About Ella Clarens
Well, it’s been a journey to get here…
Where do I even start?! How about the beginning. Lol!
Recently, I was told by my birth mother of a sweet story when I was two. My grandmother was visiting from Romania. Side note, I’m second generation Canadian where I was born and raised in Calgary, AB, Canada.
Anyway, I had a mini keyboard and I was rounding up my Grams and Birth Mother, so I could sing for them. Like seriously?! My heart is full from this beautiful memory.
As a young kid, I would sing with my fav mic which was black and had a yellow foam covering, recording tracks on my tape recorder – 90’s style baby!
And every weekend, you bet I was listening to AT40 with host Casey Kasem. Plus, MuchMusic was my jam along with Electric Circus being a part of my Friday night plans as a teenager!
Although I’ve always fully enjoyed music, my professional career has not been centered around it.
As a young adult, I landed my first corporate job working at a national law firm and worked my way into marketing over a six year period.
During this time, I started my post secondary journey and completed my BA in Psychology with a minor in Communications from the University of Calgary.
I later moved on to the finance world where I stayed for the next seven years. This is also when I started my fashion journalism career, freelancing for the Calgary Herald.
I was living a double life: the corporate world by day and the media world by night!
My time as a fashion journalist allowed for many memorable experiences such as covering major events like the Canadian Arts and Fashion Awards (CAFA), Toronto Fashion Week (TFW), and New York Fashion Week (NYFW).
I had the pleasure of interviewing major influencers such as supermodel Candice Swanepoel, Oprah’s make-up artist, Derrick Rutledge and BCBGMAXAZRIA Group’s previous Chief Creative Officer, Luboz Azria.
Then in 2015, I was nominated for a Notable Award in Journalism.
Mixed in there are various projects I’ve worked on: a download on ‘How to get invited to New York Fashion Week’, on-camera work, event management along with partaking in Influencer campaigns with brands such a Ford and Lincoln. In a nutshell, I’ve experimented with a lot of different avenues!
All that to say, 2020 was the year my musical journey came full circle and that summer, I really got back into music, having the sexy Trey Songz on repeat along with #the6ix’s Drake, of course!
I got inspired by one of my dear friends to pursue singing when I sent him one of my raw files doing freestyle who said, “Ella, you can absolutely do this!”
Also, I posed a hypothetical situation on my Instagram feed stating, “If I was dropping an album cover, this would be it – an image of me crouching in front of a fountain throwing up the peace sign – and I would call it Ellanation!”
The response was hot and I even received comments from my community saying they would purchase my album. This was my nudge and sign!
As soon as I made the decision to pursue singing, the Universe brought amazing individuals my way to help make it happen.
And that is how it all began… Welcome to #E11ANATION!
Ella Clarens
Press Links
Thanks to my dear girlfriend and stylist, Yalda Kazemi of StylEsteem who nominated me, I was featured on A Woman A Day, an empowering community celebrating women of #yyc founded by 98.5 Virgin Morning Show’s Co-Host, Danaye Maier. Peep the feature now!
As an alumni of the University of Calgary, I received the opportunity to share my journey as a freelance fashion journalist and how my BA in Psychology helped prepare me. Find out about my fondest memories here!
For almost six years, I had the pleasure of freelancing with the Calgary Herald as a fashion journalist covering some of the biggest events on the scene. Here’s a brief overview of my portfolio!