The following is a conversation between Alyssa Sofat, The Fem Word contributor, and Chelsie Hill, founder of Rollettes.

*edited for clarity*

Chelsie Hill, Founder, Rollettes PHOTO CREDIT: Chelsie Hill

Alyssa Sofat:

Hi, my name is Alyssa Sofat and I am a contributor at The Fem Word. The Fem Word is all about empowering women and finding women who are making a change in the world. You stood out to us and we love what you do - so thank you, Chelsie, for being with us today! I'm so excited to talk to you.

Chelsie Hill:

Thank you for having me.

Alyssa:

You grew up dancing and always dreamed of becoming a professional dancer, but at age 17, you were involved in a drunk driving accident which left you unable to walk. You continued to pursue your dreams and moved to Los Angeles to create a dance team starring women in wheelchairs. You have inspired so many women to never let go of their dreams and to "Be Boundless." I was reading about your life before the accident - do you ever wish that you spent more time just being a teenager? What would you tell someone who spends all their time working?

Chelsie:

Before my accident, I actually worked two jobs and there was one time where I worked three jobs. I worked at Hollister, a breakfast place, and an Italian dinner place. Before my accident, I worked as much as I could along with going to high school. I don't regret working because it taught me what it was like to work a nine-to-five job. It taught me a lot of discipline on how to manage my money as a young teenager and how to save my money. I don't regret that at all. I definitely had a lot of amazing moments where I could go and have fun. I had a really good balance before my accident.

Alyssa:

When the accident first happened and you were told that this would be the situation for the rest of your life...how did you wrap your head around that?

Chelsie:

Oh, man. I was 17 years old, and I was in the pediatric ICU. Two weeks later, the doctor came in and he said, "do you have any questions for me?" The first thing I said was, “why can't I feel my legs?” For those two weeks, my friends and family that were in the room with me said that it was just the medication and they wanted to wait until I was fully coherent after all of my surgeries to actually let me know about the paralysis. So the first time I asked “why can't I feel my legs,” he said, “well, you're paralyzed, you're never going to walk again.” I had no idea what a spinal cord injury was at the time. My second question was, “can I have children?” He told me, “I have to talk to your parents because you're underage.” The first year, I was really in denial. I thought, you break a bone, you go to the doctor, they heal you, and then you go back to your normal life. I had no idea that you could break a bone and it could alter the course of your entire life. I couldn't really understand it. I'd have waves of moments where I couldn’t believe it was real. It was really hard. Really, really hard.

Alyssa:

Did you feel that people started to treat you differently after the accident, and what was your reaction to that?

Chelsie:

My friends didn't really treat me differently. If I wanted to go out with my friends, they'd be like, all right, let's figure it out. It took five girls to get my wheelchair apart and put it back together. They really took me in and supported me. I'd be at school and I'd have books on my lap and people would help carry them for me. My accident was so public that every time I'd go into the grocery store, people would stare at me. I was known as the girl that was paralyzed in the drunk driving accident. I was going and speaking at schools about drunk driving and distracted driving. I was always in the news, and that was really uncomfortable because I didn't know how people felt about my accident. My family was always by my side. They said, “whatever you want to do, let's figure it out. You want to get into a car without a slide board? Let's figure it out.” I had a great support system very early on.

Alyssa:

Ultimately, you decided to move to LA from your hometown to do what you love most - which is dancing - but in a wheelchair. On top of that, you had to navigate and learn about a new city. What was that like for you?

Chelsie:

I was a few years [into being] injured and I was talking to my dad and I was like, I still want to be a professional dancer. I want to see if I can do it. I want to go down and take classes at all of these top dance studios. My dad was like, “all right, let's do it, we'll go down, let's find you an apartment.” I got an apartment down here but it took me about six months to start going to classes. On social media, I never saw any wheelchair users in any of these big classes. I knew I could do the choreography, I wasn't scared of that. It was more so being the only wheelchair user in that room of able-bodied dancers. Nobody knew who I was and nobody knew that I was a dancer before. I had to explain myself. I remember going into a dance studio and taking a beginner class for the first time ever. I left feeling so out of place, like people were staring at me, like I didn't belong there because I was different. My first few times were really hard. I was definitely discriminated against very bluntly in a few classes. But I kept going because I have the same passion as the girl or guy standing next to me. Why is that any different? I kept going back and then I started getting into videos that were at studios. That's when people started seeing me and taking me seriously.

Alyssa:

What's the term that you feel people should refer to you as? I don't believe disabled is the right term to use.

