a family is supposed to provide can be closely relatable to how my life was given to me. I remember thinking to myself, “how was I blessed so gratefully to be picked to live this life?” I was often confused by this phenomenon that felt like an unsolved equation. My life was unanswered to me. But just like the universe, I kept going as if I understood it. Everyone tells me that I contain most features of my mom. Which makes sense considering my dad’s traits all got passed down to my little brother, Jaxon Lane, A.K.A. HoneyBadger. When my mom was pregnant with Jaxon, I used to get these feelings of unusual senses from my brain. They used to tell me that something new is about to change my life drastically. And this time around, it was someone. Inevitability, a completely opposite version of my blood, became my best friend. With every last bit of my love, Jaxon is my favorite human. I knew his name before he was born, and I was the one to give it to him. He has changed my mindset on so many things for the better. He has taught me how to have patience. And taught me even more with my confidence. Our family of four is always looking out for each other. Making sure that our connection always stays strong, never letting anything turn us away from each other.

In my free time, I would find myself outside riding my scooter, skateboard, and even my roller skates. As soon as my headphones were in, I was altered into my own world. Riding until my legs felt like falling off or the sun tucked under the horizon. The neighborhood kids were also part of my outside adventures. Creating fake cities with drawing chalk and driving around in my electric escalade, drifting down the driveways. Outside of the home, I was Active in martial arts. Japanese Shuko-Kai Karate was introduced to me by my father, which was introduced to him by my grandpa. My grandpa was very advanced in the martial arts world. And maybe even a little bit… Crazy. For example, There’s a picture of him laying down with someone chopping watermelons on top of his chest with a huge sword. Crazy right? You know what’s even crazier? Bruce Lee was sitting in the audience watching him! Nonetheless, my dad knew how beneficial the art form would be for my mental state and physical wellness, especially knowing my Sensei before I was born. I trained in karate to the level where I advanced to competing in tournaments by the training of my Dojo, JMAC Karate. Winning my first tournament will always be a core memory of mine.

Remembering how proud my family, Dojo, and most importantly myself was of me will always give me the courage to take on anything I want to achieve. When the last days of being in elementary school began, A moment that sparked my life of accomplishment is when I received the Golden Apple Award. This award goes to one student out of the whole school that has shown gratitude to others, maturity, exceptional leadership, and passion to dreams. This moment in my life was the ending of a chapter that set the exciting, aware, and beautiful adventure of the next. Transitioning into middle school in 2014 was a very big shift in my life. Meeting new teachers, students, and having a different campus made me feel out of place, just how any kid would feel. Outside of school on the weekends, my parents would take my brother and I to the Fountain Valley Skating Center where my love for roller skating originated. Meeting friends that would later become part of my family created what felt like a second home for me. I am grateful for every moment of love that I received from the people I felt cared for me.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/isaiahmlane?igshid=NTdlMDg3MTY=
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/isaiah.lane.3939

Image Credits
Image 1: AMA’s P!NK performance (Never Gonna Not Dance Again) image 2: StellaMccartney x Addidas Party: Photographer – wattsupphoto