//BIOGRAPHY There are some who know what their dreams or passions are almost as soon as they are born. Aliyah Howell was not one of those people -- she had an average and uneventful childhood and was, by all accounts, somewhat mousy. As the youngest child and only daughter of Shawn and Evelyn, Aliyah was born in the shadow of an older brother who grew to be brilliantly charismatic and two parents who valued hard work and modesty; she did not have an actor's disposition, especially not one meant for the stage. After all, there is a pervasive and often well-deserved view of 'theatre kids' -- that they're obnoxiously loud, singing showtunes near-constantly, trapped in an endless cycle of their own drama. Aliyah's introduction to singing came through her church's choir at six years old. It would be nice to say that she was a natural, but there was no hint of any prodigious gift, she didn't blow anyone away. When she had a child's voice, understandably. However, as the years went on, her skill developed and Aliyah seemed more confident and happier singing. By the age of ten, she was enrolled in private singing lessons, dance lessons, anything to foster her talents and passions. To their credit, the Howell household was oft-chaotic, but undeniably supportive toward their childrens' interests. Had Shawn and Evelyn known that their child would grow up to live in New York and pursue a career on the Great White Way, they might have been a little more apprehensive, if only because they never wished for either of their children to struggle in a feast or famine business. Yet, during Aliyah's junior year of high school, she was bitten by the acting bug and became determined to study theatre in college, even in the face of rational arguments against it.

Even though she had never lived anywhere else or admittedly even really visited anywhere else, Aliyah never felt that she belonged in Orlando or anywhere else in Florida. Viewing the chance to leave for college as her ticket out of the sunshine state, Aliyah had always been a high-achieving student, even when extracurriculars or friendship drama or her first job threatened to derail her. By the time she graduated high school, Aliyah had a number of college prospects at her disposal, from across Florida to out of state. Naturally, her parents urged her to stay close to home -- it would be cheaper, they reasoned, and they would be able to help look out for her and help guide her toward a more useful degree. for the first time in her life, and in an admittedly not very cool way, Aliyah rebelled by deciding to attend Carnegie Mellon instead. While they did have attractive programs and scholarships to offer, the real reason she chose to matriculate at CMU was simply because it was the school took her the furthest from Florida. Being out from under her parents' thumb and surrounded by like-minded peers (that would be the aforemenetioned theatre kids, you know), Aliyah was able to blossom into a more assured and gregarious girl. As is the case for many, college was a time where she could truly grow into her own.

Although she had hoped that she would be able to graduate from college with a degree in hand, minimal amount of student debt, and solid prospects in New York City (or a national tour - she wasn't picky), little of that actually happened following her graduation. The student debt? More than she anticipated. The job prospects for a rookie and a woman of color? Slim to none. Aliyah remained in Pittsburgh for another year, working as a receptionist at an office and taking the odd local commercial job because 'no job was too small'. The greatest derailment to her post-graduate plan was finding out that she was pregnant. Though Aliyah got engaged to her boyfriend and was prepared to settle in Pennsylvania for the forseeable future, the baby miscarried just shy of four months into the pregnancy. With the impetus in their sudden engagement out of the picture, the relationship with her college sweetheart fell apart soon after, and Aliyah determined to move to New York with a renewed (and some would say manic) vigor. The job she worked didn't pay that well, but Aliyah lived as austerely as possible and begged her parents to help her cover the rest. In the end, she was able to move to New York in the fall of 2012.

As much as the move presented a fresh start, it was more challenging than she had anticipated. Undoubtedly, Aliyah had idealized the move to New York City and when she had finally pulled it off, reality set in. To start, she and her best friend from college had decided to brave the city together and pool their funds; while the living arrangement was fun, at first, eventually they found that they had to seperate in order to preserve the friendship (or avoid killing each other). Auditions pit her against a bevy of other talented actresses, and it was over a year, a considerable amount of time, before she managed to join the company of The Lion King (that one lioness slightly toward the back -- yeah that was her!). From The Lion King, she joined the company of Cabaret and from there, eventually landed a spot in the ensemble for Hamilton, where she currently is working -- the first time in her professional career where she occasionally gets to sub in as an understudy for one of the actual roles. Although Aliyah isn't quite where she hoped (or naively thought) she would be at this point in her life, she's working and able to make a living off eight-shows-a-week, able to afford a fairly cute apartment in the Lower East Side, and owns a ginger tabby with an affectionate disposition (for a cat) who runs her life, all of which indicate true markers of success in her eyes. Who's to say the rest won't come later?