When I first moved to Los Angeles, I had no clue where I was going to work. I also didn’t know where i was going to live. I was an ambitious and freedom-struck 22 year old only a month graduated from college. Indianapolis to Los Angeles was about a 35 hour drive. I don’t recommend, although driving through some places such as Colorado and Utah were magical. I honestly didn’t know that the US was so beautiful out west. I had an Air-Bnb for one week somewhere in the Valley, and crossed my fingers that I could find somewhere in that time frame.
Since this was pre-pandemic, I got extremely lucky and found a place on the second day of looking. One week later, I was moved in and after being told I was overqualified to work at Ikea (like what?), I got a job doing meal prep for a casual Mexican restaurant. It included benefits for part-time which was rare, and it was flexible enough that I could still audition and accept gigs. I really enjoyed it at first. It was hard work, but everyone I worked with was an artist of some sort and it was easy to make friends. I also worked background acting gigs for shows such as Grey’s Anatomy, Sex Lives of College Students, Bless this Mess, and a few more. I learned so much everytime I was on set, and felt like I was finding my place in LA.
Then, 2020 happened. I have an entire other blog post dedicated to this you can find here.
My job at the restaurant suddenly became extremely stressful. Many of the staff quit, and we had to completely transfer to online orders only. Working there became unbearable after a number of bad experiences. I was able to quit after doing some online music streams on BIGO and LIKEE where I would play guitar, piano, ukulele, and sing. It was fun and I made online friends, but I missed making music with people in person. On top of that, I was extremely homesick. I knew that I needed a change, and I decided to throw myself back into the world and hope that something would stick.
After sending in a number of applications to a range of workplaces, I got a call from MozArt Music Academy. The woman on the phone was my future employer, Dr. Tarina Kim. We got along right away, and after two interviews, she offered me the job that would change my life.
I started working at MozArt Music Academy in the summer of 2021. I slowly but surely built a schedule of students that I would teach several instruments to. I honestly haven’t had a bad day since I have started. Teaching music became therapy for me, and I felt like I belonged right way. With each lesson, I felt myself becoming a better teacher as well as a more practiced musician. I especially love working with kids, because they are the easiest people in the world to talk to.
Preparing them for the MozArt Recitals took me back to my childhood of doing the same thing that I was preparing those kids for. I loved those opportunities when I was a kid to perform on the stage for big audience. I really wanted to help the kids understand what a memorable experience this would be for them.
In our January 2023 MozArt recital, I will forever remember how honored and humbled I felt being given the MozArt Maestro Award. This award is given to one chosen faculty member each recital, I was able to capture the moment on video, which I have included below.