You know that painfully excruciating moment when you start a new class, and you’re gritting your teeth as you assume your fateful death: the reality that your prof will INEVIDABLY and WITHOUT FAIL parade around the room pompousing his seniority and his flashy Masters Degree by making you expose the most personal of things about yourself—to a group of people you’ve NEVER met before, but will see at least three times a week for the next four months of your LiFe—your name, your hometown, and this, “tell us SOMETHING UNIQUE ABOUT YOURSELF.”

I’m not going to pretend like I’m like everybody else in this scenario. While others regurgitate the generic responses of, “there’s nothing unique about me” or “I went to Mexico one time with my Dad and saw Barbra Streisand tanning nude on the beach” or “I love cats—like a lot a lot a lot,” I wait patiently for my turn to declare and expose my gift. What is it that is unique about me you ask? I can say any word backwards in under 5 seconds. Impressive, right? Some think so. Others think it is a total lie, and try tirelessly to stump me on words like antidisestablishmentarianism…but like…who cares?

The truth is that the road to discovering this skill was painful. I grew up in a household of three brothers. I know that may seem like a very normal thing…until you experience it for yourself. I love them all dearly. Now. But growing up was a bit of a challenge. Conversation usually revolved around snowmobiling, bars, snowboarding, dirt biking, that ‘gnarly’ fall I took, GIRLZ…the usual gamut of dude junk. But it wasn’t just the conversation—it was the teasing. One time I wrote in my diary my feelings about my oldest brother’s friend (a big fat crush), and my second oldest brother proceeded to read my diary entry out loud in the car, in front of him…best part? Dad didn’t tell them no. Needless to say, I was lonely, and bored a lot.

So…one time on a family vacation I was sitting on the boat—thinking. And I remembered a Lizzy McGuire episode I had watched two days before we left, and remembered Matt saying something along the lines of, “Look Lizzie! I can say any word backwards. Try me—Tarzan, Nazrat.” As I meditated on this newfound discovery, it dawned on me that nothing in life is impossible, and there is no better time than the present to unlock the mystery of backwards profession. So I sat. And thought. All day. For two whole days. And guess what? I figured it out.

All this tangent to say…I was a bit of a different kid, and am still a bit different in my twenties. But we’re all a bit weird in our twenties. In my short time here on Earth, I’ve travelled a lot, failed a lot, taken really big risks without any regard, messed up, loved, and ended up here. Growing up in Victoria, I knew I had to get out of a small town and do something different. So why not move to the bible belt and become a complete fish out of water, have no friends, and have no idea what you want to do with your life. Brilliant.

Musically, I’ve written songs ever since I can remember. My dad used to find my lyrics written in crayon on construction paper stashed away somewhere in my shelves, and he’d always tell me to keep writing. When I was in middle school and my parents were getting divorced, writing was my therapy. When I was in high school and girls were mean, and boys were worse—writing was my therapy. It was nothing more than that for me; except I was also obsessed with it—but very shy of it at the same time, and I was not even the slightest bit shy of a person, which is what made it so interesting.

When I moved to Nashville to go to school, I had no intention of pursuing music except in degree form, with an emphasis on the business side of things. But everyone around me was doing it, so I started doing it too. And then it was all downhill from there. It was my crack. I was obsessed. And I had found my love. When I graduated from school, although it took a lot of people pushing me in this direction—and literally yelling me down the path I’m on now, I’m ‘doing’ music.

With my new album out just shy of two months ago, and a tour slated for January—my indie-pop meets northwest singer/songwriter music will be travelling all across the US and Canada. I recently played a showcase for AIMP and the Billboard Music TV/Film Conference, and have been invited to the Canadian Music Festival—a big dream and goal of mine. With my new band, three beautiful boys, I think were ready to do something our own way. Make music, make friends, and have fun.