Well, let me start my story with a parable: “There once was a very small girl whose mother asked her to fill up a barren valley with water..

I think I realized early on that I could either be really bitter about it, or I could gain a lot of really great life skills...

I was a very reclusive child and a runaway kid. There was already so much going on inside my head and I couldn’t handle the overload...

I loved my mom, but I didn’t get much time with her because she had bad lungs. She already had asthma, but her job only worsened...

That year, there was a massacre in an eastern village. Nearly 600 were killed with sprays of bullets and machetes...

At the time, my father was unemployed and my mother was the teen-mom stereotype. They were already burdened with a daughter before me...

When I was young, my parents moved to Minnesota, to a town of 600 people. So, from the start, I was raised a bit separate from society...

Ever since I was a baby, my parents, siblings, and I visited Buenos Aires, Argentina, many times. It was always super fun to visit...

I had good, rowdy mates to play Cricket with and go to raucous Saturday morning kids’ movies with, and I went to a private British school...

My dad was always in my peripheral vision, but as a busy musician, he never really stayed long enough for me or my older sister to get...

In 1999, my parents faced some financial struggles, so Grammy and Grandpa opened the door to us. It was just like the weekends we...

I’ve been playing in metal bands since I was in high school. From the moment I heard the thunderous fast-paced chug of the melody, I was...

At this point, the band had been on the road for days. Our clothes were glued to our bodies with sweat and our muscles winced from nights...

I was a very chubby kid since childhood; I enjoyed food and was very carefree. I loved to dance and sing. I grew up with one sister who...

They were highly skilled musicians, but unfortunately, our family was very poor because neither of my parents made much at their teaching...

My grandparents raised me and my cousin, Lance, after my parents divorced when I was five. We lived in a trailer. Grandpa made our...