My daughter Cassia is the best gift that the universe has given me. She has always inspired me with her courage, her strength and her tenacity to overcome.

Cassia was just 13 when she started her journey with My Voice Music four years ago. At the time, our family was going through some really crazy stuff. I had become ill and was in the hospital. My husband had lost his job. Things were really dire for us. It took a toll on Cassia. She completely shut down and was in so much pain. As a parent, it was the scariest thing to experience seeing my child in a place beyond any skills I had to help her.

Our therapist referred Cassia to My Voice Music. Suddenly, it was like the wheels were turning in her head again; she started talking about her future and I saw a spark of belief in herself again. I saw her shine after that very first camp.

When I heard Cassia’s very first recording there were so many emotions. I was immensely proud of her. I was excited about the possibility of what this could be for her and I was blown away because the song was actually really good! I love listening to that song to this day.

Cassia’s first stage performance at My Voice Music was a triumph. Being house-bound because of my illness, I wasn’t able to be there to see the performance and cheer my girl on, but she came home whooping and hollering with her dad that first night and she was shining like a beacon of light. She told me then that she found the thing that she was meant to do; she had found her calling and would do whatever it took to make it happen.

It was still a long, long road before I began to feel her burden lifting, but that was the beginning.

Today Cassia is living at her full potential as a 17-year-old girl. She is happy, but certainly not without ongoing struggles with anxiety and belief in herself. But the way she copes with it is very different now.
When Cassia is connected with music, she’s connected with My Voice Music. I can’t separate those two things anymore. And when she’s playing her music, that’s when she does her best. That’s when she’s happiest and able to work the tough things out. It’s her church, it’s her spiritual connection. It’s a mindfulness practice for her as much as an escape at the same time.

My Voice Music made the biggest impact of any single external influence that she’s had in her life. Every time she would move away from MVM for a little bit because she was really having a hard time, or didn’t have the energy to be motivated enough to make it, or was distracted by a boy, she’d get a call from someone on the team that would plant a little seed, a spark to entice her back in. It always helped clear the fog that was hanging over her.

Music is a way to give those things inside of you a voice that is constructive and beautiful. My Voice Music goes into lockdown facilities and helps kids find a way to put a voice to their pain. And that’s what they did for Cassia. Her songs are phenomenal and that is a skill My Voice Music taught her. It’s exciting to me to know that this potential is in every child, just waiting for them to unlock it. All they have to do it walk through the door.

There was a time when I had to admit to myself that maybe my daughter couldn’t achieve the things that I now see her planning and dreaming about for her future. Cassia just finished out her first term of college with straight A’s!

I don’t worry about her anymore.

Please help students like Cassia who need My Voice Music’s ongoing support throughout the year by becoming a monthly donor to My Voice Music.

Warm regards,

Tina Flores
MVM Parent