Meet Bryn Bliska

Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Bryn Bliska. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Bryn, so good to have you with us today. We’ve got so much planned, so let’s jump right into it. We live in such a diverse world, and in many ways the world is getting better and more understanding but it’s far from perfect. There are so many times where folks find themselves in rooms or situations where they are the only ones that look like them – that might mean being the only woman of color in the room or the only person who grew up in a certain environment etc. Can you talk to us about how you’ve managed to thrive even in situations where you were the only one in the room?
As a queer woman in music, I’ve come to see bringing a unique identity and perspective to a room as a massive asset. It can certainly be daunting at times to feel like you are standing out from the crowd in some quite obvious way, and I felt this very acutely early in my career when I felt I had a lot to prove. However, I’ve found that the different experiences and lenses I can bring to the table are really my superpowers, and I see my collaborators this way as well. I love going into new situations with a completely open mind towards others, and I’m not bothered if people underestimate me as I’m comfortable with myself and I’ve worked very hard to build my skills and self-knowledge to a point where that’s the case. Especially in the creative fields, we are there to express ourselves and/or support each others’ expression and vision – in one way or another, it’s a direct channeling of our identity, of all the skills and ideas we’ve honed through our particular lives, into the creation or task at hand. Honoring our full, true selves and having something different to bring to light in any scenario is therefore an absolute gift, and I try to remind myself and the people around me of this at all times! I feel very fortunate to have mostly worked with other folks who share this point of view and who help me bring my deepest and clearest self to what we’re working on with openness and courage. Whenever I am leading, I try to nurture this in others and work to bring together personnel with a diverse range of perspectives to build something meaningful. Remember that you are in the room for a reason, always, and your work and ideas will ultimately stand for themselves.

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?
At my core, I am a professional nerd whose medium of choice happens to be sound. I’m totally obsessed with music from the micro to the macro levels, and different parts of what I do operate on these different planes. My first and still greatest love in music is playing keys, but beyond performing and recording I love everything from sound design to composition, arranging, and production. Across all these disciplines, I’m engaging with everything from the technical and analytical to the emotional, social and spiritual; one of the things I love most about music is that it simultaneously embodies all these dimensions that push and pull at one another in the most beautiful and intricate ways. I’m quite collaborative by nature and a lot of what I do as a musical creative is helping bring to life or augment other artists’ visions, whether as a player, producer or music director. I also love to explore on my own as well and learn about music, audio and myself through solo study, free play, and/or making things for myself.

This year, you can find me on the road a lot with the absolutely wonderful Maggie Rogers where I play keys/sing and co-Music Direct with the legendary and lovely Brian Kesley. When I’m not on the road, I live in Los Angeles where I love to get up to pretty much anything and everything musical!

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The first quality that always comes to mind is resilience, which goes hand in hand with sustainability. I think that finding a way to cultivate sustainability is *the* name of the game when you are pursuing a creative career, which brings with it a lot of uncertainty! Identifying how to set yourself up to stay in it for the long run, through the ups and downs, is absolutely a pillar of finding success because it can take a long time to build your world. To me, this resilience has to be in place in terms of your mental and emotional well-being, your support system, your health, your finances, your creative energy… I think there are so many ways to grow your career and support yourself in the meantime – no one way is better than another, and honoring your personal needs and preferences is more important than anything you think you “should” do on your journey. For many years, when I started pursuing music professionally, I supported myself by tutoring kids of all ages in mostly math and science (I have an academic background in neuroscience!). This was the perfect side hustle for me as I loved doing it and it enabled me to prioritize musical pursuits that felt aligned with my goals, take the time to build my skills in areas I needed to improve, etc. Another important facet of resilience to me is celebrating your small victories. As lifelong creatives we may always be striving for growth in one way or another, but finding peace and satisfaction in the present moment is crucial. It’s a long game!!

Another quality I think is super key is to follow your curiosity and nurture your love of learning. I’ve learned so much from being surrounded by incredibly talented and kind folks and being unafraid to ask them questions about what they’re doing or how/why! Beginning to master any number of skills is a journey, and it’s really important to let your inspiration, sense of wonder and fun be your guides. Follow what you love to learn about and you will become amazing at it eventually! Linking up with other people on this journey who have overlapping interests and skills but can open your mind to new things (and vice versa) is everything, too.

Finally, related to my last point – cultivating community is vital. Pursuing a freelance career can feel very individualistic and isolating at times, particularly when you’re getting started, and I think it’s super important to keep an eye on the bigger picture of the cultural fabric we are each helping to weave, and the world we are trying to help shape and re-create. Finding ways to stay grounded in something bigger than yourself is super important both because that’s [hopefully] what we’re all about at the end of the day, and also because that purpose will carry you through the challenges you inevitably face along the way. From a pragmatic standpoint, having something to offer people in whatever form will keep you busy, and from a soul standpoint, it will be gratifying.

We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?
I find this question fascinating! I think there are many ways to approach finding your niche, the key is just to find *a* niche and go all in, whether that is as a specialist or as a Swiss army knife-type. If you honor what it is you love to do, what other people might need your help with/what of your offerings they might enjoy, and look for the overlap in the Venn diagram, that’s kind of all there is to it in my opinion! Invest in becoming the version of yourself that you are inspired to be, so that’s who people know you to be and that’s why they will call you to work with them or seek out your work. This can and should absolutely evolve over time, too! Also, if you see people doing things that you want to do, it’s worth figuring out what skills enable them to do those things so you can prepare yourself for those opportunities.

I personally feel I’m somewhere in the middle of the spectrum between specialist and generalist – there are many things I love to do, and I’ve gone pretty deep on several of them, and mid-level deep on others. Sometimes those mid-skills and an ability to try new things and stretch yourself will set you apart though! This is especially true in the touring music world, where the more hats one person can wear, the better candidate you often are for a gig. At the end of the day, following your inspiration, keeping an open mind, and giving your best to the things you care about are the most important in my view.

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Image Credits
Mogli Maureal, Deanie Chen, Nicole Mago, Zac Mahrouche

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