A Brief and Incomplete History of Elana Greene
Elana Greene, global citizen and fresh-off-the-island-kinda-girl, is ready for a positive future for our world. With her messages of light and love, mixed with humor, and an uncanny knack for the ridiculous, but conscious, aware and devoted to shaping a positive world in visions of inner-and-outer peace, she’s ready to rock the entertainment world with a new sense of style.
Watch out world, here she comes!
Elana grew up on the small island of San Juan in northwest Washington State. Her parents were avid environmentalists, health nuts, and globally minded folks that dreamed big and worked hard. They made sure with love and support that both Elana and her brother would have every opportunity to follow their dreams.
Music saved her life. By the time she was 7, she was performing music in front of audiences ranging from a few to several thousand. By the time she was 12 years old, she joined and recorded two albums with the well-known professional marimba ensemble, Musasa Marimba, and toured Washington. At the age of 17, she recorded a 3rd album with Penga Marimba and Percussion and toured Washington, California and Hawaii. She was also a member of Mapenzi Marimba, for three years, on Maui.Elana has spent over 25 years performing music professionally on stages around the west coast and Maui, HI. She has played a plethora of instruments with many talented musicians. She has also recently recorded marimba and percussion session work with several artists in hip hop/reggae music.
As a young girl, Elana Greene, was acutely shy and tiny. She knew she was different and often spent her time alone. She was extremely imaginative, observing the world through the lens of other dimensions. She often found herself dreaming of saving the world. Conventional school was a challenge for Elana. She worked hard in school to achieve excellent grades. Elana’s vivid imagination showed signs of her being a gifted writer. She wrote many stories that greatly entertained her family and friends. After 6 years of public school, Elana was home-schooled by her Dad for two years, which failed miserably for her. She acted in four school plays, auditioning and getting the parts she wanted. She continued to play music, which kept her busy and away from the boredom of kids that started to experiment with alcohol, drugs and sex. Thankfully, in high school, a small experiential private school opened up and Elana joined the school, which ultimately changed her future path. The unconventional schooling let Elana explore her global options and opened her mind to the greater world. She experienced how the rest of world lived through her own two eyes: through the people she met, through the vast array of life experiences that unfolded, through the camera lens and writing. The things she experienced humbled her. Graduating in a class of 7 students, she was voted most likely to change the world.
By the age of 18, she had traveled to and volunteered in Yucatan, Belize, Guatemala, Mexico, South Africa, Zimbabwe, India, Nepal, Cambodia, Thailand, and the Maldives. By the time she was 22, she expanded her horizons by traveling solo and volunteering in Kenya, Ghana, Italy, Holland, India, Belize, Thailand, Malaysia, Laos, and Israel during a short war in 2005. Her interdependent nature blossomed, due to her unusual life experiences, her extensive global travel, and her globally minded parents guidance, thus catapulted her interest helping others empower themselves to succeed. This became a life goal. She has raised over $20,000 dollars supporting Village Volunteers, a 501C3 Non Profit Organization, for Micro-Credit programs, clean water projects, chicken and goat raising projects, and building bio-intensive organic gardens. She started Feed Villages, a program supporting BioIntensive Organic Demonstration Farms with the goal of teaching people to grow using methods that enrich the soil and double the amount of food you can grow using no pesticides or GMO seeds. The food grown is donated to the local school for supplemental, healthy meals for children. She continues to raise money and awareness for programs that are grassroots, have proven methods of success, and empower the people.
At 20, while volunteering in a little Kenyan village with no running water or electricity, 9/11 struck the world. Despite the pleas of fear from her family, Elana told them that there was nothing they could do; she had to see the world for herself. She needed to experience the good and bad in the world. She knew there was nothing to fear, even though the media blasted the US with fear tactics. She traveled through Asia and lived in Thailand for 6 months. Her yearlong journey taught her many lessons about herself, about the strength within her, and about the people of the greater world. She’s spent extensive time with the poorest of the world and as an Empath, she experienced much pain and suffering. She learned: The world was not always a kind place.
Elana decided to move to Venice Beach for 6 months, sharing a room with a friend. After several life lessons in release and letting go, the kicker came when she spent several nights homeless skateboarding the streets of Venice. Tired of the concrete jungle, she got a one-way ticket to Maui and that is when she divinely met Justin Drew. She was inspired by his art and his drive to succeed and became a silent investor in his chemistry project.
One day, after a wahine fishing tournament, on the dock she met a captain, named Mike, in Lahaina, HI. He had a 31-foot sailboat and was sailing to Seattle. Thus began a 5-month journey of fixing up the old boat and sailing it from Hawaii to Seattle. It fulfilled her. She was able to be alone and listen to herself without any other life distractions. She was immersed in nature and the ocean. Though she had never sailed before, and it was a challenge, to say the least. During the El Nino year, it made the trip unpredictable, and she survived 55-foot seas and 65 mile an hour winds to days of no wind. It pushed her to complete a dream of hers. It taught her she could do anything. Even when it deemed impossible.
When Justin Drew Pictures came back to Maui for a visit in 2007, Elana and Justin started working together again. She was very altered and passionate about the experience and craved more opportunity. She began to pick up the camera and video and experimented with them, and started to be in front of the camera more which exhilarated her, facing her fears. She began to capture the essence and the action of the life of the Caviar of Body Art. Her passion for creation began to build. A team, including Elana, flew to Charlotte, NC to drive to Washington, DC for the Obama Inauguration. They succeeded in their mission and captured the experience.
Since then, she has continued to prove that she is the 1st Lady of Made It Up. After significant years of investment, she’s buckled her seat belt for the exciting roller coaster of the future.
Elana Greene is excited to pave the way to a new form of entertainment. She lets her free-flowing nature and form of expression speak for itself.
No dream is too big.
So THINK BIG!
