BIOGRAPHY
I am a singer and songwriter. I tell stories of raw vulnerability with the mystery and misery we can often find ourselves in. I use whatever tools at my disposal to get message across.
There is no such thing as a clean edition of me. I haven't got everything together.
And I welcome the light to shine on all that's hidden in me.
I'm still learning to overcome the need for acclamation from others before being confident in my creative work. That's always been the rate-limiting step to releasing my creative potential to the world. Whether it's an essay or a song, I've always struggled with internal feelings of creative illegitimacy.
Thoughts like: "I'm not a trained musician, writer, or singer" or my voice doesn't sound like "so and so".
But I've had industry friends who've previewed my work and they've all expressed deeply moving reviews, which has honestly brought me to tears. I've realized that I was in a cage of my own undoing. I'd allowed the arbitrary conventions of creative legitimacy to undermine my own confidence in my capabilities. I also allowed the opinions of others, informed by their biases and religious beliefs to set the parameters of what was creatively possible for me.
I needed to free myself.
This is why I now call myself a creative freedom fighter. I'm standing firm and on guard in the fullness of my creative potential and I'll speak boldly about what I know I can accomplish even if I don't yet have the credentials or experience by conventional standards. I'll do what it takes to step out, get the advice I deem necessary, and I'll do it on my own without anyone else's authorization but my own.
It is my hope that in doing so, it may inspire others to do the same, especially those who've come from backgrounds where their creativity was placed in a box they are now trying desperately to escape.
