We recently had the chance to connect with Paulina Simone Quisol and have shared our conversation below.
Paulina Simone, it’s always a pleasure to learn from you and your journey. Let’s start with a bit of a warmup: What is a normal day like for you right now?
Thanks for reaching out! I’m a private voice coach and music teacher as well as a wife and mom. I get to practice my craft daily while helping others to reach their goals. Lately, we’ve been busy promoting our upcoming debut album! Look out for “Confide” a concept album by Leclère. Out everywhere October 17th, 2025.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Introducing Leclère; the musical duo of Paulina Simone and Daniel Quisol, partners in life and in harmony. Raised in Charlotte, NC, they blend their French, Filipino, and Puerto Rican roots into an intimate, expansive sound shaped by faith, life experience, and love.
Created over several years in their home studio, Leclère’s debut album Confide is an audio documentary and concept record woven with childhood sound bites, honest lyrics, and songs of faith. Meant to be heard in order, it traces a redemptive journey from confusion to clarity, from wandering to worship.
Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. What was your earliest memory of feeling powerful?
As a young child growing up in an abusive home environment, I felt overwhelmingly powerless. I watched my mom sing, it was one of the only times I saw happiness and confidence in her. She sang with raw emotion. When I found my voice, it became my outlet. Through art, I could overcome the big feelings I was experiencing. This power over my circumstance only grew with time as I deepened my love for music and my craft.
What have been the defining wounds of your life—and how have you healed them?
Great question, I’ve made it my life’s goal to share my testimony with others and to tell the story of how God worked through my trauma..no matter how dark it’s been. Ultimately, I’m better because of it. (Romans 8:28) I’m working on writing a book, so I’ll condense everything here. My friend Gavin Davis has been filming my journey for over 15 years in what started out as a documentary following my journey as a live musician. In the process, he filmed parts of my life that I’ll mention here. This documentary has turned into so much more than just a film about music. We are searching for an editor to help tell this story. If you feel led to learn more about this project, email us at [email protected]
**Trigger Warning** abuse, alcoholism, health crisis
Childhood:
In all honesty, my earliest memories are of my parents fighting violently. I have some memories of Christmases with my cousins at Grandmère’s, belly laughing with them, but those times were seasonal. Physical abuse was the norm in our home and verbal abuse happened by proxy. My siblings are 7 and 9 years older than me and have a different dad, a great dad. Although, they had to experience the violence when they were there, too.
Infidelity, lying, abuse, it all fanned the fire. My parent’s fights were fueled by alcohol most times. All of this fear, anger and sadness built up within me over the years much like it did my brother. My sister distracted herself with school.
My parents divorced when I was 6 years old, for the better. My dad moved a few hours from us, but the abuse in the house shifted from domestic violence to abuse of substances. Our mom was trying to cope with her second divorce, single parenting, struggles from her own childhood traumas and self-worth issues from that, insecurities from my dad’s infidelity, trust issues, among everything else. It was just a recipe for disaster. She coped by abusing alcohol. I couldn’t tell you how many times I went to take a swig from what I thought was a water glass by her bed, only for it to be gin.
So, I’ve been her therapist for as long as I can remember. Somehow I was helping her through. I can only imagine that God gave me the words to say to her. I felt that I needed to help. I know that it helped for her to have me there, someone she loved, someone that saw the violence, even if we were trauma bonding. We were attached at the hip. I didn’t see how big the problems really were until I compared my life to the lives of those around me. I can’t remember a single family dinner. No school sports. No trust. No family foundation. It was gut wrenching when I realized how different and messed up my life was. It’s still gut wrenching to think about.
The only constants in my life were my mom, my siblings, art, and music. I was heavily inspired by my mom’s music, the soundtrack to my life in those days. Watching her pursue music truly inspired me, so much so that I realized my own passion for it soon after.
Health Crisis:
Years later, in 2008, I was navigating being a young teenager. My siblings were now grown and living on their own, I still lived with my mom. On a fateful night in January, our mom experienced a ruptured brain aneurysm. I’ll save all of the details for the book..but The doctors told me about her condition in front of my friends, who were there with me at the hospital.
Legally, I had to go live with my dad as she was now disabled and unfit to parent. I lived with my dad and stepmom for two years while my mom was sent to Tennessee to live with my uncles. At that two year mark, she was coherent enough to decide that she didn’t like it there and wanted to leave. It speaks to her independent nature. I found out that she had gone back home to North Carolina, so 2 months before turning 18, I ran away from my dad’s and back to my mom’s house.
Life was semi back to normal, it was me and my mom again. She was disabled and nothing like before, but at least we were together. I was getting older, though, and I realized though that I wasn’t able to focus on my own future..college, a job, all of it took the back burner as I considered myself my mom’s full-time caretaker. She thought she felt more independent than she really was. I prayed for the first time, hard. I prayed that God would save me from this situation that was so much bigger than me. I prayed this same prayer daily. I was so lost and overwhelmed. One day, I decided to “let go and let God.” I BELIEVED that he heard me. When I showed this faith, He answered..in a big way.
Refined by Fire
In 2013, our house burned down. All of it, reduced to ashes. An empty outlet in my room practically exploded resulting in an electrical fire, resulting in a total-loss. Again, I’ll go into more detail in my book, but this was the turning point in my faith walk. A piece of paper was found in the rubble, it was my mom’s handwriting. She used to jot down Bible verses. This one was meant for me to see. “Fear not, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord which he will show to you today” Exodus 14:13.
Suddenly, every traumatic experience had a much greater meaning. God is truly the best writer. I want nothing more than His plan for me. Through the abuse, the aneurysm and the fire, I realized that He was writing my story.
I think our readers would appreciate hearing more about your values and what you think matters in life and career, etc. So our next question is along those lines. Is the public version of you the real you?
Another great question, yes. I’ve been working hard to show more vulnerability on social media. Before, I used socials to post about my music journey, my shows, how busy I was, but now, I’m more interested in being vulnerable and sharing my testimony. There’s a depth to my life experience that I’m ready to share. My husband and I recorded our debut album (releasing on all streaming platforms on October 17th, 2025) where I’ve been able to express my faith through music for the first time.
Before we go, we’d love to hear your thoughts on some longer-run, legacy type questions. Could you give everything your best, even if no one ever praised you for it?
As an artist and creator, I wanted people to notice. I think any artist wants people to relate to their art. At this point in my life, I realized that the ones that are meant to see it will see it. None of this is up to us. Giving up control is trusting God. It’s freeing. His plans are so much better than mine could ever be.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paulinasimone19
- Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/paul0ina
- Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/@lecleresounds
- Other: Keep a lookout for our full length documentary and book! Check out our full length album Confide by Leclère (releasing October 17th, 2025) on all streaming platforms.
Preview the album here: Leclere.hearnow.com
Image Credits
Photographers:
Melanie Lech
Jess Dailey
Gavin Davis
Savannah Thompson
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
