Rachel LaFond is an American composer and pianist who has been steeped in musicality her entire life. Her appreciation for music began early as her mother played the piano with a pint-sized Rachel on her lap. She began formal piano lessons at age five, and by the time Rachel was eleven, she was teaching lessons herself. She studied piano performance in Vienna as a teenager, and later returned home to major in piano at the University of Washington. After graduating, she continued to teach and perform professionally, but for years Rachel didn’t realize she had a talent for writing music hidden inside herself.