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FACE TIME: TV commercial helps 11-year-old come out of her shell

By Pamela Perkins
perkins@commercialappeal.com

More kids sit with her in the school cafeteria, and have even shared their lunches.

People ask for her autograph. Even her dad.

And whenever she goes out, people want to know if she's really that girl in the Stax Music Academy commercial.

That's just some of the attention that's surprised soft-spoken and bespectacled Kimyata Nashay Perry, 11, since the 30-second spot began running on local television stations in October.

Kimyata is the one in pigtails who says: "I really love this school. It makes me feel like I can be somebody," and with a shy smile thanks academy donors.

Academy officials said the South Memphis girl helped the academy get more attention, as well. Inquiries about its programming have doubled from about five to 12 a day.

But some people just call to say Kimyata is adorable.

"It's gotten more feedback than anything we've ever run," said Tim Sampson, spokesman for Soulsville, the nonprofit agency that runs the academy and Stax Museum of American Soul Music, 926 E. McLemore.

Sampson said she was chosen from a pool of students willing to be in the commercial.

"She was just so natural and not afraid -- and just sweet," he added.

Kimyata, in her first year in the academy's afterschool program, said she likes the little taste of fame.

Except where her sister, Kirsten Perry, 12, is concerned.

"She says, 'I'm so proud.' And she's always trying to hug me and stuff. I won't let her," Kimyata said. "I run and she starts chasing me."

She said her proud mom laughed when she first saw the commercial. "She said that I look just like my dad. I laughed at her, too."

She's even giggled at strangers when they walk up to her and touch her and say, 'Are you the little girl in the Stax commercial?' " she said.

Kimyata said her fellow students at Stafford Elementary School didn't know about the commercial until their principal announced it over the intercom, which made her feel a little self-conscious.

But her father, Javits Perry, 38, of East Memphis, who asked for her autograph, is pleased. He said the attention is whittling away at his daughter's shyness.

"It boosted her self-esteem," he said. "She told me she was the most popular fifth grader. Other kids want to sit with her at lunch. They give her cookies.

"She had a little group she ran with, but when she did that commercial . . . she was a star. She's coming out of her little shell."

Kimyata does believe she can be somebody. But, she said, "not everybody on TV is a star."

-- Pamela Perkins: 529-6514