Talia Jamison
Introduction
We are excited to announce the addition of Talia Jamison to the OD family! She has been a big part of the yoyo community in Utah where she can be found inspiring the next generation of young players. She has a gift for working with kids and it's just hard not to love her! Talia has been moving towards the competetive side of yoyoing and we are proud to support her in those goals. We are looking forward to seeing what the future holds for Talia!
YoYo History
I have always had a yoyo laying about in my house, growing up with 5 older siblings it was inevitable. However , it took me until I was roughly 13 to decide that I wanted to learn more than just how to bring the yoyo back to my hand. So, borrowing the yoyo I had bought for my sister (a Duncan Butterfly), I decided to Google "Yoyo tricks" which linked me to a video of Grant Johnson killin it, and thus I embarked on the journey to learn how to yoyo like that.
Soon after, I realized I wouldn't be able to do much more than bring the yoyo back up to my hand with the Butterfly, so my Mother bought me a Freehand and I started learning my first string tricks. As time went on, I continued to get a yoyo here or there, but being tight on money, they were not higher end. It wasn't until I began going to local yoyo club meets that I started playing higher end yoyos.
Not too long after frequenting the local meets my friends convinced me to compete in the Utah State Yoyo Contest. After my first contest I realized that there really weren't many female competitors (In fact, I was the only female competitor in that contest) and looking to inspire other female yoyo players, I decided to start competing in as many contests as I could. In 2015 I was lucky enough to get to know 3 of the coolest players you'll ever meet at a local yoyo club. Those 3 players consisted of Paul Dang, JT Nickel, and Will Prater. After hanging out, swapping tricks, and playing as many One Drop throws as they had, I bought (and was gifted) my first One Drop yoyos from Will. I use these yoyos to this day. After that, I not only aspired to inspire more girls to yoyo, but I aspired to be as accepting and kind as these 3 gentlemen and to make everyone feel they could be themselves on stage and off.
As time went on I realized I not only loved the quality of this company's products, but that all my values seemed to fall in line with theirs. I hope in the future to be able to inspire others like so many have inspired me, and am beyond ecstatic and honored to be able to represent such an incredible company that does so much for this community!