It is, I believe, the greatest city on the planet. I’ve been fully indoctrinated into its magical ways and will always regard it as such. Even after ten years away, I miss the excitement, the glitter, the scope of possibilities… the allure is always there.

I would recommend it to anyone. Truly. I think it is an experience everyone should have. Not just visiting, but living there, working and struggling there, because it gives you gifts of enormous value: toughness, confidence, courage, wonder.

On September 9, 1998, I got on a plane in Portland, Oregon headed to New York City, New York. I had a purse, a carry-on, and two large suitcases. I had a temporary place to stay in a women’s dorm on 34th Street. I had the possibility of two jobs. And a voice teacher.

I moved to New York City to study with a voice teacher. But not just any voice teacher, THE voice teacher: Cornelius L. Reid

In March of 1998, my life changed forever. This was when I first met Cornelius Reid, the man who profoundly changed my singing voice, the way I sang, the way I thought about singing, the way I taught, the way I thought about and viewed the world, musically and otherwise, gave me a career, a profession and a new passion.

Christmas time presents me with the perfect opportunity to write a love letter to New York City.

"Do you miss living in New York?” is a question I get asked on a regular basis these days. Some people look at me with great pity that I am no longer there; others look incredulous that I ever lived there in the first place. Do I miss New York City? No. Yes. Depends on the day, really.