On a jinxed Greyhound bus bound for Las Vegas, Mirna Zapata questioned whether her artistic success was meant to be.
For one thing, the bus broke down twice, at one point stranding her for eight hours – meaning she might miss the registration for the U.S.A. World Showcase singing competition.
Beyond that, she had received donations to enter the competition (where she could win $100,000), and she was worried that her generous donors would think she ran off with the money.
When she was on the bus in Pennsylvania, the police had to be called to remove an unruly rider. And just 20 minutes later, the bus broke down.
In Missouri, the bus broke down again.
Eight hours later, on a new bus, Zapata was finally on her way to the hot May sun of Sin City.
The 33-year old Bayonne resident, who once lived in Hoboken’s homeless shelter, is no stranger to setbacks.
In shelter after nervous breakdown
Just ask the staff at the Hoboken Homeless Shelter; she was living there as recently as March, after a nervous breakdown and bout with chronic depression.
“I was not in a very good state of mind.”
– Mirna Zapata
________
It wasn’t until her time at Rutgers University, where she earned her bachelor’s degree in psychology, that she broke out of her shell.
She joined a Hispanic arts club that performed campus variety shows, and she got hooked.
“I enjoy it,” she said, “but it’s rewarding that other people enjoy it,”
Zapata went on to perform at the George Street Theater in New Brunswick for a group called Poetic Princess Productions, and was voted Most Talented Female in a talent show for disadvantaged college students.
She never lost her love for vocal performance.
Working, then downward spiral
Zapata found a job as a social worker in 1998 after graduating and set singing aside for awhile.
She stopped working in 2003, and started into a downward spiral that didn’t end until recently.
She was hospitalized with depression in 2005. “I was not in a very good state of mind,” she said.
Zapata admits that she was “a little suicidal” at the time.
Soon after, she got into a bad relationship and, according to her, “rearranged her whole life” for the person.
She moved to Pennsylvania for that person, but the situation got so bad that she returned home with “only the belongings on my back,” she said.
In 2006, her mother took her in and “rescued” her. Zapata didn’t know what to do with herself, but singing was on her mind.
Clearing the pipes
She heard about a singing competition called the U.S.A. World Showcase and asked her mother for help raising the entrance fee.
They decided that a yard sale was in order. Zapata contacted some old friends who helped by finding some donations and they raised enough money for her to enter.
Zapata made it to the finals of the show, which is broadcasted on the PAX cable channel, and took home an Honorable Mention prize.
She savored the opportunity and came home with a fresh outlook. She got a job as a temp, and when that expired, she got another.
But chronic depression is always a day away, and Zapata wound up in the hospital again last year.
A caged bird
She was released from the hospital and assigned to group therapy sessions in Jersey City Medical Center, but now she had nowhere to live.
Her mother’s landlord had found out that she was living there and told her mother that it couldn’t go on any longer. Zapata was roaming the streets, so she headed to the Hoboken Homeless Shelter.
“I’ve been healing my mind since then,” she said, “and my life.”
She worked with a job training coach, but couldn’t figure out what she wanted to do with her life.
“I was kind of pondering that at the shelter,” she said, and taking classes there at the same time.
Last October, she met Nancy Colasurdo, a life coach and freelance writer who was donating an hour of her time each week at the shelter.
Colasurdo gave Zapata a questionnaire to fill out and noticed her attraction to singing from her answers.
Zapata said she and Colasurdo talked at length about her past successes and fulfilling her dream of becoming a singer. They mapped out a plan for Zapata to try her hand at the singing competition again.
Take two
Colasurdo writes an online column for FoxBusiness.com. She used her platform to write about Zapata’s journey. She also ran an ad asking readers to donate money for Zapata to enter the competition.
The response was encouraging, and Zapata was soon able to pay the entrance fee to again enter the U.S.A. World Showcase and buy a new dress and bus ticket.
She settled on an old song, “The Holy City,” from the late 1800s and she decided to do it a capella.
“I wanted the song to stand out,” she said, after watching five contestants sing Whitney Houston her last time there.
Out of homelessness
In March, she was able to finally leave the shelter and get her own apartment in Bayonne.
This not only lifted her spirits; it gave her practice space.
And once Memorial Day weekend of 2008 arrived, she boarded a Greyhound bus.
After all the trials and tribulations of the trip west, she was able to register on time.
Her performance went off out without a hitch, but Zapata was still surprised when she heard her name called during the trophy presentation.
She said that when she held the trophy, she wore a big grin on her face.
“I couldn’t believe it,” she said.
As soon as she could, she called her mother, sister, and Colasurdo.
She took home an award for Best Potential Female Vocals, and advanced in the competition.
It consists of six rounds of online voting for winners to move on. Trophy winners automatically qualify for the third round, which starts this week. The show will air on PAX television July 13 through 16.
She said that if it wasn’t for her family and the homeless shelter, she would not have made it to this round.
Now, she needs more help.
You can vote
Zapata asked that readers watch her performance this week on PAX and vote for her online at www.usaworldshowcase.com.
She is currently doing some creative writing and writing a musical, but she hopes to take home the top prize of $100,000.
And if she wins, she’ll be singing for joy.
And if she loses, she’ll be singing for joy.
For questions or comments on this story, e-mail tcarroll@hudsonreporter.com.