American R&B singer Alaura Lovelight talks Resilience

Alaura Lovelight is an American R&B singer, songwriter, producer, and published writer based out of New York City. She is also the CEO of Lovelight Sound Music, a music company that offers courses and workshops teaching musicians, teens, and creatives how to use music and creativity to build an income through their craft and a more confident, purposeful life that they love.

resilience: the ability to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness

In this blog Alaura Lovelight talks resilience in the face of challenges and setbacks. Alaura shares her own journey as an artist and entrepreneur, and serves as a reminder that no matter what life throws our way, we have the power to overcome it.

(The Following text has been transcribed)

Welcome back to  KimTalks. I'm your host, Kim Hayden, and I am super excited to have you here as we share stories of insight and inspiration in life. Love a business with resilient women from around the world. I want to share that today's guest is here all the way from New York. And I'm super excited all the way from New York in my studio, my virtual studio. But you know what? Before we jump over to that queen of resilient Scott shop. Be sure to shop online. Bit of sass. A lot of class. Some fun in there. Straighten your crown. Shop around. Queen of resilience shop. So today, Alaura Lovelight. And I love this name. Alaura is an American R&B singer, songwriter, producer and published writer based out of New York City with her debut single Erotic. It's a beautiful, beautiful song. Makes me think of a long Jacuzzi bath with some rain, candlelight and a bottle of Prosecco. But she's currently playing on radios both nationally and internationally on over 100 radio stations in more than 17 different countries, including U.S., U.K., Australia, Scotland, Canada, Africa and more. She's also the CEO of Love Light Sound Music. It is a music company that offers courses and workshops teaching musicians, teens and creatives how to use music and creativity to build an income through their craft, a more and more competent, purposeful life that they love. She has performed all over the U.S. for over hundreds of thousands of people, been featured in over 60 radio stations, televisions and podcasts in just the past four months. Been published by major online publications with millions of readers, and her music has been hurt by millions on social media. She is also the founder of the You Matter movement, working in schools and communities to use the power of music to speak out against bullying and empowering others that their story matters. And I love that. Just so you know, that's what that's a grab after me. Welcome to the show, Alaura and myself.

Yes, thank you for having me. What a great intro. You know.

What you have and I'm sure there's even more to that than what I could hear.

Yeah.

Well, what we always like to dig in, because we know that for me, the definition of resilience is that our past does not define our future. And so I really like to dove in a bit and get a little bit of that background, that origin story, who is Alaura. And, you know, just give me a little bit of who you are. Give me a snapshot.

Yeah. You know, I have done music my whole life. I have done music that was really life. I have done music since I was a kid. I played piano when I was very, very young at the age of four. But growing up like I was I don't know if you asked me when I was younger, would this be my path? I think part of me always really wanted to do this. There's pictures of me from, you know, two, three, four years old, like with a microphone in my hand. So I think I was destined for that. But there was a long journey in between finding myself and loving myself and embracing myself as a woman. And that is the piece of the puzzle. So there's been a lot that's where all of those righter this and that. There's just been a lot to the story where I have gone through a lot of things in my past that I think made me who I am. And so so yeah, that's kind of where I'm at. I mean, the generic answer is, you know, I've studied music my whole life and I went to school for it and I did all of that. But more in more depth, which is what you had said to me earlier. A lot of my story is what defines what I do now. And it took me a long time to be okay. With having so many elements. You know, a lot of people say, well, just do this, I'll just do this. And I'm like, but I love all these things. And it took me a long time to step into that. But here we are absolutely.

Well, and as a creative, you're multifaceted and and and I get that everybody keeps going down each down. Right. You know, find that one thing. And it's really hard when there's so many components to ourselves. Right? Where are you from originally?

Rhode Island.

Oh, it's actually originally, so. Yeah. Now, tell me about being in that I have never had the honor and the excitement of being able to go to New York City is on my bucket list. In fact, when COVID hit, it was where I was going. That year. Oh, no. Yes. So if you were to be in any of the musicals, right. What would be the one that speaks to you?

Oh, you know, it was always like a present when I was young that my mother would get me tickets to see a Broadway show. Like, that was our special thing that we did. And she would take me to the city and we would go see I think the first show I saw was Beauty and the Beast. But Phantom of the Opera is one of my all time favorites. And like, if you I don't even think it's on Broadway anymore, but on the stage, they had like the whole lagoon and they would have a river. And it was so interesting. And somehow, someway, we ended up in the front row. I forget how it was like a perfect storm of things that got perfectly pieced together. And she had a friend or something. We ended up in the front row. It was just like the most amazing experience ever.

