User:Staceymandel/sandbox

Maxie Mandel was born July 27, 2004 in Wynnewood, PA. Born prematurely at 27 weeks gestation, she weighed 2 pounds 4 ounces and stayed in the NICU for 10 1/2 weeks. She needed various supports, including a shot of Surfactant to quickly develop her her lungs while she was still in her mother’s womb. Little did her family know how important her lungs would be.

Maxie started singing as soon as she could crawl. She wrote her first song at the age of 5, entitled “Cell Phone”. Maxie began taking piano lessons in kindergarten, and added guitar and vocal lessons in fourth grade. During this time, Maxie battled with virus-induced asthma triggered by an illness complicated by her prematurity. She could not stop herself from singing and songwriting though, and as she wrote from a more expansive skill set, Maxie began to gain audience recognition.

In 2017, Maxie recorded in a studio for the first time; a full band called Darla backed her on Wild and Free, Y.O.U. And Regardless. By this time, her asthma cough was wreaking havoc with her voice. Middle school was a hard time physically and socially, but she processed her challenges through songwriting. In 2018, she won “Best Songwriter” in the Teen category from her music school Meridee Winters for her song Hitch a Ride.

In the spring of 2017, Maxie founded “Maxie’s Hot Chocolate House” in honor of her upcoming Bat Mitzvah and to fulfill her Jewish obligation to help make the world a better place. Maxie brought teen musicians from across the Main Line together to perform in a coffee house style cabaret, with hot chocolate and chocolate refreshments. Ticket and chocolate proceeds were all donated to LiveConnections at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia, a nonprofit that brings music education to underprivileged youth and kids with disabilities. Maxie felt strongly that everyone should have access to great music education, the same way she did. Maxie continued to organize Hot Chocolate Houses in 2018 and 2019. After the third event, Maxie applied for the project to become a sponsored club at her high school in order to collaborate with more of her peers.

Maxie was featured in Main Line Today magazine’s “Next Gen: 15 Local Leaders Under the Age of 30” for her musical community service work. Her song “As the Sun Rises” was written in honor of Autism advocacy; each dollar per download at www.brandonsvoice.org benefits Brandon’s Voice. Maxie recently performed her original song “Unbroken” at DMAX Foundation’s 5th annual event entitled Finding Strength In Broken Places in support of the organization’s mission to encourage safe conversations about mental health on college campuses. Her professionally-recorded song “Rise” may help launch a campaign to inspire teens to rise for Teen Cancer America.

In 2019, Maxie attended The Berklee School of Music’s Songwriters Camp in Los Angeles. While attending Radnor High School in Wayne, PA, Maxie performs regularly at local venues such as 118 North, The Bryn Mawr Twilight Concert Series and South Wayne Porchfest. As she gets ready to record and release her first single, Maxie plays on the school’s tennis and crew teams, participates in the spring musical and is a member of social action and inclusion clubs.