Shani: Thank you. Well, really I think it probably stemmed from a health crisis I had in my 20s when I was faced with an ovarian cancer diagnosis. While at that time I focused on getting better, I think part of the "mental" recovery was trying to make sense of it all. For me, part of the healing was not dwelling on my case and taking the focus off of me. I began to think about the people that would not have been surrounded by family support, that didn't have health insurance and on and on. And I felt like I had to do something. I eventually joined the board of a women's clinic in Los Angeles that provided low cost or no cost exams and screening and also a counseling center. And through doing fundraisers which meant getting your hands dirty: making calls, setting up events and all of that, I felt like I was actually making a difference in people's lives.
That felt good. And I liked that feeling of knowing there was "power" in that. We can't always control what happens to us but we can control our actions in going forward. So I began to utilize that in all ways. Through my work as an artist - I realized that by performing for causes or donating material or a performance, that was another way of giving. Now it's just part of my life. I work with animal rescue and just try to think about what I can do to help where I can for both people and animals...and, of course, the planet if necessary!
JB: I agree 100% that we're only able to control our actions and, I'd add, attitude. But we can make a big difference through a positive attitude which then fuels our actions. Speaking of animals, share with us your post-Katrina pet rescue efforts, please.
Shani: Well, after Hurricane Katrina, everyone remembers the feeling of pure helplessness watching what was happening there. I started making calls after wondering what was happening with the animals that were running all around the streets, separated from their owners who sadly couldn't take them and they would already be devastated by that. Also, I was thinking of those animals who were trapped in homes that people had left, who just couldn't get home, who were thinking they'd be back the next day. These pets had essentially been abandoned - domesticated animals that wouldn't know what to do. So I began calling around and found so much red tape with various groups being overwhelmed, or not answering calls or, when they did, couldn't take anything but money from callers. I felt that it was about action steps, boots on the ground and quick!
So being that I grew up in Hot Springs about seven hours away, I decided to put an ad in the paper looking for rescue workers or paid volunteers to go into New Orleans. They would need to do what everyone was doing there, camp or sleep in cars and really "rough it" as that's what was happening there. A friend of mine screened the calls and we put together about six people, who all went in. I had found a grassroots group online on Petfinder.com's message board which was such a flutter of information and the dire situation that was there. Other people came in from nearby areas, donating cages, water, food and many items. There was an all-out regional effort of various people and companies volunteering and connecting through the internet. So I had these rescuers that I was sponsoring connect to this home base in New Orleans so they would have a place to report to and from.
This went on for two weeks. I sent money through Western Union. It was just a leap of faith but I would lie in my bed at night and cry thinking of what had happened there and how I was in my warm bed with my happy animals and just couldn't stand not doing anything. I also had work commitments so I had to travel. I would be doing sound check in some city and be on the phone with one of the rescuers asking me if he could stay - he felt there was just more to do. And I just said, as long as I can keep supporting this as there was a need, I would. It was tough but we helped and saved some animals. One of the rescuers, an ex-military man, ended up adopting one of them and took her home. She was skin and bones and hiding under a house. I'll never forget that whole ordeal.
JB: You took the daunting factors of distance and other commitments and nevertheless parlayed them into a workable plan. Good for you. Speaking of those isolated and alone, there was an intriguing story associated with one of the artists in the We Hear Your Voice project. You went out of your way to insure his participation. Can you talk about that for a moment?
Shani: Yes. While many of the artists are major stars in their regions, I found Sung Bong Choi's story on the internet. He was a contestant on KOREA'S GOT TALENT and his audition piece is now up to more than 100 million hits now on YouTube because it's such a heartwarming story. He was an orphan at age three and apparently endured an abusive situation in an orphanage and escaped. He raised himself on the streets of Korea from age five.
He loved music and it helped him find happiness. He would listen to singers in a nightclub where he was able to hear them and he loved classical singing. So his story of going from this to auditioning and singing this classical song in front of a live audience and on television was very powerful and inspirational. I just knew we needed him in this project because of his personal story of choosing to overcome fears and the past and, through music, he was able to find a new chapter. I also thought it was tying to the message of charity and thinking of all of the children like him who are still needing help. He gives back now and he wanted to be a part of this message for children and hope for the future.
JB: Lovely. You sing in so many languages - Farsi, Arabic, Spanish, Italian and French - as well as English, that many fans are surprised to find out that you were actually born in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Take us back in time. How did music and acting figure in your childhood?
Shani: Yes, I know it's not a stereotypical path! I was always into music and as a little girl, I sang and danced to my parents' record collection. My dad played drums, so I developed a strong sense of rhythm and it serves me well to this day because a lot of the international musical influences I've been exposed to are heavily into rhythm. I think I was sensitive to it and that inspired me. I was also that kid that play-acted A LOT! I would just talk and talk to people that weren't there and would pretend to be on the air of some show and so many things like that - I know kids do this to some extent but I was way out there!
Also I would put little shows on in my garage and go around to the neighbors and tell them there was a show later that afternoon and it would cost a quarter! So I guess even then I was producing, too. My poor friends who I forced to be in my shows with me! Anyway, they say kids show you their interests early and lucky for me, my parents recognized and nurtured and never deterred me. Our move to California was primarily so I could become formally trained for my craft, either college or private study or both. The international influence came later.
JB: Don't leave us in suspense! Your family packed up and moved to California. Then what?
Shani: Well, we left like the Beverly Hillbillies! And I continued school in L.A. I landed in the middle of a recently exiled group of Persian people in my apartment complex. A very famous singer lived there and musicians were coming and going all the time. He learned that I was a singer and invited me to sing in a popular nightclub. I wasn't even old enough to be in there but I was singing regularly in front of a packed house. It was a party scene. I was singing mostly American covers but, little by little, was learning the intricacies of their music. As time went on, I was invited to join another popular artist named Andy. He asked me to officially join his band and I began to do many videos and tour the world.
Prior to the eventual touring, I was writing and recording a lot of my own music and shopping it around, trying to find a recording deal. I was also training as an actor in some heavy "method-type" instruction. So I was also auditioning and doing roles here and there. It was a crazy time. But I was thankful to be able to work on what I was moved to do. I was just trying to make a living and had no idea what was going to click.
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