Mariand Torres began her singing career in her Miami bedroom, using her favorite Barbie to perform a song she wrote herself, titled "Ese Vestido, Compramelo" (translation- "Buy Me That Dress"). She had her first touch of fame when the local opera company brought a production of Hansel and Gretel to her school. A local journalist caught a photo of Mariand's awestruck face amongst the other bored and sleeping children, and printed it on the front page of the Miami Herald Arts section. Bolstered by this brush with celebrity she decided it was time for her elementary school classmates to hear her expressive rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner", taken an octave up and sung at the top of her lungs. It did not go over too well with her classmates, and she decided to put aside her dreams of becoming the next Selena.

By sophomore year of high school she was ready to face her calling and try out for the school choir. Despite being accepted with open arms, she began crying as soon as she walked out of the audition room. This would happen again upon singing her first solo at her high school's Hispanic Night and, although she became more and more comfortable with singing, would continue to be a pattern.

High school was coming to an end, and Mariand hadn’t really considered pursuing music as a career. However, her friend from choir, Nicole, was getting ready to audition for college music programs, and the following conversation trumped Mariand’s previous decision to take a more traditional approach to further education.

Nicole:
Hey, so what are you gonna do for college?

Mariand:
I dont know, probably go to FIU. I kinda want to go to Law School. That would be cool.

Nicole:
I was going to audition for the Musical Theatre program at UM, you should, too.

Mariand:
Musical theatre?

Nicole:
You know, like Rent and Phantom of the Opera...

Mariand:
Oh, that sounds cool. Sure.

And thus Mariand began the transition the Musical Theatre student/geek, without even realizing what had happened.

She received her Bachelor's of Music from the University of Miami in 2005 and moved to New York City a month after graduation. She has had the pleasure of working on new musicals regionally and throughout NYC. Mariand has grown accustomed to singing in front of people (without crying) and has learned to embrace the Musical Theatre Nerd that was always hiding somewhere deep inside.