From singing amongst only family and church members to taking the stage with Lady Gaga for a crowd of approximately 30,000, GoGo Morrow has no plans of stopping the pursuit of her dreams.

Born in West Philadelphia, Jasmine Morrow adopted ‘”GoGo” from Quentin Taratino’s Kill Bill: Vol. 1.

In the film, GoGo Yubari was an unexpected assassin, and Morrow felt Yubari’s character reflected a drive and unexpectedness she had within.

It was that drive that led to the Morrow’s unexpected gig of singing back up to Lady Gaga on tour.

Morrow grew up in a musical family singing call and responses around the house with her father, who had a singing group with her uncle called the “Golden Chandeliers.” She was accepted into the Prince Music Theater’s Rainbow Company and a few years later was accepted to the Philadelphia High School for Creative and Performing Arts.

With her father’s encouragement, Morrow and her five sisters eventually created a singing group. Morrow was 15 at the time and although she was young, she felt that experience opened many doors for her.

“We started doing shows and opening for artists like Lil Wayne, Bobby Brown and Fabolous,” she said. “We did a lot of homecomings for different colleges—that’s where I got my feet wet.”

Influenced by artists she listened to growing up like Brandy and Deborah Cox, Morrow honed in on her music style.

She graduated from Millersville University with a degree in music business. Her college experience left her hungry to get hands-on experience and she landed her first internship with Philadelphia International Records, followed by her internship with Def Jam.

Her internship experiences taught her a lot about the business and in particular she learned at Def Jam—it’s not easy being a woman in the music industry.

“There’s this idea that women have to be cute or pretty and if you are cute and pretty you are less intelligent,” she said. “You see it everywhere but in the music industry it’s multiplied.”

Dispelling those myths, Morrow focused on her career and sought decisions that would make her proud. Like many recent college graduates, she contemplated whether or not to go to graduate school. At a crossroads Morrow had an entertainment law degree from Drexel University one hand and her dream to be on stage on the other. She made the decision to pursue her dream and a week later learned of an audition to sing back up for Kelly Rowland in New York.

Morrow picked up and headed to New York not revealing to anyone what she was going after. After her audition she received a phone call that affected her future greatly. Rowland’s music director offered her the opportunity to go on tour and sing back up for Lady Gaga instead. With no hesitation, Morrow was on a flight to L.A within the week of receiving her exciting offer.

In a flash, Morrow toured around the world for Lady Gaga’s tour, “The Monster Ball Tour.”

“I was in disbelief, I felt like I was in a dream,” she said. “I remember standing there right before the curtains went up and just thinking ‘Oh my God.’ Every time we performed it brought that same feeling.”

The tour ended in May and her last performance with Gaga was in July of 2011. She was determined to focus on her own career. A month later Morrow opened up for Rick Ross in Atlantic City and called on two of her sisters and two friends to dance back up. They are now her permanent dancers, “the Gogettes” and they assist her in creating choreography.

Morrow enjoys writing her own music, performing and working to advance her career. As a Philly native she is inspired by the talent from her home city and feels a responsibility to join the current efforts from many talented people to “put Philly back on the map.”

Morrow’s album is expected to release sometime this year and this summer she will be performing at the Piazza in Northern Liberties July 3.

While focused on her music, Morrow’s main goal is to inspire others. Her experiences have taught her one thing—one should always pursue their dreams.

“I want my story to inspire other people,” she said. “If you fight against your purpose, life will keep showing you that your passion is what you’re supposed to do.”

Profound, meaningful words coming from young and energetic poets, reached the audience as the youth from the Philly Youth Poetry Movement (PYPM) performed at the Rotunda located at 4014 Walnut St. on Saturday.

PYPM is a non-profit organization that serves Philadelphia teens and provides literary arts education programs, mentoring and gives teens the opportunity to hone in on their spoken word and literary expression skills.

The PYPM community allows teens to feel safe and be as vulnerable as they desire through poetry. They did just that at their monthly open mic poetry slam where they hosted two rounds of performances. PYPM founder and executive director, Gregory Corbin, continues to be proud of the teens who pour their hearts on stage.

“We watch young people come up the stage and they’re very supportive of each other—those kids have their own space,” he said. “We want adults to come and see what they’re doing, to see the power of love that comes with them.”

Corbin is impressed with the teens’ ability to support each other and provide constructive criticism.

“They were all helping each other and doing group critiques. We need more of that,” he said. “It’s very powerful hearing them actually give feedback and help someone else grow. It teaches them communication skills they may not ever learn in school.”

The poetry mic slam consisted of snaps, claps and cheers as the audience enthusiastically received the various messages that were poetically relayed by each artist that took the stage.

The poets addressed topics like self esteem, aging, history, race, religion and love and the final round left the crowd in awe as the poets theatrically delivered their pieces. Northeast High School student, Sabrina Slipchenko, 16, was named the winner.

“It feels awesome, they’re giving us so many opportunities,” she said. “I’ve been at PYPM for a couple of months and they really push you forward.”

