Brittany Uzzell aka “BLU”, 29, always had a passion for two things: tennis and music. Uzzell loved both equally but had no clue that one of her interests would end up being her career.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BjSJV_RA2o3/?taken-by=bofda804
After graduating from Colonial Heights High School in Colonial Heights, Virginia in 2007, Uzzell faced a multitude of hardships. From being arrested to her grandma becoming ill, it was some of the darkest days in Blu’s life.
But it was a conversation with her grandmother, that gave Uzzell a different outlook on life. “I was ready to give up on myself,” said the iPower 92.1 host. “Before my grandmother passed, she told me ‘you have to find something to live for, you gotta find a purpose.’”
After a rough stint at Richard Bland College, Blu volleyed her way into a full scholarship at Virginia State University where she played singles and doubles on the women’s tennis team.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BVM9msHA_P8/?utm_source=ig_share_sheet&igshid=16zm18fbu661r
Uzzell was always an amazing tennis player, she began playing competitively at the age of eight, garnering many accolades throughout her career. She was named the top player in the Central District of Virginia each year in high school and ranked in the top 10 Junior USTA players in the Mid-Atlantic Region.
During her time at VSU, she discovered the school had a radio station and in 2014, she began her career as an on-air personality. After graduating in that same year, she was hired as a media specialist and also continued to work for WVST.
By 2017, Uzzell was still trying to break into commercial radio and started to feel like she had only taken steps back.
“I was interning at Power 106 and training to become the next Mid-Day personality,” Uzzell explains. “Unfortunately, I lost my house and became homeless and lost my car. It interfered with my internship at the time; I couldn’t get to the radio station and lost everything.”
It made her question if a career in radio was really her calling.
“I was staying with a friend in Petersburg [and] my mom told me: ‘you know you have a degree, if you go into the army, you can go in as an officer,’” Blu said. “It was like damn my mom is giving up [on me]. I lost everything and I’m questioning is this what I’m supposed to be doing.”
While going through another rough patch in her life, Uzzell’s visit to the WVST office left her in tears. Her self-doubt and overwhelming emotions had her at the brink of giving up but a conversation with Jennifer Williamson (WVST’s program director) helped her to stick with her passion.
Williamson’s subtle advice to Uzzell was to take some time and just pray on it. So, she went home and she prayed.
“God, I’m doing everything the right way. I’m living right, I’m trying to do everything the right way. This is what I want to do but if you’re telling me and trying to show me that this isn’t what I’m supposed to do, then I just need a sign.”
“Literally, the next day, Ms.Williamson tells me the program director at iPower [was] coming to VSU,” explains the radio personality. “Couple of weeks later, he came to VSU and he heard my aircheck; he told me to apply and he gave me a job. Now, here I am at iPower.”
”All I needed was a sign, I felt like he waited until I reached that breaking point where I was about to [quit] and he gave me that sign and I’ve been going at it ever since.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BZ9RYOcguvU/?taken-by=bofda804
For the iPower personality, it is deeper than being on-air. She wants to be able to reach out to the younger generation and give back. People love music, so radio was the perfect outlet. Uzzell’s own platform, BLUApollo, a platform for upcoming and independent artists has changed aspiring artists lives for the better.
“Police officers have come up to me and said, ‘Aye, [Brittany], ever since you did BLUApollo, you kept a couple of people off our radar,’” says Uzzell. “People literally have told police officers, ‘Nah I’m not on that sh*t anymore, I’m in the studio.’”
“Its much bigger than just music, It gives people something to look forward to…something to keep going.”
“And that’s the reason I do BLUApollo,” she continues. “[I want to] give [artists] something to live for. They might not be big, they might not be Nicki Minaj, Jay-Z, or Kanye West but to give them that little hope, that’s what I’m here for.”
Brittany Uzzell wants people to remember that no matter what you go through, you can do whatever you want to do. She’s gone through hell and back, never give up.
Jazz Marie 