The big dream ignited when Jeni's elementary music teacher chose her to sing her first solo, the well known, Tomorrow, from Annie. A few years after Jeni's "debut",  a highly skilled mezzo soprano named Helene Jenner, began teaching in Jeni's hometown. This mentoring relationship became one of the most influential in Jeni's young life. Helene was passionate, energetic, full of faith and love and everything one could hope for in a teacher. 

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During high school, Jeni discovered she could make decent money working as  a model.  She caught the attention of a  Japanese agency that offered her a contract to work in Osaka after high school graduation, terrifying to Jeni's parents, thrilling to Jeni.  After several months in Osaka, Jeni moved to Chicago where she began studying at Columbia College as a theater major. This was short lived, she was asked to go back to Japan and work for a few months in Tokyo with a different agency and decided to take the opportunity. After this second trip to Japan, and a stretch in  Milan and Münich,  Jeni moved to NYC for a musical theater intensive offered through NYU. 

She then made the official move back to NYC with the occasional trip back to Tokyo. 

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New York had everything an aspiring musical theater performer could hope for, all of the tools to help one pursue the Broadway stage. For Jeni, this meant many hours at Steps on Broadway, developing the dance skills that would bring her to a solid "singer who moves well" status, she also continued theater training and combed Backstage for singing auditions. Ironically, it was a side gig in a restaurant that led her to her first off-broadway performance at the Theater for the New City, when a producer she waited on hired her for his show after someone quit. It felt like the start of something.

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The something, she assumed, was the Broadway stage, but,

after a chance meeting on a subway with a screenwriter

who approached her regarding his project about

songwriters from the '70's, things changed .

She was enchanted by the songwriting

scene and intrigued by the film idea.

The writer introduced Jeni to several guitar players

he hoped to pull in to work on the project.

One of them was David Dubé, who would become

Jeni's first songwriting mentor. The film was

never made, but, Jeni and Dave began writing together and

occasionally, Jeni would join Dave's band,

to perform the material she and Dave had written. 

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​During her transition to folk-rock music, Jeni began

studying voice with celebrated vocal coaches

Don Lawrence and Katie Agresta,

training her in techniques helpful for

pop and rock singers. Later, studying with Craig Derry

who coached with a powerful R&B/gospel

influence and jazz singer Hagit Goldberg, who

helped her fine tune with her legit technique.

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​​​​​​When Dave's band moved out west for new opportunities,

 Jeni started working with up and coming guitarist/producer

Jeff Coplan. This time in the studio was priceless,

an education in collaboration and recording.

Many studio musicians and friends contributed their talent

in order to complete Jeni's first album, My Two Minds, currently

still streaming.

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​This was the start!  Jeni went on performing her tunes with bandmates

Mads Fredskilde and Kiai Kim in various venues around NYC 

including the Bitter End, CB's Gallery, The Spiral and Limelight and around

Europe. 

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