Oh, very cool. Very cool. Yeah. No, like I said, New York is on my bucket list. I will make it.

Throughout.

The 12 months it's on my list.

So nothing like that.

That's what I hear repeatedly. It's true. So, you know you because there's so many different facets here that you're diving into, right? So what are you so kind to walk us through? I think I see three kinds of three spokes here. You have your music production, you have your coaching, and then you have your philanthropy. Can you kind of walk us through those? Did I get that right?

Yeah, yeah. I would say that's pretty accurate. Yeah. So on one hand, I would say that I believe and feel in my heart I'm an artist in all senses of the word at the beginning of it. I love, you know, in the last year, I've really kind of discovered that it's not just music that I love. That's my gift. And it's kind of the thing that comes natural to me is writing music and singing and songwriting. Those are the things that I believe are my gift on this earth. And so that's where I started. But you know, over the last two years, Covered was really interesting for creative people, right? Because it, like, forced us to be able to have time to create and be like whoa, I'm good at other things. And so I would say my art and my music is number one that is so important to me and so special to me. I love to put out music. And then the second one is, my company, which is Love Light Sound Music, which is like my own baby child. I adore the company and the growth and the people that we get to work with and the courses that have blossomed out of my journey and my story to turn into courses for teen girls and courses for musicians to learn more about making money, and even courses for people who are just creative. People who say, How do I put myself out there? And over the last year, a lot of that has just provoked a lot of creativity for me to be like, Well, I can share this and I can teach this and I have this to offer besides performing because I couldn't do that, you know, and then on the on the last spoke, as you said, is my you matter movement, which I also is very close to my heart and it kind of birthed out of a single that somebody asked me to write that never got used for the project that it was intended for. And it became this whole other thing. There was a lot of unfolding where the song had come out. And then that happened at the time of a school shooting So it made me kind of reconsider. What does it really mean to people and how could it impact people to feel better and not feel so down or depressed or, you know, school shootings, things like that. And it turned into this major movement that now we go and visit schools and we do empowerment, we do workshops. And I love all of it. I love all of it. It's really fun.

I want to pick up because you said when we first were talking that you had to find yourself and find confidence within yourself. And now you're talking about you matter and we're talking about the school bullying and such was any of that part of your childhood growing up? Did any of that because I mean, honestly, we sit here and we see this incredibly talented. Absolutely. Beautiful woman and we you know, how we're now in this Instagram space where everything's visual, right? So we look at you and we can't see that you would have any challenges. So you share with me how like because I'm not feeling that there's a little something deeper here.

Definitely. Absolutely. You know, I wasn't overly bullied in school. I probably bullied myself more than anybody else did. I just felt so not the pretty girl. And so I never went to a school dance. I never had a boyfriend in high school. Like, I you know, like you said, I love that you point that out because people meet this version of me and they're like, oh, my God. And I'm like, if you only knew, you know, 14 year old Laura who just like I went through a phase where I'd only wear pants and in long shirts, I just, just was so uncomfortable. And people knew I was really good at music, so they didn't bother me too much. They're like that girl library famous they'll be nice shirt type of thing. But, you know, it was a hard time for me. A really hard time for me where it was a lot of me not understanding my own words and me feeling like, well, I'm not the cookie cutter girl and I'm not the popular cheerleader girl. And, you know, that makes me not good enough. And that's so untrue. And so untrue. And that's a big part of why, you know, I do the teen girls course that these girls are in the very same exact position that I was in. And then the bullying, anti-bullying and mental health and just saying like, let's talk about what's going on and let's talk about feeling left out and let's talk about why we don't feel good enough. And, you know, sixth grade, seventh grade, and eighth grade is a very hard time for a lot of people. Your body is changing and your mind is trying to figure out where you fit in And like I said, that you matter. Video was based on a school shooting. And I thought, you know, I took the project for the music video to a school and one of my sixth graders said maybe nobody told him that he matters and maybe nobody told him, like, you know, you have a place and you're important. And I was crying in the sixth grade classroom, like, yes, that's right.

