A singer who’s cooking up more than music

By Sue Baldani

Originally from a little town in Arkansas, Rachel Hale moved to Nashville to attend Belmont University. In 2013, during her senior year of college, she auditioned for American Idol’s season 12. “Because of online auditions, nearly half a million people auditioned, and it was at that time the most people that had ever auditioned for a season,” she says. “It really was a miracle if you made it on the show.”

Rachel not only made the cut, but she also ended up being one of the top 20 female finalists. One of the most memorable moments would be her very first audition before the judges, who at that time were Randy Jackson, Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban. “Before that audition, I prayed that God’s joy would be in the room, and during that audition, that’s what they talked about,” she says. “They said the moment I walked in, they felt so much joy.”

During the show, Billboard Magazine ranked her performance of Grace Potter’s Nothing But The Water as one of the top moments of the season. It was a dream come true and opened up many doors on her journey to musical success.  

Since then, Rachel has shared the stage with Peter Frampton and Ricky Skaggs, and opened for stars including Tracy Byrd, Joe Nichols, Joe Diffie and Chris Cagle. In 2022, she released her single, A Man, and has more new music coming out soon.  

In addition to singing and writing songs, she’s also a great cook, and turned her love of healthy food into a series on Instagram. “I took a break from music for a bit and went to California to finish school,” she says. “I graduated during the pandemic, and was missing music every day. We had mandatory stay-at-home orders and everybody was just depressed.

“I’d been eating a paleo diet pretty consistently for about three years and my friends were always asking for recipes. Since my last name is Hale, I started a cooking show called Hale’s Kitchen, a spin on Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen.”

In the series, Rachel teams up with paleo companies and has celebrity guests join in the fun. “It’s just one of those planes that I’m building in the air,” she says. “I really love it and I’m grateful for it.”

She truly believes in giving thanks. “When you’re thankful, you see just how much you have and how blessed you are. You feel empowered to actually change the situation around you. When you face an obstacle, instead of knocking on other people’s doors for help, figure out how to build your own door. That door is actually going to be your platform.”

Rachel’s also paired up with Katie Dixon, a finalist on Master Chef and Food Network Star, for a show called Bibles and Biscuits on Instagram Live, and she was just booked for a live taping of the Huckabee Show in Hendersonville on August 30.

To find out more, go to RachelHaleMusic.com and Instagram @rachelhalemusic.

Published in Franklin Lifestyle magazine in Tennessee.

Spotlighting neurodivergent characters

By Sue Baldani

At 29, Samantha Picaro has accomplished many goals in her life. She has a B.A. in psychology, a Master’s in social work and a career in which she incorporates both. Now, she can add published author to her resume.

Limitless Café, released in May of 2023, tells the tale of Kinsey Fontana, who works at a café that hires teens with disabilities like herself. When the café is threatened with closure, Kinsey, with help from her former best friend, Melissa Castillo, organizes a fundraiser to save it.

“Each character is complex; they’re not just their disabilities, so I want readers – with or without disabilities – to take away that you’re not just one part of your identity,” says Samantha, who lives in New Jersey. “I also made sure that the characters with disabilities were the ones saving the day and not the ones being saved, because you don’t often see that in fiction.” She also gave the fictional owner of the café a disability himself, and did a lot of research into the disabilities she incorporated into her side characters.

This whole topic is important to Samantha. “I’m autistic, so as a kid I would often escape into books. I always knew I’d want to write my own stories one day.”

One of her favorite writers is Jen Wilde. “She is autistic too, and she features neurodivergent characters, and her characters have goals outside of romance or high school drama. Her books helped encourage me to write original stories and autistic characters. Originally, I just wrote neurotypical characters because internalized ableism made me feel like nobody would be able to ‘relate’ to neurodivergent characters. But every reader deserves characters they can relate with, too.”

She adds, “I also admire Sarah Dessen, who is one of the most popular Young Adult writers. Her characters are just so nuanced, and they have goals outside of dating or doing well in school.  Her characters often undergo a lot of personal growth.”

Samantha really enjoys reading and writing young adult fiction. “It reminds us of the dreams we used to have and that it’s not too late to pursue them and become idealistic again,” she says. “I believe that every genre of books is becoming more diverse in regards to marginalized populations including disability, but there is still more work to do.”

She’s nervous about the feedback she’ll receive about the book, but is also happy she’s able to share it with others. “Having the courage to be vulnerable by putting myself out there is a major accomplishment, and I’m just going to focus on the people who love it. I also feel really good knowing that I’m pursuing my dream.”

Limitless Café is available in both paperback and eBook formats and can be found on Amazon, Kobo.com, and Barnes & Noble.

When not working in the nonprofit sector or writing, she likes volunteering with her town’s Rotary Club and spending time with her family, her feisty little parrot, Mango, and two pet turtles, Jackie and Jill.

SamanthaPicaroWrites.com
#ActuallyAutistic

Published in The Showcase Magazine in New Jersey.