Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Ann Wood. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Ann, we’re thrilled to have you sharing your thoughts and lessons with our community. So, for folks who are at a stage in their life or career where they are trying to be more resilient, can you share where you get your resilience from?
I discovered the extent of my resilience during Covid.
Like most people I lost family members and experienced profound grief. At the same time, I felt a profound responsibility for saving our family business and protecting the health of my family, staff and customers.
To this day I can point to moments of quick thinking, action and 100% luck that allowed our business to survive. My husband, Jeff Perkins and I have a musical instrument store called Music Go Round that survived 9-11 and the financial crash of 2009.
But Covid was the Mack-Daddy. I woke up every morning nauseous with fear. Each day, I pushing it away and moved forward navigating and negotiating PPP loans, EIDL loans and making sure all furloughed staff received their checks. If you have a business, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Fortunately, we survived and even thrived thanks to that cash infusion. Until that moment, we probably had a month of financial cushion at all times.
Once our business was on the road to recovery, I found a mission — YOLO. You only live once!
For 23 years we ran and managed the day to day operations 7 days a week. Suddenly I knew, we needed managers to help run the business. It was past-time to reclaim and enjoy life to its fullest.
Between 2020 and 2022 I traveled cross country by myself through 16 states, 30 days and 6,500 miles, traveled back to Japan, reconnected with life-long friends, created important new friendships, released a new album of music, learned to digitize and edit music & video, started a podcast and launched an instrumental music festival (more about that later….)
My foundation of resilience came from having great parents who encouraged me and my siblings to think independently and seek adventure. Our family was heavily involved in AFS, as a host family multiple times and advisors in St. Louis. Before I could drive, I had met students from all over the world. My curiosity about people and cultures was ignited.
At 16, I applied to be an exchanged student and asked to be placed in the most different culture available. It was Japan. Up until that point, I had not experienced the cultural isolation that comes from not speaking the language and looking different from everyone, everywhere I went. In 1978 Japan, I was the only “gaijin” in Kofu, No one had seen a Westerner except on T.V. Often, I was treated as a famous celebrity through giggles and having my hair stroked by strangers.
My host family was great. I learned Japanese folk singing, flower arrangement and calligraphy. But mostly I was alone since I was just learning the language and only my host sister spoke English. I didn’t understand anything in the classroom, at home, or shopping until about 9 months when I reached fluency.
I was separated from my US family and friends. There was no internet. Only expensive infrequent long distance calls, lots of letters and recorded cassettes. Although it was a difficult year, I gained incredible confidence and the ability to adjust to any new situation.
Most significantly, I learned to see other points of view. I discovered there is no right/best or wrong/worst culture, religion or ethnicity. I learned to quickly connect and find a common bond with most anybody. This has been an asset in business, as an artist and in creating community.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
My love for music came in my early 20’s during the early 80’s DIY punk movement. Through a twist of fate, I lost my college funding studying Japanese at IU and moved back to Missouri.
There, I found my people! Artists, musicians, activists and freaks. I thrived off of making things happen for my community! My best friend and I started an all-female band called Art Sluts, learning how to play instruments on-stage. Soon after, came the music and arts magazine, JAVA. Then I opened a gallery/event space called What’s This? so bands would have a place to play. and artists could sell their art. For 10 years I was like Dorothy trying to make it happen in my back yard.
Then I met my musical, business and life partner, Jeff Perkins.
We left Missouri and moved to his hometown. AND I fell in love with him and Atlanta.
Big, beautiful, creative, thriving and diverse. Sign me up!
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
My love of people and life — allowed me to connect and benefit from my community.
Creativity — I have too many ideas — some great and some a little out there!
Perseverance, strength and optimism which to me are very connected.
Mistakes and overcoming obstacles have given me tools to handle crisis and adversity.
Sometimes, the solution to an obstacle is to just hang on!
My advice to people who are just beginning is never give up. Even if you are not in the place you want to be, or doing what you want to be doing, embrace every day and be open to opportunities. And say YES more often!
How can folks who want to work with you connect?
Yes, No Words ATL instrumental music festival (now in its 3rd year) is seeking instrumental musicians, business sponsors and venues, who want to connect and support Atlanta’s talented music community. No Words ATL is currently looking for volunteers to help with the promotion of NoWordsATL3.0 Oct 11 – 13th.
What is No Words ATL all about?
As early as 1990 Jeff and I performed, wrote and recorded instrumental guitar music as DEW and PerkinsWood. We made a decision; we didn’t need or want vocals to communicate and connect with audiences. But still instrumental music remained elusive because we hadn’t found our tribe.
The biggest surprise to me, is the enormous number of incredible instrumental artists of every genre (classical, rock, hip-hop, ambient, experimental, blue grass, folk. ETC!) that I never knew about before!
No Words ATL has grown bigger every year. 2022 was 5 performers at 1 venue. 2023 was 13 performers at 4 venues. 2024 we are hosting 23 performers at 5 venues over 3 days October 11 – 13th as a traveling music festival.
Get Tickets or Apply at NoWordsATL.com.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://nowordsatl.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nowordsatl/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NoWordsMusicFestival/
- Yelp: https://www.facebook.com/NoWordsMusicFestival/
- Other: https://www.musicgoround.com/locations/duluth-ga
https://perkinswood.com/index.html
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
