Women of Soul White House 2014: Day 2

Day 2 began with a Metro Ride to our workshop hotel, the W . . . but since we were early, we headed out to the Corner Bakery for breakfast . . . and a fun waiter.

We immediately noticed when we entered the W Hotel, that it was a hip joint catering towards younger crowd. Found out several of the artists who were performing were staying here.

The workshop began with introductions by Kait Stuebner, Grammy Museum Director of Education and Robert Santelli, Grammy Museum Executive Director. It was at this point we realized how special our experience these next two days would be. As was mentioned, we would be a select few that would get to go into the White House and be able to hear stories from some legendary performers of soul music.

They had the participants do a shoe icebreaker and we got to meet many student and chaperones from the different states who were also here.

We also got to meet Martha Saucedo of AEG who sponsored us and has been our point of contact from day 1 when she called me to give me the news that we were selected to participate. She invited us to dinner that evening and we agreed.

Then a panel, led by Ken Erlcih, long time legendary award show events producer, shared their stories on how shows such as the recent Grammy Awards and the In Performance at the White House are produced. They also shared advice about following your dreams and goals for the students.

We then had a short break to do some shopping and then met everyone at the National Museum of American History for a short guided tour. Of course there was not enough time to see everything we wanted and our guide Mary was so sweet . . . she has been doing the guided tours for 41 years.

On our way back, the students go to play in snow and take some pics from the Mall.

We meet Martha for dinner at the Hamilton that was right across the street from the W Hotel. We shared stories about our lives and NPAC and she shared her story of how she ended up with AEG. We are hoping she will be able to visit NHIS when she returns to Hawaii.

We then went back for the evening workshop which consisted of rehearsing for a "Flash Mob Singing" activity we were going to do at the end of the White House Workshop. Ironically, the song was "Sweet Soul Music" that we have been doing all year long. They asked any student if they wanted to audition for lead vocal parts but our girls declined. Still we all sang the chorus with confidence and joy and realized that soul music is a part of the NPAC life.