Romance came and in this heart of yours burned a# flame.

My name is Mara Vashtai.

I'm an actress, jazz vocalist, and storyteller.

And there were# two moments in my life that I feel were very pivotal in me wanting to pursue music long term.# And the first one I was very little.

I think I was in kindergarten actually.

And I had watched# the Cheetah Girls, the movie.

And I was just so inspired by the music that I went and I wrote# my own song.

And I remember going to the family room and singing it for my dad.

And the song was# called So Be It.

And I loved singing it for him.

And I loved that feeling that I had.

And at# that moment I was like I want to be a singer.

I love jazz music for a very long time.

It's# unpredictable and I think it reflects life how life can be unpredictable.

Um but you make it work# and that's a lot like jazz music and jazz style of singing and performing.

Many things inspire me on# the dayto-day like really experiencing life the good and the bad.

It just there's no denying how# much it impacts my art.

I think um in my process of making music and songwriting, it's a bit of# both of what I experience, but then I'm also really impacted by those around me.

Um I'm very# empathetic and I care about others a lot and how other people are feeling.

And I think that's# also part of why I love theater so much.

So, it really is a mix of some of my experience and# then the experience that I see other people have.

South Florida is such a special place.

There's so# much amazing talents and arts and just soul down here and culture.

A lot of that is because# of just the richness in the culture and the people and the languages we have down here.

It's# like truly a beautiful mosaic of arts and music and that inspires me greatly.

I'm working on# an EP and it'll be my first extended project that I'll be releasing and it's something that# I've been working on for a couple of years now.

I have a lot of music that I've created and# based off of experiences that I've had and just things that I've learned and um I# really want to share it with the world.

and for whoever may enjoy it and need# the message that I have.

Honestly, um what's on my heart the most to share is this# experience of grace and how that may show up or the lack of it uh from yourself, from other# people, what it feels like when you do have it from yourself, from other people.

I think# that's like a major theme of it.

But it's just truly just reflections of like growing up and# my experiences and my perspective on things deep.

I have a music video for my song called Muse.# And Muse was actually my first release ever.

Feels like to be amused.

Are you?

That song was# a song that was a poem that I had written over the course of years and it was a reflection on# just the experience of how art inspires us and the feeling of something or somebody being# a muse for you, a source of inspiration.

um what that feels like especially in the sense# of like a relationship of love of being amuseed for somebody or them being amused for# you.

How beautiful that feeling is the responsibility it may come with the uncertainty# because inspiration may not always last.