Growing up in Chattanooga in a predominantly white neighborhood, Amythyst Kiah attended schools in the East Brainerd-Ooltewah area, hung out with friends and played lots of sports, which she excelled at. But then puberty and middle school hit and she began to notice her interests were no longer those of the people around her.
Her father and late mother noticed, too, and realized a change was needed.
“I had a lot of social anxiety developing,” she said.
First, they thought music might help, and then they made the big move to transfer her to the Chattanooga High School Center for Creative Arts. Kiah, who moved to Johnson City after college, said CCA changed her life on many levels.
“It played a huge role in my life,” she said. “I was athletic and into a lot of sports, but in between middle and high school I started to have a lot of social anxiety developing. I had low self-esteem, and my parents bought a guitar and I got more and more into music and art and leaning in that direction.”