How she started
Giselle Hernandez is a 29-year-old Filipino-Australian singer residing at the Yarra Valley with her long-time partner Shaun Harrop.
She has been singing since she was 8 years old and was encouraged by her grandmother to pursue music.
" My Lola was the one who has pushed me and pursued a bit of my singing life since I was a little girl, at this time I was already singing in many competitions around Melbourne," says Ms Hernandez.
Her first singing competition was the Red Nose at the Knox Shopping centre where she won 3rd place singing the Titanic theme song 'My Heart Will Go On'.
At 14 years old, she also joined other singing competitions like the Australian Idol where she made it to top 50, The Voice Philippines and X Factor.
When her voice developed during her high school years, she pursued a few training in opera music.
Giselle Hernandez in the Voice Philippines audition. Source: Giselle Hernandez
" I would love to continue learning opera as I feel it is the best technique anyone could use to develop themselves in singing," says Ms Hernandez.
When she graduated, she enrolled herself into Box Hill Music and turned her focus on jazz and contemporary.
She also won the TFCkat worldwide singing competition back in 2014 where she represented Australia and NZ, and won a free trip to the Philippines to meet 'Showtime' cast and visit the ABS-CBN set.
One of her unforgettable moments in the trip was when she met and was vocal coached by Gary Valenciano together with the other 7 winners.
When she returned to Australia, she was flown to Sydney to perform at the Kapamilya concert as TFCkat's 2014 winner.
On writing her own songs
She has always written songs but was not confident to perform and pursue it, until recently.
" I have started writing songs last year and since I was given a baritone ukulele, I have grown more confident in myself and my songs," says Ms Hernandez.
Ms Hernandez also performs at open mic nights around the Yarra Valley and sings for the ASA (Australian Songwriting Association) in Yarra Junction every 2nd week of the month.
This year, she is planning on producing her first album.
" I hope to start recording my EP mid year and to hopefully start my career path as a singer songwriter," says Ms Hernandez.
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