Lexi

"Your from Hawaii? But your not tan.." will be something I will always be accustomed to hearing. ha ha Yes, I am a Maui girl, born at Maui Memorial hospital and honing a childhood of memories involving May Day celebrations, Maui Onion eating contests, birthday parties at beach parks, and being mistaken for a tourist chick. There are many pros and cons to growing up on and island, but respect and culture become embedded into you, and money and material gain are not associated with your happiness and success. I think that ways out all the cons. ;)

I was brought into a world full of musical creativity, fashion, and performance. My mother was a former model, studied voice and directed musical theater and grandmother was a costumier for MGM Studios. Looking back now I really lived out a little girls dream, playing dress-up with my sister at two different houses in vintage costumes worn in "Singing in the Rain" and other classic MGM films whilst watching the classics on TCM. Naughty Marietta, New Moon, and He Done Her Wrong are just a few that have become cherished favorites of mine and have inspired me visually and musically.

While not donning over-sized petticoats and vintage gowns and parading about the house, my mother enrolled me in dance lessons at the Maui Academy of Performing Arts (MAPA) at the age of two, and I continued studying dance ranging from Tap, Jazz, Ballet and Modern, to Hula and Hip-Hop for six years on Maui. When I was 8, my mom thew us for a loop and moved my sister and I(as my parents divorced when I was 4) across the ocean to the small town of Ojai, California. It was difficult to start over but I soon found my groove at the Ojai Dancers Studio, learning Belly dance and continuing Modern and Hip-hop for four years until their unfortunate closing.

I soon replaced my dance lessons with baton twirling, and a passion for singing began to build as I was extremely, involved in my mothers musical theater productions. My sister and I would spend our week nights after rehearsal helping her with costume ideas, stage sets, and watching her try out different choreography for musical numbers in front of us. This became my life, and I found myself performing in 27 productions by the age of sixteen! Once I had my picture published in The Ojai Valley News on the Performing Arts page, I was hooked, and I continued to collect every article from every show we did. I lived, ate, and breathed theatrics... Up to the point of declaring to never repeat the same outfit twice to school. (Which I succeeded in doing, astonishingly.) haha

After making my freshman debut as the only fire-twirling majorette at Nordhoff High school for what was a very roller coaster of a year, I found myself becoming very overwhelmed, and performed in my last production in Ojai. I relocated back to Maui to live with my father, and enrolled in Lahainaluna High School. It was very hard to start over again, but I adjusted. I learned fast that my very out-there style would have to be toned down a bit if I ever wanted to fit in, but I still stayed true to myself... rocking a pair of heels and bows to school every now and then. ;) Lahaianluna didn't have a very strong theater program, so I put the performing arts on the back burner and devoted my time to coaching 11 girls how to baton twirl. We became the first Lahainaluna Majorettes in 65 years, performing fun, choreographed routines at our football and basketball games and even at the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl in San Diego! It was truly an amazing experience teaching those girls, and it taught me a lot as well.

After I graduated from high school, I was approached by and attended the Susan Page modeling school. I fell in love with fashion and make-up all over again, and discovered another creative outlet that my dancing back round could come in handy with. Using my flexibility and dance-inspired poses, my pictures soon caught the eye of local designers. I began modeling for photographer portfolios, numerous brazilian bikini lines, and local designers, eventually walking in their runway shows. I was having a blast but the whole time I was missing singing and music, and felt that I had a lot to say from some hard, and happy times I had been going through that I wanted to express. From the magic of networking, I met an amazing producer who worked with me creating my first fully mastered HD Single "Up In The Club" and released it on iTunes in November 2011, soon followed by my uptempo club banger "Miss Life of the Party."

After realizing that what I really wanted to do with my life and career required me living on the mainland, I moved back to California in the Spring of 2012 to really jump into my modeling and music career. Spending my youth and defining years in two different home towns rich in different cultures and music has put a spin on my inspiration, sound, and style one wouldn't expect from an Island Girl.. Stay tuned. ;)

Lexi on the Grapevine page of May 2011 PLAYBOY Magazine!