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Since the mid 90's, Raquela got to see it all... on Broadway! She was living it up, playing leading roles next to other great Tony award winning masters and celebrity's. She was seen playing humongous roles like ‘The Acid Queen’ in THE WHO'S, "TOMMY" and later ‘Julie’ in the 90's revival of "SHOW BOAT", including several other major Broadway productions and workshops of major Broadway and Off-Broadway shows. Later, after 2001, she found herself forced to make a tough decision... to come back home to Northern California where, quite frankly, no one still didn't know who she was, much less, what her talents were. "Yeah, there were times I wish I was born in New York. The life there... the culture, the mentality and work ethics.... well... it’s nothing like the West coast at all." In New York, Raquela would make simple stops at a corner bodega to pick up Milk and eggs. People would recognize her and call her by name. "...even John F. Kennedy Jr. knew who I was. It was all so exciting... so alive!" So you ask, what happened? Why leave all that?

 

Several reasons it seems...

 

One obvious one was because of 9/11. Producers began casting differently. As a way to survive the sudden drop in ticket sells, casting directors desperately replaced leading talent with Pop music celebrity’s or stars from television series and sitcom. Raquela had to reinvent herself in some desperate manner to keep herself in the game. As a last measure of hope to stay in the game, the music business was presented to her so she took the bite.  In 1999 she wrote a Electronica Musical (“Confessions of the Disco Diva”) that workshopped for a couple of years at NYU’s Tish School of the Arts. It was one-of-a-kind because she carefully crafted the musical source around original Electronic Dance songs. A few songs leaked out to KTU, which was the flag ship of all the Dance channels in the nation. When word got out that she was in heavy rotation there, she got together with the late, Matthew Sietz (Sietzsounds) and pulled out what was considered one of the last official Latin Freestyle tracks. It was called, “Here We Go Again”. It was a hit and Raquela found a new calling.

 

Still, why did she end up leaving New York…. The reasons continued to pile up…

 

“My story is as old as time. I was a Diva. I was difficult. My dysfunctions got in the way of my true potential. I saw myself in the mirror a little late... But I guess now I have even more reasons to keep writing and singing… so like they say, the show must go on.” When Raquela worked with the original cast of “Bat Boy - The Musical”. The stress was enough to ruin her voice. “I wasn’t used to taking smaller roles, so… I blew it. Literally. Not to mention, during that time, I found out who my real friends were so I had to, as they say, clean house. You know… say goodbye to a few people forever.” As a result of that and her constant allergic illnesses building up by the months, she develop nodules on her right vocal cord. Raquela refused surgery options so her doctors gave her an ultimatum... either stay in New York and stop singing forever, or go back home to California and undergo strict vocal therapy.

 

Around 2005, her worried mother flew in to New York, rented a U-Haul and said, “C’mon honey, let’s go home.” Now she’s back in California and you wonder how she’s taking in the next chapter in her life?

 

“Oh hell no! I have no regrets one bit! I was in New York. I did it. I lived my dream, stayed true to myself and yes, I’m back home where it all started and I'm ready to pay it forward to my community.” Raquela is not only one of the most highly sought after Private Vocal instructors in Northern California but she also volunteers as a board member for the Miss Sacramento County Pageant/Scholarship program (The Miss America Organization). At the same time, she is still pulling out one hit track after another while appearing where ever any one loves to get their groove on.

 

Raquela is a proud member of ASCAP, AEA, NARAS (Grammy) and VASTA.