Meet Rose Rutledge

We recently connected with Rose Rutledge and have shared our conversation below.

Rose, 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?

Resilience is a daily practice, especially in today’s troubled world. I’ve learned to bounce back from an overwhelming week or a personal disappointment by leaning into the rituals and activities that bring me back to a positive headspace. Such activities for me include basking in a long wandering conversation with a trusted friend, calling my family, and refueling with rest and a long run through Brooklyn. That said, by and far, playing and writing music has become my top escape to process the world around me and tap into resilience when I’m a little lost. There’s something magical about feeling my vocal cords vibrate or finding a new melody on my flute -it hits at what must be some law of emotional physics. For me, music reframes a stressful week or washes away the spiral of anxious thoughts. It puts the heart back in the chest and the feet onto the earth again.

Am I resilient? Not always. But, at least I know I’ll get a song or two written as I work through it.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

I’ve always loved music but had no clue the impact it would have on my life. Growing up I studied classical flute and played saxophone in a jazz band where I learned that consistent practice and teamwork could result in beautiful things. At the time, I didn’t expect music to take me anywhere. In the end, it took me to college, then to New York City, to a Master’s degree, to countless professional gigs, and to a career in the music industry. Music introduced me to incredible colleagues and to my closest friends in the world.

Today I work in product marketing in music tech at Output, a small, innovative company that makes software to empower creativity in music makers of all levels. Product Marketing is a role that sits between product and marketing teams, working to bring new technology to market by understanding the needs of our customers. My favorite part about the role is learning what music makers need and working across multiple teams to enable the next generation of music software. Working with music software has challenged me to learn more in this space and, as a result, I began producing my own music. This past October, I released my first album of music that I wrote, recorded, and produced called Late Blooming. The project feels like taking a first step in a new world and the culmination of my professional and creative minds. It required me to learn new production techniques and to be vulnerable in writing and singing lyrics that the world would hear. I know I wouldn’t have this career without my early love for music, and now I have original music birthed from skills I learned on the job. I can’t say what comes next, but in following pockets of inspiration, a path lays itself.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

The qualities that have helped me most in my career and in creating music include adapting to change, collaborating with others (and learning from them), and peeling myself up off the floor after a stumble. The existence of change is unchanging so we can only evolve in our strategies to adapt. Be flexible!

What has been your biggest area of growth or improvement in the past 12 months?

This past year I embarked on releasing my first album, Late Blooming, and performing my music live in a way I never have before. In the process, learned my musical strengths, embarrassed myself more on stage than ever, and leaned on the help and encouragement from my community. In a world that celebrates the early success of prodigies, spins up industries delivering youthfulness, and fixates on 30 under 30 lists, it’s easy to glaze over the pieces of us that bloom late in life, much less honor them.

Through this album, I launched an introspective musical exploration of my own slow seeds, a mourning of branches that never grew, a celebration of those that bloomed, and a hopefulness of the buds yet to come. I hope it inspires others to continue to bloom themselves. I know I’m going to keep trying.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Performance photos by Maya Coplin (DSC2670, DSC679), selfie by self, Standing flute shot by Alice Chacon

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