Welcome to my little corner of the World Wide Web.
First Journey
At the age of 24, Simona entered a competition at a local hot spot, a club called Zapp's (now DMX) and won first place for her performance of Selena's "Ya Ves" and was soon approached by many club owners and promotors with offers of weekly performances at different night clubs all over the metroplex. Within months, Simona was being recognized and promoted by several different people in many different ways. This started with a local publication in Tejano Connection Magazine, but by no means ended there. With all of the local publicity she was getting, she was soon contacted by a man named Pete offering himself as her manager, and a position as lead singer in Cielo, a group consisting of 4 band members......
Simona accepted the offer and began performing with the group immediately. Her first 6 months with them consisted of alot of travel. They were not only performing in different cities, but entering competitions as well. While this was wonderful exposure for her career, being gone so much took a toll on Simonas family life and her small children. It was a blessing when the group landed a regular spot at a local nightclub, Rosita's. This was a hot and upcoming Tejano resturant/club centrally located in Irving, Tx. This gave her the opportunity to sing every Friday and Saturday night locally for the next 6 months.
Awards
In Feburary,1997 the group entered a Battle of the Bands competition in Houston, and made it to the finals in San Antonio, where they won First Place. This was the opportunity she had been waiting for. Soon after she was opening for well known artists including Jennifer Pena and performing with singers like Jay Perez. She also had the opportunity to perform live on Channel 4 in Dallas during a Cinco De Mayo festival. By May, 1997 she was invited to open for the Tejano Connection Music Awards show at Dallas' Bronco Bull Arena, honored she accepted and was suprised when she herself was presented with the Rising Star award by Tejano musics' own David Mares and Leti Guval.
Though she loved performing with the group, Simona parted from Cielo and began to pursue a solo career with Rincon Promotions. She stayed very busy with performances at local festivals, and clubs, even live at the State Fair, and Artists Square in downtown Dallas. Torn between her music, and her family Simona decided to take some much needed time off to re-evaluate her career, and raise her children. However, she never completely left music behind, she continued performing in local clubs, and financed her own studio time. The outside promotion didn't stop with her time off either, the interviews kept coming and she is especially proud of the coverage published in "Sol De Texas" newsletter and the coverage on TelAmerica, a then local Spanish news update program. The time off however, gave her a chance to explore her Puerto Rican heritage and discover her true calling........Salsa Music.