Figside

Z’kyia Horton’s Story

Born March 10, 2002, Kyia was fondly known as a special multi-talented individual who over time evolved from a little skinny girl to a beautiful young woman that was taken from us too soon. Kyia aspired to be the “America’s Next Top Model”. She was a talented artist who captured faces and visions on canvas. She started painting at the age of 13 with no formal training and her prize art piece was a painting of a young J. Cole who she admired as an artist.

She kept a sketch book of drawings of flowers, animals, figures, etc. that’s when we realized how talented she was. When speaking with her about it, she said drawing was therapy for her because she found it difficult and hard to express herself with words sometimes. Looking at some of her drawings you could see the emotions behind the picture. She loved to volunteer with the Delta Sorority during the health and wellness fairs. She felt that sisterhood was a great thing for a black young adult to have. Also, being inspired by this artist, J. Cole, she had the same ambition as her painting but in the form of writing. After giving the opportunity to hang out at Rocky Town, she used the opportunity to compete in Rap competitions and she won. Kyia always had the determination to better her craft. She had essence in her songs that came from her experiences, mistakes and accomplishments that came from her soul. That’s when “Eastside Princess” was created and due to hard work and dedication she currently had over 70,000 followers.

Her mother and I encouraged her to pursue art and when she turned 14, she auditioned for Nashville School of the Arts (NSA). The thing that made Z’kyia stand out is that she came dressed for success out of hundreds of students. The way she looked and carried herself among her peers had the teachers that conducted the interview asked her if she had any formal or professional training as an artist, because the portfolio she assembled was very well done. Of course, she was just naturally talented. She was inducted as a lifetime member of the National Thesbian Society.She was very competitive and won a competition for a painting of a woman showing emotion and distress in green that was displayed at Cheekwood In her Sophomore year at NSA.

Z’kyia had a love for the underserved, rejected and the broken. She was saving lives in our very own eyes. She sponsored programs at her school highlighting suicide, black awareness and history, low self-esteem. Her ability to draw, rap and perform spoken word only added to her repertoire of talent. Her love for fashion design and yes, the love of her life “modeling” became her mantra. She developed her own website called K Nicoles Graphix.

She was witty and goofy but sometimes emotional, because she never knew her father because he died at an early age. We always assured her that he loved her and kept her close when he visited. She was the spitting image of him, and this caused her to be determined to succeed.

Through her participation with Community A.L.E.R.T.’s New Dimension Program and Youth Awards Programs seeds of great possibility and self-confidence was nurtured and expanded her opportunities. She became a self-starter and always worked a job since age 16. She believed in saving her money and purchased her first car right after graduating. The determination and drive to succeed was embedded in her DNA so deeply that before she left us to be with God, realized her one dream, and that was to be one of America’s Next Top Model. She was asked to compete and out of 400 girls, Z’kyia was selected and was to go to California in October of 2021 to be a part of the talent show with celebrities and other noted people in the industry. Unfortunately, she was taken on April 26.

She was an organ donor and saved two lives by donating her kidneys to two males whose lives were hanging in the balance if they had not gotten the organs. Their families are eternally grateful for her sacrifice and unselfish willingness to make such a decision when she received her driver’s license at 17.

To summarize this beautiful flower, who at 19 years of age fulfilled and experienced many things and successfully realized a dream because of grit, love of family and faith in God to know that she could do all things through Christ that strengthened her and never saying “can’t”