Meet Sakari

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

Sakari, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.

Well first, I believe that overcoming is something a person has to do over and over again in life. And for me, I honestly live in this perpetual balance of confidence and inadequacy. Even when I’ve accomplished something, I rarely feel like I’ve overcome or “arrived” and also these “accomplishments” haven’t necessarily informed me about who I am. Maybe they’ve informed me about what can be possible in life, but not about who I am in this life. Because in the balance, I’ve come to know that it’s God who stabilizes and actualizes me, and gives me the confidence me to face fear and to overcome. My identity in the matter has become more and more irrelevant, I’m just an instrument.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

I started out singing in the church children’s choir around 5 years old and moved up to the young adult choir at 8 years old. I remember feeling kinda bored with the kids and I like to be challenged. I also probably wanted to sneak a lil peek at the older boys. I wrote and recorded my first song in my neighbor, Arron Eddy’s basement around 10 or 11 years old. Music and singing has always been a gift that gives me an opportunity to exercise the full range of my emotions. Rage, despair, sass and humility, music helps me process and heal from all the good and bad in my life and the world around me. Career wise, I write and produce my own music, just going by my name, Sakari. I also write and produce music for other artist, musicians and patrons both locally and globally. Right now, I’m working on my second EP titled ”Club Kari” and plan to release it independently on October 1st of this year. It will feature 4 songs that I wrote, produced, engineered and sang.

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?

My mom is a journalist and former reporter. From a young age, she taught me and my siblings to always look people in the eye. It can be so strange but I really do think it’s a good skill to master. You can even practice on yourself in the mirror if it helps, although that might get weird. Okay, and the second skill–show up prepared and on time. It’s hilarious that I call this a skill, but to me it really is. I naturally run about 20 mins late! But hey, I was born a few days late so am I really wrong or am I right on time? But no, seriously, showing up prepared and on time has really cleared away a large part of the anxiety that I experience. And for the third skill–you must SHOW that you care. I now do active–as opposed to passive–research in order to know more about the people and subjects that I care most about in life, so that my interactions and contributions can be as positive as possible. This includes doing historical research as well. In whichever areas of life you hold dear, find out what was happening before you showed up. It helps to know that your piece is part of a larger puzzle.

Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?

The Bible, particularly the Book of Psalms, the Book of Proverbs and the Book of Ecclesiastes. I keep these three books on rotation and read from them almost daily. These books provide real and practical wisdom on how to life a life of success down here on planet Earth. It’s giving…blueprint. There are many nuggets I could write out but one that comes to mind just off the dome is Proverbs 4:23 “Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life”.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://sakarisweet.com
• Instagram: @sakarisweet
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@musicsakari
• Other: Apple Music- https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sakari/1525658747
  Spotify- https://open.spotify.com/artist/13Yaj8u0WMXtGEjECkC8nm?si=sQ2_BEHdQa6ePoQjJnicnw

Image Credits

Athena Kulb
Callie Andersen
Sebastian Fritze
Justin McGregor