Mia Ashford

• 3rd Place Rising Stars Music Festival
• Semi-Finalist in Music International Grand Prix
• Round 3 - America2Korea International girl-group auditions (JYP ENT. & REPUBLIC RECORDS)

Mia Ashford is soon to be 18 years old, and will be graduating in May of 2024 from Ascend College Prep High School. Mia will be graduating with a STEM diploma and 35 college credits through Dual Enrollment at UCCS. She is part of the Student Council and holds the role of Historian in the leadership at her school’s National Honors Society (NHS) Chapter. She has maintained a 4.30 GPA.

She was born in Austria, raised in Bosnia, and is Russian-American. Moving to America in 2014 when she was eight, she never let go of her International youth. She speaks fluent Russian and continues to explore culture through learning French, Korean, and Chinese (Mandarin).

While she works hard at school, Mia finds her energy and passion through the arts. She has taken part in two shows at the LPHS Drama Club. In Matilda (2021), she played two minor roles (Amanda and Sergei), and was the Dance Captain and Choreographer. In 2020, she began dancing hip-hop as a self-taught dancer, joining Barbara Ellis Studio of Dance (BESD) in 2022. Her specialty is Hip-hop, which she now teaches at BESD and is choreographing for their 2024 recital. She has taken multiple years of Ballet and Lyrical for technique as well. In 2022 Mia traveled to Los Angeles and made round three of America2Korea, international global girl-group auditions under JYP Entertainment and Republic Records.

She is gearing up for her third year of private voice lessons under Paula Baack, and it is her second year participating in voice competitions. In 2023 she placed third in the Rising Stars Singing Competition, and in 2024 she made the semi-finals for the Music International Grand Prix singing competition.

Mia has been offered the full time position of Hip-Hop teacher and choreographer at BESD for the 2023-2024 year, which she will be taking a gap year to pursue. She has been accepted into top Colorado schools such as Colorado School of Mines, CU Boulder, CU Denver, and CSU, but hopes to attend University in Europe or Asia.