Manika was born in
Las Vegas to Grace Ward and Wallace Ward [13] in 1993.[14] She described herself in 2011 interview with Las Vegas Review-Journal as "part Filipino, part Japanese, part Chinese, part Malaysian and part Spanish".[8][12]
Aged 17, music executive
Frank DiLeo noticed her after she received several awards at
New York City's National Performing Arts Festival.[14] Under DiLeo's supervision, she released several singles. In 2009, she published "Boyz R Dumb". In 2011 she collaborated with rapper
Lil Twist on "Just Can't Let You Go".[14] Also in 2011, she worked with music coach
CeCe Sammy, whom she met through a shared friend.[8]
Her manager DiLeo died in 2011 after
cardiac surgery.[14] In 2012 she toured with
One Direction across North America as their opening act.[17] In 2012 Manika also performed at
KIIS-FM's
Wango Tango. In 2013, Manika published her debut album, Manika Double Album; associated singles included "Good Girls" and "My Way".[14]
In 2014, Manika released her fourth single "Vegas Party". She performed this song at Las Vegas nightclubs including Hakkasan nightclub at
MGM Grand and Light nightclub at
Mandalay Bay.[17][18][19] Manika's fifth single was released in 2015 "B.Y.O.Bugatti", which peaked at number 12 on the U.S. Hot Single Sales Chart by Billboard.[20][21] In 2015, Manika also performed on the main stage at the Wine Amplified music festival in
Las Vegas.[22][23]
Later that year she released a collaboration with rapper
Tyga, "I Might Go Lesbian", which peaked at number 15 on the Billboard U.S. Hot Single Sales Chart.[24][25] The title of the song has been retroactively changed, first to "I Might Go..." and later to "I Might Go (love a) Lesbian". In 2016 Manika released her single "How Can I Love" which charted higher than any of her other singles at number 7 in Billboard Sales.[26] Manika is also the host for reality-TV series "Global Beauty Masters" (students) that airs on
TLC TV network and
Discovery Life, in the U.S., and in over 25 countries in North and South America including Mexico, Canada and
the Caribbean.[2][3][4][5]
In 2016, Manika launched her own radio show "Manika's Love Line" on
Dash Radio which airs every Sunday at 6pm PST / 9pm EST.[27][28][29][30][31]
Manika is the TV host of The Look All Stars "The Social Corner", that airs on Sunday nights on
The CW nationwide. The Look All Stars also stars
Tori Spelling.[6][7]