Ashanti Douglas was born in 1980 in Glen Cove, Long Island, New York into a musical family. Her father used to sing and her mother is a dance instructor. Ashanti began to sing in a gospel choir at the age of 6. As she grew, her musical talent developed and with it, appearances followed.
She danced in a show at Carnegie Hall and in the Disney television musical Polly. It was in high school that she honed her songwriting skills and harnessed her talent for creating a story that people could relate to, song after song.
