Maria Becoates-Bey knows the path to being a performing artist takes patience, perseverance, hard work and dedication. Becoates-Bey, a Pittsburgh native and Point Park University alumna, certainly is living proof, having been performing professionally for more than 30 years. On top of professionally performing, she holds a day job as a marketing coordinator. As an inside look into the music industry, Becoates-Bey shares how her passion produced a profession. Becoates-Bey’s love for music and the arts flows from her childhood. Though she was born in Swissvale, Becoates-Bey spent her elementary years in Wilkinsburg where she remembers hearing her parents playing classics by Stevie Wonder, Anita Baker, funk music, jazz and more. Some of Becoates-Bey’s first gigs were at a very young age, serenading and doing her own performances at family celebrations. She also grew up singing in the church choir. “I never knew I would [sing] for a living, I just liked to do it,” says Becoates-Bey. “I just feel like it was always in me.”

Photo Credit: Maria Becoates-Bey /Cityscape Three Rivers Entertainment