When I think about the dozens of musicians who have touched my life and pushed me to become the artist I am today, one that especially comes to mind is Nahum Smith, the now-owner of El Rey Music Center in Arlington Heights, IL. Prior to starting piano lessons at El Rey, I had been involved in the arts since I could talk through Chicagoland musical theater and choirs, such as Big Deal Productions and Red Rose Children’s Choir of Lake County. However, I was always told that something about my voice and presence on the stage made me stand out from the rest; my dynamics and sound could be picked out from everyone else. So, ten-year-old me sat in the backseat while we drove up to El Rey, contemporary and unique, and I was thrilled at the possibility of finally finding a musical avenue that fit my skill set. During one of my first piano lessons at the school, previous owner Bill Manglaris stood in awe in the doorway as I belted the song I had just worked on while piecing together coordinating self-accompaniment. From that point on, I was known as one of the “El Rey singers,” popped into groups for various showcases because of my vocal talent and ability to pick up songs at lightning speed. After building up performance experience and a solid repertoire by age 12, guitar teacher Nahum Smith decided to put together a six-kid band at the beginning of summer 2016 with me as lead singer. That little group would stick together long after that summer and become professional teen cover band, Six On Friday. We have established a strong and well-known reputation over the years by playing almost every weekend at bars, festivals, restaurants and private events across Chicagoland. Although I enjoy my many duties — rehearsal organizer, onstage ball of energy, social media guru — the job I’ve always loved most is engaging the crowd. From the stage, I notice many familiar faces in the audience, rocking their bodies and singing along while wearing unshakeable smiles. Off the stage, as I converse with them about the band, I notice that the familiar faces are accompanied by new ones, people they brought to a Six on Friday show because they wanted to share the joy. The music we make can make an impact, and that impact spreads. A gift like this brings many blessings, but the most important one I realized is the opportunity to help others flourish. Sometimes, those faces in the crowd are themselves young musicians. I have made it a priority to encourage them however I can, since I know firsthand how instrumental guidance from seasoned musicians can be. After we brought one young performer into the spotlight to sing with the band, she was then inspired to accelerate her own musical progression. Now I get to be one of the faces in the crowd at her gigs. Since live music is naturally uplifting, various charities have also called on Six On Friday to provide free entertainment at their benefits supporting groups like injured firefighters, cancer patients, families of fallen soldiers, veterans, and underprivileged children. If not for Nahum, and El Rey Music Center as a whole, I would have never been able to find my place and make such a lasting impact on my community through Six On Friday. As I now aspire to be a large-scale live performer in my career, I believe that there is nothing comparable to the power of live music, and I hope to continue my efforts for the rest of my life.

Nestled in the northwest corner of Walt Disney World’s Fantasyland lies a spot vivid in my childhood memories: the “It’s a Small World” ride. The perfect combination of particular culture and global interconnection always leaves me in awe, not to mention the catchy tune that quickly becomes an earworm. So, when I heard of a scientific theory that affirmed this idea of universal connectivity, my inner child was immediately hooked. The Six Degrees of Separation, or “Small World,” theory states that any two people in the world are six or fewer personal connections away from one another. This concept has made me realize that the common leadership advice to “establish interpersonal connections” is simultaneously redundant and insufficient, since each person is already closely connected to everyone else on the planet simply by existing. Rather, to be an effective leader, I must motivate my current personal connections to pass along the inspiration and joy we’ve experienced together. In my life, nothing has given me this ability quite like music. At age 12, I became founding member and lead singer of a professional teen cover band, Six On Friday. We have established a strong name for ourselves by playing almost every weekend at venues across Chicagoland. Among many duties, my job of engaging the crowd is the one I love most. From the stage, I notice familiar faces in the audience, rocking their bodies and singing along. Off the stage, as I converse with them about the band, the Six Degrees of Separation theory makes an appearance: the familiar faces are accompanied by new ones, people they brought to a Six on Friday show to share the joy. The music we made had made an impact, and that impact had spread. This gift brings many blessings, but the most important one I realized is the opportunity to help others flourish. As president of my high school’s live music club, “Stevenson Live,” I have put my talents in leadership and music at the service of my local community. Last year, the pandemic deprived student musicians of performance opportunities and left some students disproportionately financially-fragile. I saw this combination of needs and created “SHSFest,” a 90-minute arts production in junction with our high school's “Stevenson: One Family” program to finance essentials for impacted families during this particularly challenging time. Without knowing their identity, we were lightening the load of people likely one or two “degrees of separation” away from us, people we may pass everyday in the halls, unaware of their personal struggles. Within the entertainment industry, a crossroads of the arts and business, people often attribute success to “having the right connections.” Yet, as I look to pursue this career field, the Six Degrees of Separation theory has made me realize that I already have a whole web of connections to utilize for good. I want to use what is within my present reach and harness it to begin a chain reaction of positive change that can reverberate across our “small world.”

