Kota is a 17-year-old award winning singer, songwriter, dancer and actress. She won First Place in the AMERICAN IDOL UNDERGROUND songwriting competition and was the youngest winner in all the genres, winning $5,000 cash and other prizes. Dakota was also a Finalist in the prestigious BBC/U.K. 2008 Songwriting Contest.
Dakota is also an actress and recently completed a Disney pilot and has been lead in numerous shows including Maria in Sound of Music.
Dakota has recorded with many top writer/producers including Danielle Brisebois (Natasha Bedingfield’s “Unwritten”) and Wayne Wilkins (Bedingfield/Sean Kingston’s “Love Like This”).
In 2008, Dakota was selected to be lead singer of the Performing Arts Guild of Orange County’s touring rock band and has also been lead singer of an all girl teen rock band.
Dakota was named in AMERICAN IDOL magazine as one of the “BEST EMERGING ARTISTS” for AMERICAN IDOL UNDERGROUND.
Dakota performs in popular L.A. venues like the Rainbow Room, the Pig n Whistle, the Cat Club, and Universal City Walk.
Dakota has trained with top L.A. heavyweights such as Roger Love and Alex Cantral for vocals, and Veda Burton for dance.