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As her confidence grew, Anita caught the attention of more experienced skaters who offered encouragement and advice. One Sunday, she was captivated by an accomplished recreational skater named Seree Newsome, whose effortless spins inspired Anita to ask where she had learned to skate. Newsome introduced Anita to coach Joe Scherer and recommended Sky Rink, where Anita began taking group lessons. Because she had already taught herself to skate forward and backward, instructors quickly recognized that she had outgrown beginner classes and recommended private coaching. Under Joe Scherer's guidance, Anita flourished. "I was obsessed with trying to do the one-foot spin," she remembers. "During my very first lesson, I learned it. He straightened me out from that first lesson, and I was impressed. I took lessons with him every week for a few years. He taught me my spins, jumps, and everything."

While Scherer envisioned a competitive future for Anita, her primary focus was simply becoming stronger, more consistent, and more skilled. Through him, she became familiar with ISI (Ice Skating Institute) competitions and the more demanding United States Figure Skating competitive system.

Although Scherer encouraged her to pursue the path toward regional, sectional, national, and Olympic competition, Anita remained realistic.

"I wasn't planning on going to the Olympics because I realized I had started late," she says. "So I wasn't considering that.” Following Scherer's untimely passing, Anita continued her development with coach and performer Denise Beaumont, who refined the areas she believed Anita needed most. "She told me I needed the in-between stuff—the footwork, gliding, and stroking. I had never competed before, so she encouraged me to compete.” Beaumont choreographed programs that combined Anita's spins, jumps, and footwork with music while preparing her for ISI and USFSA testing and competitions.

"My first competition I won," Anita recalls. "Since then, I've won over 70 medals...and that's because of her. My skating became much more goal-oriented when I started working with Denise."

Over the years, Anita has also benefited from the expertise of respected coaches Stephanie Egnezzo, David Lipowitz, Dimitri Gromov, and Eloise Becker. To support her skating, Anita has maintained a disciplined fitness routine throughout her adult life. "I've been serious about aerobics since I was twenty," she says. "I do high-impact, low-impact, trampoline aerobics, and step aerobics. I was always going to the gym."

For the past several years, Bikram Yoga has become an essential part of her training. "The yoga helps sustain the body because it keeps it limber and flexible to avoid injuries. Many of the positions are similar to what I do in skating. After class, you feel so invigorated."

Beyond the ice rink, Anita has continued expanding her creative pursuits. She has explored modeling, conducted on-air interviews for public access television, and authored her self-published 2010 instructional book, How To Become A Prize Winning Freestyle Skater In Your Spare Time Year-Round. Written as a labor of love, the book was created to encourage greater participation in figure skating among African Americans and others interested in the sport.

"I wrote this book to encourage people of color and others to learn the sport of figure skating and experience the essential health benefits derived from skating. I was inspired to write my book by my long-time publicist Irma-Tyus Mitchell.  She called me every week when I was writing to make sure I completed each chapter of the book, and she organized my first book signing party in Harlem, New York.  And to date, Irma Tyus-Mitchell is still my publicist with all these projects, and King Melvin Brown is my booking agent."

The book chronicles Anita's skating journey and accomplishments while providing practical, cost-effective advice and step-by-step instruction for learning freestyle skating techniques.

"I am planning on issuing a new edition," she says. "I'd like to change the cover, add some new things, and include a DVD showing the basics of skating forwards and backwards.” Today, Anita proudly recognizes her place within the legacy of Black female figure skaters that includes Debi Thomas, Surya Bonaly, and Tai Babilonia.

"I think they all brought unique qualities to ice skating," she says. "There has not been an African-American U.S. National Figure Skating Champion on the senior level since Debi Thomas. Tai brought her unique ability to skate with someone else, Randy Gardner. That's difficult. It's hard enough to get yourself to do something on skates, but to do that with another person and become Olympic and World champions is awesome."

Just as mentors helped shape Anita's own career, she remains committed to inspiring the next generation of skaters. "I would say stick with it and find a good coach. Stay around positive people who support you in your sport. The discipline you learn from skating will help you in every aspect of your life. If it's something that interests you, follow it."

Her hope is simple yet profound: "Perhaps one day I'll be known as a woman who inspired and helped coach our 21st century’s new wave of Black freestyle figure skating champions."