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Local singer-songwriter aims to encourage youth with new single

Sofia Evangelina steps away from competitive skiing to chase musical dreams
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musical message Whistlerite Sophia Evangelina has a busy year ahead. PHOTO submitted

It turns out the lessons you learn from years on the slopes can translate to other life pursuits as well.

That's what 16-year-old Whistlerite Sofia Evangelina found when she was balancing competitive skiing and a music career.

"One thing that will always be with me is my extreme sport athlete mentality," she says. "Let's say, focus. You are at the biggest competition of your life, you need a laser-sharp focus right before you drop ... Now I am applying the same focus, to everything else in life, and carrying it with me into the music business."

This season, Evangelina took a step back from skiing to focus more on music and acting—but "a skier once is a skier for life," she adds.

"It's my first season of not competing. It's a very, very strange sensation for someone who used to train every day of her life. Hours on the ski hill, then trampoline, come home tired, next day again. Next week, the same. Next year, the same. The music career involves a different kind of hard work. Business grinding, dance choreography, song writing, vocal... It's almost more tiring. I need more endurance training now," she says.

But the young singer-songwriter reached a few milestones last year. First, she released her debut cover album, Butterfly, followed by an original single "This is Your Song," with an accompanying video.

The track, co-written and recorded with Bryant Olender in his studio in Vancouver, encourages young people to chase their dreams and find confidence within themselves.

"Being a full-time athlete, changing schools and travelling the world, and sometimes training for a few weeks or months in Europe or the U.S., I got to hang out with many kids from different cultures, demographics and walks of life," she says. "I've noticed that no matter where I went, all kids have the same or similar issues they are dealing with ... They go through bullying and desperately need help. The bullies are sometimes the ones who need help or need to be heard."

The video, meanwhile, was recorded in L.A. after travelling to Mammoth Mountain for a World Cup competition. "We had time in between the World Cup in Mammoth, Calif. and the next competition in Calgary. Everyone was flying ... but we were driving. So my mom who came from studying filmmaking in L.A., and I decided, since we are so close to L.A. why wouldn't we drop by to say hello to friends and 'test the waters' for making music videos in the near future. In the one week we were there, we ended up filming five music videos. Don't ask me how," she says.

On top of videos, Evangelina also has more songs on the way. "The next two singles that are coming out very soon—one is about to be released and the other one, one month later, we are working on a music video as we speak—are also co-written with my producer Bryant Olender," she says. "After I got hooked on songwriting, I can't stop. I have several songs in various stages of songwriting or production, they either were written entirely by myself or are a result of collaboration with some absolutely stunning song writers."

While a tour is also in the works, the details are still under wraps.

"I'll be able to tour different schools in the U.S. and Canada and share all my messages," she says. "That will be a growing tour that with time, will expand to the U.K. and other countries in Europe. I'm very honoured and humbled to be a part of this mission."

For more information and to hear her music visit www.sofiaevangelina.com.