Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ricquélle Badger. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Ricquélle, we’re so appreciative of you taking the time to share your nuggets of wisdom with our community. One of the topics we think is most important for folks looking to level up their lives is building up their self-confidence and self-esteem. Can you share how you developed your confidence?
I’m still a work in progress when it comes to truly exuding confidence. At an early age my parents taught and encouraged me and my siblings to embrace and live ourselves. My mom founded a daycare called Images and I’ve shared before we had a daily mantra or “theme song” where we would say “I’m an African American and I’m proud of who I am just the way I am.” Saying those words out loud today really resonates because it reminds me to always be proud, celebrate, and be unapologetic about my blackness especially when we live in a world today where we are not always celebrated, we are constantly marginalized, scrutinized, or encouraged to “tone down” or conform to other’s ideals or standards of beauty even though we heavily inspire and contribute to culture on a daily basis. Being an African American woman, I was definitely taught early on that I need to work twice as hard to get half of what my white male counterparts have in this world. My self esteem development started when I was young. My mom would throw parties for me called G.E.M which stood for ‘Growing and Entering Maturity’. Theses events would occur once a year where my aunts, grandmothers, church family, and other influential women in my life would get together and share words of wisdom and encouragement to me. Looking back I truly appreciate those moments because those very words from women have shaped my growth and who I am today. My mom used to say “mama won’t be with you always” and these words hit so different since her passing in 2010. I’m so thankful for those same women who stepped in and served as mother figures for me as well a a village for my children. My confidence grew more in middle school when I attend James C Wright. It was a predominately African American school which further molded and encouraged me to embrace and celebrate my blackness. The educators and principal challenged me and held me accountable when I needed redirection. Ms. Evans, Ms. Peterson, Mr. Holmes, and Mr. Arbaca we’re just a few names of educators and administrative staff who helped shaped the minds of myself and my peers. We would have school assembly’s that would highlight school achievement and those who demonstrated ‘panther pride’. We would also have huge performances celebrating Black History Month where students would portray historical African American figures. I was involved in choir and strings and I always enjoyed performing. I’ve mentioned before that being on stage performing always made me feel alive and provided an escape from negativity. When my mom passed away, initially I had lost that spark and confidence when performing because she wasn’t physically with me to push me and encourage me. It’s in these moments where I remember the words from the women from the G.E.M celebrations that give me guidance and strength to continue on my journey. Now when I perform, I feel closer to her and feel her presence with me. I would also attribute my confidence to my sorority sisters of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc. They are a huge inspiration and influence for me creatively and in my art. My sorority sisters encourage, challenge, inspire, motivate, and pray for me which keeps me going and motivates me to go harder. I thank God that I was with my sorors when I received the phone call that my mom had gone home to be with God and my sis Kryssy was there for me every step of the transition and adjustment to my new normal. In college we had a yearly step show called Brew City where all of the Divine Nine organizations would compete. These memories were so amazing to experience and participate in because it provided the opportunity for my sorors and fraternity brothers of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. to express themselves creatively and display their talents. From creating concepts to developing steps, transitions, music, strolls, costumes it literally was a huge production that everyone wanted to witness and/or be part of. Performing with my sorors and frat brothers is something I will forever cherish and treasure. So much so that I continue to work with and consult with them on my current projects and they contribute their talents to my art and creative endeavors. I definitely appreciate them and draw strength from them because they do not sugar coat or tell me what they think I want to hear. I love the fact that they are always honest and will provide me with the constructive feedback that I need to grow and evolve into my best self.
Being a mom has for sure contributed to my self confidence. Once you have carried and birthed a human life, can’t nobody tell you anything. My role as a mother is something I don’t take lightly and I constantly strive to be an exceptional role model for them. I’m fully aware that I will make mistakes, but it is all in how you bounce back, grow and learn from those life lessons. Being a co-parent and raising two African-American young men is not an easy task. Having them while I was in college increased my grind, my drive, and my desire to want better for them. I constantly make moves for their betterment and am happy to sacrifice for them to have and be their best. They are a huge influence in my music and art because as my mom told me mama won’t be with you always. However, in my music, I will be with them and they can hear my story learn from the decisions I made in my journey, be inspired to set goals and accomplish them, as well as hearing their own voices and creativity as my oldest son has contributed production on two of my projects. I want them to be strong and confident in their faith as well as being proud Black men in the face of adversity. I want them to remember that they come from a long lineage of people who prayed for them before they were even born. I want them to know they are special and destined for greatness and whatever they set their minds to do, with hard work, dedication, focus, keeping God and family first, the sky is the limit.
Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?
I am an artist, singer/songwriter/model/actress. I released my first project Cover Girl Project in 2017. We kept writing, collaborated with dope and talented artists and released CoverGirl Project 2: Mind Over Matter in 2020. We continued writing had the opportunity to perform my music live at Miramar Theater, Milwaukee PBS, and Cactus Club, worked with more amazing artists and creatives, and released CoverGirl Project 3: No Magazine in 2022. We kept grinding and had the pleasure of my music being showcased in fashion shows for TSXDH at BSC Marquette University as well as LA Fashion Week and International Digital Fashion Week. We shot the promo for the highly anticipated SexEyecon web series, had the opportunity to model for TSXDH in the SS24 collection KalabiYau as well as art exhibition at the Nicoleta Gallery in Berlin Germany, collaborated with more talented and amazing artists and released my fourth project BRB in 2023. The grind doesn’t stop because we continued writing and performing at venues such as Poetic Soul, and continuing to collaborate with incredible talent and will be releasing new music in 2024 so stay tuned! The most exciting part about my work is having the opportunity to connect and collaborate with some of the most dope and talented artists and creatives. I learn so much through interacting and conversing with others and those very people push me creatively and artistically. Everyone from producers, sound engineers, artists, DJs, hair stylists, makeup artists, videographers, wardrobe stylists, choreographers, musicians, graphic designers and more I cannot say enough how thankful I am to have had the pleasure to work with each and everyone of yal. I truly appreciate you contributing your time and talents to my vision and allowing me to grow on this journey. There has for sure been peaks, valleys, and hurdles but as the saying goes “what doesn’t kill you, only makes you stronger”. I’m super excited for the expansion of my YouTube channel which gives my audience and supporters a more in depth view of the creative process such as BTS studio sessions and full live performances. This is just another way for people to get to know me as an artist and see me develop and grow. I’m not as tech savvy so it took me some time to make sure links were accurate and functioning properly but that is also part of learning lessons. My sons play a pivotal role in helping me expand my tech work and keep me in the know. I love being able to use my story and life experiences through art specifically music to build connections with people who have different walks of life and diverse backgrounds. I grew up in a multicultural church (New Beginnings Alliance Church) where I had exposure to not just Black and White culture, but also Hmong culture. We would have Heritage Sundays where members would come to church in their cultural attire and we would sing songs in different languages. Those are moments I love because it shows how music is able to transcend language barriers and allow for a positive experience. I’ve had moments performing my music live for the first time in front of an audience and by the end of the performance, the audience is singing my words. That is one of the greatest feelings in the world and further affirms why I do what I do in creating. I’ve stated before why I fell in love with music and the power music can have on people. You can almost always find a song to fit whatever mood or vibe whether happy, emotional, angry, uplifting, or motivating. Music has gotten me through the highs and lows of life and I want people to experience that same feeling when listening to my music. They can feel empowered or chill, feeling in love or getting over an ex, vibing with the fam at a BBQ or whatever mood in that moment. Because I write my life and draw from real life experience, creating and writing serves as therapy for me which can be challenging and equally rewarding. After I’ve writtten out my thoughts, I’m able to release the emotion and move forward. I enjoy seeing and idea from inception grow and flourish into a beautiful body of work that people are able to digest and feel inspired by. I’m a perfectionist when it comes to my art and will spend lots of time rewriting and editing my work before releasing it to the world. Thankfully those whom I work with have the same attitude, passion, and work ethic which makes the collaborative process amazing when achieving the final result. What I desire that people take away from my art is that despite whatever challenges or hurdles you face, you can’t let that deter you or cause you to lose focus. You cannot let choices or decisions you make whether good or not so good define your character. Use those moments to empower you. Be bold, confident, fearless sharing your story because you never know whose watching and who you could positively impact by just being your authentic self. We’re working on big things this year so stay tuned for the new music!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Three pieces of advice I would give to anyone/artist on their journey is:
First is to Trust the Process. Nothing in life that is worth having is going to be easy to attain. In fact it’s going to be hard work to obtain and even more work to maintain. That being said, the result and pay off is so worth the sacrifice and blood, sweat, and tears. You will have moments where you temporarily doubt if you’re doing the right thing or making the right move. When you have those feelings, remind yourself that it is your passion and it will indeed pay off. I say this to myself all the time “God Provides”. I look at actresses/artists like Kelly Rowland, Kerry Washington and Zoe Saldana who have had longevity in their careers and catapulted themselves to stardom with hard work, focus, and resilience all while remaining humble. Their journey has definitely had highs and lows however, they keep going and have inspired generations. While going through your process, have a motivating factor. Whether you believe in God or a higher power, are spiritual, or what have you, be grateful for what you have and for what is to come. Life is full of blessings and lessons and every situation is an opportunity to learn, grow, and evolve.
