You recently graduated from Berklee College of Music. What’s the biggest thing Berklee has done for your career?
Upon completing my studies at Berklee I can say that one of the biggest achievements it has granted me is the quality of music I can now create. The music theory, composition, songwriting, music production and music business skills that Berklee classes provide, give students unique expertise in the music industry field. Despite having over 10 years of prior performance and songwriting experience, I decided to deepen my musical knowledge and master my craft to achieve a global standard of music creation. The biggest thing that Berklee has done for my career is definitely networking. I can’t even recall how many talented people I got a chance to meet on campus over the past 4 years (minus the global pandemic) ... Every student or teacher you meet at Berklee is absolutely unique and highly skilled whether it’s the instruments or their music industry knowledge, Berklee Boston campus holds enormous amounts of talent and connections and I’m grateful for the opportunity to meet some of them!
You also recently became a member of Grammy U. What excites you the most about that opportunity?
By an extraordinary stroke of luck, I became a member of Grammy U when one of my Berklee mentors recommended that I apply on the final day of the application deadline. This has been a lifelong dream of mine, and since March 2023, being affiliated with the Recording Academy has meant the world to me. As a Grammy U member, I have had the opportunity to network extensively. I've attended exclusive industry events, participated in artist soundchecks, music business conferences, and visited record label offices for master classes with industry professionals. Through Grammy U, I had the privilege of visiting The Orchard music distribution company office in New York, where I learned about their operations from their wonderful employees and attended several artist soundchecks in Boston and New York.
You have been able to travel all over the world. Is there a location or venue that you would dream of performing in?
Traveling my whole life, I feel lucky to have the ability to adapt to every country I travel to just like it happened with me moving to Boston alone at 17 for studies and moving to Spain for a year in my twenties later. Some of my favorite places that I would love to perform at one day are definitely New York, Los Angeles and Miami as they stand as global hubs of the entertainment industry. Los Angeles, in particular, holds a special place in my heart due to its vibrant community of artists, musicians, and actors who have made it their home. I would love to perform at the venues of this city someday soon.
Who or what would you consider your biggest musical influences?
My musical influences have changed overtime. Idols such as Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder and Stevie Wonder will always top this list. However, the earliest musical influence I had growing up was Britney Spears, watching her music videos when I was only 9 years old completely blew my mind and made me realize that I want to dedicate my life to having a career in music. Later on, my biggest idol was Beyoncé for many years before coming to Berklee and during my college years I discovered Soul, Jazz and R&B artists that shaped the musical styles I’m working with now. The modern artists that inspire me are Alicia Keys, Kiana Lede, Ella Mai, Snoh Aalegra, Mahalia, Sinead Harnett and H.E.R. Additionally, many of my former Berklee classmates serve as role models to me for their incredible career growth in recent years.
What would you say is your biggest career challenge?
My biggest career challenge after graduating from Berklee is definitely the specific career choices. I have been convinced since a very young age that I want to pursue a career in the music industry but after studying at Berklee I discovered that I’m drawn to many different parts of it and have to try a couple paths to decide what I want to do most. Besides improving my skills as a singer, songwriter, piano player, music producer I also discovered a strong passion for music marketing and social media management. As for now, I will keep trying all these paths and see where life takes me, because I believe that it is possible to combine all of them in some way.
What are your immediate career goals?
My immediate career goals are mostly related to music marketing now. I believe that whether I choose to pursue the career path of an industry professional or an artist/songwriter it is highly important to learn the music marketing tools and know how to use them on both sides of the industry. I recently discovered a Google course on Fundamentals of Digital Marketing that inspired me to study this field and I can see how much it resonates with the music industry now. Another goal I would set for myself is to follow my intuition because it has always shown me the right path in life. I am grateful for a chance to study at Berklee, meet wonderful people and see them grow in so many ways over time! Berklee network is definitely one of the most beautiful things that ever happened to me and I’m excited to see where the future takes us!
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Excited to see where her path takes her!
As always, I want to thank D-Anna for visiting with us, and for sending along the pictures to accompany the interview.
I'm sure you’ll all want to listen to D-Anna and follow along with her to see what she's up to. I would definitely follow her on Instagram, and/or Spotify. In fact, go do both right now!
Thanks again D-Anna, and good luck reaching your goals!
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