Victoria Mitchell
VOX is thrilled to welcome intern Victoria Mitchell to the organization!
Victoria, who is Native American, grew up on the Quechan Indian Reservation in Arizona before moving to LA to attend college. Currently a Music Major at Santa Monica College, Victoria is a percussionist who specializes in the marimba thanks to her desire to show off as a child! To learn more about what drew Victoria to working with VOX and how she ended up with a dog named Happy, read on...
1. What do you do outside of your internship with VOX?
I am currently starting my second year at Santa Monica College as a music major, so I’m usually doing some form of studying or practicing. My main instrument is the marimba, but I also like to include snare, timpani, piano, and drumset into my practice regimen. In my free time I love to cook, bake, and spend time with family and friends!
2. What drew you to working with VOX?
As someone who is passionate about the arts, I wanted to work within a creative organization. My professor sent me a flier about the VOX internship, and I knew it would be a perfect fit. Not only did it align with my future goals of working in musical ensembles, but was also an organization that made its mission of inclusivity extremely clear. Being any kind of minority in the arts is hard, and I admired every aspect of VOX’s mission.
3. What made you decide to study percussion?
This is actually a funny story! I started playing piano around the age of 10, so I had already had the ability to read basic rhythms and follow a metronome. In 5th grade, the middle school band directors came to my school to enroll students in band and help them decide on an instrument. Since percussion was the only section you had to audition and have prior knowledge for, I thought it would be nice to show off… and I ended up being accepted! I was definitely a child full of personality.
4. What would you like to do in the future?
While I’m still deciding on a path, my current goal is to finish up my last year at Santa Monica College and then transfer to a university. I have always wanted to go into music education, but lately have been considering going into music therapy instead. Music has healed me in profound ways, and I am so excited to spread my knowledge to future generations!
5. Anything else you would like to share?
I’m incredibly passionate about animal welfare, which had led me to become a foster dog parent through the organization named A Wish For Animals. In the past 6 months, I’ve fostered around 10 dogs, which have all been adopted into their forever homes. I did recently fail at this whole fostering thing though… and ended up adopting our most recent foster dog, our lazy cocker spaniel named Happy :)