Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Julia Reynolds. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Julia, appreciate you sitting with us today to share your wisdom with our readers. So, let’s start with resilience – where do you get your resilience from?
I’m not 100% sure to be honest, but I think alot of it must come from a place of determination. I’ve had a lot of struggles in my life; a lot I wasn’t completely convinced I’d make it through. So now that I have, I don’t want it to be that I made it through all that for nothing. I make a desision to keep going every day. To keep loving and living and creating! The good people in the world who go out of their ways to uplift and spread positivity and love give me resilience as well. The people trying to make the world a better place and live their lives to the fullest make me want to do the same. I suppose these are the same places my drive comes from as well. It’s out of spite for the people and things that have hurt me or tried stopping me from living my dream, and out of love for the people and things that have inspired me and lifted me up. Both things keep me going in two different ways. I’ve had to just channel and balance those energies into good places.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
Julia Reynolds is a Kansas City based musician, singer, songwriter, producer, pianist, model, fashion designer/stylist, and more. Julia performs, produces and writes in many different styles, including, but not limited to, electropop, rock, pop, alt, roots and folk. Julia is a seamstress as well, creating unique fashion pieces of many styles, which she often models for shoots and at her performances. She also accepts commissions and has made customs for performers and non performers alike. In her pastime, some favorite activities of Julia’s (other than music and fashion) include: yoga, being around animals, tarot cards, traveling, video games, reading books, working out, photography, photoshop and sketching.
You can listen to Julia’s two albums (Solo- Electropop/Rock- Queen of Crazy) (Collab with Michael Johnson- Alt Folk/Roots- Lemon Tree) on any of your favorite streaming services.
Join Julia’s mailing list on www.juliareynoldsmusic.com and/or Instagram broadcast channel @juliareynoldsmusic for direct notifications of upcoming events, shows and updates!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The first thing I would say that has been exponentially important to learn has been simply the more behind-the-scenes parts of my craft. Since I’m doing music as a business as well as a hobby, it’s been extremely helpful to learn things such as marketing, booking, copyright laws, social media algorithms, demographics, graphic art, website design, licensing, etc. Though some of these things I will occasionally hire someone to do for me, even then I find it important to know. If you ever need to do it yourself you can, and you’ll also know if the person you hired is doing their job correctly.
This kind of leads into my next item on the list- being well rounded when it comes to different skills and being able to wear different hats- both within and without your craft(s). This is helpful for many reasons, but a main one for me is financial security. A very close friend and mentor of mine always told me to remember the phrase “multiple sources of income”. Music, and the arts in general, are typically not very consistent sources of income, so it’s very helpful to know different skills you can switch between as needed. Though art isn’t mainly about money and all, you still have to keep food on the table and a roof over your head. And, as another mentor of mine said, you have to “support your habit.” The habit in my case being my art and music. But other than that, doing lots of different things with your craft(s) keep it interesting too! I personally get bored very easily and have to switch between lots of different things anyway, so it all works out. 🙂
Last but not least, balance. Balance is SO important. I still struggle with that alot, because I am a bit of a workaholic. But working on having a good work/life balance is helping me quite a bit. It helps with my mental health, physical health; it helps with burnout and creative blocks as well. Making time for fun is so important too when it comes to inspiration and just overall happiness and health.
In the end, if you don’t enjoy what you do, why do it? I always promised myself that the moment I stop enjoying music overall is the moment I would stop doing it professionally. Hasn’t happened yet, and doesn’t seem like it’s going to happen anytime soon. I think alot of that is thanks to working on learning that balance. 🙂
Looking back over the past 12 months or so, what do you think has been your biggest area of improvement or growth?
I think my biggest growth and improvement recently has been within organizational skills and communication skill improvements. I can sometimes get overwhelmed fairly easily in situations requiring those two skills, but through lots of work, mindset changes and practice, I’ve gotten quite a bit better. Though many wouldn’t believe it, I’m actually quite shy, too. So getting out there in the public eye takes alot of practice. I still have more work cut out for me, but that’s okay. No one can be perfect and we’ve all got our weaknesses. As long as I’m growing and improving, that’s enough for me. 🙂
Contact Info:
- Website: www.juliareynoldsmusic.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/juliareynoldsmusic?utm_source=qr&igshid=ZDc4ODBmNjlmNQ%3D%3D
- Facebook: Julia Reynolds Music
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCUQo05JZI-AsOp9C4f0wfBw?si=nDGkxre50rQ8_RYy
- Other: Linkr: https://linkr.bio/juliareynoldsmusic
Image Credits
Jeni Reynolds, Brittany Pittser, Sam Bretz, Ian Noah, Westind Connection, Jarrod Warren
