Meet Jenna Marotta

We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Jenna Marotta. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Jenna below.

Alright, so we’re so thrilled to have Jenna with us today – welcome and maybe we can jump right into it with a question about one of your qualities that we most admire. How did you develop your work ethic? Where do you think you get it from?

My father for sure. He was such a hard worker even if he was only just volunteering he had so much energy and stamina. It pays off!

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 am an artist residing in Franklin TN. I primarily focus on singing and songwriting. My endeavor took a turn to film and tv having been on many television shows and movies, I knew I would eventually find my way back.

That said I am currently engaged in an adult cartoon series I am writing based off my artist “jennapple” her dog, cat, and fur baby daddy. A semi-auto biographical cartoon about a girl who is making it in music , still working part time, and has real life drama turned into musical hit numbers.

I am partnering with an AI creator to bring real life people and animals to life through the use of AI into cartoon form:

It’s going to be fantastic!

Meantime I am serving on the board of the Tennessee Songwriters Association International. We host a meeting every Tuesday night from 6:30 to 8:30 PM in East Nashville on Trinity Lane at tone Central Station, which is a new Music store out in East Nashville. It’s no charge to come, but if you want to join our pitch program you have to pay a nominal fee.

I am very active with this group. We host songwriter showcases, provide feedback for songwriters, and do pitch events to artists and sync and management contacts all over the country.

Personally, I am writing for other artists as well as writing for myself. I am going to be continuing to work on my second album as it’s all coming together right now and being demoed.

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?

1. I think number one everyone has to be really self aware in my business. Work on your craft daily. Make an improvement daily. Don’t get so head strong you refuse to grow.

2. Be amicable to change especially when it comes to receiving advice from pros you meet on the way.

3. Be kind always. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been somewhere where somebody wants to say something mean about the person up on stage and what they’re singing or how they’re performing. Meanwhile, you have no idea what it took for them to get up there that day. You don’t know how hard it is. We are fighting over crowds of people talking over us. We are nervous and what’s ironic about it is the people that may not be the best performer or singer are probably the ones with all the hits in town you just don’t realize it so you never know who you’re talking to. You never know who you are going to meet in this journey so just be kind always no matter what.

Who has been most helpful in helping you overcome challenges or build and develop the essential skills, qualities or knowledge you needed to be successful?

Honestly it takes an army. I cannot singly pinpoint one specific person who has helped me. I get help from a lot of people.

I believe that God works in ways that we don’t always understand, but He speaks through people. I think it’s very very important to be open to feedback always because you never know who’s going to inflict you with the change that makes your journey go exactly where you want to go.

I take a lot of advice from the professionals on my team who have been playing on hit records for decades, I take advice from the members of my board on TSAI who have dozens of placements in TV and film, and alternately I take advice from friends who have absolutely no idea what I’m doing in the music business because they’ve never done it. They may only just listen to music; but it doesn’t mean that their advice isn’t going to be valuable.

I trust in my spirit guides and am empowered by God. Other than that I rely on His army.

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