Following the Flow of Life: Accepting Opportunities as They Come

When asked about a misconception people have about him, Iisa Stephens says, "I'm secretly a dangerous person, and I'm really smart." When it comes to wisdom, he expresses he has an abundance and many people would not expect that. From being an opening dancing act for Usher, to going to the Olympic qualifiers for wrestling, and becoming a medic in the Army, Stephens has a vast background of knowledge and experiences.

Meet Iisa Stephens. He was born in Opelaca, Alabama, but raised in Jacksonville, Florida. He was an only child for 13 years, but is the oldest of 10 children. He has 7 siblings who were adopted, and 2 that are related by blood. He explains that since his mom was a single parent working 12-hour shifts, "I had to play the parent role." He goes further to say that after school, he would typically have to ensure his siblings did their homework, were fed, and ensured everyone was doing well overall. "It definitely affected how I am today because I was already very structured. Now my structure is just very profound."

Stephens had many siblings and many responsibilities, but he remembers that one thing that connected him with his siblings was dance. Stephens admits, "I was very unorthodox when I was younger. Couldn't dance. Couldn't play sports. It just didn't connect for a very long time." Yet and still, Stephens continued to practice behind closed doors. By high school, Stephens had perfected his moves enough that his friend Josh suggested that they, along with his friend Davion, who would later become his adopted brother, should form a dance group. The group started booking and performing different gigs. At one of the gigs, the DJ says, "Those boys freak nasty," which the group ran with, landing them the name Freak Nasty Boys.

In 2012, right before college for Stephens, his dance group performed at The Landing, a popular spot in downtown Jacksonville at the time, and their performance received a lot of recognition. A news production team was present, so Stephens and his dance group even found themselves on the news. From there, their group got a lot more traction and they began to dance for local, upcoming artists and in music videos. By 2013, the group decided to expand and add his sister along with two other girls they knew. The name changed from Freak Nasty Boys to Freak Nasty Gang. In 2014, the dance crew tried out for America's Best Dance Crew and made it to the end of preliminary auditions before getting knocked out.

Stephens attributes the planning and heavy thinking to his friend Josh, who typically reached out for different gigs. At one point in 2014, Josh explained to the Freak Nasty Gang members that there was an opportunity for them to perform for an artist in Charlotte, North Carolina. Stephens says that the group decided to travel by car to perform for this artist, not knowing who it was. "We did the show, and it was great. The crowd loved us. We did a good job. There were no mistakes," Stephens says, remembering back to how proud his group felt at the time. As the group was coming off the stage, the artist began to come up to the stage and complimented how well they did. "We go, 'oh, thank you.' And we freeze," Stephens says. "I was like, 'That's Usher! We just performed for Usher!'"

Although the group all loved to dance, Stephens says that "we all started doing our own thing. It kind of fell from there."

Stephens also explains that during the time he began dancing publicly, he also began wrestling. "Wrestling made me more coordinated, stronger, and confident which helped me lead into my dancing better too." In 2009, his freshman year of high school, he first tried wrestling, and he enjoyed it.

Iisa Stephens poses in front of a tree near his home smiling (Photographed by Dani Fielder).

He continued wrestling throughout high school. In 2013, during his senior year, the Olympic trials were being held in Lakeland, Florida, for winter sports. He says, "At this time, I was very cocky." Stephens continues by saying, "In that first round, I beat that kid with ease, which helped my ego even more to think, 'Oh, I got this. I'm going to the Olympics." Stephens, however, recalls what happened next, saying, "The next dude beat me so bad. He used my face as a mop (...) I'm talking a humbling experience, right?" Stephens explains that the way the trials worked at the time was that after losing two matches, you were out. He explains that he won his first, but lost his second and third matches.

Although Stevens did not initially see himself going to college, he said that during his senior year began applying to colleges. He got a few acceptances and decided to attend Bethune-Cookman University, a historically black college in Daytona Beach, Florida. Stephens says that he attended Cookman while also taking classes at Embry–Riddle Aeronautical University, a college nearby, for about a year and a half before he decided to drop out. Following college, he got a job working full-time for the Jacksonville Jaguars foundation program. Although he enjoyed giving back to the community, he knew it was not what he wanted to do. So, after a year of working for the Jacksonville Jaguars, he decided to go to the recruiting house. After going to different recruiting offices and having a discussion with his uncle, at the age of 23, he decided to join the Army.

Thinking about his role in the Army now, he says, "I jumped careers throughout my military service so far." Right now, he is a veterinary food inspection specialist, but in the beginning of his career, he was thrown into working with the medics pretty early on. "Putting in catheters, getting blood pumps, stuff like that. I was a nurse," he explains. After a year, he moved and began inspecting food again at his new location. Then, after three years, Stephens moved again and became a vet tech. "I was doing surgeries, blood work, blood counts. (...) They put me through this advanced 2-month, 3-month course to learn the entire job. It was a lot to process, but I had to." Then, after moving again, he got into vet medicine, in which he had to do water testing, soil testing, and entomology-related work. "I went from being a tech to now being an environmentalist," Stephens says, talking about the different jobs he's had since joining the Army. Now, Stephens says that he primarily focuses on food, but if help is needed at the veterinary clinic, he hops in to help.

Stephens explains that he never saw himself as a food inspector or a medic, but says, "even though life takes you in the most craziest ways, I just accept it (...) but I feel like those days really helped mold me." He explains that it is the experiences that he has had that have helped him grow and says, "those skill sets will come back to help you in some shape or form." Going further, Stephens advises others, "wherever life takes you, accept it and go with it."

Iisa Stephens, wearing a wrestling shirt from the school he now coaches at, sits in front of his computer where he enjoys playing games (Photographed by Dani Fielder).

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