Painted fingernails hit the guitar strings, and her hands strummed the chords to Coldplay’s “The Scientist.” As she sat at the kitchen table with her guitar in her lap, the notes left her vocal chords in perfect tune.

Miranda Mendoza, a 19-year-old communication major at CSUN with the gift of music, decided to take her feet out of the music business pool to focus on the discovery of what other talents college could highlight.

Mendoza’s mother, Jennifer Moss, was a recording artist in her 20s who decided to leave the business after her image was at the mercy of industry executives. This would become the tale of Mendoza’s own experience in the entertainment machine of Los Angeles.

For a moment, she thought she made it. During her junior year of high school in 2009, Mendoza released a single on iTunes and a music video on YouTube.

While other teenagers were at the movies or parties, she was in a recording studio. With headphones on her ears and her mouth to microphone, Mendoza visualized herself on the road to success.

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