Sima Saxena is turning her dream into reality.
The Victoria woman got a standing ovation after singing an original song dedicated to her late mother on the TV series Canada’s Got Talent — a feat she’s envisioned since childhood.
“The dream is to do something before I die,” Saxena told the judges and live studio audience before performing My Mom, a song she wrote herself.
Her audition was featured on the April 4 episode “So Many Emotions” and received a unanimous yes from all four judges, meaning she’s moving on to the next round of the talent competition.
“I have written a piece on my mom, so I’ll be performing that,” said Saxena, a mother of two.
What started as a piano ballet quickly transitioned to a rap-style beat, which got the judges and audience clapping along before giving a big round of applause.
“Mom was two when she lost her mom. She was raised by her sister-in-law…my mom, my mom, so loving, so caring,” Saxena sang. “My mom, my mom, how lovely, how beautiful.”
Judge Howie Mandel told the songstress that she left the crowd “wanting more,” while Kardinal Offishall thought she “rocked” and Lilly Singh said she wanted to make the song her ringtone.
“Speaking personally, my aunties and my mom, I feel like they’ve kind of subscribed to this idea that they’re older, so they can’t do what they want to do,” said Singh.
Saxena is also the voice behind the radio show Bollywood India, which airs Sundays at 2 p.m. on the University of Victoria’s campus station CFUV-FM.
According to her bio, she’s always dreamed of a life in show business, but after moving to Canada 30 years ago and starting a family, that was put on the back burner.
It’s a backstory inspiring to Singh.
“I hope we can continue seeing people like you that are like, ‘No, I will do whatever I think is fun because I can and I will,’” the judge added after the performance.
Saxena’s not the only Islander featured on the show — Vancouver Island singer and musician Raymond Salgado and Comox-based comedy act Syd Bosel will appear in the upcoming episode.