Her Story
About Maraia
Mariah Mariselli is a musician and host in the entertainment industry based in Anaheim, California. She began her career playing shows around 2020 after being inspired by her parents' musical backgrounds and becoming self-taught on instruments from a young age. In middle school, she auditioned for and attended an arts high school, where she met her bandmates, formed a band, and started hosting shows, eventually expanding to host other bands as well. After facing mental health challenges, she pursued training with the California Conservation Corps to work as a park ranger in nature, which provided her with valuable discipline, teamwork, and leadership skills that she applies to her music career. Mariselli attributes her success to creating diverse, mixed-genre lineups without judgment, a lesson learned from her mentor, and emphasizes authenticity and passion in her work. She advises young women entering the industry to pursue opportunities like sound engineering without self-doubt, noting that it is not as difficult as it may seem. Her goals include hosting large festivals with mixed lineups, similar to an expanded version of GirlFest.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Maraia
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to having very mixed genre lineups and not showing much judginess towards certain bands. I learned from my mentor that diverse lineups are really cool and nothing needs to be all separated especially when the genres are still all heavy. You can just all hang out together and enjoy music.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best career advice is it's not about who you know, it's about who knows you. You can talk to all these people but if you're only coming to ask them for things and not really try to offer anything then people either aren't gonna have a good reception of you or they're not even gonna remember you. It's important to see what I can offer them too and work together and collaborate as opposed to social climbing.
03What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Don't belittle yourself as much as men might because there are so many things that women don't want to pursue because they feel like they're either going to get judged or that they can't do it right. You just have to do it because it's not as hard as it seems. Like you can do it and you can bring the same value as they can.
04What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
I'm at a point where I started with a lot of the DIY stuff so very like backyards and everything. Half of those people want to get more famous but the other half feel like it's against their morals and don't want to be like some and there can be some judginess or people will call you a sellout even if you look at just a slightly bigger venue at least with the punk scene. There was just a little bit of hesitation to get more famous because I was like oh what if people think I'm a sellout but I'm still paying all my bands and I haven't shown any greed.
05What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Authenticity 100 percent and just real passion. A lot of people are scared to come across as cringe or too chalant but I think that's the most important thing you can be if you're gonna do this path. You gotta be authentic and you have to believe in yourself because otherwise other people might not see the vision.
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