Raised in Lagos, Nigeria, Jessica Nwokike aka AMAKA moved to the United States with her family when she was 8 years old. Jessica always loved music from an early age and going to a performing arts school in Southern California fueled that passion even further. As she got older, she began to take singing and creating more seriously. Along with her sister, they created the group, VanJess. Starting small on YouTube, the group was eventually discovered by Tunji Balogun and signed to Keep Cool.