The Year I Brought an International Voice Home
When people look at Queen of Opera today, they often assume the growth was linear—local buzz first, then national, then international. In reality, it unfolded in almost the opposite direction.
Before I ever made a meaningful footprint in my local Central Florida community, I was already known online and internationally. My fan base didn’t begin in Orlando. It began thousands of miles away.
Queen of Opera was founded in Hawaiʻi, where I was embraced by a small but deeply supportive community. It was, in many ways, the perfect place to begin: intimate, human, and grounded. But it was also a village of fewer than 1,500 people. At the same time, the world had shut down. COVID pushed everything online, and unexpectedly, that became the gateway to global reach.
Through remote collaborations, recordings, and digital performances, my audience grew internationally: Russia, Mexico, Ecuador, Venezuela, Ukraine, Germany, and beyond. My collaborators spanned the UK, France, Italy, Spain, Brazil, California, Tennessee. Long before my hometown knew my name, people across the world were listening.
That’s the part most people don’t see.
When I returned to Central Florida, specifically Orlando where I went to college, I wasn’t returning as the person people remembered. I had left as a real estate broker and founder of a remote, subscription-based brokerage Follow Me Realty. I came back as an internationally recognized opera singer with an entirely different mission, audience, and brand.
That meant starting over in a very real way.
A new market requires new trust. And trust, especially in a community as dynamic as Central Florida, isn’t built overnight.
So I made a conscious decision: if I wanted people to know my voice, I had to give it freely first.
Throughout 2024 and into 2025, I spent much of my time performing for causes, institutions, and organizations I genuinely believe in. I sang for my alma mater through UCF Athletics- football and basketball alike. I shared my voice with Orlando Pride and Orlando City Soccer. I was invited to perform for the Haitian Chamber of Commerce, the French-American Chamber of Commerce, FABCO, the Central Florida Marine Foundation, the Navy League, the Comradery Foundation, and many more.
And this week, I’ll be stepping onto the court to sing for the Orlando Magic.
With every performance came something far more valuable than exposure: connection.
Each audience was different. Each room held a new culture, a new community within the larger community. I wasn’t just sharing classical music—I was translating it, making it accessible, human, and present in spaces where opera isn’t traditionally heard.
What surprised me most was how different this felt from my former career.
Real estate is transactional. It’s competitive. It can be sharp-edged. Music, on the other hand, softened people. It opened conversations. It created moments where strangers felt like they already knew me—and where they trusted me not because of a deal, but because of how something made them feel.
When people come up to me now and say, “You’re the Queen of Opera—I’ve heard of you,” I don’t take that lightly. I understand exactly how many quiet, unseen hours went into earning that recognition.
2025 wasn’t about scaling for the sake of growth. It was about planting roots- carefully, respectfully, and intentionally- in a community I love.
I’m endlessly grateful for the opportunity to share my greatest passion not just with the world, but with my local world here in Central Florida. Every performance reaffirmed why Queen of Opera exists in the first place: to bring classical voice into real human spaces, where it can be felt, remembered, and trusted.
