Today we’d like to introduce you to Victoria Hill.
Victoria, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I am a 20-year-old junior at Reinhardt University. I am studying Vocal Performance in hopes of one day becoming a professional opera singer. I am the oldest of five children and was raised in a family that loves music. I was homeschooled my entire life until I started college. When I was little, I took ballet. I started studying ballet when I was three and have been taking ballet classes all throughout my childhood and high school years, though it never became a real focus for me. When I was seven I began to play the piano. I absolutely loved it and would practice for hours every day.
After competing in classical piano for several years, I began to take art lessons. When I was eleven I began to study under a sweet lady named Ms. Daisy, who, during The Great Depression, would make paint so she could create her beautiful works of art and sell them to provide for her family. She was an amazing woman under whom I learned a great deal of knowledge and training in painting. I love to paint and find so much joy in being able to express yourself through color and movement on a canvas. When I was painting on a consistent basis, I used to go to art shows and sell my artwork. I created a company at twelve years old called “Victoria’s Creations.” I had many of my paintings scanned and printed onto notecards, which I would sell at these art shows.
I believe the art of letter writing is a dying art and hoped that by selling my notecards, it would also encourage people to write more often. After doing that for a few years, I was able to save up money and pay cash for a car which I still drive today. I also started a retirement account which I put $100 in every month to this day. When I was fourteen, I began to take private voice lessons with Dr. Reverie Berger, who is a professor at Reinhardt University. I had never sung before and was trying something new and trying to expand my skill set. About this time, some of my friends took me with their school to see Faust at the Atlanta Opera. That was the first time I had ever seen an opera before. I fell in love that night.
After seeing such a beautiful performance, orchestra and set, I discovered that operatic singing is what I wanted to do with my life. It was after that performance that I started seriously pursuing classical singing. I dual enrolled my junior and senior years of high school so that I was able to get most of my core classes completed for free through the dual enrollment college program offered in the state of Georgia. While working hard to hon my talent, I have competed in numerous vocal competitions. I won first place in the nation for classical women in the high school division. I won first place in the Shirley Vocal Competition in West Palm Beach, Florida. I won first place in the George Shirley Vocal Competition at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
And just this past summer I won third place in the nation for musical theater for college women in Las Vegas, Nevada. I recently played my first operatic role in Reinhard University’s Cozi fan Tutte by Mozart where I played the role of Despina. I recently also played the lead role of Fiona in the Golden Age musical Brigadoon. In an effort to try to win $400 in the talent portion of the Miss Cobb County pageant, I entered last fall! I had never done anything like that in my life! Amazingly, I won the talent award and then won the entire pageant and the title of Miss Cobb County 2108! With this win, I won $10,700! Just a few weeks ago, I competed in Miss Georgia which is a preliminary for Miss America. I won the overall talent award for the entire pageant, a swimsuit preliminary, and third runner-up to Miss Georgia!
At Miss Georgia, I won an additional $5750 to be used towards my bachelor’s degree! My plans are to graduate from Reinhardt, where I am currently in my junior year, attend graduate school at hopefully the Curtis Institute or Julliard and then become a professional opera singer based in Europe. The scholarship money I have won this year through the Miss America Organization has been instrumental in helping me achieve the goals I have for myself. I am so thankful for this incredible organization that empowers women all across the United States! The thing that is most dear to my heart though isn’t music or opera. My greatest concern is for girls who are aging out of the foster care system. I am an intern at a group home for girls located in Waleska.
I am also working so hard to open a group home for girls aging out of foster care called the GROW Home. This will be a home in Canton that will provide assistance for girls from all over the state of Georgia. I recently held a concert that raised $8,000 and I have also had the wonderful Randall Lowe Plumbing company agree to provide all the labor and parts for the GROW Home. This is truly unbelievable and such a blessing! I also desire to do whatever I can to raise awareness about the crisis our state is facing in the area of foster care.
There are currently 15,000 children in foster care in our state and only 4,300 certified homes. If we could all see a great need, work together, and everyone plays some small role, we CAN flip the script in the state of Georgia.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
For the most part, it has been a smooth road just for the simple fact that I am trusting God for each step. When a door closes, I know that that is just the gentle hand of God leading me in another direction. I do have dyslexia and that has often been a challenge for me over the years.
I now view it as a “learning difference” and not as a “learning disability.” I have to work extremely hard to achieve my educational goals due to dyslexia, but this drive has made me who I am today and I am thankful for it.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
I am a student looking to hone my skills and trying to earn some money for school along the way by performing and speaking at different events.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
I believe the proudest moment for me has been when a group of girls in the foster care system attended an opera that I was in at Reinhardt University. As they were leaving, several were talking and said that they had never seen an opera and that they absolutely LOVED it!
For me, this was by far one of my most proud moments because that is one of the major goals of my life. I want to do whatever I can to help opera stay alive, loved, and cherished while making it available to people who otherwise would not be able to access it.
Contact Info:
- Email: vhgirl10@gmail.com
- Instagram: @victoria_e_hill
- Facebook: facebook.com/VictoriaElizabethHill/
Image Credit:
Matt Boyd Photography
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