CREDIT: LLIAM BUCKLEY
Fanshawe Music Industry Arts (MIA) alumna, and music sensation, Haviah Mighty, wowed MIA students during her visit to the College.

Students of the Music Industry Arts (MIA) program received an inspiring visit from Fanshawe alumna Haviah Mighty earlier this school year.

Mighty shared stories of her success, as well as a memorable and exciting live set of her original music.

Mighty, 25, attended the MIA program from 2011 to 2013 and since graduating has built a name for herself in the Canadian music industry, gathering a large following in the Toronto and GTA area.

Her recently released album Flower City, has been met with an extremely positive reception, bringing even further success to her career.

A natural born talent, Mighty has been working on her music professionally since 2009, but it wasn't until recent years, after a video of her in a rap cypher went viral, that she began to gain greater recognition.

“I got over two millions views on my individual verse segment and that led to a mindset shift for me…it made me recognize that if I don't take that as my calling, I might as well be an accountant,” Mighty said.

After the success of the video, Mighty was bombarded with a number of industry professionals reaching out who were excited to be a part of the brand she was creating. This allowed her to build up a team of talented individuals to work alongside her at an extremely fast pace.

“I met my producer and my videographer through the cypher...I acquired a booking agent, management and I feel like that was kind of the onset of all the incredible things that have come my way,” Mighty said.

Soon after, she formed a rap group with the other female rappers involved in the cypher video and together they have performed at many notable events such as Manifesto and TDOTFest.

Outside of her success in this rap group, Mighty has continued to work on her personal career as an artist.

After receiving the FACTOR Canada Artist Development grant for $2000, Mighty began work with producer Young Dreadz, on tracks for her album Flower City, which was released in early 2017.

The release show for this album caught the attention of many industry greats who came to witness the high energy shows that Mighty is so well known for.

One such spectator was a Toronto agent whose attention she had been trying to grab for quite some time without much response.

“He was blown away by the live performance and the difference was seeing me live…once he was able to see me live he set up a meeting with me the following week,” Might said.

This meeting led to her being signed to his agency, the Agency for the Performing Arts (APA), a pivotal moment in her career.

Things don't show any signs of slowing down for Mighty, who after applying to several more grants received the exciting news on her recent birthday that she will be receiving the prestigious Juried Sound Recording grant from FACTOR Canada for $30,000. With these funds, Mighty plans to create more original music and further develop herself as an artist.

“Summer 2018 is probably the next time you're going to see a release or something that's big,” Mighty hinted.

In sharing some of the keys to her success, Mighty told MIA students that opportunities have been coming her way due to “consistency, networking, utilizing social media and actually using the skills that [she] learned all around life and definitely through MIA”.

With all of this success so far and more in the works, Mighty is certainly an artist to keep an eye on.

Those interested in finding out more about her can go to HaviahMighty.ca. Flower City and other music of hers can be found on major music streaming and sales platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music and iTunes.