We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Lily Smith a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Lily, so great to have you on the platform. There’s so much we want to ask you, but let’s start with the topic of self-care. Do you do anything for self-care and if so, do you think it’s had a meaningful impact on your effectiveness?
I am absolutely convinced that the time and effort I put into self-care has a direct impact on my productivity and my general happiness. My self-care is simple, cheap, and works for everyone. It comes down to three little words: nutrition, exercise, and sleep.
Over the years, I have found that whenever I don’t get enough movement or sleep, or eat poorly, I become more irritable, emotional, more likely to get sick, and have a harder time focusing. Therefore, I strive to get at least 7 hours of sleep, eat plenty of nutritious foods, and get some form of exercise every day.
But while I am convinced that these three elements are key to my well being, I also believe in balance – consistency over perfection. I aim to stick to my pillars 85% of the time.
The other 15% is just as important to me because it represents the little exceptions I create for myself which also make me happy. This is also a part of self-care for me: eating french fries, chocolate, staying up late with friends, or skipping a gym day here and there to allow my body to rest.
For me, self care has been a journey of figuring out what I can do to feel my best, and trying to maximize doing that in a sustainable manner.
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?
My name is Lily Smith, I’m a 25 year old French-American opera singer, a soprano.
I was born and raised in Paris, France, and grew up there until the age of 10. During my childhood in Paris, I took piano lessons with a young woman who was studying opera at the Paris Conservatory. She taught me piano for a little over a year, and eventually gathered the courage to tell my parents that I was hopeless at piano, but constantly singing during my lessons. She suggested I start taking voice lessons from her instead, and that is how my journey with opera began.
Fast forward to present day, I have a dual degree from Northwestern University, a Master’s degree from USC Thornton School of Music, and I am pursuing an opera career full time. I believe that opera holds so much power and beauty. There are so many new ways that we can bring opera into people’s lives to embellish them, and that is what I am most passionate about.
I’m very excited to share my latest project: a recital series for 2024. I will be planning opera recitals in the three cities I call home: Paris (where I was born), Chapel Hill (where I grew up) and Los Angeles (where I currently live). The Los Angeles recital will be on Saturday March 9th, 2024 in Bel Air. The recital will last 90 minutes with an intermission and a cocktail reception. Tickets are $40 per person and can be purchased by sending me an email at lily.smith93@gmail.com. Anyone is welcome to join!
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
The three qualities that have gotten me to where I am today and keep me going through the difficult moments are discipline, fighting spirit, and self confidence.
Discipline is absolutely mandatory. Opera isn’t a regular job, you don’t have a start time, you don’t have anyone to report to, and no one is assigning you tasks or checking in on your progress. Although that may sound nice, it’s really tough. It means that every day, you are responsible for making a schedule for yourself that will challenge you, help you improve, and get you get one step closer to your goals. For the time being, I am also my own manager, which means not only do I have to work on my technique, language, and acting skills, but I also need to take a few hours each day to send in applications, networking emails, book flights and hotels for auditions, plan my lessons and recordings, etc… Without discipline and organization, you won’t get far.
Fighting spirit is a quality I developed from playing competitive sports my whole childhood, and having parents who always encourage me to get back up whenever something brings me down. Fighting spirit is an absolute must in opera because for 100 applications you send in, you probably receive 95 rejections. At this stage of my career, I am no longer a student but don’t have enough experience in the professional field to be considered a full young artist. It’s a strange middle ground called “emerging artist” where I, along with thousands of other people from all over the world, all fight for the very few available spots that will turn us into legitimate “young artists”. A big part of the success will come from talent and skill, but inevitably, the last man standing has a better chance. You NEED fighting spirit.
Last but not least, self confidnece. It sounds cheesy, but you cannot expect anyone to believe in you if you don’t believe in yourself. However, there is more to it than just believing in your specific talent or skill. My confidence in myself has helped me tremendously because in order to achieve that confidence, I had to dig deep and really get to know myself. The product of that effort is that now, I trust myself completely to make the decisions, to set boundaries, to take a leap. In a field as subjective as opera, it is imperative to have that confidence in yourself.
What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?
Whenever I feel overwhelmed, I go back to my three pillars – sleep, nutrition, and exercise. I check in with myself to see if I’ve been eating well, sleeping enough, and moving enough.
My next go to activity when I feel overwhelmed involves my calendar and my lists. Every morning, I take a blank piece of paper and write down every single thing that goes through my mind about what I need to get done, no matter how big or small the task may be.
Making lists helps me empty out my brain and allows me to create a plan of action. If I’m tired, I’ll look at my list and try to accomplish all the smaller, brainless tasks, like laundry, errands, cleaning, administrative tasks, etc… If there is a task or deadline looming over my head that is causing me to feel overwhelmed, I’ll look at my calendar and carve out some time for it. That way, even if I don’t get to it right away, I know that I have planned for it which makes me feel more relaxed.
Last but not least, sometimes when I feel overwhelmed, it’s because I’m trying to do too many things at once and I don’t allow myself enough time to take a breath. In those moments, dropping everything and making yourself do a little self care can be really helpful. For instance, going on a walk without your phone, doing your favorite skin care treatment, cooking, or calling your family can all feel like a big pressure release.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.lilyksmith.com
- Instagram: @lily.kika
- Facebook: Lily Smith
Image Credits
Patrick Robert W.Biederman Photography Taso Papadakis
