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Mai is a singer-songwriter-cellist-guitarist from California. As a solo artist, she has received songwriting awards from the Kerrville, Telluride, and Rocky Mountain Folks Festivals. As a collaborator, she’s worked with various artists including Raining Jane, Jason Mraz, Adam Cohen, Sara Bareilles, Willy Porter. In 2016 she played cello on Leonard Cohen’s album “You Want It Darker.” Along with her bandmates of 15 years (Raining Jane) she co-wrote Jason Mraz’s chart-topping album “Yes!” (2014) as well as his 2018 hit single “Have It All” and she has toured with Mraz around the world. In 2010 Mai helped start the Rock n’ Roll Camp for Girls Los Angeles, a non-profit dedicated to empowering girls through music, where she teaches songwriting and serves as Art Director. She has also led songwriting workshops at the Song School in Colorado, Rain City Rock in Seattle, and The Americana Song Academy in Sisters, Oregon. Whether performing, writing, or mentoring, Mai brings a combination of strength and vulnerability to her work. Her songs often speak of the pursuit of finding the light inside the dark –a theme that was magnified in her own life when she became a breast cancer survivor. She is currently working on a book about that experience and hopes her story will inspire and encourage others on their creative paths. In our conversation from 2017 Mai Bloomfield shares: What breast cancer taught her about the creative process, her process of co-writing with Jason Mraz and her band Raining Jane, and her philosophy of collaboration in writing and performing. Also… Mai shares a song that came into being in a unique or magical way –her song “Sway” –that she wrote during some time she’d spent at Leonard Cohen’s home in Montreal.