Meet Juri Jinnai-Cramer

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

Juri , so great to have you with us and we want to jump right into a really important question. In recent years, it’s become so clear that we’re living through a time where so many folks are lacking self-confidence and self-esteem. So, we’d love to hear about your journey and how you developed your self-confidence and self-esteem.
It is such a cliche answer but I have developed my confidence and self esteem by try and fail. It’s hard for me to trust anything that happened overnight that the “raw talent” really does’t have much power over me including from myself or others. And I also enjoying the process of building something ground up and watch it grow and blossom. I am still and will be forever working on my confidence and self esteem but I can happily say that I am in a happy and satisfied stage at this point only because I have confidence in saying that I have put more than enough hours and thoughts into my career and personal lives so far and have tried and failed and stood back up so many times to know that I can do that. Especially the last 2years while I was fighting stage 4 colon cancer, I still managed to keep writing, performing and living my life as full and rich as possible. Thankfully I am cancer free now (knocking on woods) and back on my full speed.
Another element is that I have been very lucky to be surrounded by trusted friends who not only have been there for me through ups and downs but also give me their honest feedback on my art and music – since I don’t listen to just anybody’s opinions, lol, those comments from my dear friends really mean the world to me!

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I am focused on living my life to the fullest and share the message with everyone I can reach.

Music always has been a great tool for me to uplift myself and tell my stories in a whimsical way. Especially after my diagnosis of stage 4 colon cancer in August 2022, I have come to realize how lucky I am to love music and have it as my tool, therapy and toy.

Before the diagnosis, I don’t think I had ever thought about death so much – yup, it’s gonna get a little dark.lol But this whole cancer experience came in as a much needed reminder on the fact that you truly never know what tomorrow holds. I have always been fit as I am generally a healthy eater and love exercising but you just never know. And to be put in a situation where to try to survive or give up was totally up to me, I realized how much I wanted to live and how little I was cherishing about the fact that I am alive and well. I sure was taking it for granted.

Also through the experiences, I have learned so much about the people who love me and who act that they love me. There is a huge difference obviously. I knew my dear husband loved me before the diagnosis but man, he sure does love me so much. He quite literally saved my life with his care, consideration, intelligence and research. He stopped his own life without giving it a second thought and took care of me day in day out with a smile on his face even though I know he was dealing with his own fear, a huge fear. He really showed me how deep his love can go and makes me the luckiest and most loved woman alive.

And I would love everyone to find love like this but also acknowledge your beauty that deserves to be loved and your strength and resilience to be able to go through anything in your life, just can’t give up.

I have written many songs based on the cancer experience and I don’t think I will stop doing it. Knowing that cancer is a very common disease unfortunately and I am there through my music or other outlets for anyone who is going through the health journey and needs a little bit of cheering up. YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE THAT YOU WILL BE OK.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Discipline, Drive and Perspective – I am so square, haha.

One of many things that I’ve learned by living in NYC and going to LA to work with other musicians is that there are so many talented people! I do believe that having some talents in what you do is somewhat important but if you get satisfied by your raw talent and wouldn’t tend it or water it consistanly, I don’t think you can create something that you are proud of. Especially for someone like me who didn’t grow up speaking English to even write a song in English took so many years of learning the language, slung, culture and even what rhyme means!!! It was obviously a time consuming process but it was so worth it, even for the fact that I get to be friends with so many people from different backgrounds that otherwise would be hard to get to know just speaking Japanese.

And Drive, it is necessary to stay discipline. You can slow down here and there but just don’t quit. Don’t give up.

Perspective really helps me to horn in my artistry. I am naturally very introspective and do enjoy spending lots of my time in my own head. And living NYC gives me a daily dose of inspiration and food for thoughts of external world. What kinds or types of music/art people are into, what kind of audience I enjoy reaching out to, what makes me different from other artists, what do I have in common with the artists I respect, etc Just to be able to see how one relates to another in a certain frame work really helps me to define myself and my artistry.

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?
It is very hard to pick one person as I am one of those lucky bastards who have been surrounded by incredible people but if I have to pick one, no one comes before my husband/best friend Russell. He not only saved my life as I previously mentioned, he knows how to bring out the best of me. The parts of me that I was getting punished for (therefore I was hating those qualities of mine) including my opinionated nature, independency, sharp tongue, and all the weird sides, he loves them and laugh at them joyfully. Also before I met him, my music wasn’t quite representing me and he would sit down with me to go through my music, give me his feedback (and he is open if I don’t take his advice here and there), and the last several years, he even has been contributing so much as my writing parter.

But again, I am so so lucky that I have so many amazing souls in my life who elevates me including Olivia Cipolla (my dance/performance coach), Dave Stroud and Marlon Saunders (my vocal coach), Carrie Haber (writing parter), Mark Stewart and Riccardo Belletta (my band mates), Ian Hersey, Dave Cole and Darcy Callus (my producers), Dr. Pashtoon Kasi, Dr. Kara Long Roche, Dr. Phillip Pat, Dr. Latika Thakur (my doctors), Mom (my cat), ET sister wives etc the list goes on and on:)

Contact Info:

Image Credits
@angielmv @Lulu1u

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