Meet Reina Mora

We were lucky to catch up with Reina Mora recently and have shared our conversation below.

Reina, thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with us today. We’re excited to dive into your story and your work, but first let’s start with a broader topic that might be stopping many of our readers from pursuing their dreams – haters, nay-sayers, etc. How have you managed to persist despite haters and nay-sayers that inevitably follow folks who are doing something unique, special or off the beaten path?

First off, my mantra is “I’m not a gold coin to be loved by everyone”. That gives me the strength to block them out and find the people that believe in me. The love and support of those closest to me far outweighs the negativity coming from those that don’t. I know that my music is not for everyone, and that is perfectly okay. There’s music that I don’t like, but I make it a point to not talk down on those artists who are striving to make music they believe in, because I know how hard it is.

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

At this moment, my main focus is to promote my new single, “Weeds”, which will be released in June. After 3 years of being in the duo project, “Willow Crest”, this will be my first single back as a solo artist and I want to reestablish my voice, reconnect, and take what I’ve learned over the years and channel it into something personal that I hope will connect with people.
I’ve been a singer/songwriter for most of my life and have been lucky enough to be part of some incredible organizations that help fight for songwriter’s rights with SONA and to guide and mentor the next generation of writers with WriteGirl. It’s also great to a part of a local songwriters collective with LASC. I love that I have had the opportunity to collaborate and write with other talented artists as well.

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 feel like what’s helped me get as far as I have on this journey has been my people skills, my broad artistic understanding and my ability to look inward to find universal feelings and emotions.
My people skills and ability to connect with people on a deep and personal level has helped me bring together a team of supportive collaborators and artists where we are able to use our own artistic mediums to help each other on our collective journeys.
My broad artistic understanding has helped me form fully realized visions to bring my art to life, from photography, to styling, to cover art.
Finally, my ability to take an exposed and vulnerable look at myself has helped me find struggles and achievements within myself that can be drawn upon in my songwriting, both for my own music as well as when I collaborate with other musicians.
My advice to people early on in their journey is to build a team of people that have your back and will help you make your vision a reality. The old saying is very true, if you want go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together.

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Do you think it’s better to go all in on our strengths or to try to be more well-rounded by investing effort on improving areas you aren’t as strong in?

In this day and age I believe it is important to be well rounded in every discipline, from your music, to your visuals, to marketing, and even finance. As much as we would all love to have an agent or label to handle all of these details while you focus solely on your music, in all reality the label system is imploding and most of us are on our own in this world of independent music. I have brought my understanding and love of fashion to my music videos, and come prepared with specific ideas and images I want to see on screen. I have also been reading books and listening to podcasts to help me develop my marketing and PR game in this social media dominated market. When I was younger, social media wasn’t that important to me, but in the current climate social media is the best, and often most affordable, way to get your music out to people and to build your audience. I have also taught myself personal finance so I can budget out my music videos, photoshoots, and paid marketing campaigns. When you have a well balanced understanding of every aspect of your craft, your are able to bypass the gatekeepers trying to keep you out and you have more control over what is going out into the world. I truly feel like this is the best day and age to be a creative since all the resources are available at our finger tips.

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Image Credits

Photos by Sam Westmore

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