Today we’d like to introduce you to Amanda Pascali.
Hi Amanda, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
I was born in Queens, New York and was raised in Houston, Texas. As the daughter of immigrants from two different continents, I grew up between worlds; constantly feeling “too foreign for here, too foreign for home, and never enough for both.” I picked up a guitar at the age of 12 and started writing songs as a way to tell the story of my family’s diaspora and my experience as a first-generation American girl growing up in the South.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The fear of failure is something that looms over many people; especially children of immigrants and artists trying to make a difference post-COVID.
I challenge you to find a child of immigrants who do not value success as something important. My parents often say that when they look back on their lives and ask themselves what they are most proud of, the answer is us (me and my sisters). It’s hard for me to hear that and not feel a sense of obligation to be the best version of myself that could possibly exist. I am not just doing it for myself, but for them, for my grandparents, my ancestors before that, and to be an example for my younger sisters. I am the embodiment of everything my parents worked for and sacrificed. I look up to them. When I see how many people they have made an impact on, I cannot help but define success as just that: making an impact on people, connecting with them, touching them emotionally; other cultures, and other backgrounds. That is what I aim to do with my art. And the fear of not reaching that terrifies me.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am an internationally touring bilingual singer/songwriter. The songs I write tell the story of a first-generation American girl growing up in the most diverse city in the U.S. There are themes of feminism, immigration, revolution, love, and national identity.
It is because of revolt and rebellion that I am alive. If my father would have never spoken out against the dictatorship in his home country and fled to the U.S. as a refugee where he met and fell in love with my mother, I would have never been born. As the daughter of two immigrants, a Romanian with Sicilian heritage, and an Egyptian immigrant by way of France, I felt from a young age that I was born to be a messenger; not only of my family’s story and diaspora but of all the unconventional working-class stories that fall outside the boundaries of Hollywoodesque storytelling. When I was 12, I picked up a guitar and decided that the best medium through which to tell those stories was music.
By the age of 18, I was a touring musician throughout the U.S. By 22, I had released award-winning music and toured internationally from packed houses in Italy and Romania to the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. And by 23, I was voted “Best Musician of 2021” by the largest newspaper in Texas; but I never considered myself a true musician. I was a messenger and my tools were a voice and a guitar. When I was old enough to understand the sacrifices my parents had made for me and when I saw the effect I had on people while performing, I immediately realized not only my purpose, but my platform.
Contact Info:
- Email: booking@amandapascali.com
- Website: amandapascali.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/amandinapascali
- Facebook: facebook.com/amandinapascali
- Twitter: twitter.com/amandinapascali
- Youtube: youtube.com/amandapascali
Image Credits
Jeremy Kabala
Jeff Paxton
