NEWS & VIEWS

1-ON-1 WITH LA DEMOS ELITE YOUTH SPORTS PROGRAM PRESIDENT

March 21, 2021

Tah'janae Northcutt is a product of the LA DEMOS program as she describes "I bleed green & gold, my entire family attended Jefferson High School and founded the LA DEMOS youth pop warner program."  She started participating as a cheerleader at the age of 11 by the advice of her uncle Poon who was at the time the head coach of the Tiny Mites division and Jefferson facilities staff.  Soon after making the cheer team by trying out, she fell in love with the cheer program staff and activities.  Tah'janae soon learned this was a family tradition, as she was surrounded by uncles, aunties, and cousins running the program and participating alongside her.  Tah'janae transitioned out of the program as she attended Thomas Jefferson high school participating in sports including basketball, cheer-leading, drill team and Track & Field.  While there, she revived the high school drill team as captain and led the girls basketball team as captain.  She graduated and attended Washington State University, where she completed her Bachelor of Arts degree in Women's Studies with a minor in Biology and returned home to pursue her Masters of Science degree in Marriage Family and Child Therapy. She now owns her own business in Substance treatment and court mandated classes providing services to under served communities in Los Angeles. In 2014 She received a phone call from her aunt Antoinette who was the current president of the LA DEMOS, as she was passing the baton on to Tah'janae to give back to the program. Tah'janae accepted the offer and returned to the program as Cheer Director and a year later elected as Vice President.  Under Tah'janae's leadership in 2014/2015/2016, the program excelled in equipment grants, water donations, new uniforms, fundraising, organized traditional homecoming court events. and entered the Demos in the Kingdom Day parade in which the Demos was featured on the TV broadcast Channel 7.  In Summer 2017, Tahj received an offer as Cheer Director for the Varsity cheer team at Thomas Jefferson High School by Coach Wilks Head coach and coach Malcolm "Mac" assistant varsity coach at the time, she accepted and led Jefferson Cheer team to Second place at competition, revived the DEMO spirit and added traditional cheers at games and community events!  She retired in 2019 to pursue her Doctorate degree, but felt her passion was unfulfilled. She then began to research ideas on how to reorganize her childhood program with her network and resources.  She was successful and is proud to bring back the DEMOS with a fresh new look, and new leadership.  Tah'janae brings enthusiasm, organizational leadership, and a network of partnerships as the new President and looks forward to a rewarding season of fun, competitiveness, and most of all DEMO PRIDE!