Chelsie:

I get this question a lot. I don't really have a strong opinion because I know people that say, “that girl is disabled,” don't mean it in a negative way. They're just uneducated. I would always prefer people to say, wheelchair users, because we are wheelchair users. I don't agree with the term wheelchair-bound. A lot of people say, wheelchair-bound dancer or wheelchair-bound actress. I don't sleep in my chair. Do you know what I mean? I don't shower in my chair. I can get out, it is just a device we use to get around. A wheelchair user is probably the most correct term.

Alyssa:

What's the biggest challenge that you have had to face by having to incorporate this new normal into your life?

Chelsie:

With a spinal cord injury, paralysis comes where the level of injury stops. My level of injury hits my belly button, so everything below there can't feel temperature. I can't feel bathroom functions, none of that. If I break a bone [in that area], I won't be able to feel it. I think the hardest part of a lot of spinal cord injuries [is] maintaining and understanding how to use the bathroom. That is the biggest struggle. I can get through life without walking, maintaining the bathroom function is the biggest thing with wheelchair users or people with spinal cord injuries Every spinal cord injury is different. It's very interesting how powerful it is. Two people could be injured at the same level, like me and my friend, Maria - same exact level of injury in the beginning, same car crash and everything. But now she can move her legs and feel different things. Her level of injury went down, but mine stayed the same. So it's very interesting, the spinal cord.

Alyssa:

Will it be like that for the rest of your life?

Chelsie:

Probably. It's been about 10 years. I did physical therapy for about six years and really pushed [myself] to walk again. If I do enough physical therapy, I'll walk again. That's not the case for every spinal cord injury. I had to make a decision a few years ago, do I keep paying $150 out of pocket to try and regain something that I don't know is certain? Or do I make the best of my situation and love my life even more? I still work out, I still get cardio in, and I still stand. I still do as much physical therapy, but it was mentally a really hard decision for me because I felt like I was giving up on walking. I don't think I was giving up, I just have a different mindset.

Alyssa:

I love that positivity and I love the name of your organization: Rollettes. What is the meaning behind that name and how did you choose it?

Chelsie:

I thought of the name Rollettes back in 2013. It just came to my mind a few years ago, but I opted not to do it because my dad and I had a nonprofit at the time called Walk and Roll. I decided to shut down the nonprofit because it was not working for me, volunteering for a nonprofit is so hard and then you're running it a lot. I shut it [down] and I said, I'm going to make Rollettes a business and I'm going to do a camp every summer and we're going to have a wheelchair dance team and we did it.

Alyssa:

You started Rollettes in 2012 and from that time you have been noticed by The Today Show, Ellen, Access Daily, Seventeen, etc. You have also performed at NY Fashion Week! Did you ever think that this would happen?

Chelsie:

I never in a million years would have thought my story would be all over. I started this purely because I wanted friends. I just reached out to girls to start this team and start performing because I just wanted to meet people. I wanted to feel like I wasn't alone. I'm so thankful for all the friendships that I have gained from it. The publicity is just the cherry on top, but it's just about the mission. It's about empowering women with disabilities to live boundlessly and shift perspective through dance. I'm beyond thankful for everything that I've been able to be a part of and where I've been able to share my platform. Laying in the hospital at 17 years old being classified as disabled, I only dreamed of where I am today and living it. It gives me a purpose to wake up every morning.

Alyssa:

Who has been your biggest supporter throughout your journey?

Chelsie:

Oh my goodness. My biggest supporter is my dad - my mom as well - but in the very beginning, my dad dropped everything. He wanted to make all of my dreams come true, no matter what it took. Still to this day he tells me all the time, “I'm so proud of you.” My mom and dad are my biggest supporters and I'm so thankful.

Alyssa:

Dads would do anything for their daughters. My dad would do anything in a heartbeat for me.

Chelsie:

It's that father daughter bond that people don't understand, unless you're a daughter. It's a very unique and special bond.

Alyssa:

I totally agree with that. This has been a long journey for you, how has this changed your perspective about life and as a person?

“This injury has taught me how strong I am and how strong the mind can be when a person is faced with an obstacle [like] losing half of their body.”

— Chelsie Hill

Chelsie:

That's a very good question. This injury has taught me how strong I am and how strong the mind can be when a person is faced with an obstacle [like] losing half of their body. I also learned that life is long. Life is so long. Life is not short, our stages in our life are short. The stage of me becoming paralyzed and that whole fight and that whole horrible time that I was living in was so short compared to where I am now. I'm newly engaged, and I want to start a family. I always tell people and students that I'm speaking to that whatever decisions you make now affect you, [for] good and bad in the future. Always think twice about getting the car with drunk drivers, distracted driving, all of that, because that small time period you're in right now could affect the rest of your life.

