Ronika Bates
undergraduate English student
Hometown: Baltimore, Maryland
High School: Edgewood High School
I am authentic.
I am thoughtful.
I am strong-willed.
I am passionate about my faith, life, relationships, and music. My life’s mission statement is to spread love and to be a light. I want to exhibit good energy wherever I go. I aspire to be a professional songwriter and singer, and I plan to spread love and good energy through my songs. I knew that I wanted to be a songwriter and singer at a very young age. I had my first musical performance when I was in the f ifth grade. A few years prior to that, around the third grade, I sent a short story called “The Orphans” to The Walt Disney Comp any for a short story competition. After several months of waiting to hear back from The Walt Disney Company, they finally responded via post card; they were not interested in my story, but they wished me well and sent me a pen. The pen had all of the Disney characters that were known at that time floating in sparkly water. This was not an ordinary pen. I never talked about the pen until I took my first poetry class at the University of Baltimore. I realized many years later that the pen was symbolism. It symbolized my innate desire to become a writer. My hope is that I become a successful songwriter and creative writer. I am working on my debut album, and I am proud of the songs that I have written on it so far.
My life’s mission statement is to spread love and to be a light.
Since I started recording my debut album, I have struggled with post nasal drip and chronic sinusitis; and it has been a hindrance to say the least . I have never had sinus issues my entire life and then one day they just appeared, so I have been pressing through that. I have one more song to record and then my album will be complete. I hope my story encourages other people to press through and never stop!