Today we’d like to introduce you to Della Hamby.
Hi Della, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
Hi! My name is Della Chablise Hamby.
I am named after my mom who is my hero. I am a Daddy’s girl to William Hamby and the youngest of two older brothers/football coaches Chuckii and Chavis.
I’m from Romulus, Michigan a mixed suburb of Detroit. There, I grew up with my cousin Fallon being more like the sister I’ve always wanted. We used to find inspiration from everywhere! We were cheerleaders, wrote raps, braided our friends’ hair, literally dressed up as The Spice Girls on a normal day and read all types of model bios in mens magazines at the stores after school. In high school I was Freshman and senior Homecoming Queen, Varsity cheer captain, awarded scholar athlete, apart of a Mega Champion volleyball team, the detention assistant & positive peer influencer and set records in Track & Field. I ran hurdles and did high jump and was also a total band geek. I did marching band playing both bass drum and snare and did solo drum/percussion competitions each summer wearing my cummerbund and bow tie that matched my scrunchie.
I come from a band camp, tap/modern dance and cheerleading background. In the beginning of my career, I took ballet every morning and taught dance at national cheer camps all over the US driving to and from cheer camps in a car by atlas at 18years old.
Post- graduating from Wayne State University with a Bachelor’s of Science degree in dance, dance led me from Detroit to New York to Walt Disney World in Florida and then FINALLY to LA!!! Now I am verified influencer and popular professional performer/dance professor rooted and working in both Metro Detroit & Los Angeles!
In my 11 years hustling and landing major placements in LA, I am CEO of Damn Della LLC
now branding my own talent connections company, having worked closely with today’s most mainstream artists and eminent projects including but not limited to Beyoncé, Chris Brown, Taylor Swift, Cardi B, Nicki Minaj, Snoop Dogg, Travis Scott, America’s Best Dance Crew & many more!
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Dance is my 1st love! It has not always been a smooth road but it taken me places I have always imagined and has been well worth every bump along the way. Some pressures of being a professional dancer outside of the physical exertion and obvious overwork and underpay is having to sacrifice family functions and chose between work and family at times. It gets tough to balance healthy relationships. That is my biggest obstacle but it is possible. Outside of that other challenges are that I usually feel a ton of pressure to always be overly presentable or be better than my last project. I feel like I am never truly relaxed because there is an invisible pressure to create content nonstop and risk accidentally becoming exhausted falling free entertaining to our family, friends and followers.
People ask me about this also. Sometimes positioned as the only black woman or the appearance thereof, I’ve gotten mistreated or I worry that I’m not representing hard enough for my culture or my generation and I fall victim to being ridiculously hard on myself. But I feel a win somewhere in there each time I just promise myself to take on whatever project fully in my most true form and never take forever granted!
How do you define success?
Success to me is accomplishing goals no matter how big or small. I love to celebrate tiny victories! I believe that if one is able to conquer ANYTHING as their true self and soar then they are successful. I see success in many forms.
Currently I am branding my own talent connections agency titled DAMN DELLA CONNECTIONS. This will be successful because I’ve already operated as a casting assistant, performer, teacher and choreographer on major platforms. Now, I am just ridding myself of fear to start small and perform the same acts/services by myself with the help of whomever I choose because now I am my own boss.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.Dellahamby.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/damndella?igshid=1fng9w3d2xcnr
- Youtube: https://youtu.be/IyZgHP_Mj4U
Image Credits
Deon Casey Photography