Slipchenko performed two pieces, “48” and “Utah.”

As teens rushed the stage to congratulate Slipchenko and the other contestants, the PYPM group gathered on stage and ended the night with a PYPM chant.

The PYPM community is tight and determined to watch their organization continue to grow. They are gearing up for the 2013 Brave New Voices International Teen Poetry Festival and Slam in Chicago this summer, Aug. 7-11. They are putting together this year’s team of six to represent Philadelphia with an additional team of six. The teens will attend world-class workshops and performances by renowned poets, writers and musicians.

“We are fundraising to match funds from the Knight grants to take people to Chicago,” Corbin said.”Last year we finished second in the world and in 2011 we won the whole thing—number one in the world.”

PYPM also offers free writing workshops every Saturday. For information on PYPM workshops or to contribute visit pypm215.org.

In an effort to raise money for research and support for the National Multiple Sclerosis (MS) Society, “Preakness at the Piazza” will be held Saturday, from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Piazza at Schmidts at 1060 North Hancock St. The fundraiser is aimed toward Philadelphia young professionals.

The Northern Liberties location will entail a celebration of charity, fashion and sports. The Preakness Stakes will be shown on a 40-foot screen. Attendees are expected to be dressed in traditional race gear with big hats and bowties. FOX 29’s Mike Jerrick will host the event joined by Philly’s DJ Royale.

Multiple sclerosis is a chronic, often disabling disease that attacks the central nervous system and effects thousands of young adults each year.

The event is aimed to reach the young-adult community to provide facts on the disease. It will serve to combat the perceived notion that many young adults are often not as engaged or aware of the possibilities of having MS.

Geoff Gross, the planning chair, is excited to see this event come to fruition. He believes there’s still a disconnect with MS awareness and hopes events like this help increase awareness of the disease.

“It will be a fun outdoor event that raises money and awareness of MS. We’re hoping to have this event this year and build on it so it’s larger and larger,” he said. “We have a lot of sponsors on board.”

Named as their “Seabiscuit Sponsors,” Tito’s Handmade Vodka and Gunners Run sponsored $10,000 for the event. Medical Guardian, Connect America, Multi Flow Beverage Solutions, Tower Investments, Inc. and Griswold Home Care sponsored $5,000 as the “Smarty Jones Sponsor.”

The $2,500 “Funny Cide Sponser” included Tra Solutions Insurance Services, Villanova University and McFadden. With other financial support from various hotels, sites, public relation companies and law firms—the committee members and chairs look forward to a well-attended fun event for a good cause.

In its seventh year of the annual concert series, last Friday award-winning gospel music artists joined for the 2013 McDonald’s Inspiration Celebration Gospel Tour at Sharon Baptist Church, located at 3955 Conshohocken Ave.

With the mission to give back to the community by providing a free concert, the gospel tour succeeded in drawing a large and enthusiastic crowd.

The concert was hosted by seven-time Grammy-nominated gospel recording artist Vickie Winans and performances included, Smokie Norful, Tamela Mann, Lecrae and John P. Kee. Guests were welcomed by samplings from McDonald’s Smoothie Fusion Tour, followed by a reception, which led into the concert.

The McDonald’s Inspiration Celebration Gospel Tour began May 9 and will continue through August 30. The tour will make stops through other cities Newark, Birmingham, Atlanta, Detroit, Chicago, Louisville and Dallas.

Owner of eight McDonald’s in Pennsylvania, Tanya Holliday continues to be pleased with the gospel tour and its positive impact on the community.

Holliday attended Morgan State University and while in college worked as a crew member in McDonald’s. Completing her degree in business administration, she worked her way up the ranks through the company until eventually holding 13 corporate positions.

Holliday eventually assumed the role of vice president and in 2005 she bought her first McDonald’s restaurant. It was a proud moment for Holliday, when she bought a McDonald’s in the neighborhood she grew up in.

As a proud owner of eight restaurants, Holliday delivered the key remarks during the evening events.

“It was inspirational for me to deliver key remarks as the first Black female owner of McDonalds in Philadelphia,” she said. “The audience was very appreciative—it was a phenomenal event.”

The community enjoyed an upbeat performance and artists like LeCrae Moore, known as LeCrae, is a Christian hip hop artist who is the president, co-founder and co-owner of the independent record label Reach Records. Holliday felt LeCrae and all of the gospel performers, “engaged all the way through” the night.

McDonald’s launched the Inspiration Celebration Gospel Tour as part of their 365Black platform. 365Black is McDonald’s platform for celebrating African American history and culture for 365 days a year.

Throughout the concert series, McDonald’s emphasizes the importance of giving back to the community. Attendees are given information on the Ronald McDonald House Charities. A foundation aimed to support programs that work to improve children’s health.

Holliday is looking forward to the rest of the 2013 tour and what future concerts will hold in the years to come. She feels the concert in Philadelphia was a success.

“The audience really enjoyed every artist we brought to the stage, it was an excellent event,” she said.