Stephanie Amaro: A Virtual Experience is part of a season-long series of digital segments that bring you up close and personal with artists from a variety of art disciplines.

A fourth-generation Mexican-American born in Hollywood, Stephanie Amaro was raised with classic rock, iconic singer-songwriters, 80’s pop, and Seattle grunge rock. It wasn’t until she saw a world-class mariachi live for the first time at age 19 that she discovered her love for traditional Mexican music. From then on she dedicated years learning from and integrating the mariachi music scene, picking up a wealth of technique and traditional repertoire and going on to become the first female guitar player to ever be invited into an otherwise-all-male elite mariachi group. The mariachi community became a road which led to the formation of renowned Mexican fusion group Trio Ellas, in which she was a vocalist and guitarist. The group created a unique sound of pop and jazz elements over a traditional foundation which earned a “Best Regional Album” Latin Grammy nomination in 2012 for their debut album “Con Ustedes…Trio Ellas,” Their follow-up album “Noches Angelinas” peaked on the Top 15 iTunes Latino chart. Outside of the mariachi genre, Stephanie accompanies major artists in both the Latin and US markets on a variety of instruments or as a vocalist, or both. Her unique musical skill set and ease with switching between styles and languages has allowed her performances and recordings with artists from Lady Gaga and Cyndi Lauper to Natalia LaFourcade and Pepe Aguilar. Stephanie was recently a semi-finalist on the #1-rated first season of “La Voz US” on Telemundo, which is the Spanish language version of NBC’s “The Voice.” Her blind audition performance of “La Llorona” went viral. Now a budding solo artist, she’s combining the lessons of her varied musical experiences into a cohesive aesthetic and unique sound (think Juan Gabriel meets Lana del Rey) with the creative input of her husband, USC Thornton School professor and guitarist Andy Abad.