Standing under a blend of vivid stage lights, decked out in expressive clothing and listening to the buzz of the audience would seem like a surreal moment for most, but for her, it’s everyday.

Asha Mevlana, a soft-spoken violinist with a hint of rock n’ roll swagger, is living out her dream as a professional musician., but the decision to pursue a career in music came after passing a significant juncture in life.

In 2000, her friends gathered with food and wine and held a party that was meant to ease the awkwardness of the effects of chemotherapy. It was a hair cutting party. One by one, her friends cut off a piece of her hair until she was left nearly bald.

“I decided that the easiest way to accomplish this was to involve my friends in the process,” Mevlana wrote on her website.

At 24, Mevlana had breast cancer. While most of her peers were securing their futures, she was forced to confront the thought of dying and not having one.

In an instant, her aspirations of having a career in public relations were overshadowed. The feeling of invincibility vanished within minutes of hearing the upsetting diagnosis.

“It was as if I was in a daze,” she said.

The painful months of treatment began with a lumpectomy. She just didn’t fit the stereotype of most breast cancer patients. Even before reaching the major milestones in life, life-altering decisions had to be made. Choosing between different forms of medications and treatment centers was overwhelming. The varying opinions from doctors were not reassuring. Rather, the situation was made even more complicated.

The first treatment was particularly scary.

“As they prepared to inject me with the red AC, I became very scared and began shaking. Why was I letting someone inject poison into my body?” she wrote. “The nurse told me to think of it as an army of red soldiers going in to kill all the bad cells. Psychologically, this made it much easier to deal with.”

Mevlana turned to the Young Survivor’s Coalition (YSC) to find a group of women her age, going through the same ordeal. She explained they helped her find a “chemo buddy.” Along with friends and family, the YSC was another strong support system.

The four rounds of chemotherapy, followed by radiation, was an exhausting period of time, but the cancer cleared from her system. Gradually, the physical distress faded away, but the mental torment persisted. The fear of recurrence and consuming thought of cancer was difficult to handle.

Nonetheless, over time, this too subsided. When asked about her outlook on life now, she responded, “I feel lucky.”

This change in perspective prompted by her survival brought about the courage to pursue her lifelong ambition of becoming a violinist.

Ditching the corporate life in exchange for an electric violin, Asha, now passionately teaches and performs with a well known Australian band called Porcelain. Now, she spends most of her time on stage performing intricate violin riffs and has also been seen with various artists such as Gnarls Barkley and The Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Despite the success, she takes the time to share her story as its one that embodies courage and independence. This should be a beacon of hope for the thousands of young breast cancer patients.

Ashamevlana.com

Porcelain on MySpace

Ditching a tenured seat in the Houston Symphony to pursue a dream as a recording artist terrified Christine Wu.

But on the cusp of 30, she knew it was the only way to go. “All or nothing,” Wu said in a recent interview. “And it scares the crap out of me, probably almost every day.”

Switching from classical to rock wasn’t that difficult for Wu, a self-proclaimed “black sheep in the orchestra,” who grew up listening to rock instead of reserving all her time for the diligent study of traditional composers.

“I don’t try to sound classical at all,” she says. “I try to sound less nerdy, really.”

The now-31-year-old Santa Monica resident grew up playing the old masters, a violinist from the age of three who remembers the excitement of her first youth orchestra.

But even as she excelled, landing her first professional gig at the age of 17 in the orchestra pit at the Pittsburgh Opera, something was pulling her towards a less traditional path.

“I was listening to Jane’s Addiction. I was listening to Led Zeppelin,” she said. “As soon as I was old enough to really develop a strong interest in Metallica and hearing strings on Led Zeppelin, that really took over my focus.”

Wu spent time playing with the St. Louis Symphony before getting her biggest job, as a full-time tenured violinist at the Houston Symphony.

“Tenure is basically the job for life, unless the orchestra disappeared, so it was really something to give up,” Wu said. Three months paid vacation couldn’t keep her from uprooting last April and moving on to California for a career in the record business.

“It was really scary, but I’m sure now that it was the right thing.”

Of course some people thought she was “completely nuts,” for walking away from the coveted seat. “Especially players who were still striving for that job,” she says.

“My parents were supportive but skeptical, because they, maybe as all parents do, want you to have a stable situation. Maybe they’re afraid I’m going to start calling them for money again.”

Since her arrival Wu has enjoyed her first breaks playing studio sessions and, most recently, signing on for a world tour with Leonard Cohen, who’s been on sabbatical from the live show circuit for some 15 years.

“That was an amazing experience,” she said just after the audition for the songwriting legend. “It seems like everyone’s done a cover of his. He was really nice and had a certain intensity. By the end of each song I was just amazed.”

So far, Wu has wracked up gigs on American Idol, America’s Got Talent, and playing back-up for the Foo Fighters on Grammy night. That last one was courtesy of showcasing furious bowing skill in a YouTube video contest.

“The Grammys was a blast!” Wu said. “We got to rehearse with the Foo Fighters and hang out with them. It was really cool.”

The talented violinist has also done some string plucking for both Beyonce and Michelle Williams of Destiny’s Child fame and for Nickelodeon’s The Naked Brothers Band.

“It’s a different language,” Wu said, of switching from the somber orchestral pieces to rock ‘n roll rhythms. Part of that is being thrust into the role of accompaniment for a lead vocalist. “If there’s already a rock band there, you should enhance that and not get in the way,” she said.

For now she’s flying solo, with no back-up plan.

“I’m sure that I imagined that I could practice and audition again for an orchestra,” she says. “You just don’t know where your next call comes from. It’s tough. Ultimately I want to be producing and writing and arranging the strings and be the force behind it,” she says.

Though there will always be the allure of the stage lights. “I really do love that.”