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I’m from Georgia. My family is made up of educators, community organizers, artists and travelers from many different places – Japan, Sri Lanka, France, peanut fields in the south. My grandmother is AH-mazingly awesome. My two sisters are smart and funny. My mother and father are generous and hard working people who love their home, eat good food, drink cheap wine and read great books.

My mother sings, and so when I was young I sang with her. My grandfathers gave me an orchard and a piano; I started harvesting nuts from trees and playing music. My older sister took ballet classes, so I started, too. My father made bows and arrows in our back yard, so I learned to hunt. My cousins tied me to trees and put frogs on my head, so I learned to be tolerant of slimy green things.

When I was about 6, we moved to the BIG CITY (!) of Augusta, GA (I’m sure you’ve heard all about it). All the wonders of the world were contained in this one place – a huge library! multiple stoplights! playgrounds galore! AND a truly excellent school of fine arts, where I learned about West African dance, American Jazz, Spanish literature, and traditional Afro-Cuban music, among billions of other things I don’t have space to list.

From the doors of that school, I was thrust out into the world and landed in several new places performing, giving clinics, and recording music. In L.A., I performed at a TED conference and recorded at Capitol Records. In Chicago, I took the stage with my band at Lollapalooza 2011. In New York, I worked the circuit at CMJ and again in Austin at SXSW. In Miami, I was recognized by the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts. In Boston, someone convinced me to go to college and study music technology. In Cannes, I rented a flat and sang at the MIDEM conference. In Havana, I collaborated with Cuban performers to premier a piece at the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes. In Tibet, I climbed mountains in the Himalayas, until I got so sick and stranded that the American Embassy in Kathmandu had to send an emergency rescue helicopter to save me. I would like a redo!

I made it out alive, and now I’m living in New York, playing with sound loops and gadgets, singing loudly, excited to present new music when it’s ready. I’ve also been watching a lot of Björk interviews from the 90s and burying my head in historical fiction.

Anyone who tells you I’m some kind of magically gifted, irresponsibly talented, shockingly beautiful, unearthly creature bound for the stars probably just owes me a favor. BUT I hope they say it loudly.