A lifelong observer, chronicler, and creative force, she has spent decades gathering fragments of the world – memories, landscapes, voices, losses, joys – and transforming them into urgent, electric songs.

Vakili’s journey to music has been anything but linear – shaped by what she calls “a life lived.” Born in Honduras to a family of six, she was raised across Honduras, Florida, Thailand, Puerto Rico, and Iowa – absorbing pieces of each place, each culture, along the way. Her first language was Spanish; her father was an immigrant. This international, mixed upbringing shaped her voice, her worldview, and her lifelong search for connection.

Before she found her footing in music, Vakili built a life as a dancer, an actor, a lawyer, and a mother – gathering stories, learning to listen, and bearing witness to the complicated, often contradictory nature of being human. She was drawn to songwriting not by ambition or industry, but by a deep, undeniable need to give voice to the world around her and the one within. Over time, music became her creative home: A space where rawness and risk are not just welcome, but essential. The past decade has seen her channel that force through five studio albums – released both as a solo artist and with Vakili Band – each one experimenting with the wide, untamed possibilities of rock.

“I love the serendipitous nature of art,” Vakili says. “It’s disruptive, it’s intentional, it’s an exertion of will.”