Nia Allen was one of the finalists for this year’s Talent Search Competition organised by the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport.
Passionate about a career as a musician, the young, charismatic songbird is marching on to the internationally-recognized Berkeley School of Music.
She is expected to start her studies in January 2022, and because of her humble background, Nia says that she and her family will be creating a GoFundMe platform, hoping to garner enough support to ensure that she is able to focus more on her studies and less on her expenses as a student.
Even though the COVID-19 pandemic has put a damper on many opportunities to perform and get exposure, Nia Allen says that she is quite thankful to have been able to participate in the government’s talent search competition.

“ This competition has helped me realise that you don’t necessarily need an audience to put on the best performance , because it has been very challenging because of COVID to perform in front of people. You have to feel the emotion of the song and the performance through the cameras,” Nia posited.
Reflecting on her journey throughout the competition, Nia said that she was pleased with her efforts, and ecstatic to have been named a winner.
“I have been satisfied with all of my performances because I did my best for every one of them,” she remarked during her interview with the Buzz.
Notwithstanding her hard work, Nia Allen said the win was not all hers.

“Well, if it wasn’t for the Lord for keeping me alive until this day , there was no way I could have finish the competition, so all the credit go to him,” Allen noted.
More than just being able to be on stage and perform, Nia is grateful for the opportunities for networking that the competition afforded.
“My experience during the competition was fun, I got to meet a lot of talented people and those same people became family and even those that I had to work with, which would be the band, the sound crew, the tech crew and everybody; they were just so welcoming,” Nia said.
Additionally, the young woman related that also she received lots of support from her family, friends and people from all walks of life, who were thrilled by her performance last Sunday.

OVERCOMING CHALLENGES
As many person who have soared to heights, Nia too was faced with episodes of disappointments and distractions which had become all too familiar.
However, over the years, Nia says that she has learnt how to use these to her advantage and as a source of motivation to push harder and do even better.
As Nia prepares for Berkeley, we at the Buzz wish her all the very best.