Story & Lesson Highlights with Cindy Latin of Manhattan

Cindy Latin shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.

Cindy, it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: What is something outside of work that is bringing you joy lately?
Reading! I just finished summer break, and as a college professor, I had a lot of time. I am very grateful to have filled it in the company of books. There are different seasons in my life where I’m more or less drawn to books, but this summer I flew through so many and also spent many happy moments inside beautiful book stores. I read all kinds of things, philosophy, poetry, political writing, history, fiction, etc.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Hi! I’m Cindy Latin. I’m a music creator, I sing, write, arrange, produce, and mix my own music. I also am a poet and spend a lot of my time writing poetry or personal essays. I’m a professor at Berklee College of Music and Mercy University, teaching a handful of music production, tech, and writing courses. I live in Manhattan, but do commute to Boston every week to teach at Berklee, I love it so much!

This summer I’ve spent a lot of time working on my poetry and am putting a collection of my best work together.

Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What part of you has served its purpose and must now be released?
The part that is obsessed with productivity at the cost of my peace! I don’t want to force myself to work on anything, especially something creative. I am trying to allow myself to work on whatever types of projects interest me and not shame myself for the things I am not currently working on. If I’m being creative at all, I want to be grateful for what I am making!

If you could say one kind thing to your younger self, what would it be?
To try anything that sounds interesting to me and to believe that there are so many things that I’m capable of and can thrive in. I don’t have to see myself one way and can explore parts of life I didn’t originally think would suit me.

Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
That you have to work to exhaustion in order to be successful with your art. That not sleeping or taking care of yourself (because you’re so busy working on your art) is a positive thing and even encouraged.

Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. Are you tap dancing to work? Have you been that level of excited at any point in your career? If so, please tell us about those days. 
Absolutely! Many times! I’ve had many recording sessions that I could barely sleep before and had an even better time when I was actually there. This week, I felt so excited returning to Berklee for the fall semester, getting to meet my students, and analyzing some of my favorite music with them. I left work even happier than I started the day!

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