My name is VaNiya! I’m 24 years old born and raised in Washington DC! I have two little ones and I aspire to be the best I can be for them.

My interests include helping others, being creative and making money! I love doing hair , cooking and being a shoulder for people to lean on when need be. Now... I can say that I enjoy mixing drinks!

I enrolled in the Learning Skills for Life program because an opportunity to receive bartending lessons became available for me. I saw a great opportunity and took it!

The Learning Skills for Life program has exceeded my expectations. I didn’t expect to have learned as much as I did outside of mixing drinks. My instructors taught me about money management & making the right decisions that will affect me in the long run.

The best life skill that I learned from the program was just the whole lesson of money management and prioritizing with money as you make it. It is absolutely something that people can’t seem to grasp sometimes! Making the money is easy, managing it isn’t easy. You have to be disciplined and sacrifice things in order to be at a comfortable, wealthy place in life.

I am currently working in a new career field as an extended day teacher while working to get my CDA. However, I did have a job at a lounge shortly after completing the program. The job didn’t quite align with my schedule with my children. So I had to make a sacrifice. I still do private events for people where they book me for my services and I show up and deliver!

My absolute favorite cocktail to make is a Lemon Drop! This is my favorite because I went into the program wanting to know how to make this specific drink because I love it so much myself. I’ve added my own twist making it a Blueberry Lemon Drop!