Lanisa was classically trained at the University of Southern California, earning a degree in Vocal Performance. Upon graduating, she continued to train for the next 4 years under her teacher and coach, Janice McVeigh. It was after these intense years of training that Lanisa was faced with making a career decision. She would need to decide between whether to pursue a career in Opera as a lyric soprano or as an artist in the pop music world. Lanisa made the decision to pursue singing and songwriting in contemporary music but is glad to be frequently asked to perform classical styles of music. In April, she finished recording her first CD and released it in October .