First, a little background on me and my family. I am a first-generation immigrant, which means I am the first generation in my family to be born and raised in America. I'm from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. My family is from a small Caribbean island called Haiti on the island of Hispaniola right next to the Dominican Republic. My father grew up in the Bahamas. My mother is a nurse but she originally wanted to study cosmetology. She helps elderly people that suffer from dementia and Alzheimer's, which are mental illnesses that mainly affect the elderly. Most of my family is very musically inclined, like me. My father has his own company making and selling electronic music equipment. Growing up, kompa and zouk music, which are genres unique to Haitian culture, were constantly blasting through huge stereo speakers around the house. My father tried bringing home keyboards now and then to keep me in the house playing, but the songs built into them weren't enough to teach me how to play fluently. One of my uncles is a traveling musician, part of a classical crossover group. A cousin is a talented drummer. My older brother plays the guitar, too, but he's more of a science geek. I have two younger siblings, but they're not old enough to have true hobbies yet, so we'll see if they become musical prodigies.