And that is interesting because I don't know where the stats are in New York, but here in Calgary, they just released the stats on our youth hotline. Our call calling use hotline is at all time record high mental health stress especially on children that age race, those tweens and teens that they're calling it developmental disruption.

And so that has really, really, really hurt that, you know, that's already a hard age. But now the kids are like I fell behind in class work. Now I don't see my friend. I don't know. I totally believe that. And I would speculate that New York is very similar, yeah.

I would say this is probably something that we're seeing around the world globally Okay. So recently, was it the Grammys that Tik Singers took? Did you watch that? I think it was, yes. Yes. Musicians. Musicians like yourself. Yeah. During COVID got creative and they won a Grammy doing all the highlights from Bridgerton. So they brought songs, Broadway style songs off of Bridgerton, and they ended up winning a Grammy with this Tik Tok. How do you see Tik Tok for creatives? How do you leverage Tik Top? Is this or what platform is your go to platform?

=

Yeah, I'm getting into TikTok just because that's the wave and that's what's next. So I think it's fun. I think it's really neat. It's very creative for a lot of people to learn how to cut videos and do music and voice overs and whatever. I think it's a really creative platform for people to express themselves. Even people who are musicians that play instruments and do things like that. Something I'm really into on TikTok is Duets, where a lot of people will record a video, and then you can duet with them. You can sing a duet with them. I love that. I think it's so fun. I saw that.

With Ryan Reynolds.

Oh, really?

What was that telling me to double that to? I can't remember what it was. I watched it with Ryan Reynolds and Will Ferrell. I watched it probably for a half hour and it was, I think, the 32nd video.

Yeah, totally. And I think everybody's kind of getting into it just because it's easy and it's fun and it's like you can make a video with somebody that you want to that maybe doesn't know who you are, but you're like, Hey, I could do it this, you know? So I think it's.

Still very fun. I have yet to figure out tick tock. I did a couple of them, and because my sister said, Give this a try. And I said, Okay, what do you want to ask? I mean, whatever. And because I'm pretty much open back right yeah. You get to my age, there's no shame. It's like it's all out there. So I did it and I got a lot of response, but then I'm good. Okay, now what do I do with it? So I want to dive back into it. I always like to ask what your why is. But before we go to that, I want to make sure everybody out there who watches this, please, like, subscribe, follow and share really need you to support us so we can find out all the amazing whys out there. So Alaura, let's start dove into what is your why what's it like that driving piece inside that keeps you moving forward?

Mm. I think it has a lot to do with what we've talked about so far. It took me a very long time to really feel good about myself, really feel confident and really kind of love myself. There was a lot of sifting and a lot of sorting and, you know, it was always inside me, which I don't know if I knew and when I found it I thought, wow, this feels so much and I just wish that for everybody. I wish everybody would live a life that they are like, that was really fun. That was really cool. You know, I think too many people dedicate too much time to things that don't don't matter. And whether that means worrying about social media or whether that means working for a job that you hate, like life is just way too short to not do things that you love. And that's not to say, you know, throw everything out and quit your job. And, you know, that's not my message, but my message is to find those things every single day that you love and don't limit yourself. Don't put yourself out there because like, it's hard. It's hard to be an artist. It's hard to. But it's been like, I wouldn't do anything else ever. I couldn't imagine having taken any different path than I have. And so that's really my why. I think if I can have some kind of impact on as many people as possible to say, you know, I, I listen to a lot of love life or I watch her interviews or whatever and she inspires me to be happier and be healthier and live more and try that thing. I always wanted to try. Like, that's the goal absolutely.

We talked a lot on the show about entrepreneurship and film founders and that type of, you know, women making things happen for themselves. And you just touched on that. I know that you also teach courses and such. Can you share with us a bit of help just kind of for somebody out there who is choosing to go on their own as opposed to going back to corporate America? What are some of the first steps that you took when you're creative and you chose to go into the more linear thinking of teaching? Can you share with us kind of your very first EPS that you took when you decided that you'd start teaching? And do you also do it online?

