When I was 3 years old, I saw a family friend play the violin and I instantly fell in love. I remember watching her thinking that her and her violin were made of magic. I asked my mom if I could take lessons and she said no because we already had a piano, so I could start playing that.

I started piano lessons at age 4 and loved it. Practicing was never a chore but always something I enjoyed. My dad would occasionally play accordion while I played piano and we would jam out songs by The Beatles and The Band.

From a young age I used poetry as a coping mechanism and solace from a pretty hectic childhood. I would spend hours sitting outside writing poems but I never thought to put my words together with music. When I was around 10, I saw a photo of Alanis Morissette sitting at home on her couch with her guitar and a notebook spread out in front of her and a pencil in hand and I thought to myself, ‘wow, I want to do exactly that.’

I started writing music by sitting on my swing outside and just singing songs to myself that I would write in my head. Eventually when I was around 14 I started to get bored of playing classical piano. I started to better understand chord structures and started putting lyrics and piano together.

Once I started writing my own music, it started taking up more and more of my life until it became just about the only thing that drove everything else. Suddenly in my mid 20s I was hit with a need to re-evaluate - did I even really like this thing that I centred my life around? Did I really want to make music, and if so, why? I spent the following few years exploring other art forms and avenues until I coincidentally landed a music teaching job that drew me back. It re- inspired me and I began to write my next album. Seeing kids experience music in the ways I felt as a 3-year-old watching the alchemy of that girl playing her violin brought me back to the core of my love.

All this to say - I am not sure I can place one moment that I knew I wanted to make music, but rather several, and I could ramble on with even more that have inspired and re-inspired me. I hope that perhaps my desire to make music will be a lifelong journey with many, many more moments to come.