At age 12, I became a founding member and lead singer of professional teen cover band, Six On Friday. We have established a strong name for ourselves by playing almost every weekend at venues across Chicagoland. Out of my numerous duties, the job I love most has always been engaging the crowd. I watch our audience sing and dance at every single show, and I spend hours chatting with fans after I leave the stage. The music we make continues to make an impact year after year, and I've discovered there is no place I feel more like myself than the stage. During the pandemic, the universal directive to “stay home” ground Six On Friday to a halt. For the first time in our five years together, I was without the stage, my place for safety and escape when life became too demanding. I reminisced on times that had occurred not long ago but felt like a lifetime ago: friends together, family celebrations, live music and shared food and togetherness. I unfortunately began to struggle mentally during this time, desperate to regain the lost days of 2020 and early 2021. In the later months, my mother also began to have physical health ailments, and the combination of these issues made the following months the most difficult of my life thus far. As my mind refused to shake itself from the past, I found myself turning to songwriting as a solace to articulate these emotions and find poetic peace in this time of personal suffering. When I shared my efforts with family and friends, they discovered untapped songwriting potential. Now I faced a choice: Did I want to solely remain a cover artist, or did I want to seriously pursue a career as an original artist? With unexpected certainty, I chose the latter. In following months, I connected with seasoned industry musicians and shared my original material. This process was daunting at first; I was displaying my deepest loves and losses in the open, a vulnerability I never felt as a cover artist. Encouraged by positive feedback and excitement from these professionals, I ventured to Nashville in March 2021 to exchange my “Six on Friday” earnings for a life-changing recording experience. Also in March, I took the step to advocate for myself and push my parents to get me into therapy to better handle my emotions and reflect upon them in a healthy way. My personal transition from January to that March and April was astounding, and I am thankful for that progression every day. When I began to release my original music in June 2021, I was thrilled at the positive feedback I received from listeners far and wide. Some remarked that it was as if my songs were speaking directly to them, marking periods of their life that they could connect to on a deep, emotional level. I have always believed music to be a place of escape, a place (as Billy Joel once put it) to "forget about life for awhile." It wasn't until I began to seriously take to songwriting that I realized its other superpower: to allow an audience to relive those hard times and get closure in a healthy way. I want to be able to do that for myself and others for the rest of my life; I believe that there are few gifts greater. My dream to be a large-scale musical performer does not only come from a desire to live on the stage, but to travel the world and make each and every audience member feel that they are not alone.

At age 12, I became a founding member and lead singer of professional teen cover band, Six On Friday. We have established a strong name for ourselves by playing almost every weekend at venues across Chicagoland. Out of my numerous duties, the job I love most has always been engaging the crowd. I watch our audience sing and dance at every single show, and I spend hours chatting with fans after I leave the stage. The music we make continues to make an impact year after year. During the pandemic, the universal directive to “stay home” ground Six On Friday to a halt. I found myself turning to songwriting as a solace. When I shared my efforts with family and friends, they discovered untapped songwriting potential. Now I faced a choice: Did I want to solely remain a cover artist, or did I want to seriously pursue a career as an original artist? With unexpected certainty, I chose the latter. In following months, I connected with seasoned industry musicians and shared my original material. This process was daunting at first; I was displaying my deepest loves and losses in the open, a vulnerability I never felt as a cover artist. Encouraged by positive feedback and excitement from these professionals, I ventured to Nashville in March to exchange my “Six on Friday” earnings for a life-changing recording experience. The song I have linked is an original called “Nothing in Life” that I refer to as my “love letter to live music”; it highlights the power of live performance, and that I feel there is nothing comparable. Nothing has given me the ability to bring out the goodness in myself and others quite like music, and I dream to continue the path of a musical performer for the rest of my life.

