Palestinian-Chilean Elyanna Is a Singer And Advocate

Even as a child, Elyanna felt destined to make her mark as an artist, but that dream didn’t always feel attainable. Growing up in Nazareth, she didn’t see many people making a career out of their art, so the idea seemed almost impossible. Despite this, she continued to work toward everything she hoped would happen, like recently making her TV debut on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, where she became the first artist to sing in Arabic on the program. “My family and friends always knew I wanted to be an artist,” she says. “To everyone, it felt so unreal. But I know this is what I’m meant to do. It was never something that was like, ‘I just love to sing.’ It was always deeper than that. For me, I had a drive naturally.”