We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Natalie Goodman. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Natalie below.
Hi Natalie, thanks for sharing your insights with our community today. Part of your success, no doubt, is due to your work ethic and so we’d love if you could open up about where you got your work ethic from?
I would say I got my work ethic from the many years of my life that I devoted to soccer. I grew up playing soccer on the most competitive levels that I could reach, ultimately leading me to playing 4 years of D1 soccer at the University of Georgia. My journey to UGA on a soccer scholarship was somewhat a unique one. Growing up in Savannah, Georgia, there were not a lot of local opportunities to play on a high level at the time, so thanks to my very supportive family and friends, I was able to play on a couple of teams based out of Atlanta. I didn’t have anyone to train with for much of my time in Savannah, so there were lots of days spent by myself doing early morning workouts alone before school or even kicking a ball against a wall for hours just to get extra touches. Then, traveling hours each weekend and during the school week was hard, and I had to learn how to become diligent with managing my time for my studies. I learned from soccer that things don’t always go your way. From tough games lined with college and US National Team scouts where I felt I didn’t play my best, I learned that there are really only two things that you can control: your attitude and your work ethic. I vowed to never let those two things falter. I try to approach every situation in my life with that in mind, trying to control the controllables and I always try to be the hardest working and most positive person in the room, whether it be the Emergency Room or the recording studio.
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?
I have been pursuing a career in music on top of a career in medicine since the end of college back in 2018. Throughout my college soccer career, I had a number of injuries that kept me off the field. That was really tough since I dedicated my whole life to soccer. I still wanted to be able to contribute to my team in unique and inspiring ways even when I couldn’t play physically, so I started singing the National Anthem before my home games which seemed to really excite my team. After that, I started singing the National Anthem at more UGA sporting events- a total blast. I wanted more for my music at this point and picked up a guitar, learning just enough to be able to sing with it. I started playing gigs around Athens and posting videos of cover videos on social media. One received several hundred thousands of views and caught the attention of NBC’s, the voice. Although I never ended up going on the show, it was an awesome vote of confidence and inspired me to keep pursuing a music career. As soon as I graduated college, I attended a singer/songwriter camp in Nashville hosted by #1 hit songwriter Kirsti Manna. I was pretty intimidated because I had never written a song before and had to do so in order to attend. My sister and I both wrote songs that were chosen as finalists in the “best songs of camp”. We got to perform them in front of a panel of industry executives (so scary) and mine actually ended up winning a single song publishing deal and the title of “Best Song of Camp”- the same award that country music star, Kelsea Ballerini had won a few years prior.
Since then, I am excited to have released several singles and an EP. Some of which have been featured on FM radio and reaching hundreds of thousands of listeners on Spotify and Apple Music. I am blessed to have since been nationally recognized for my vocals and songwriting including being awarded “Country Rising Star” at the Josie Music Awards in 2019, which is the biggest awards organization for independent artists in the country. I was also recognized as an official nominee at the 2022 Josie Music Awards at the Grand Ole Opry for “Female Vocalist of the Year” (Being in the grand ole opry as an official nominee was a dream come true for me).
While pursuing my music career, I have also been pursuing a career in medicine. With hopes of becoming a doctor, I got my EMT certification before my last year of college and worked as an EMT and in the Emergency Department in Savannah, Ga for several years throughout the heart of COVID and through my first year of medical school. I have loved being able to intertwine my music and medical passions. Some of my favorite memories have been singing to my patients. I am now finally in my last year of medical school and only a few months away from graduation. I am about to find out where I will be completing my Emergency Medicine Residency, which is so exciting. Saying all of this, I never intend to fully give up on my music dreams. I would love a world where I get to do both (musician and doctor) and will try my absolute hardest to do so. There are so many amazing ways that you can reach and heal people through both of these avenues and I strive to be able to do both. Even during my third year of medical school, I was able to write and record my second EP. My first song off of that EP is titled “Ghost”, will be out on March 15th on all streaming services. It will be my first release in 2 years! March 15th also happens to be residency Match Day, when I find out where I will be going to complete my residency. I cannot wait for this big day! It is the most amazing experience to watch your hard work materialize and I honored to be able to share it with friends and family.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
I think that resilience and a strong work ethic are key to being successful in any aspect of life and have certainly played major roles in my journeys of medicine, music and sports, There are always going to be failures, critics and doors slammed in your face no matter what path of life you are on. The key is learning from these failures, accepting them, adapting and moving forward to attack your goal in another way. Never giving up is so cliche, but if you really want something, that is often times the only way you get there. If you want something more than you don’t want it, you’ll work day and night to make that thing happen, taking lessons in stride and continuing to work on yourself. It’s not always easy accepting failures and criticism. Nobody likes that part of the journey, but I plan to continue to work on my mindset and taking my failures and turning them into lessons. And also, I will never give up on the things that I care the most about.
Another quality that has been important on my journey is being able to talk to and relate to people. Although I am an extreme introvert and have struggled with social anxiety for much of my life, I really do love meeting new people and learning about their stories. I see so much value in every person’s journey and goals and love to encourage others to succeed. I think it is the best feeling in the world to watch others achieve something they have worked so hard for. I am grateful to have this outlook on life and on people. It has allowed me to establish so many amazing friendships and relationships wherever I have gone in my life. Doing this makes it so easy to become a part of a team and build a community wherever I go, and I hope to continue to be able to do this.
If I could give any advice to anyone beginning a new, tough, or scary chapter of their life (which I really don’t even feel qualified to give advice to others lol), I would say be kind, be humble, and be resilient. Give people grace the way you would want them to give it to you. Listen to others, but more importantly, make them feel heard. Take criticism as a lesson and let it sting but let it help you grow. And if you want something badly enough, do not ever quit. Work until there is no choice but for you to reach your goal. Work until there is no other possible outcome but success.
One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?
I am ALWAYS looking for other artists to play with and write with. I love singing and songwriting but writing by yourself all the time is lonely and difficult. I can only write so many heartbreak songs about my failed attempts at love, ya know? If there are any musicians out there looking to write a little country or singer/songwriter type music, please contact me so that we can get to work and make something special!!!
Contact Info:
- Website: Www.Nataliegoodmanmusic.com
- Instagram: Www.instagram.com/nataliegoodmanmusic
- Facebook: Www.facebook,com/nataliegoodmanmusic
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7IvaJMv18V2TqJNAsSr0QX?si=xfcUgfERTn-iO4xjIXo2hA
Image Credits
LJxGallery Christopher Carlon
