Today we’d like to introduce you to Dayna.
Hi Dayna, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
### HOW IT STARTED
My journey in music actually began very young. As a teenager, I had the opportunity to meet Abraham Quintanilla, and shortly afterward, doors began opening. I appeared as a singing contestant on *The Jenny Jones Show* and performed on *Showtime at the Apollo*. From there, I was recruited into the music industry by the owner of Showtime at the Apollo, Chuck Sutton, and later, a record executive affiliated with Bad Boy Records.
By 16, after graduating high school a year early, I signed a recording and production agreement with superstar production duo **The Underdogs — Harvey Mason Jr. and Damon Thomas — during their work under J Records and Clive Davis**. That experience became my real education in the recording industry. I learned songwriting, vocal production, Pro Tools, engineering basics and, most importantly, how to run my own recording sessions.
Over the years, I spent time under the management of **Nathan Morris of Boyz II Men** and crossed paths with some of the biggest producers and executives in music, including **Rodney Jerkins, Vincent Herbert, RedOne and Jimmy Iovine**. I was later sponsored for artist development by **Polow da Don through Interscope Records**.
### WHY I WALKED AWAY
I had invested most of my teenage years and young adulthood into becoming a recording artist, but eventually I became frustrated by how little control I felt I had over my own career.
I learned very young that talent and love for music were only part of the equation. So much depended on business, relationships and finding the right people who understood how to develop and market you. As a Chicana artist, I also struggled to find a team that truly understood my identity and the kind of music and artist I wanted to become.
By 2010, I made the incredibly difficult decision to close that chapter. I needed financial independence and a future that wasn’t dependent on someone in the music industry deciding whether or not to give me an opportunity.
I went to school for court reporting and became a Certified Shorthand Reporter in California in 2014. Today, I am an official criminal trial court reporter with national and federal realtime certifications.
### LIFE BROUGHT ME BACK TO MUSIC
Ironically, music came back into my life when my life became busier than ever.
I became a **single mother by choice**, and today I am the mother of a beautiful two-year-old daughter who is autistic. Somewhere within building my career and becoming a mother, music began calling me back — except this time, I returned with something I didn’t have when I was 16: **independence.**
I created **Ant House Records**, built my own recording studio and began recording and producing my vocals myself, using many of the skills I had learned decades earlier. Instead of waiting for someone in the industry to tell me what kind of artist I should be, I became **Dayna Donna** and started making the music that genuinely felt like me.
I found my musical home within the Chicano lowrider, oldies and old-school community. The response to my independently released recordings and classic remakes has given me an incredible amount of love and support. I’ve since collaborated with **East Side Story on Volumes 13 and 14**, performed at major lowrider shows and community events, and continued growing an audience completely independently.
### WHERE I AM NOW
Today, I’m writing original material and preparing to release my **debut album after all these years**. I’m also building a full live band that will be debuting soon.
What’s different now is that I’m not waiting for the music industry to give me permission.
I’m a mother. I’m a full-time criminal trial court reporter. I’m an independent recording artist, producer, studio owner and CEO of my own label. My life is fuller and busier than it has ever been — yet somehow, this is the moment when music finally feels the most authentic.
I’m proud to be **Dayna Donna**, and I’m proud that my story didn’t happen according to the timeline I once imagined.
The ultimate reason I continue doing this is bigger than music. I want my daughter — and anyone who has ever felt like life forced them to put a dream away — to see that a dream doesn’t necessarily disappear just because life takes you in another direction.
**You can build a life, reinvent yourself, come back years later and still become the person you once dreamed of being.**
That’s what Dayna Donna represents to me: **believing in yourself, finding your own way through, and never giving up the thing that makes you shine.**
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
No. It has not been a smooth road. I entered the music industry incredibly young and found myself in rooms with major producers, executives, and credited songwriters. But those rooms also gave me an early education in the realities of the business.
I saw how competitive writing camps could be, even among people who presented themselves as friends. I watched melodies and ideas I had created resurface in other writers’ songs with the words flipped, teaching me very quickly to protect my creativity.
There were pressures beyond the music, too. Executives were vocal about my appearance and how I photographed, even questioning why I looked “fatter” on camera than in person, when I weighed only 94 pounds. At that age, comments like those stayed with me.
Then there was the financial and logistical reality of simply staying in the game. I lived in Northern California while much of the industry was happening in Los Angeles. Before today’s world of easy internet collaborations and sending stems from a home studio, being considered often meant physically being there — sometimes for days at a time — ready to show up at a studio with little notice whenever a writer or producer suddenly became available, whether late at night or at odd hours of the morning. You were expected to snap your fingers and be available.
I also learned what it meant to be an independent, self-driven woman in an industry where so many of the rooms I entered were led by male executives and producers. There were times I felt underestimated or expected to simply go along with someone else’s vision. I had to learn to speak up, defend my perspective, trust my instincts, and fight to have my ideas taken seriously. Those experiences ultimately taught me how important it was to have a voice not only behind the microphone, but in the decisions surrounding my career.
It became expensive, exhausting, and increasingly clear how much of a young artist’s career could depend on access, proximity, relationships, and someone else’s schedule.
Eventually, I stepped away.
When I returned to music, I returned differently — able to produce, record my own sessions, protect my creativity, and build something that belonged to me.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m an independent singer, songwriter, producer, and performer specializing in soul, R&B, oldies, and funk, with a sound and style deeply influenced by my genuine love and respect for all genres of music. I grew up listening to every genre of music. Through my independent label, Ant House Records, I record and produce my own music and have built a career that allows me to create on my own terms.
What I’m most proud of is that the music I release today is music I truly believe in. It is 100% authentic to who I am — my influences, my experiences, my culture, and the music that genuinely moves me. I’m not trying to fit into a trend or become someone I’m not, and in return, my community has shown me an incredible amount of genuine love.
When I perform, I sing from my heart. My intention isn’t simply to hit the notes — it’s to connect with people and make them feel what I’m singing about. Every time I step off a stage, I feel that love come back to me.
After spending so much of my early life navigating the traditional music industry, there is something incredibly fulfilling about realizing that what sets me apart now is also the thing I’m most proud of:
I’m just being me — and people are connecting with it.
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Growing up, I was very shy and introverted. It was very difficult to make friends with my peers. I have memories of playing alone and just finding comfort in music/singing. In my teenage years, I found my confidence in my voice and performing at local festivals and fundraisers. And later became a very focused and goal-oriented person. When i am not doing music, or work, or being a mom/active advocate for my daughter, I enjoy hikes and long walks out in nature. I love spending time with my family or going to live music events.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.daynadonna.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daynadonnamusic
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DaynaDonnaMusicArtist/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXnKSS7gvMeJSzoPGGbznjw
- Other: https://linktr.ee/daynadonna
