Meet the 2022 WATS Winners!

From singing to beatboxing and even clogging—our people have skills!

We’re thrilled to reveal the winners for this year’s Walmart Associate Talent Search (WATS)! This friendly competition uncovered serious talent from around the globe and across stores, clubs and distribution centers.

Are you ready to be amazed? Check out the complete list of winners and their submissions. And keep reading to learn more about these stars of Walmart World.

Just Keep Singing!

Among the winners were singers like April Royall, in CAP stocking at Store 1096 in Mocksville North Carolina. When coworkers heard April sing, they encouraged her to enter! Now, she hopes we’ll dance à la Lee Ann Womack.

Meat team lead at Club 4496 in Danville, Virginia, Ronte Short’s acapella rendition of “Hakuna Matata” made us forget our worries! And Wilmer Torres, cashier at Club 6690 in Ponce, Puerto Rico, gave us all the Ed Sheeran feels.

Some singers even accompanied themselves on the piano—including Brian Saxton, area manager at DC 7086 in Savannah, Georgia, who performed a soulful edition of “Can You Stand the Rain?”

We were seriously impressed by the rapping talent of Luis Angel Sanchez from Mexico with his performance of “Walmart en Linea” which translates to “Walmart Online” in English. (Serious dance vibes from this song!)

GM coach for Store 768 in Katy, Texas, Latasha Jackson belted Alicia Keys while, yes, playing the keys! And Phoebe Sequino senior video producer in Corporate Affairs at the Home Office in Walmart Canada, played an original song that she wrote to encourage herself. (You definitely got this, Phoebe!)

And jazz singer Jade Fu from China stopped us in our tracks with her beautiful vocal rendition of “I Want Your Love.”

The Beat Goes On

The musical talents at Walmart know no bounds! Steve Nechanicky, deli team lead at Store 1473 in Mankato, Minnesota, tickled the ivories in an improvised boogie on piano, while Sean Smith (pictured above), cashier at Store 1144 in York, South Carolina, brought the heat in his beatboxed Walmart-themed track.

And Moksa González, an operador de tienda from Santiago, Chile, wowed us with her upbeat musical performance on the flute.

Speaking of dropping the beat, clogging duo (and twin sisters!) Tatianna Page and Natasha Taylor (pictured above) tapped their way right into our hearts.

And The Winner Is...

Walmart World asked winners how they heard of their win. (Spoiler alert: Managers being sneaky is a common theme!)

Brian Saxton (pictured above) found out he was a winner at his manager’s Zoom meeting. “Right before it concluded, Sha Clanton, AGM, announced I was one of the ones chosen to go to shareholders. I was in total shock. I could not believe it,” he says.

“Back in 2016 when I was at shareholders, I said that it would be awesome if I ended up singing on that stage in front of my entire Walmart family,” Brian recalls. “And now it’s a reality... words just cannot express.”

Manager Mischief

Telling twins they won required a little extra coordination. Tatianna Page, administrative assistant, and Natasha Taylor, executive assistant, at the Home Office were called into the same meeting.

“My VP, Jessica Rancher, changed my 1:1 to make sure that Natasha and Jon Freshman could join,” explains Tatianna. “Jessica and Jon played it off that they were working together on some project. Our leaders announced it to us during that meeting. We were both shocked and excited.”

“Finding out that I won made me first feel like my store manager was breaking some bad news to me,” confides Latasha Jackson, GM coach for Store 768 in Katy, Texas.

“My store manager threw me for a loop during the conversation,” says Latasha, who thought she was getting bad news. “But when he told me that I won, I felt ecstatic and thrilled at the news. I believe that it's my destiny to help and touch so many hearts through music,” says Latasha.

Phoebe Sequino (pictured above) didn’t suspect a thing when she attended a last-minute Zoom meeting about “exciting news for corporate affairs.” When her coach Daniel Joaquin announced that she had been selected, she was shocked.

“Laughing is 100% my default, so especially in a moment like this, when there are so many emotions that I’m feeling all at once, my reaction was to laugh out of happiness,” Phoebe shares. “Which then turned into all the happy tears, as it was such an incredible experience to share this moment with such an incredibly supportive and amazing team.”