Mhm. Yeah. So my mother is a public music public school music teacher. She is amazing. And she always wanted me to play a public music public school music teacher. I'm like, I don't want to be tied to a job. I don't want I don't think teachers to get paid enough. That's a whole different story. I agreed they get paid barely like they do. It's way not enough, not even just a little bit, but it's a lot too. Not enough. But yeah, there were just so many things I didn't want to do about going and teaching, so I never did. And the pandemic forced me to be like, What else do I do besides perform? Like, that's what I was doing full time. I was playing for show one, and when that happened, I stumbled upon, you know, this opportunity. Where were some parents, family, friends and people I had known and people who knew my music had been like, Oh, will you coach my team? And I thought, Sure, why not? You know, I definitely have the experience to do so. And I fell in love with it. I really fell in love. That's when I started meeting these teen girls and saying, Oh, my God, you know, for 15 years. I thought it was just me who felt uncomfortable and shy and awkward and whatever. And then I got to connect with these girls and say, Wow, they're just like me. And they have it inside them. And another thing that kind of occurred to me that I never knew realized was oh my gosh, I have never had a female mentor, ever. I have never. You know, the music industry is very male dominated and I think I never it never occurred to me like, go find a woman to mentor you. And also, I wasn't presented with that opportunity because there are so few and far between. So it was a combination of me meeting these girls and loving them like they are my younger self and also realizing, wow, like these young girls need a female mentor. They need it. They have to. I wish that I had had one. I didn't even realize how much that would have been a game changer.

Interesting that you say that, because the statistics prove exactly what you're talking about. When we look at public speakers, it's less than the generous numbers. 36%. The conservative number is 29% of public speakers are women. So it's also that we go in alignment with what you're saying. It's just it's still very MALE-DOMINATED. Yeah. So can you. So now that we've talked, we've brought all this round we know that you're just human just like the rest of us and you share a time that resiliency is a muscle that has to be strengthened repeatedly and so it does get tested. Can you share time with us around resiliency that without it you may not be sitting here having this conversation.

My blanket answer is the whole journey in the music industry. You have to have resilience every single day. There are so many times that, you know, people don't see the vision of what you see. And it's very hard. It doesn't have to be hard. My journey was difficult, but I don't believe it happened. You have to be a starving artist. But yeah, I think that the resiliency of not giving up is the biggest thing that has been the reason I'm still here. It's not my talent. It's not being a beautiful woman. It's not whatever experience I have. It's the fact that I didn't quit. I didn't stop. So many things, opportunities, that appeared as one thing and were not there they break you down and times you think you work so hard. Blood, sweat and tears on a project that doesn't take off or you know, are so vulnerable. It's you and it's an expression of yourself. So like when that's not received by as many people as you think it should be, you're like, Hmm, that's them. I wish more people had seen it or heard it or whatever, but I think you just learn along the way. You have to have that resilience to knock it off. And you know what's funny is, like I said this in an interview just the other day, don't quit feels so trivial because it's been trivialized like, yeah, yeah, don't quit. Put it on a pillow or, you know, put it on at Walmart. But like, you can't give up. You can have a bad day. You can cry it out. You can eat a whole thing of ice cream. You can do all of those things. You can decide I'm not doing anything today or this week or whatever, but you can't stop all the way you can.

Absolutely. Absolutely. Continuing moving forward is the only way to say, you know, if you're not moving forward, you become stagnant and you die right. And there's a lot of people walking around that don't even realize they're dead right now. So there's a lot of people who are not doing or putting anything back into this world. Right. And I think that's where our creatives and like we even mentioned the teachers, teachers should teachers are putting huge amounts back into this world and they should definitely be rewarded. So books, let's talk about books. I'm going to this quick whiplash. So if anybody's out there listening to books like we just want teachers and books. Okay, creative creatives, we're back into the creative arts. Okay. So you have a book coming out. Can you share with us the title? Do you have a working title on it or you already have a book like Where are we at with that.

That's like such a fresh idea that's like it. I'm hoping to have something published before the end of the year, but it's such a fresh idea that I've just kind of been playing with. I do write for quite a few different websites. Some people have asked me just to write about my creativity and I write about things like that, but I think the best thing that I really enjoy writing about is really based around a course that I have called The Willing Creative, and it's really important. I think the number one thing about being successful and being creative is your willingness, and I talk a lot about that in the course and I, I plan to, to work on a book about that, just to talk about your willingness to try and your willingness to fail and your willingness to get rejected. And there's so many things that you just have to be willing to say, I'm going to walk into this fire and be on the other side. And being creative is an amazing and unique gift. But but doing it and doing it well requires a certain level of willingness. So yeah, be on the lookout for some writing about that.

