Meet Izzan

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Izzan. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Izzan below.

Izzan, we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
I think I always knew what my purpose was. Even if I was not actively seeking it out. Looking back on the past ten years, I think I was doing things that resulted in me avoiding my purpose. Whether it was going through the motions of young adulthood and figuring it out as I went along, other interests getting in the way or allowing fear to get the best of me, my purpose, while I had a sense of what it was, ended up manifesting itself a little unconventionally and finding me instead.

Sometime in 2022, I remember a conversation with my family telling them I wanted to be a music artist for the first time. That was the first time I even verbalized that out loud to myself. It felt like the weight was being lifted off, now feeling free in a way now that my true desires were now out into the universe.

I took the first steps in chasing those dreams later that year, releasing two songs for my fulfillment, not to try to impress anyone. It felt good to have some music out into the world. Music that was meaningful to me and authentically represented me.

I finally felt like I was slowly starting to fulfill my purpose. And that was only the beginning. The best was yet to come.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I always get excited when an opportunity to share a little about myself presents itself! I’m an independent artist, singer, and producer from Arlington, VA. Although the genre I focus on most is Pop/R&B, I enjoy listening to and dabbling in different genres and styles to get inspiration.

I made my artist debut in October 2023 with my EP, Palm Tree Firework, which I wrote, produced, and composed. This project explores the common themes of a love interest story, drawing from my own experiences and emotions and blending them with pop, alternative, and modern R&B vocal and production styles. This EP was nominated for eight categories in the 2024 Washington DC Wammie Music Awards, earning finalist honors for the “Best R&B/Soul Album” and “Best R&B/Soul Song” categories, landing in the top three names for the latter.

I spent most of 2024 performing all around the DC area at high-profile events such as The National Cherry Blossom Festival, Fiesta Asia, the inaugural US Asian Fest, and Big Night DC New Year’s Eve Extravaganza! I also organized my own live independent music show in October 2024 to celebrate my birthday and the first anniversary of the release of Palm Tree Firework. One of the main objectives I wanted to achieve with this show was to keep it “homegrown.” Therefore, all the performing artists were from my hometown of Arlington, VA, friends of mine from middle school and high school with whom I reconnected in recent years! We hosted the show for family and friends at a local venue, becoming the first group to perform a program from top to bottom at that particular spot.

While pursuing my artistic endeavors, I had the absolute pleasure of becoming an early education music teacher, teaching preschool-aged kids for a year before leaving my position a short time ago in February 2025. I never saw myself fulfilling the role and responsibility of a teacher. But being a teacher was such a fulfilling and rewarding experience. It pushed me to be creative with my approach and think of what and how the students will understand the material. I tried to put myself in their shoes and ask myself: What would have worked for me at this age? All the lessons were thirty-minute, one-on-one lessons, where I got to spend quality time with each student and give them 100% of my attention. I miss my students dearly and am hoping they stick with music one way or another when they get older.

I decided to leave my position to pursue freelance music production head-on and a career working in voice-over! Hopefully, you’ll hear me doing an ad on your favorite weekly podcast or as a background character in your favorite show or video game!

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I tend to reflect very often on the journey I have been on for the last ten years, full of highs, lows, and necessary growing pains. This is a great question that I am eager to respond to and share my insight.

Firstly, probably the most important, is patience. The payoff is not always immediate. It may take a while until you see results. Always do your best to remind yourself of why you are doing it in the first place!

Secondly, be adaptable when situations do not work out how you intended. As much as we try to have and follow a plan to the tee, being able to adjust accordingly is necessary to achieve our goals.

Lastly, know when to leave a situation, people, or things that no longer serve your mission or objective. Those decisions are difficult to make. You may fear losing a sense of security and comfort and thus continue to put up with things that are not conducive to your success. Our wants and needs change over time. We must learn to recognize and understand when to redirect ourselves onto another path as we grow and evolve into the next version of ourselves.

What would you advise – going all in on your strengths or investing on areas where you aren’t as strong to be more well-rounded?
I agree and can make a case for both! Yet, I believe it is better to go all in on our strengths. With that said, it is equally important to know when your strengths reach their limits and when to seek assistance while identifying what needs improvement.

When working on my EP, I set the goal to self-write and produce it from day one. I did not want to ask anyone for help. I knew I wanted the project to be a certain way, with a specific theme and feel. I was reluctant to ever surrender that to someone else creatively. After all, it was my artist debut, so I knew I had to take the reins. With all that said, I knew my strengths lay in being able to write, produce, and arrange songs. I do not know how to mix and master, so I always planned and knew that I was going to take it to a professional recording studio after completing the writing and production process to seek the help of a proper recording and mixing engineer to help me complete and polish all of the songs.

Another story is a recent one. Last month (March 2025), I joined a group of friends in renting a cabin for a weekend music retreat. I recently dove back into a music program I used as a secondary program in my workflow. After re-familiarizing myself, I felt good about using it to start and finish songs. When working on a track with a friend, I realized I did not have the technical expertise to mix and master the track, stretching the limit of my abilities. Again, my strengths lie in writing, producing, and arranging. Although I did attempt to put time and resources into learning how to properly mix and master songs, it took time away from doing what I actually enjoyed doing…making the music itself!

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Zafri Yussoff Alex Dimas

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