Second is the Grind Don’t Stop! You have to remain constant and consistent in your efforts to create quality work. You have to be open to expand in your thinking and adapt with change. I’m currently being tested with this because as technology is consistently changing and evolving, I’m learning how to shift and pivot to embrace the new ways of technology all while maintaining my authenticity. I’m very big on quality over quantity which means it may take me more time to get content out to my audience/supporters. I appreciate my supporters patience and hope they know in all this time following me and supporting me and my journey that I take my time to ensure when I put out my art, it is something not only I can be proud of, but also something they can be proud of consuming and sharing. You also have to be willing to put yourself out there. Exposure leads to expansion. With that exposure you also have to realize and understand that not everyone will support your vision and your work. You have to keep going, growing, glowing, and grinding. The nay-sayers will still keep watching and you can use your work to prove the doubters wrong. A good example that I reference is Beyoncé. She is in my opinion the epitome of grind don’t stop in action. Even after all that she has accomplished, she still finds new ways to re-invent herself and influence culture. Being a mother and artist it can be difficult at times finding a balance because I never want to feel like I’m slacking in my artistry or parenting. Part of continuing to grind to me entails pushing yourself outside of your comfort zone and taking risks to see the big rewards.
Third is to Guard your Heart. My mom would always tell me that growing up. I definitely hold true to this nugget because not everyone you encounter or cross paths with has good intentions. You have to protect your peace and conserve your energy for those who are deserving of it. I think of artists like Rosalía who is phenomenal at creating boundaries to maintain her quality artistry. On this journey I’ve for sure learned that it’s ok if someone is not your vibe or vice versa. You’re not going to be able to work with everyone if your energy and values aren’t aligned. I’ve walked away from situations that didn’t serve me and lost no sleep over it. Just as God will open a door, he’ll also close it and open a new window. I’ve also had situations that led to great opportunities and have nurtured those relationships to this day where everyone is able to benefit and build. In life people only get away with what you allow and will push you as far as you let them so you have to be strong, firm, and intentional doing business with people. Having a strong support system will help immensely. There have been many times where I discuss with family members or friends before I make a decision just to get a second opinion or voice of reason. In todays society where oversharing is a norm, I value my privacy and adhere to the mystique and allure of not always being easily accessible. This allows me to protect my peace and have creative control over what I chose to share with my audience. Especially being a mother and needing to protect my children from unsolicited opinions and negativity. If they don’t see it, they can’t speak on it. Guarding your heart I also equate with maintaining positive mindset. I’m a huge advocate for mental health and having positive coping skills to implement when triggered. Music serves as a positive release as well as yoga. Being introduced to yoga years ago not only provides an outlet for releasing negative energy and setting positive intentions, but it’s also a great way to maintain fitness. Identify positive influences and people to surround yourself with is a great way to ensure that you stay focused on what is most important on your journey.
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
I’m always open to looking for people to partner and collaborate with. Individuals whom I’m looking to partner with are other creative and positive artists with strong work ethic whether that be music, production, creating visuals, or acting. Venues and/festivals to partner with for live performance opportunities. Management to assist with consulting and further building my brand. You can connect with me through my social media platforms: instagram (@_quellez_), YouTube (quellez), Facebook (Ricquelle Badger) etc. I’m always excited to collaborate and learn from others when great art is the final outcome.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/quellez
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/@_quellez_
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/profile.php/?id=100011275866467
- Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/@quellez0313/videos
- SoundCloud: https://m.soundcloud.com/quellez_3
Image Credits
@bridney @quayology @bedsidenailz @rosebudteemakeup @kingquis74 @tsx_design_house @maniigee @fashionabledemand @shunpfilms @poeticsoulevent @qosmic_quadence
