Meet Cc W. Schultz

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

CC, we’re so excited for our community to get to know you and learn from your journey and the wisdom you’ve acquired over time. Let’s kick things off with a discussion on self-confidence and self-esteem. How did you develop yours?

If you asked me as a teenager, or even twenties-something, I likely would have said my confidence came from having an “idgaf” attitude when it came to other’s opinions. It’s only recently I’ve started to truly realize that not caring about the world’s view of me wasn’t enough, and not only that; the attitude painted a black and white picture of people that wasn’t realistic and didn’t allow for much personal growth. My confidence, my self-esteem, were hollow and insecure.

I also was lying to myself; because my confidence had no solid foundation, I ultimately did mold my behavior based on other’s opinions, I just was incredibly picky on who’s opinion I chose to trust. The only thing I really didn’t care about the general public. My stomach and my heart often wanted me to trust my instincts, and yet I’d still sway to my SO’s, my parent’s, my friend’s opinion. Doing so always got me in trouble I didn’t want, almost without fail.

About 6 months ago, I started to begin a metamorphosis. My living situation was unbearable, my job underpaid and depressed me, and yet still I was trying to stick with what was “best” without complaining. Then I finally did complain.

I moved without savings. I quit my job without another one lined up. I leapt into an unknown future solely because my gut was practically screaming, telling me to take the leap. Telling me to trust myself to know what was wrong and right for my own wellbeing, and what I could reasonably bear without burning out. Telling me to trust the universe to rise up and meet my feet if I’d just bravely step forward. I finally couldn’t take it anymore, so I jumped.

And then… I found work that met my needs almost instantly. Now, I’m in school for my Bachelor’s finally at 31. After bouncing around for a few months, tomorrow I’m moving into my new dream apartment. What I’m saying is, it fucking worked.

I feel what I know is a real confidence these days. It can comes and go in waves, but never leaves completely. I think it’s because I’ve finally proved to myself that I’m worth trusting. It only took so long because I was never going to know that my gut was trustworthy until I finally listened to its craziness and fully followed through.

So my advice? If you don’t feel confident, try practicing trusting yourself to handle your own future. Practice by actually following through, do what YOU think is right for yourself. Trust yourself, or if you can’t do that, trust the universe or God or karma to back you up. See what happens.

I promise the results are incredible.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

I’m a musician, producer, singer-songwriter, and sometimes-kinda-rapper who slams (poetry). I perform under the name CC Sharp — if you want to find me, my handle is @ccsharpmusic on Instagram, YouTube, SoundCloud, and TikTok! My music is also available on most streaming platforms, including Spotify and Apple Music.

My best approximation of my sound; think if Billie Eilish had a past love of slam poetry that turned into a current obsession with rap, mix in hip hop beats with sometimes acoustic, sometimes electronic elements. Then add a splash of screaming and semi-sexual growls. You might have an idea of what I sound like. Still curious? Take a listen;)

My first and most recent release “Gods Roll” is currently available for streaming and download practically everywhere!! It’s a bold, brash, unapologetically confident song that carries the self-esteem of “cuter than u” energy, while still acknowledging a fact I think today’s music often misses: there can be more than one “god.” Maybe there should be.

It might as well be me, and it could be you too.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

If I had to choose three qualities/developed skills that have helped me the most throughout my life, I’d have to say; resilience while remaining soft, unselfish empathy, and trust in myself.

I’ve already explained how learning to trust my gut has changed my life. As far as resilience goes, I specifically say “while remaining soft” because I know how hard it is to stay soft and vulnerable in a hard, sharp world. It makes me think of a quote from “Simmer” by Hayley Williams — “Wrap yourself in petals for armor.” The world is harsh and often painful, but letting it turn you jaded and cruel is just accepting unhappiness without any kind of fight. Surrounding yourself with care and love is the only thing that really helps. To me, becoming jaded is giving in to the weak side of yourself. I say this as someone who’s often struggled with it — that’s actually why I think soft resilience is an important skill to develop, it’s a sign of strength.

By “unselfish empathy,” I mean practicing trying to help others without being secretly self-centered. I’m someone who’s always loved helping others, but something I’ve been trying to unlearn over the years is pushing my need to help onto someone who doesn’t want it, and also making sure my help is actually useful — not just an act that seems helpful but is really just a good-looking bandaid to make me feel good about myself. It’s honestly hard sometimes, but I’ve gotten better, and I think it’s really improved my relationships overall.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

Absolutely! I’d love to collaborate with more musicians, beat makers, rappers, songwriters, etc etc… I just like making music with other people! Hmu;)

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/ccsharpmusic
• Instagram: @ccsharpmusic
• Youtube: @ccsharpmusic
• Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/ccsharpmusic

Image Credits

All pictures are of me or are album art for my music and features<3