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When Tanesha was 5, she told her mother she wanted to be a “Singing Doctor”. Throughout the years, her journey has taken her down varied career paths, from working in the banking and the medical industries; to the teaching field and the performing arts.  After graduating from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle with a degree in music performance, she went onto a thriving career as a performer for over 20 years, eventually leading her to New York. There, she met a group of artists out of the Juilliard school, and joined them in an arts outreach program called Artists Striving to End Poverty, or ASTEP; offering arts programming to underprivileged youth. It was through this work that she reconnected with her childhood dream. She made the decision to go back to school, earning her degree in music therapy from Saint Mary’s of the Woods College. Since then, she has been fortunate to work with a variety of populations from infants to older adults, including; persons with autism, chronic and severe illness, traumatic brain injury, depression, PTSD, Parkinsonism, and Dementia. In 2018, she teamed up with Naomi Morgan, founder of NM Entertainment, to create and direct the music therapy program, serving communities in Snohomish, King, and Pierce Counties. 

During the height of the pandemic in 2020, she developed and led a project for the Space for Art Foundation and the Melodic Caring Project, sending hospitalized kids songs and art to the International Space Station. Tanesha is a board certified music therapist with a focus in neurologic music therapy, and is currently on staff at Seattle Children’s Hospital. She has been honored to work with the older adult population, and aims to keep providing them with the highest quality music therapy services for years to come! 

Riley grew up in Olympia, WA with half the personality he has today. If there were any words to describe him when he was young, it would be “shy and quiet.” After starting to learn piano, Riley discovered that he could express himself in a way he never knew how to before. Music had given him a voice that he never knew he had. As a child, he began to compete in local competitions, perform at the performing arts center, and learn more instruments, such as the violin. Being in a community of musicians and seeing the impact of music is what inspired Riley to seek out a career in music therapy. His strong music foundation opened doors to more work with the music community in college, where he collaborated with singers, music ensembles, musical theater groups, and even performed solo as a pianist with the symphony orchestra. 

Riley graduated from Seattle Pacific University with a degree in Music Therapy and Piano Performance. Soon after graduation, he became a board-certified music therapist. Over the years, he has had the privilege of working with many communities, including autistic individuals, infants and young parents, people with traumatic brain injury, and older adults. He is passionate about keeping communities connected through music and hopes to continue to provide your communities with enriching music therapy experiences!  

Giulia Turotti was born and raised in Stuttgart, Germany and started taking piano lessons at the age of 5. Over the years she could be found in her room for hours, just listening to all types of music, playing the piano to it, starting to improvise. At the age of 10 she started composing her own piano pieces. One day the neighbor below said “It sounds like you’re doing Music Therapy when you play”. Not quite sure what that meant at the time, she kept on practicing and composing, finishing high school. She then completed a one-year internship at a school and daycare for children and youth on the autism spectrum. There,  she was given the chance to observe a music therapist working and was so impressed with the outcomes that it became clearer what she wanted to do: To combine her passion for music with the wish to work with children and adults with special needs - to become a music therapist. After earning her bachelor degree in Early Childhood Education at the University of Education of Ludwigsburg she spent some time living in Athens, Greece where she worked at the German School of Athens. Then she traveled to Seattle, where she met her future husband. Sticking to the original plan, she then moved to Heidelberg, Germany, earning her master degree in Music Therapy at the SRH University Heidelberg while working at a music school doing early musical education for children and singing circles in two retirement homes. During an internship in Seattle she was fortunate to meet and work with Tanesha Ross and Riley Kua in 2017.

Giulia is thrilled to be reunited with this team! She likes to combine varying  music therapy approaches with musical improvisation, and is passionate about giving opportunities  for communication, laughter and reminiscing through therapeutic musical exercises for people with dementia in memory care. When she is not doing music therapy, she is a support teacher in first and second grade at a German school, or enjoys the good  coffee  and the stunning nature of the beautiful pacific northwest. 

Katy Webber grew up in Everett, WA entertaining everyone around her until she came home from preschool one day and announced she was going to be shy. At 9 she picked up the guitar and not knowing any chords, wrote her first song, “The Hungry” by plucking the three highest strings repetitively. When her parents grew tired of hearing only one song with three notes, she was placed into guitar lessons. At 14 when she read that her heart throb Brendan Fraser, went to an Art School in Seattle there for theatre; “Wow, a school for the arts!?”, she thought. “You mean I can get a degree in music and not take any math classes?” Little did she realize at the time how much math there actually is in music. But despite theory, she did indeed graduate from Cornish College of the Arts; earning a degree in Jazz Performance. Being a part of the arts community at Cornish created a domino effect opening multiple doors for a variety of performing from British Pantomime and Vaudeville to African American spirituals and Caroling. Music therapy had been on her mind since graduation but without proper training in the Seattle area at the time, Katy went on to 15 years of performance. This experience opened a broader understanding of the world and an opportunity for professional growth in a community of fun! She also started her own business as an early childhood music educator for toddler and elementary school ages. This work inspired lesson plans that would bring a broader cultural understanding through music to her students and workshops for teachers on how to use music in the classroom. All the while, Music Therapy was sitting in the back of her mind. With over a decade and a half of performing under her belt it was time to broaden horizons. This inspired a search for a music therapy program which led Katy to St. Mary of the Woods in Indiana; an online option. “Perfect! I can continue to run my business AND go to music therapy school!”.

Since earning her MT-BC, Katy has worked with at-risk youth, individuals with PTSD, and older adults in assisted living. Her passion is helping to provide a higher quality of life to those in assisted living and she feels privileged to be a part of such an enriching way of providing  support to the community!