Get to know the team at Healthworks! Today, we sit down with Vanda Bernadeau, a vibrant young woman who joined the Chestnut Hill front desk last August.  In addition to working at Healthworks, Vanda (aka Dutch ReBelle) is a recording artist who put together her first song, “Beauty VS the Beast,” in 2011. We loved learning more about Vanda beyond her front desk duties and hope you do too!

Hi Vanda! First things first, we want to know how you first got started in becoming a recording artist.  I have been rapping since I was 9 years old.  My poetic and freestyle skills allowed me to hang out with my older brother and his friends without being judged.  They were fascinated with my talent.

Who is your greatest influence? Missy Elliot. She is fearless with her creativity and takes on all different topics in an entertaining way through dancing, visuals, and delivery.

Do you have a dream venue? I hope to one day play in an arena similar to where I have watched artists like opera legend Andrea Boccelli, Zouk, Compas, Carimi and Tabou Combo.

Who do you listen to while you exercise? I don’t listen to my own music when I exercise because it feels like I’m talking to myself.  Lately, I have been listening to a lot of Azealia Banks’ album, Broke with Expensive Taste, and also a rad hip hop artist who goes by Schoolboy Q. Kendrick Lamar’s Collard Greens gets me going easily and I like to work out to dancehall reggae like Vybz Kartel and Elephant Man because the music is so fast paced and bass driven.

How do you stay in good vocal shape? I like to rap the verses of other people’s records or performances. If I can’t keep my beat and/or words during someone else’s performance (the distraction) then I don’t have it down enough. Fast or slow, I should be able to deliver it.

When writing songs, what inspires you?  I’m really inspired by the stories, conversations, and wisdom I pick up on my day-to-day hustle. I feel like a painter in a sense where I take in a scene, but my challenge is getting people to see it the way I do. The most inspiring moment I had writing was when I was trying to record myself for the first time on Garageband.  I was really upset over a relationship and I needed to refocus my energy, so I wrote the whole song in about 20 minutes. That song was “Love Is” from ReBelle Diaries.

 Currently, her latest single, “Kiss Kiss” is available on iTunes and Google Play.