Growing up listening to Pavarotti and Elvis Presley in a rural Hong Kong village, Mara began singing and playing the piano at an early age. After graduating from high school, Mara worked for a year in Ethiopia, where she fell in love with an Ethiopian choir she joined and discovered the cathartic process of songwriting. By the time she left Africa to pursue acting in New York, she had written over 30 songs, one of which her choir recorded on their album. At the end of her studies at Tisch School of the Arts at NYU, Mara was contacted by Emmy Award-winning producer Jamie Lawrence. They began their collaboration soon after and released an EP in 2012.
She was winner of ABC The Voice at Rutgers University, and was invited to perform at Vassar College. In Hong Kong, she performed her original song at RTHK’s TV programme “The Works” which was subsequently selected as a Best of the Year performance. Mara’s first album will be released August 2013.
