Upon moving to the New York area after college, Cheryl Engelhardt immediately involved herself with the songwriting scene, playing her own material wherever she could, from participating in open mics to headlining in Manhattan clubs. By playing keys in rock groups, Cheryl started to make enough connections to form her own band. The quartet, including a guitar, drums, bass and her keyboards, also has invited saxaphone and string players to join their recordings and live performances. Every show is an explosion of innovations and unmistakable intellect, from music video screenings to emotionally charged classical renditions of original rock songs.

Cheryl continues to construct her own musical path drawn from her desire to overcome challenges to write vividly real and emotional lyrics. Cheryl's storytelling recounts painful desire for success, satirical views of the opposite sex and her personal experiences in love. Her lyrics are supported dramatically by her piano performances and the arrangements of her songs. Her self-produced, debut album, Shoes Off And Run, is a product of sheer determination that benchmarks how far she has come in the past few years and radiates incredible potential. The inside of Cheryl's debut album cover states: "There are two ways to look at a picture; from the outside and from the inside...Welcome to the inside." One good listen to Shoes Off And Run, and you feel like you truly are on the inside. Please move your mouse over Warning by Cheryl B. Engelhardt to listen to her music. (Click the refresh button on your browser to stop or replay the music.)

Q: What inspires your career in the performing arts?
A: "My inspirations have changed drastically over the past year. For my entire life, sitting behind a piano was the most comfortable place on earth for me. When I realized I wanted to do something with music, I had to move beyond the comfort of my own musical perceptions and really listen to other music; what was selling, what made sense, what I might contribute. In November 2003, when I started to put my own band together and finish up my first batch of songs for the album, I learned how very seriously I took other musicians' opinions of my music. Since I was still forming my style, the musicians I played with worked hard to force me to decide what I wanted to sound like. The current members of my band all have different musical backgrounds from myself and have broadened my horizons in so many ways. It is because of them that I want to create the best music I can — so that they recognize it as valuable and enjoy playing it."

Q: How did GA prepare you for your career in the performing arts?
A: "GA taught me to multi-task, to assert myself in a male-run industry and to write well. Those are the first three things that come to mind. I had many opportunities at GA to explore everything I wanted, from science clubs and sports to music and drama. And, I did it all. The nice thing, different from college, is that it was accepted to be a part of several groups and activities. Being allowed to do several things I loved made me (subconsciously) be aware of scheduling, balancing time and energy, and forced me early on to deal with a variety of different people (drama kids versus coaches versus biologists).

The second point — asserting myself in a male-run industry, is very real to me. I used to dread the Thursday assembly panels —when a GA alum would come in and give her "how I made it in a man's world" speech. "Yadda, yadda, yadda," said my high-school low-attention span brain. Then, at Cornell University, I quickly learned how my confidence level, my comfort level and my ability to speak articulately in classes was much more advanced than that of other girls. And being the only girl in my music technology classes forced me to be competitive with a population of male students who stereotypically were better at that subject than girls. All of this, combined with directing a female a cappella group and being a role model for 15 girls, forced me to admit that GA did, in fact, make a huge impact on my ability to embrace my strengths as a female and work well within my community, whether it is male-dominated or not.

Lastly, GA's education was such fantastic preparation for Cornell University, where I majored in both music and biology and society, a policy-based biology major. The amount of writing I did was phenomenal and having had a rigorous high school education allowed me to get the most out of Cornell's education, rather than to force me to spend four years trying to figure out how to study."

Q: Did you have any mentors at GA that inspired you?
A: "Deborah O'Brien and John DiCarlo."

Q: How did you train for your career after GA?
A: "Becoming a music major at Cornell gave me some technical skills. I took an internship at a recording studio, which allowed me to develop some amazing music industry connections. I then took on several free-lance composing jobs I found on the Internet to build my reel. From then on, I joined bands, took a video editing job and basically did as much as I could that related to music and the process of creating it."

Q: What is your advice for students and alumnae interested in pursuing music as a career?
A: "I never know how to answer this. I think it takes a real talent and a special person to grab the attention of the public, of producers, of labels, of anyone whom the musician is trying to reach. I haven't done it yet. I'm still reaching. So when I figure out what works, I definitely will get back to you on this one."