Naya Salah: From Singing 'America the Beautiful' for Coca Cola Ad to Leukemia Survivor

Coca Cola Ad Campaign Features Naya singing 'America the Beautiful' in Arabic

10-year old Naya singing "America the Beautiful'

Meet Naya Salah and hear her sing "America the Beautiful" in Arabic, one of the many languages in Coca-Cola's 2014 Big Game ad #AmericaIsBeautiful.  In addition to a gorgeous English version, the campaign includes a multitude of tributes to America in other tongues including Spanish, Tagalog, Hindi, Senegalese-French, Mandarin, Spanish, Hindi, Hebrew and Keres. Versions of the song performed in various languages are available on Spotify, as well as the multilingual version. Look under "Coca-Cola Singers" or "Coca-Cola Chorus."

 

Naya went on to perform "America the Beautiful" in Arabic at the 2014 Kahlil Gibran Awards, a Gala by The Arab American Institute (AAI), a nonprofit organization committed to the civic and political empowerment of Americans of Arab descent. Here is the video:

At that same Gala, Naya also sang another popular Arabic song titled "Asfoor Tull Mne el Shebback" (A Sparrow Stood at My Window)." Here is a rare recording of that performance:

Naya's Journey with Cancer

When she sang the her version of 'America the Beautiful' back 2014, Naya was 10 years old and the student body president of Palo Alto’s Stratford Elementary School. Her life, however, changed again when, at the age of 12, she was diagnosed with a moderate-to-severe case of leukemia after her coach deemed her too unwell to play in one of her basketball games.

“The hardest portion of my chemotherapy was definitely getting a port, which is a small disc that connects to my main blood vein and allows the doctor to pump medicine throughout my bloodstream,” Salah said in an article that was published by Francesca D'Urzo in Scot Scoop. . “I will never forget the pain of this treatment, but the scar it left on me will always be a constant reminder of how lucky I am.”

Naya in 2019.  Screenshot from article at this link

"Naya's Remarkable Journey: Overcoming Challenges and Redefining Education with Beam Technology."

Another article about Naya was published by Richard Chang in The Journal in 2016.  Titled "Robotic Telepresence Device Allows Student to Attend School Virtually While Receiving Treatment," the piece focused on Brad Sandman and Tanya Jenkins, employees at Suitable Technologies, who introduced a transformative technology called Beam, a mobile videoconferencing device. The company allowed Naya to indefinitely lease the Beam+, enabling her to virtually attend classes and socialize while receiving treatment or recovering at home. (Read full article here).

Screenshot from article published here

In the article above, Naya expressed excitement about the high-tech experience, emphasizing the positive impact on her emotional, intellectual, and spiritual well-being. 

New Songs Released in 2020

Naya Salah in 2020

In 2020, Naya released 2 singles in English titled "Fire Fly" and "Surviving" both of which can be found on Spotify, Apple Music and Amazon Music.  The lyrics for "Surviving" seem particularly poignant in that they seem to address the way in which Naya has always managed to overcome the odds.

These videos are no longer available on YouTube:

Coca Cola - It's Beautiful in Arabic (http://youtu.be/jn8fK6r9ayc)

Coca-Cola - It's Beautiful - Official :60 (http://youtu.be/443Vy3I0gJs)
Coca-Cola - It's Beautiful - Behind the Scenes (http://youtu.be/1ReHUMUb9gY)
Coca-Cola - It's Beautiful in English (http://youtu.be/TASniuDNKZw)