Sheilava is an award-winning indie film producer, composer, and singer/songwriter based in Austin, TX. She also enjoys writing, directing, acting, modeling, performing live music, hosting indie film & music festivals, teaching private music lessons in her home studio, and working with under privileged and at-risk children with the non-profit organization Anthropos Arts. Sheilava was born in Santa Fe, New Mexico and raised in San Antonio, Texas. She earned her Bachelor's Degree in Music Performance at the University of Houston and a Master's in Flute Performance at the University of New Mexico. You can find Sheilava on most social media platforms and follow her endeavors on Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, and Soundcloud.Her diverse love for music first blossomed during childhood. She loved listening to musical cassette tapes on repeat, playing video games while memorizing the music for each level, watching Disney movies or animated cartoons, and singing everywhere she went. Her parents got her hooked on listening to great artists such as Lynyrd Skynyrd and Whitney Houston. Her grandmother sparked a love for orchestral music after taking little Sheila to see the Nutcracker and soon thereafter taught her how to whistle "like they do in that old-timey music." Her first performance on stage was in elementary school when she was selected to sing "Hopelessly Devoted To You" in the school play, but her ultimate love for performing came when she was given a flute to try out for the 6th grade band.Throughout middle school and high school, she loved and lived for the discipline, structure, and competition that playing music provided. She further realized her passion for learning and playing different styles and genres after participating in choir, jazz, and marching band. By her junior year she held the roles of Section Leader, Music Tech, and Band Historian. She continued her musical efforts when she was accepted into the Moores School of Music on a partial band scholarship. Even amidst working full-time during college, she put in endless hours rehearsing and performing with the Spirit of Houston Marching Band and concert bands, the University Women's Choir, and the Imperial Percussion Theatre for an indoor drumline. Months before graduation, she auditioned for a scholarship with the University of New Mexico and was accepted into the Master's Program at the College of Fine Arts. She played piccolo and performed as principal flautist for both the UNM Symphony Orchestra and UNM Wind Symphony. For her Master's Recital, she spearheaded a colorful collaborative performance that consisted of a string quartet, a jazz trio, and a 23 piece orchestra.After graduating in 2014, she moved to Boston and focused on writing and collaborative projects with local indie artists. Her love for embracing and defying all genres was evident amidst her kaleidoscope of projects such as writing melodies and lyrics for a Latin rock project, singing with an acoustic trio, and making cover songs of several pop, folk, country, alternative, and oldies hits. She started sharing her musical endeavors after creating a Youtube and Soundcloud channel under the name "Sheilava", a nickname coined by a colleague that combined "Sheila" and "Lava" which poked fun at her written signature "Sheila V.A.". After two years, Sheilava and her fiancé moved to Austin, TX where she started teaching and writing music full-time.In three short years, Sheilava continued to find her voice and develop her technique across many genres. In 2016 she rehearsed and played with a Latin-Jazz ensemble and an acoustic duo. She also joined collaborative efforts with local songwriter Jason Garcia to focus creating an indie-electro pop LP. After six months of writing and recording, their album "Nonsense" was finished in Spring of 2017. They put together a five-piece band and performed throughout the Greater Austin Area and continued working on other projects including the release of a Christmas EP and several singles by the following Spring. After meeting and networking with various creatives in Austin's photography and film scene throughout 2018, Sheilava discovered a new-found love for modeling, acting, and writing songs for indie films. At the start of 2019 Sheilava refocused her time and energy towards multiple arts and the five piece band ultimately transitioned into a husband-wife duo with the goal of further embracing and defying genre.Throughout 2019, Sheilava worked on 13 short films, 2 pilots, 2 web series, 5 commercials, and 16 photography series. 18 of her songs and melodies have been featured in local Austin indie films, half of which were commissioned specifically as theme songs for the film or credits. Her upcoming album "V" will be a tribute to the original 5-piece band and will include a mix of released singles, published film songs, and unfinished demos. Sheilava's latest completed project, a short film and musical narrative titled "Camp Grenada" was written, scored, filmed, edited, and submitted in less than 2 days as part of the 2019 Austin 48 Hour Film Project. The musical received recognition as one of the Top 10 Films in the ATX 48Hr competition and won Second Runner-Up for Best Film out of 42 participating teams. In addition to receiving the Producer's Award for Women in Film, the musical won Best Sound Design, Best Overall Use of Music, Best Editing, and the Audience Choice Award for their screening group. They also were nominated for five other categories including Best Cinematography, Best Directing, Best Set Design, Best Original Song (for 2 different songs!) and Best Use of Character.Over the summer of 2019, Sheilava recently received sponsorship from Austin-based lifestyle craft liqueurs PinkKitty and Easy Rhino. Their new craft martini "PolarLava" is a tribute to both Sheilava and the endangered Polar Bear as the face of global warming. Aside from empowering women to be as bold and daring as they are, PinkKitty and EasyRhino Liqueur give back to the world by supporting wildlife conservation efforts and donating portions of their proceeds to organizations such was World Wildlife Fund and United for Wildlife. With the help of other sponsors including The Venue ATX, Inspiran MDC, and 2XL Swagger Brands, Sheilava and the liqueur brands held their first indie music festival on Oct 25th in an effort to raise donations and awareness towards wildlife conservation efforts. The festival featured the newly branded cocktail and sponsorship amidst live performances from local talent across several mediums including 13 bands and several photographers and videographers.Sheilava's most recent commissioned film boasts a timeless 1920's vibe-- The Charleston Twins was written, directed, and performed by Sheilava and will be featured in the lobby at the Renaissance Charleston Hotel in Charleston, South Carolina.There are still dozens of songs, films, and projects underway, but many of Sheilava's published music videos, film endeavors, photography series, originals, and covers (including a Christmas album!) can be found via her social media accounts (Facebook, Soundcloud, Bandcamp, Instagram, and Youtube). Sheilava has pulled her music from Amazon, iTunes, and Spotify as a personal stance against the corporate music streaming giants.Outside of performing, modeling, acting, and songwriting, Sheilava also enjoys hiking, traveling, working on puzzles, playing video games, watching cartoons, golfing with her husband, and caring for her 3 rescue yorkies and one very ugly cat. Show less «