Milly Quezada

Growing up in such a musical family, Quezada became interested in music as a toddler—she would sing along with her brothers for family, friends, and small gatherings near her home.

Quezada and her family—her mother, Australia, and siblings, Rafael, Jocelyn, and Martín, moved to Washington Heights, Manhattan in order to escape the Dominican Civil War.

Quezada spent her pre-teen and teen years in Washington Heights, which was a central point in the Latin music boom of the era. In New York, Quezada developed an in-depth knowledge of her favorite musical genre, merengue, the fastest of the Latin American popular dance music styles, sung in Spanish and native to the Dominican Republic.

Quezada completed her primary and secondary school in New York City and graduated cum laude from City College of New York in 1981 with a degree in communications and mass media. She also graduated with a paralegal degree from Gibbs College in Montclair, New Jersey in 1992.