I think that will be really cool. As we move from the industrial age into the age of knowledge. The age of knowledge definitely supports the age of creativity, right? So I think that because now we see these in F Ts, we're seeing like we're seeing so many different monetization and opportunities for creatives. It's no longer restricted to just a radio play or just a stage opportunity that there's so many more opportunities out there. Yeah, absolutely. So share a quote the days are hard but something that you kind of give yourself a kick in the pants with. What is something that either your mother has said to you or a favorite teacher or even a student of yours is shared with you, that just kind of resonates.

One thing that I always say about mostly everything I do because I'm quite a perfectionist. I like things to be right. I like things to be perfect, but sometimes it rains on, you know, on the wedding day, what can you do? So before every single show that I do, I always say kind of a mantra to myself of connection over perfection. And I tell that to everybody, I tell that to everybody. I can and work with mostly, especially when I have people I'm coaching that Show or are putting the book out or, you know, the reason that we share our art is for connection. It's not for perfection. It's not to be the most perfect. It's to connect with people on a level that maybe somebody else can't connect with them on.

So oh, for perfection. Yeah, that is awesome. I love that. I love that. So Alaura, where can we find you? So I do have your YouTube up here appearance Alaura Lovelight, but what is your Instagram? What are your different places that we can find you?

Yeah, pretty much everything is @AlauraLovelight. So if you look for me on Instagram, on Tik Tok, on Facebook, you tube this all @AlauraLovelight. I try to keep it consistent for fans to kind of know exactly how to find me and then everything about the courses. There are three courses. One is called Make Music, Make Money, you know, for gigging musicians to make more of a stable income with music on the willing creative, which I've talked about and then Unseen to Queen is for teen girls. And it's like a music, but confidence and power empowerment class really those are all available at lovelightsoundmusic.com . And you can go I would just say if you like our chat and you're interested in more about me go to love light sound music dot com all my music is there all the courses are there. There is a form if you want to contact us, if you have a question, if a school wants to have the you matter movement come to their school, there's a form for that. If they want to say, Hey, we want you to come visit us, we would love to do that too. So it's all there. Go check it out.

That you know what? I love the fact that you did not slow down during COVID you turned this into the silver lining within a very dark cloud for a lot of people. And you're making that shine outwards. And all of this you've done during COVID, which is what I think is unbelievably amazing. Yeah. What a huge legacy. What a positive way to lean into something that you have zero control over. Right. And you made it yours. I love that. I love that. And just see, you know, unseen queen I think best use names like best. Yes, honestly. Beautiful.

All right. It's so perfectly descriptive of the course.

I love it. I love it. All right. You know what? I always try to honor your time. 30 minutes in and out with the most amazing women that I can find. Around the world. And today was absolutely one of those days. Again, Laura, thank you so much for your time. I appreciate it. Yes, awesome. Again, like share, subscribe, comment like share, subscribe content. Let's monitor this, folks. Know next time you're feeling your resiliency, is lagging. Be sure to listen and lean into our resilient community. You can grab your free membership at Resilient Gift dot com and that's where you'll get a monthly magazine and all those other great things out there or what. You have a sort of resiliency that you'd like to share with me. Just DM me on Instagram at Resilience series, and I would love to chat with you where we celebrate and showcase female founders, coaches, entrepreneurs, authors, speakers, creatives, and those who aspire to be any and all of the above. Again, until next time. Thank you for sharing your time and I look forward to seeing you. I'm now.

Alaura Lovelight is an American R&B singer, songwriter, producer, and published writer based out of New York City with her debut single currently playing on radio both nationally and internationally on over 100 radio stations in more than 17 different countries including the US, UK, Australia, Scotland, Canada, Africa and more. She is also the CEO of Lovelight Sound Music, a music company that offers courses and workshops teaching musicians, teens, and creatives how to use music and creativity to build an income through their craft and a more confident, purposeful life that they love. She has performed all over the US for over 100,000 people, been featured on over 60 radio stations, television and podcasts in the last 4 months, been published by major online publications with millions of readers and her music has been heard by millions on social media. She is also the founder of the You Matter Movement working in schools and communities to use the power of music to speak out against bullying and empower others that their story matters. 

Follow Alaura on Social Media!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alauralovelight/?hl=en

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/alauralovelightmusic

TikTok:  https://www.tiktok.com/@alauralovelight?

Youtube:  https://www.youtube.com/c/AlauraLovelight