Alyssa:

That is so true. You are incredibly inspiring and you are living your life to the fullest and you are changing so many people's lives. Can you give me a story of how you changed someone else's life?

Chelsie:

There is this one story that pops into my head. There's this girl from Canada, her name is Sasha, she has been coming to our camps for a few years. In 2018 we opened up our camp to the public. We went from 30 girls attending in 2017 to 115 girls attending from 12 countries. She came up to me after I taught, and that was my first time teaching over a hundred women in chairs. She starts crying and goes, "I'm just so thankful for you and what you've created. Because of you, I finally have friends and I finally am able to go on trips with girls that I get along with." She just starts bawling and I start bawling because it was that moment in 2018, years after I started this camp, where I was like, I'm doing something that actually matters to people other than just dancing. I'm building relationships with girls from all over. The Rollettes and all the people behind the scenes that make this possible, we're creating friendships all over the world. That moment was like, alright, I'm doing what I'm supposed to be doing.

Alyssa:

What would you say to someone who may be in a similar situation?

Chelsie:

First thing I would say is to reach out to people that are like you, social media is so easy these days, you can just hashtag a diagnosis and you will find thousands of people that have the same thing. My biggest suggestion is if you're going through anything, whether it's physical or emotional or internal, reach out to people. Tell people what's going on, be open about it. The worst thing that could happen is you don't find anyone that's like you, which I highly doubt is going to happen. I reached out to people that were like me and that changed my entire world early on into my diagnosis. Don't be shy, and if you are shy, open up to one person and your whole world will open up and you'll be very happy.

Alyssa:

What's your motto?

Chelsie:

Oh my gosh, my motto is: “dance is dance. Whether you're walking or rolling.”

Alyssa:

I love that so much. What's in store for the Rollettes? What's next?

Chelsie:

With everything going on in the world right now, nothing is for sure. But what I do know is that we are going to continue to connect girls all over the world. We're going to continue our camps, whether it's in person or virtually. We're going to just keep going. Rollettes will always be around to connect women and children and build a family and build a sisterhood. I can't say we're going to go perform all over the world because we don't know what the world is going to be [like] next year. We're not putting those dreams on hold because of what's going on in the world. We're just making smaller steps towards them.

Alyssa:

What has Rollettes done in the last couple of months?

Chelsie:

When quarantine first happened, we had a very big meeting about what we were going to do. All of our in-person gigs got canceled, and we had to think about how long this was going to go on for. It wasn't just two weeks, it wasn't two months, you know? We were constantly innovating and constantly figuring out how to stay in touch with people. How can we keep giving them free classes, free advice, and how-to tutorials? That's when social media came into play. We have Instagram lives, YouTube, and our platform. We came up with a social media fitness challenge. I try to find the positive in every negative, so we started to do a virtual girls night on Zoom. These girls would come in from all over the world. We had over a hundred girls in our first one and everyone connected. We played games and we did a breakout room. It was such a beautiful outcome that we now do it every month and these girls love it. I also have a mentorship program called Boundless Babes Society. It is a private mentor group, we opened it to more girls because it's a six month program that starts again in July. In June, we had about 50 more girls come in, which was so amazing. I do Zoom calls with them once a month. COVID has been an opportunity to innovate and to try new things. Everything is moving [towards] virtual and I don't think that will ever go away. I feel like once you figure out how to go virtual, it will always be a piece of people's businesses.

Alyssa:

Can you describe a moment in your life when you felt powerful?

Chelsie:

Last year, sitting up on the stage at the Rollettes Experience, which is our all women's empowerment weekend, at the welcome reception. Looking out at 175 women and children in their chairs and all of their family and friends, holding that mic, and remembering the moments where I called and kept calling girls and just asking them to come hang out. At that moment, I was like, holy crap. We did it. I envisioned a ballroom of women dancing. That's what I wanted, and we created it. That's when I felt powerful, but also powerful with the girls that are part of Rollettes. Life is not guaranteed. I am so thankful that we are able to create a space for women to come in and feel like they belong and roll into a room and feel like everyone's at eye level. So that's where I felt powerful.

Alyssa:

That is truly so amazing! Thank you for being with us today and being such an inspiration to so many people.

Chelsie:

Thank you so much for having me!

You can find Chelsie and the Rollettes at: www.rollettesdance.com

Chelsie Hill, Founder, Rollettes | California