Yaima “Yami” Gomez has always had a passion for music.

It helped her to express herself and forget any of her problems.

In Cuba, where she was born, friends often felt the same. They would come to her house with their instruments in tow. Those without any would simply clap along.

On moving to Bermuda, she would often write songs and send them to her brother, Tito “Malandro” Gomez, a singer in Miami, Florida. He encouraged her to sing her songs herself.

“He was a real inspiration to me,” she said. “I said let me explore what I write through my voice and see how many hearts I can touch.”

She released Simplemente Yo (Simply Me) last year. Her songs are available on YouTube and are also played on local radio stations.

Ms Gomez is working on a second album, De Viaje Junto A Momentos, and hopes to release singles on streaming sites early next year.

She records through a family music studio back in Cuba, also used by her brother.

Some of the songs are in Spanish and some in English.

Sometimes her songs are inspired by her friends’ experiences.

Permiteme, for example, is about a woman trying to convince her boyfriend to trust her after he went through a bad experience with his former girlfriend.

“She is telling her boyfriend allow me to make you happy,” Ms Gomez said.

Some of her songs are inspired by her own romance. She met her Bermudian husband, Troy Govia, very briefly in 2001 when she was 18. She was in her first year at the University of Havana, studying economics and business administration. Mr Govia was headed to the airport, having been on holiday with friends.

As the taxi he was in was about to pull away from the kerb, he saw Ms Gomez in the distance. Awed by her beauty, he made the driver stop and sent one of his Cuban friends to ask her if she would pose for a photograph with him.

At first she refused.

“Sometimes tourists come to Cuba looking for easy girls,” she said. “My parents did not raise me that way. I was in university and they wanted me to have a good life.”

One of her friends convinced her to have the photograph taken.

“She said, ‘Don’t let him take a bad impression about Cuban girls back home’,” said Ms Gomez, who drew the line at giving out her name or contact details.

Once the picture was taken, she hurried off to class and did not give it a second thought.

However, Mr Govia, who is 18 years her senior, thought of her often. Eventually he asked a friend back in Cuba to track Ms Gomez down with a copy of the picture that was taken.

Nine months later, a classmate told Ms Gomez someone was passing around a photograph of her but, convinced they were joking, she “didn’t think anything of it” until a man approached her outside the university library.

Although she didn’t remember having the photo taken, the story of Mr Govia’s search appealed to her romantic nature.

Mr Govia’s eyes filled with tears as he recalled how his friend contacted him and said, “Troy, we found your girl.”

The couple began a daily e-mail courtship. On Sundays Ms Gomez would walk 25 minutes to her grandmother’s house to talk to Mr Govia on the one phone she could access.

Four months later, Mr Govia returned to Cuba. Ms Gomez had wanted to visit him in Bermuda, but her parents would not let her do so until she was 21, and in her fourth year of university.

She had to get permission from the head of her department at the university to leave Cuba. She never went back. Instead, they got married. Ms Gomez found out she was pregnant not long after their honeymoon.

Their son, Yazik, is now 18 and studying business in university. It is Ms Gomez’s dream to one day complete her degree. At the moment she is busy writing a book, Haz Que Te Resbale (Make it Slip), that will be published in Cuba.

“It is about how to confront some situations in life, but always with a smile and a positive way,” she said. “I hope that will be ready soon.”

• Simplemente Yo is available at Music Box on Reid Street for $20