Artist Empowerment

There is no artist empowerment without risk - and this isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

As is true with all endeavors, the greater the risk, the greater the potential reward.

The trick is to stack the odds in your favor by making the right choices at the right time, cultivating a supportive network, and assembling the right team.

As artists trying to establish ourselves in the music industry, we are not alone.

When I was accepted to UCLA and USC Law School with scholarship offers, I had a very difficult choice to make between the safer, clear path of becoming a lawyer or the uncertain path of “making it” in the music industry.

So many questions and scenarios raced through my mind…there were compelling possibilities either way. Thankfully, I had a supportive community of family, friends, professors and industry professionals who helped guide my way.

Some said, “Follow you passion” while others said “I know people who will kill for scholarship offers to UCLA and USC Law, you’re crazy to turn them down!”

Deep down inside, I had to discover my own truth but I knew that no matter what I chose, I had support. And that support becomes even more critical when you choose the riskier path.

Choosing artist empowerment meant stepping into uncharted territory.

It meant financial risk, personal risk and uncertainty.

But there is no reward greater than doing what you love and that outweighs any risk, at least in my book.

Artist empowerment isn’t a solitary journey…it is a team effort and teams accomplish significantly more than the sum of what each individual would accomplish alone.

WE CAN THRIVE UNDER THESE CIRCUMSTANCES!

The stock market takes a huge dive…
The war continues endlessly…
The housing crisis is crippling…
The unemployment rate is peaking…

Just read the front page of the newspaper or watch any news channel…doom and gloom, with no end in sight.

While there is so much to worry about and so much that is wrong with the world, there are many more things to be happy about and grateful for.

You are breathing, alive!
You have loved ones who love you!
You have food to eat and water to drink!
You are an artist and you create art!
You have dreams and the capacity and talent to achieve them!

Hundreds of millions of people around the globe would kill to be where you are now. Remember, the worst circumstances here are a blessing compared to the best circumstances for someone somewhere else.

Stay on your path and maintain a balanced perspective. Every change in our external environment requires an equal and opposite change from inside us. You might have to work a bit harder and be more creative to achieve your goals but they are still well within your reach.

What the news won’t tell you is that we humans are resilient, amazing creatures. Challenging times are just that, a challenge, and you and only you are the master of your destiny.

Don’t let them, or anyone, extinguish your flame.

The following headline needs to be the opening phrase of every newscast and published in every newspaper around the country, everyday:

WE CAN THRIVE UNDER THESE CIRCUMSTANCES!

Cheers to that!

And don’t forget to smile

Humility.

This beautiful word describes the perfect equilibrium of ego where your confidence in your abilities and your pride in your accomplishments are always balanced by an intense need to improve.

You have the confidence to put yourself out there yet you realize that you are incomplete.

You believe in yourself but know how much more you have yet to learn.

Humility is that very moment when you look in your rear view mirror, reflecting on the distance you have traveled and then look forward, realizing that the journey to your destination has just begun.

And when you get to what you thought was your destination, you realize that you merely reached a milestone to bigger, better things that lie in your horizon.

There is more to strive or…more to accomplish.

It is this constant push and pull that will set us apart.

Humility is the way of the empowered artist.