AINAE

Age: 21
Hometown: Washington, D.C.
Resident: Silver Spring, Maryland

Ainae was born into an Ethiopian-American family that was very musical. Her grandmother ran an admired jazz club, her father was an audio engineer and her mother worked in music marketing. Ainae got involved in her arts community and loved singing, but she only thought of it as a hobby while she focused on competitive swimming. It wasn't until her senior year of high school that she began to consider music a potential career and started taking vocal lessons and performing at open mic nights. Ainae is now a senior at Howard University and spends her time livestreaming her original music and curating events that support developing artists.