Meet Clay And Kelsy

 

We recently connected with Clay And Kelsy and have shared our conversation below.

Clay and Kelsy, appreciate you making time for us and sharing your wisdom with the community. So many of us go through similar pain points throughout our journeys and so hearing about how others overcame obstacles can be helpful. One of those struggles is keeping creativity alive despite all the stresses, challenges and problems we might be dealing with. How do you keep your creativity alive?

Clay: To be honest, I don’t. As a trans woman in 2025, I’m much more focused on just staying alive. I make art because it’s the only thing I can do, the only thing that makes any sense. The day I stop making art is the day I die.

Kelsy: I will never stop creating what I want to create. I don’t create for money, for pleasing the algorithms, for fame. I create because I am an artist and that is my spiritual language.

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?

We’re Clay and Kelsy, a music duo and instrument designers creating art that blends storytelling with a deep love and understanding of sound. Our work is centered around capturing real moments—whether through our songs, live performances, or the instruments we design.

Right now, we’re in the middle of releasing a three-act journey exploring self-destruction, transformation, and the search for identity. The first act, I Am, was released in November and is a journey of descent into the Self. Act II, Somebody, is coming next and shifts the sound into something more intimate—piano-driven and raw.

Beyond our music, we also run Clay and Kelsy Instruments, our software company where we create instruments that inspire musicians with powerful and intuitive synthesizers. As one of the only woman-owned software instrument companies, our presence was something we are passionate about—building tools that feel as human and expressive as the music we make.

We’re also working on building our YouTube channel as a way to share more of our process, our creative lives, and the deeper ideas that drive our work. It’s a space where we’ll be making music, having fun with sounds, covers, and having real conversations about art, creativity, and the source of it all.

Everything we do is about connection—whether it’s through our music, the tools we build, or the stories we tell. Right now, we’re focused on taking this next step in our journey, both musically and personally.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

Don’t be an artist if anything else is calling to you. It’s not an easy path to walk. You won’t make much money, you won’t be respected, you won’t be taken seriously by your community for a very very long time… if at all.

I would say our 3 qualities would be:

1. A strong calling to become an artist at a young age.

2. Staying mentally healthy and connected to your spiritual journey.

3. Being competitive with your skill set and stubborn with your intuition.

Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?

I would say understanding a little more why we even make Art.

Not only were we both born and raised in Los Angeles and in the industry. We’ve spent 8+ years in the heart of Hollywood. Working and spending time with the best artists, producers, mixing & mastering engineers. But somehow the closer we got to the top, the less it felt like a place where Art could truly thrive.

The first time you heard Aphex Twin, Zeppelin, Thom Yorke. When that Bob Dylan song finally made sense, captured by Klee, screamed at by Jay, the first lines of the comedy, the place where Pink Floyd built a wall just to tear it down. That’s where the path back is. That’s where we’ll be.

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