In my life, nothing has given me the ability to augment my capacity for understanding or use my gifts to the service of others quite like music. At age 12, I became a founding member and lead singer of a professional teen cover band, Six On Friday. We have established a strong name for ourselves by playing almost every weekend at venues across Chicagoland. Although I enjoy my many duties — rehearsal organizer, onstage ball of energy, social media guru — the job I love most is engaging the crowd. From the stage, I notice familiar faces in the audience, rocking their bodies and singing along. Off the stage, as I converse with them about the band, the familiar faces I saw are accompanied by new ones, people they brought to a Six on Friday show because they wanted to share the joy. Sometimes, those faces in the crowd are themselves young musicians. I have made it a priority to encourage them, since I know firsthand how instrumental guidance from seasoned musicians can be. After we brought one young performer into the spotlight to sing with the band, she was then inspired to accelerate her own musical progression. Now I get to be one of the faces in the crowd at her gigs. Since live music is naturally uplifting, various charities have called on Six On Friday to provide free entertainment at their benefits supporting groups like injured firefighters, cancer patients, families of fallen soldiers, veterans, and underprivileged children. As president of my high school’s live music club, “Stevenson Live,” I have also put live music at the service of my local community. Last year, the pandemic deprived student musicians of performance opportunities and left some students disproportionately financially-fragile. I saw this combination of needs and created “SHSFest,” a 90-minute production featuring bands, acapella, dance, and comedy skits. All viewers received a donation link for the “Stevenson: One Family” program, financing essentials such as groceries and transportation to help impacted families navigate this particularly challenging time. Without even knowing their identity, we were using our talents to lighten the load of people we may pass everyday in the halls, unaware of their personal struggles. Throughout the pandemic, I also found myself turning to songwriting as a solace. When I shared my efforts with family and friends, they saw my untapped potential as a songwriter. Now I faced a choice: Did I want to remain on my path as a cover artist, comfortable and experienced? Or did I want to seriously pursue a career as an original artist? With unexpected certainty, I chose the latter. In following months, I connected with seasoned industry musicians and shared my original material for feedback. This process was daunting at first; I was displaying my deepest loves and losses in the open, a vulnerability I never felt in years of covering other artists. However, I discovered that so many (musicians and music-lovers alike) could relate to my experiences and emotions. I was able to connect with listeners in such a raw, human way; it was surreal. So, taking yet another risk, I ventured to Nashville in March to exchange my “Six on Friday” earnings for a life-changing recording experience. In the face of this global challenge, I kickstarted my career as an original artist through undeniable passion and persistence, allowing me to emerge in pursuit of music like never before. Above all, music has the power to give endless courage and hope, and I am thankful each day to utilize my talents and ambition to provide this in a world that so needs it.

I close my eyes, and I listen through the studio headphones. Each chord, each lyric, each melody pulses through my brain as if they were my own heartbeat, pumping blood through my veins and giving me the rush of being alive. On cue, I sing the same words I devised only a few months ago in my basement, though they don’t sound the same. Now, they are a driving force, holding a fire and passion that could not be captured through the first drafts on Voice Memos. This was the feeling of not just creating music, but bringing my original music to life for the first time in Nashville, an experience that truly changed my life. Music had been part of my life since before I could talk, and my love for it was manifested in my activities long before my recording experience. At twelve years old, I became a founding member of cover band “Six On Friday,” performing professionally at venues throughout Chicagoland. This was truly where I was able to gain the independence and experience to turn my love for music into action, a skill that later proved vital for bringing my original music to life. I carry countless responsibilities as lead singer for “Six On Friday”: I ensure all opinions are heard among six group members, asking clarifying questions to make certain each opinion is advocated for and valued. I run most communication, providing key information to make each gig run as smoothly as possible. Among all these responsibilities, the most personally meaningful is my job to connect with the crowd. As complete strangers dance and sing along to our three-hour sets, I am able to make an intimate connection with them as the frontwoman. This is one of the reasons I love to perform: togetherness and joy felt through live music is an escape from pressures of day-to-day life. When the pandemic hit, I attempted to compensate for the lack of live music through virtual events at school, but nothing seemed to match the real experience. All of these emotions and newfound time allowed me to self-reflect, and I began to seriously songwrite as a way to cope with these feelings. Using my learned ability to connect with others, I created social media pages for my music, developing key connections that I eventually shared my original music with. This collaboration with industry professionals spiraled into a plan to come to Nashville over the following months, one that was finally executed during spring break. I spent the entire week immersing myself in the world of a professional, original artist, one that features simultaneous self-reliance and dependence on others for success. When I returned home from Nashville, I initiated a period of great personal growth, taking each part of my experience and translating it into my continued work as an original artist. Just as I advocated for my vision of the songs in the producer’s studio, I advocate for my vision surrounding the color scheme and design of the EP cover. Just as I valued the opinions of each musician, designer and production specialist I worked with, I value each piece of feedback I receive and utilize it. Finally, just as I reflected upon this experience and recognized its beauty and importance, I continue to reflect upon my life and use these observations as fuel for my songwriting. Going to Nashville gave me not only the push to explore music industry professionalism to a higher degree, but to share the love and collaboration that comes from these works with the world to truly bring joy to it.

The impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has left on the future of live music is a current issue that has driven me to explore a future career in business, specifically in the entertainment industry. Live music performance has helped define my life thus far, especially in the past 5 years, as I have been the lead singer in a professional Chicagoland teen pop/rock cover band, Six On Friday. Being the lead singer, my role has always been a large one, and comes with a lot of responsibility. For example, ensuring all opinions are heard among six group members is one of my largest undertakings within the group. I run most communication, both in-person and online, and I always ask clarifying questions to make certain each opinion is advocated for and valued. I think it’s essential that everyone is motivated to get on the same page, allowing us to move forward and truly enjoy the performances when we finally get on stage. Another large portion of my role is to connect with the crowd for whom we are performing, on and off the stage. I am constantly talking to new people before and after performances about the group, sharing our “origin story” and giving contact information for future gigs. The ability to connect with an audience and gain energy from being onstage is like no other experience in my life - one that was brought to a screeching halt in March of 2020. I was saddened by my inability to perform live, as were millions of other performers around the world. However, I was able to use this time to kickstart a solo career and collaborate with professionals in the music industry, and I now have original music released on all streaming platforms around the world. Business professionals in the industry already envision a complete and inevitable change in the future of live performance in our digital age. They will undoubtedly need innovation and creativity to reimagine this future, and I look to be a part of that change in my career, especially now as I am tasked with the job of building my brand as an artist. I have already begun to utilize these same skills to organize and lead events as president for my high school live music performance club, Stevenson Live. I have an innate desire to use my leadership to help others achieve their goals, extending outside of music as well. I serve as a mentor in my high school's selective Freshman Mentor Program, leading daily activities with incoming freshmen and helping them become assimilated to our especially large campus (about 5,000 students). With a college education, I hope to collaborate with other business-minded professionals and expand my thinking beyond my current leadership experiences, to get business building blocks necessary for success. To become a nimble, innovative and forward-thinking professional in the entertainment industry, I first need to learn best practices from the general business world. Then, in the future, I will be able to combine my business education with my performance experiences to help reinvent what it means to be a live performer in our world.

At 12 years old, I became a founding member of a cover band that has performed professionally, as well as at charitable events, at venues throughout Chicagoland. Being the lead singer, my role has always been a large one, and comes with a lot of responsibility. For example, ensuring all opinions are heard among six group members is one of my largest undertakings within the group. I run most communication, both in-person and online, and I always ask clarifying questions to make certain each opinion is advocated for and valued. I think it’s essential that everyone is motivated to get on the same page, allowing us to move forward and truly enjoy the performances when we finally get on stage. Another large portion of my role is to connect with the crowd for whom we are performing, on and off the stage. I am constantly talking to new people before and after performances about the group, sharing our “origin story” and giving contact information for future gigs. Being comfortable with new people and thinking on my feet in these situations is essential, and I wouldn’t be as successful in my role if I didn’t develop this skill. Overall, this role has truly taught me how to collaborate with others as well as how to clearly articulate my own opinions. I have grown to become more confident in my role throughout the years by making every decision count, although there is always room for improvement and personal growth. Through the band and personally, I have used my musical talents to the benefit of several charity causes: veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, providing food and clothing for the homeless, providing monetary assistance for injured firefighters, benefit for the family of a fallen soldier, playing for elderly in nursing homes. Over the years, I have done clothing drives, food drives and donated hours for other causes, but through music I am able to touch so many at one time. There are few things more fulfilling than when you can use your unique talents in a meaningful way to help others. One of the most meaningful events I participate in each year is one held by the Palatine Firefighters: their annual Chili Cook-Off Fundraiser. At the event, my band provides free entertainment to keep the audience lively and joyful as they work and donate funds all day. The money raised goes directly to numerous charities, but one that is especially important to me is the “After the Fire” Program. This program provides free materials that help teachers and caregivers deal with a child’s emotional trauma and recovery after suffering through a fire event. They also teach life-saving fire safety and protection. Children can be so seriously impacted by such an event, and it’s important to address this trauma head-on to help protect their mental health. This organization works to not only educate and empower the affected children, but also to give them back a sense of control of their lives and physical well-being. I am thankful for the opportunity to directly share my talents and raise money for such an organization. It is an active and personal way for me to participate in an event that can truly change the lives of children and families for the better, and it is even more fulfilling to use my love and passion for music to do so.