Front Row - Manika Ward

Being only 17, Manika has already hit the stage, published a children’s book, and supported the Nevada Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals shelter.  Although this triple threat has experienced so many exciting accomplishments at a young age, she still is looking to do much more.

Born and raised in Las Vegas, where she still lives now, by a dad from the East Coast and a mom from the Philippines, Manika has been singing for as long as she could remember.  “I always had great academics, so everyone was surprised that music was my choice.  I always knew that music was what I wanted.  I begged my parents for a vocal coach, and finally got one, CeCe Sammy (Pop Idol, United Kingdom), about a year and a half ago.”

         
Manika also caught the eye of Michael Jackson’s manager, Frank DiLeo.  Although he was intimidating to work with at first, Manika thought she had to be extra god because of who he is, she said, “he is such a nice guy, and he put me to ease right away.”

         
Without the huge support of her family and friends, Manika expresses, “I wouldn’t be where I am today; they are just fabulous.”  Because “everyone started to find out [about her singing career] about 1-2 years ago,” and she was still attending school during the building of her upcoming career, it was tricky to balance everything.  Before graduating a year early, her reaction to the jealousy of her classmates was, “it helped me realize who my true friends were.”  She is still able to keep in contact with her friends.  Even though they are all at college, they are able to see each other during holiday breaks.  

One of Manika’s conquered challenges was time management.  “I learned to be time efficient.”  One of her successful techniques is, “I work on something for a specific amount of time, and work really hard at that one thing to get it done in that allotted time frame.”

Some of Manika’s musical influences are Alanis Morissette, Vanessa Carlton, and Aerosmith.  She likes to write about, but is not limited to, things people her age can relate to, such as, boy-crushes and reaching out for your dreams.  “I really like writing with other people too because they have their own personal experiences to put into the song as well.”  Although she is only 17 years old, “my manager always listens to me and never makes me do anything that would make me feel uncomfortable. I would never record a song I don’t love.”

         
With her grandpa, dad, and uncle all being professional authors, Manika exclaimed, “I saw how excited they got over writing a book and having it published, so I wanted to experience that too!  Writing could be done anywhere, that’s what’s so great about it!”  At the age of 12, Manika started her 3 year writing process.  She decided to work on a children’s book, because she wanted to start out small and a novel was just too big.  Through her journey, she became a great writer and learned all of the “secret tricks” for perfection.  Her book The Exciting Adventures of Boo teaches children ten important life lessons taken from her own experiences.  Boo makes learning about how to handle childhood challenges fun.

         
After publishing her first children’s book, Manika did not stop there.  With 2 dogs, 2 birds, 3 rabbits, 2 rats, and 2 tortoises of her own, she said, “I wanted to find a way to help animals.” Referring to the NSPCA shelter she said, “I love their ‘no-kill’ policy.”  Manika started to sell her book for $20.00 each behind her own setup booth at the NSPCA shelter.  All of the money she raised, which was $15,000, was happily donated to the animal shelter.

         
Although fairly new to the on-stage live performances, Manika is continuing her career and is looking forward to a bright and busy future!