My name is Maia Perry, I am currently seventeen years old, but February 1st, I will be eighteen! I grew up in a musical family. My dad played for his school band and my mom sang in her church chore and considering the fact that I also grew up in a military family changing and adapting to a new state, new school and new people was difficult and although I did adapt easily I also needed something to keep me grounded and that was music.

Music did gradually change over time of course, but it was something that represented who I was and who I wanted to be and I didn't feel the need to force myself to feel anyway when I was listening to music. I was simply just Maia. Originally, I wanted to act and did a few open casting calls, but I found that it wasn't as creative as I would have liked to be and I did enjoy singing a lot more! My first memory of singing was when I was little and one year for christmas my parents bought my siblings and I a karaoke a machine, it was probably one of the coolest things I'd seen or used before and every night I found myself singing to the music installed within the machine and I'm sure my parents were tired of hearing me belt Amazing Grace every night.

A few years later I got Rock Band and that's where my love for rock music came because I wasn't just exposed to RNB and gospel anymore. Along the years, my love for music continued to grow and I began to write my own songs when I was eleven - currently seventeen I still do write music to instrumentals I find on youtube. My desire to write, whether that be songs, poems or stories has only grown over the years and lately the last few months I've known what I wanted to do.

Last night I went to a concert and I cried because watching one of my favorite artist before me and see how wild the crowd was going made me a bit emotional and I knew that's what I wanted to do for the rest of my life was be on stage whether it be small or big and sing songs that I wrote for people who loved it and for myself.

My passion for music only grows and has also become a coping skill considering the fact that I have severe anxiety and the way I calm myself down and try not to be so overwhelmed is by music, whether it be singing, listening to my favorite songs or writing. Music easily helps me come down from my panic and I rely heavily on music to keep be leveled and secure.

I have very little experience, I've never sang in front of a crowd besides my family and friends, I've never performed on a stage before besides Elementary school, I've never had a vocal coach, anything of the like, nevertheless despite having little experience I know that singing and song writing is a career path I want to take head on.

Whether people believe I can sing, believe I can write or not, this is something that I love doing and I will forever and always keep singing whether it be for a profession or a hobby.