Meet Mohamed Abdo

 

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

Hi Mohamed, 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?

My resilience comes entirely from faith. It’s a core belief of mine that everything happens for a reason. I believe we are always on the right path (no matter how wrong it may feel) and I’m always exactly where I’m supposed to be. Sometimes when we feel like things aren’t falling into place, we feel like everything is going wrong. But just because they aren’t falling into the spots we wanted to them to doesn’t mean they’re falling into the wrong spots. They’re just completing a puzzle bigger than we can fathom as humans. We are always on the path that God intended for us. So whenever I get stressed when I’m facing challenges, I remind myself that whatever I’m going through is always leading me to where I’m supposed to be, not matter how helpless I may feel, or how extreme the situation. Everything has a purpose.

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?

Absolutely. I’m professionally known as EsMod, which is my stage name. I’m a rapper, violinist, audio engineer, and graphic designer. I started out as a spoken word artist and classical violinist, then combined the two arts and started rapping in about 2017. My music is best categorized as contemporary pop rap, but my range of sub genres is limitless. People have a hard time finding an artist to compare me to, but my main inspirations for my music are Joey Bada$$, Pro Era, Childish Gambino, Redveil, Oddisee, Lute, and Hiatus Kaiyote. I just graduated from the University of Memphis with a degree in Music Recording Technology in May, and now I do music full time. I’m beyond blessed to be able to say that I’m financially supported solely off of my creative endeavors. Currently, I’m going on tour with Music Export Memphis to surrounding states from July 26th-28th, as well as finishing an EP titled “To Die For” which I am aiming to release within the next two to three months. Aside from my own music, I spend the rest of my working hours doing live sound, studio recording, building stages for concerts and festivals, and doing graphics and photography for other artists. My favorite live sound gig that I’ve done is running sound for the Grizzlies games.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?

I think the three qualities that brought me to where I am in my career were being personable, learning multiple applicable skills at a professional level, and never saying no to a job or opportunity. These don’t always apply for everyone, but they are what helped me the most.

Firstly, being personable and knowing how to talk to people will almost always get you more opportunities than someone who is more talented than you. People prefer to work with people they enjoy being around. If you’re great at what you do then that’s even better. Being kind, humble, supportive, well-mannered, patient, fun, and most importantly, professional, will go a long way for you in landing meaningful connections that turn into opportunities than just knowing how to do something. For example, imagine an artist works with two different engineers who charge the same rate. One engineer does a better job than the other, but always has a nasty attitude. The other engineer doesn’t do as good of a job, but is always smiling, has better customer service, and is easier to work with than the other. I believe many people would prefer to spend their money with someone who treats them better than someone who does a better job.

To continue, being multi-faceted has netted me many of my opportunities that put me to where I am today. For example, an artist will reach out to me to do the cover art for their new single, and from there I may land a feature on their next song, get them as a client at my studio, or shoot the music video for that song as well. One specific story was a time I was stage handing for Rachel Maxaan at the Grizzlies VS Pistons game on April 5th. I brought my violin to practice for a violin rehearsal I had that same week, and Rachel took note that I was a violinist. A few weeks later, she asked me to play at the Kerrville Folk Festival with her band this past June. I sometimes feel like I’ve stunted my professional growth by spreading myself too thin, but when things like that occur, I am reminded that the time I’ve invested in learning different skills hasn’t gone to waste.

Finally, saying yes to every job I’m offered has made me a go-to person for many different events in the city. I understand that not everyone is able to do this due to other time commitments such as school, a part time job, etc. I took a risk by quitting my job as a server to make myself completely available for any opportunities that came my way. It was hard at first. I was broke for a long time, I would spend more time budgeting than I would creating just to make sure I didn’t mess myself over. Slowly but surely though, with every job I accepted, more and more would come my way. I would say yes to things I wasn’t even confident in doing, but I was willing to take the risk of messing up for the trade factor of land a good consistent gig. Today, I work less than ten days out of the month and make enough to cover all of my living and leisure expenses, giving me the perfect schedule for an independent artist: all the time in the world to create.

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?

The most pivotal figure in my success in all my endeavors is my sister, Eftu Abdo. Despite her having no background in any of my fields, she is my number one go-to person for feedback on everything. She is very honest with me, and isn’t afraid to be harsh with her criticism. Because she has no experience in my fields, her feedback is unbiased and gives me the consumer perspective that I need to hear for my art. She also keeps me grounded when I’m not doing well mentally. When I’m feeling discouraged or like my back is against a wall, she never fails to help me remember who I am and encourage me to continue doing great things. Additionally however, if she doesn’t agree with the way I’m handling something, she’s not afraid to tell me I’m wrong. She was my biggest critic during the creation of my album “Table For One,” and all of the versions of the songs that made it on the album were a result of her feedback. Eftu always helps me stay true to myself, never lets me settle, always helps me push myself beyond my limit, and is always there to pick me up when I’m down. I wouldn’t be where I am if it weren’t for her incessant listening ear and fearlessly honest words.

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Image Credits

Semir Ahmed and Brandon Mensah

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