Meet Leslie Austin

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

Leslie, 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?

Having come from a broken home of divorced parents as a kid, moving around a lot, and being bullied, my confidence and self-esteem took a beating early on in life. Thankfully, I came to know Jesus when I was 10 years old and became intimately close with Him in the years that followed. I remember a specific moment walking the halls of junior high, crying from being bullied by ‘the mean girls’ that pretended to be my friends one day and hated on/rejected me the next, and hearing God whisper to my soul that I could hold my head high because He was my source of confidence. He was my constant in life…my source of strength, my rock, my best friend, and the one who would never leave or forsake me.

As the years went on and I became more self-aware, I also did things like counseling, inner-healing, and my own personal work which helped a lot in the maturing process. Anyone can have ‘fake confidence’, but to be truly confident and love yourself regardless of what people say or do to you, what you endure, or what your life looks like…is another story. That true, inner confidence only comes with healing, growing, and constant, deliberate work to realize your true, God-given identity at it’s core. As long as people’s self-worth is based on external validation, titles, possessions, or circumstances, they will never feel truly confident or worthy.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?

I am a recording artist, vocalist, songwriter, and performer…and also do modeling & commercial acting, at times. In terms of my original music, I like to cross-breed genres a bit and find it both unappealing and inauthentic to try and fit precisely into a box of one highly-specific genre at all times. While I understand the need to categorize music to some extent, there are many sub-genres and influences that can affect a song or style at any given time. When having to categorize my music I usually refer to it as soul/pop, although my new art (much of which isn’t released yet) is even more nuanced to Southern Soul (a mix of soul, blues and gospel vibes) combined with some pop influences. But even among that, you’ll still hear threads of rock, funk, and Americana intertwined at times. In my opinion, it’s more important to be fully authentic to you and your style than it is to fit into what ‘the machine’ thinks you should be. Authenticity is one of the most important elements to me…not only in my art and music, but throughout my life. This is one reason that I still love having live musicians on my tracks as opposed to having everything digitally-produced. There’s nothing wrong with that…to each his own (a few of my earlier tracks had only live guitar with the rest digital due to budget, production, etc)…but for my personal style, brand, instincts, and preferences, I prefer to use live musicians on my tracks when I’m able to.

I think the tone and frequency of my voice is one thing that’s unique about me and my music. While I can sound like other people on certain songs and do a variety of ranges and dynamics with my voice, the ‘sweet spot’ is a tone that is unique to me. I also believe the authenticity, messages, soul, and passion you hear expressed in my music and live performances are something special and unique to me. A lot of my songs carry deep messages of hope, pain, love, loss, heartbreak, faith, redemption, and strength. When I’m performing my original music live, I’m fully in the moment, the song, the feelings…hoping and praying that my art and performances will somehow lead people to more healing, love, hope…and ultimately more of God.

I’ve had a lot of new songs in the vault for a while now that I’m excited about, but have been delayed on recording/releasing them for various reasons. I am hoping and praying to be able to start releasing soon! As artists, we sometimes have to learn patience and restraint when our circumstances or resources don’t allow for the timeline we planned. But I’ve been testing out the new music at my live shows and am excited for what’s to come!

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?

I’d say that determination, perseverance, and faith are the three things that have been most impactful throughout my creative journey. The creative arts and entertainment industries are the toughest to endure, and often the least lucrative. You have to choose a different mindset, be your own cheerleader, find ways to keep pursuing even when it feels hopeless, ignore societal norms and odds stacked against you, put blinders on, and believe that God has a purpose for the gifting He gave you and will work it out as you put in the work.

To those who are early in their journey…set your mind now to never give up, no matter how hard it gets or how little you feel supported. Don’t take offense to the fact that many of your friends and family won’t support you. Don’t compare yourself to the artist or person next to you and what they’re doing…your journey is totally different than theirs and your gifting is unique. Know your worth. Know who you were created by God to be and your purpose, and don’t let anything that happens to you (or doesn’t happen) cause you to question or lose that. Learn from those who know more than you, always stay humble, collaborate with others, surrender your plans and desires to God, and work your tail off every day. And don’t forget to enjoy the journey!

All the wisdom you’ve shared today is sincerely appreciated. Before we go, can you tell us about the main challenge you are currently facing?

With music, the lack of money and resources have been the biggest challenge for me. If you don’t have financial help, ‘hook ups’, or own all of your own equipment for recording (and know how to produce, mix, and master your own tracks), then you will always need more money to keep making new music. Especially if you also use live musicians on your tracks, which I do. Creating and writing is not a problem for me, performing is not a problem for me, working hard and marketing myself is not the problem…it’s just been the lack of resources (money) to continue recording all of the music I’ve written (high quality recording) and market it well. But, I’m working on ways to change that every day. I’m doing everything I can do with the things I can control…and trusting the process for the rest.

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Image Credits

Jack Leu
Rico DeLeon
Jessica Waffles
Kathy Tran
Dana Beck
Alex Eissinger

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