Shy-Anne gets young alumni award

Shy-Anne Hovorka credits hard work and determination as keys to her success.
The 2010 Aboriginal Female Entertainer of the Year and 2010 Best Producer/Engineer at the Aboriginal People’s Choice Music Awards received a Young Alumni Award May 25 at the Lakehead University Alumni Awards dinner.
“It is an honour to be recognized as a musician as an alumni,” said Hovorka, who grew up in Red Lake and has since earned degrees in music and education from Lakehead University. “I’m sure the other musicians will agree with me that it does take a lot of hard work, determination and sticking to your guns on what you want to do.”
Hovorka has been singing since she was three years old and performing since she was nine. She recently released her latest song, Superstar and has performed her hit song Can’t Change the World at the opening of the University of Winnipeg’s G8 Interfaith Summit and the 2010 Winnipeg Folk Festival. She has two CDs to her credit: Pseudo and Black Thunderbird.
“There is not always a lot of pay, if there is pay, so we do it because we love it,” she said.
Hovorka travelled to Korea after completing her honours bachelor of music degree in 2000, where she used her music skills to teach English as a second language for two years before returning to Thunder Bay to complete her bachelor of education degree in 2003. She then worked as a teacher in Red Lake for five years before switching to a career in music.
“I worked it for five years and then broke it to my parents that I would be leaving a full-time, full-pension, full-benefit, full everything job to be a musician,” Hovorka said. “My dad is half grey now; he did have all black hair before that. But they supported me, so I gave up my job and moved to Thunder Bay.”
Hovorka has since toured with hip-hop musicians to communities across northern Ontario to deliver mentoring sessions to Aboriginal youth on following the seven grandfather teachings, the importance of education and the importance of talking with someone when they are upset.
“We would do a talent show at the end of every (session),” Hovorka said. “Now I work about five or six jobs to sponsor these kids to bring them in once a year, one kid from each community that we visit, to come together and perform their art for us. It’s so worth it on so many levels when you see these kids just explode out of themselves and realize if this girl can do it from the middle of nowhere, why can’t I.”