By Raven Martin

You have never met anyone like her. She is the essence of whattrue strength and determination looks like. Artist Krys Ivory hasendured what several people go through in several lifetimes. She knows how true swagger is found.As a child, Krys Ivory found solace and sanctuary in a Baptistchurch in Los Angeles. She sang in several youth choirs whileher mother worked as a volunteer in the church’s homeless min-istry, and as her father worked as pastor. Her experiences with the youth choir included performing in tal-ent shows and a brief encounter with Barbara Streisand.Though Krys was talented in other artistic areas at a young age,Barbara Streisand gave 11-year old Krys all the motivation sheneeded to pursue music as a career. “For a while, when people asked me what I wanted to be when

I grew up, I had a million things to tell them. I’d say, ‘I want tobe a singer, an actress, a painter – I want to be a STAR!’”However, pushing forward often comes with adversity that pres-sures your ambitions. School was difficult for Krys becauseother students would pick on her because they disliked herlooks. Her sense of rebellion came at an early age but would re-main her means to escape.In high school, things got so heavy that her parents made thedecision for her to finish school elsewhere.When she was 21, with several demos on MySpace, Krys wascontacted by Rasheed Richmond, a business partner of writer,singer-songwriter, producer Ryan Leslie.“He said, ‘I think you should work with Ryan Leslie. I can’t guar-antee it, but he’s going to be at his studio and if you’re avail-able, come though and maybe you guys can cut some recordstogether.”

KRYS IVORY:THE ESSENCE OF SWAGGER

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“I went the next day to the studio and all these girlswere there, singers, song writers, all of them tryingto cut a deal with Ryan Leslie! I was like ‘Damn!’ Iknow talent speaks for itself but these chicks weregorgeous.“But Rasheed kind of favored me in a way. He sawsomething. He saw that I was different. I wasn’t likethe rest of those other gorgeous model-lookingchicks, but I definitely had the vocals and talent tobring. I had my own identity that he didn’t have tomake.”“We cut an entire song and Ryan asked me to signwith Next Selection that night.”After all of her hard work, Krys had finally gotten herbig break. But the glee Krys felt after this fortunatenight with Ryan Leslie and the recording of her firstsingle, “Next 2 Ya” was cut short. “Swagger comes from hardships. It comes from lifeexperience. You can’t just get swagger over night.You’ve got to earn it.”

That following year, Krys was diagnosed withHodgkin’s Lymphoma. She endured a year-long bat-tle that would not only change her physically, but

mentally. The disease literally brought her to her knees.As with a lot of patients going through chemotherapy, Krys lost all of her hair. However, nothing stoppedher from shining. “I used to do commercial modeling back when I had long blonde hair. I looked like a Disney chick and I

got booked for jobs left and right. Later, I found that when my hair was short, I didn’t get many jobs.When my hair fell out I had a blonde wig, and I used to go and try to model with a blonde wig and it did-n’t really work as well as I thought it would.“I just pushed modeling out of the picture. The only reason I did it was to pay the bills so now modelingis out of the picture.”

Don’t think you have to do it all alone. Getting real personal with Krys Ivory. . .

Raven: I was shocked that after surviving non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, you used that determinationand strength to continue your music career, and you’re only 23. What goes through your mindwhen you think about everything you’ve been through?

Krys: Honestly?

Raven: Yes.Krys: GOD. I owe him my life because he gave me life. It’s weird because I felt this coming. It was al-most like when you drop a rock into a pool and there’s that ripple effect that’s how I felt. I felt like some-thing really big was coming, but I didn’t know what it was and it scared me. So, I told my family andfriends and all of my artist friends and the producers I was working with. I said, ‘Something huge is com-ing. It’s a big blessing but something else is in it, and it’s scaring me. And I don’t know what it is.’ So Iwent through what I went through, but I got signed with Ryan Leslie and I got all these opportunities andblessings, I felt exactly what was coming. Sometimes you don’t get a warning but I got a warning.

Raven: How is your relationship with music going now?

Krys: My relationship with music is going well. My relationship with the industry is an emotional rollercoaster.

Raven: Would you say that your personal style is a result of the struggles you’ve experienced?

Krys: Over the years, who I am and my confidence level has changed so much. I remember not too longago, four or five years ago, I had self-esteem issues. And it was when I went through the tough timesthat I held on and I trusted in God that I was able to findout who I truly was. I feel like what doesn’t kill you, defi-nitely makes you stronger, but it also teaches you how tolearn about yourself. It’s like life brings you to yourknees. When you learn about yourself and you learn howto deal with hard problems, that’s when you are able totake in your own style, your own swagger because youlearn how to cope with certain things on a certain leveland I think that’s how people gain their swagger. Swag-ger comes from hardships. It comes from life experience.You can’t just get swagger over night. You’ve got to earnit.”Now at 23, it seems like there is nothing that can keepKrys Ivory from achieving the aspirations she had whenshe was younger--to be a star. And as you can see, shehas the type of swagger that will take her as far as shewants to go.

For More on Krys Ivory please visit: www.krysivory.com

Photography: Anthony Frausto, styling by Allie Marque & Danni Rouge.

Copyright 2009 Dynamically Active Movements Magazine, Inc. All rights reserved.