I guess I've always had kind of a unique look
in the way I do my hair in the way I dress and even in high school I'd wear
like knee high socks that usually didn't match
you know I did this hairstyle that I called the peacock. I still do it today
and in high school I remember I thought it was so cool and I kept waiting for
it to catch on like oh everybody else is going to do this. It never caught on.
I love to take the violin to places that it's not expected to go both geographically and musically.
And that's what I do through my YouTube videos I do everything from
rock and roll to dub step to hip hop and you know you name it I've probably played it.
My parents always played classical music in our home and my sisters and I would
dance around our living room to Scheherazade and Mozart and Beethoven
you name it and we would dance to it. I could just see that the violins always
got the best parts.
I first started writing hip hop music when I was a sophomore in
college and I would basically just write songs to my favorite radio hits and after
doing one of these, I threw up a video on YouTube and I was just dancing around
playing my violin like I always do
and shortly thereafter I went on my mission.
And while I'm walking the streets of Manhattan as a little sister missionary
suddenly a couple of people stopped me and recognized me as the "violin girl."
And everybody kind of asks me or says "You're so lucky that you had this
lucky break on America's Got Talent."
Yeah, that was awesome but
it's only after doing YouTube and
making YouTube videos that
my music sells
and I get offers to play
in amazing places
I did a dub step
video where I went to Colorado and I was in this awesome ice world
and I did a Lord of the Rings medley and I filmed it in the beautiful landscape of New Zealand
I also had the opportunity recently to go to Kenya and I got to take my violin with me
and I got to play for people in these villages that have never heard of
violin before.
And to see the smiles on their faces and to watch their kids giggle you know
like what is this thing?
It was just an incredible experience to share something that's so
important to me and then in return they sang for us and they did these dances
As a violinist I've been told by all the industry experts that what I do is not
a marketable thing. Even on live TV I was told on America's Got Talent by the judges that
what I was doing would never make it, I would never be able to be a performer.
But I think that when you do what you love
people are drawn to you.
There's been times when I've put myself in boxes.
And I'm not happy in boxes.
And I think that's what is amazing is that
if you really are true to yourself you're going to be able to
better share your gifts with the world.
God created us all with distinctive characteristics.
When we're not afraid to let those shine, that's really when I think
we can be the best instruments in his hands
that we can be.
"Wanna' keep going?"