Pave my own way

Recently when I thought about what to make my first post about, maybe not recently, but for a long time, I've wondered...what do I have to say? What is the essence of what I want to share? The perfect phrase came up to me at the Latin Alternative Music Conference (LAMC) this month, where there was a seminar titled: Going your own way. The title was perfect for me because for some years I've been paving my own way in the arts.

When I first decided to start a music project I didn't exactly know where I was going but I knew that starting it was better than not. It was right after college when I obtained my degree in Political Science and Latin American Studies; a Pre Law Major at NYU. Many times I'd sing in the cafeteria and other students asked me why I wasn't in Tisch School of the Arts instead. I joked that I wanted to have a real career but during the middle of my college education I was presented with the opportunity to join an all girl band known as Las Chicas del Can. I grew up listening to their music and though I was a fan my answer was absolutely not. There was no way I'd drop out of college after working so hard to be there and how many people from Washington Heights became artists anyway, I thought. I didn't know anyone at the time that became an artist from my neighborhood (that has since changed).

I went to the casting for the band when another person mentioned the opportunity to me. I was chosen on the spot. Instead of making the possibility impossible for myself I went to the counselors office at NYU and asked about a leave of absence. The process was very easy and I was allowed to take two semesters off. It was perfect. After about nine months of work and travel, I was ready to go back to school and the group was breaking up anyway.

When I went back to school and my office job, it was my boss that gave the CD I had recorded with the band to his guitar teacher, who gave it to his boss and he gave to his wife, a manager for Latino talent. For months she asked me to get pictures for the castings and I had no idea was she was talking about. Eventually, I got my headshots. I was on my way to booking commercials, voiceovers and industrials. Between politics classes and some science classes that I never understood, I'd take off to attend to castings and rush back to class or work.

My last year at NYU, I took an acting class and more vocal lessons and that is when I knew that I could actually pursue this dream that seemed to be pursuing me, asking me to give it a try.

I have since independently recorded a latin pop album and continue to do commercial and film and TV work in NYC.

Sometimes I think about what my life would be like had I not given the arts a chance and I can hardly picture it. The arts was always there, ready for me to pay attention to it. Is it easy and clear? Absolutely not! I think the arts is a little masochistic actually. Why keep doing it? Because it is so much fun to wake up with a challenge everyday and pave my own way.