Mayaeni is a singer, songwriter, and self-described, “half African, half Jew, raised by two hippies who are still together, and I live like a gypsy.” She has been born into a musical family, “My father was a rock guitar player for over 30 years, and he played for Slyvester and Carl Carlton back in the 70's. My brother is just short of two years older than me, his name is David. He also does music, he goes by D. Allie and he has quite the following.” Her mother is from Sierra Leone, West Africa. “This is where my name Mayaeni comes from, which is a Mende name,” Mayaeni explains. “Mende is the tribe we belong to. In Mende my name stands for ‘all my mothers’, ‘all my women’, like how it takes a village to raise a child sort of thing. I'm bi racial as my mother is black and my father is white (Jewish).”

Mayaeni grew up in Detroit, “ I feel I had a lovely childhood, an eccentric childhood, and a free childhood. I grew up outside of Detroit, the same school district for most of my life. I have quite a few friends from over a decade ago that I'm still very close with. My father moved around a lot as a kid and had to change schools all the time. So, he wanted his kids to have community. My mother is also very much a community person, and there are a lot of Sierra Leoneans in Michigan. So I grew up around a lot of family and community. My father was the 70's rock star hippie musician, and my mother was also a rebel, free spirit who came to America in her 20's. So I was raised in a very colorful house,” she told us.

Mayaeni says she was a loud kid who wasn’t afraid to speak her mind, and it got her in trouble quite a bit. “I wasn't afraid to say what I felt I needed to say, and it did get me in trouble often. I was the silly girl as well and still am. Back then and till this day, people can always tell when I'm down, cause I'm known mostly to always be bubbly, funny, and happy. I wasn't into school much and got involved in a lot of out of school activities, theater groups, ice-skating, karate, ballet, gymnastics, voice lessons, you name it, I've done it.”

Her father taught her the basics of the guitar, and then she ran with it and taught herself how to play. She still learns from her father and the musicians she’s surrounded by. She describes her style as “classic” and says she was born to do what she does. As far as her genre, she says “I don't think artists really pick their genres, or I will speak for myself in saying that I've never done so. I just do me, whatever people want to classify it as, go ahead.”