Meet Our Scholars

Haleluyan Etienne was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, to an African American father and an Ashkenazi-Jewish mother. Etienne's parents were both young, emotionally unavailable, and incapable of raising children in a healthy and nurturing environment. Etienne's father left when they were two years old, and at age eight, they were taken out of their mother's care by the government due to physical abuse and neglect. Before they could go into the foster system, Etienne's grandmother took their into their care and became their legal guardian until they moved to a boarding school at 14 years old. Etienne had many traumas to cope with, but her love of music and the belief that one day they might break their familial cycles of dysfunctionality and use their success to help those with similar upbringings kept thhem going. In 2015 Haleluyan Etienne moved to the United States to pursue a career in the music industry. However, they went back for a few months in 2016 to participate in a singing reality show called "The Next Star," where they made it to the top ten. In 2017, Etienne began working on their own music and released their first single, "Still Cares" in 2018.