Meet Samantha Garrison

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Samantha Garrison a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Samantha, thank you so much for joining us. You are such a positive person and it’s something we really admire and so we wanted to start by asking you where you think your optimism comes from?

My optimism comes from being able to laugh at absurd situations and from painstakingly realizing that everything good or bad in life brings you to irreplaceable experiences. I have always been somewhat of an annoyingly optimistic being, especially to my peers when things have gone wrong, but I’d like to think it’s one of my superpowers. My dad would help me to laugh at situations that had just gone inexplicably wrong, kind of like if you slip down the stairs and coincidentally land on corn syrup and roll onto a random band of feathers. All the sudden you look like a deranged chicken, which is hilarious. Obviously we try to stay poised and out of the feathers, but it is these moments where we can laugh that build us up for the bigger moments. Resilience and grit comes from not accepting the current moment as the final outcome. As I end up in some chicken-feather-type situations in my adult life, or in a seriously dreadful tailspin with feeling down, I remind myself of these things. I laugh at the absurdity of the situation and the absurdity of the situations that got me there in the first place. You also catch more flies with honey than vinegar! My mom taught me that one.

Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?

I have been a singer-songwriter for the last twentyish years of my life, which is insane to say. The most special thing is to be able to capture a feeling that exists only to you and then create a song that only you understand. I’ll often listen to my own songs from my voice memos app and revel in the emotion a bit more than when I wrote it. I don’t really understand how I come up with these songs but they sort of flow out of my mind like a waterfall. It’s natural and I don’t always know where it’s coming from. I think that’s one of the things us artists truly enjoy, being able to understand ourselves much easier after letting our flow, well flow. Keeping that flow unblocked is a whole other story, which for me is usually caused by distractions.

I was born in Miami, FL but have lived in New Mexico, and now California. Los Angeles has always been my version of the promiseland and here I am baby! Being in Los Angeles is like living in a museum. Everywhere you go there is art pouring in and out of every edge. The graffiti, the music, the food, the billboards, the humor, all of it makes this place great. I’m honored to be part of the art scene here not only as an artist but as an all arts open mic host. Creating a safe space for art is a passion of mine and we have formed the most fantastic community as a collective. Sharing our creations seems like a wrinkle of time in the chaos of life that brought us together.

For my day job, I work as a scientist and help to monitor and reduce waste across Los Angeles. I’ve always been a bit obsessed with where things go once you’re done with them, and I think we can do a lot better than landfills as humankind considering we have a rover on Mars and self-driving cars. There are innovative ways to manage waste while reducing its production and I’m happy to be a part of the movement towards reconciling food and other materials. Finding balance between science life and singer-songwriter life is like being a trapeze artist, but I’m figuring it out! Check in on me in a couple years, will you?

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

My three values for the last ten years or so have been wisdom, health, and creativity (you’ll see this on my clipboard at the open mic). Wisdom comes from God and the Bible says that it’s more valuable than gold. I totally agree, although wisdom is not as pretty, I’ve never had a piece of gold get me through tough times (it might help though). Whereas wisdom, things like “a quitter never wins and winner never quits,” or the good ol’ story about being “3 feet from gold,” those are things that get me through. My health is also something I’d like to take more seriously moving forward, as your health is truly your wealth. There’s a saying, “A man has a million problems until he becomes sick, then he only has one.” I try to remember that while I’m handling the curveballs life throws at me. I feel better when I’m healthy and REST is everything for resilience. Creativity is a life force that comes out in one way or another when not expressed. Usually in anger, depression, anxiety, or some other terrible feeling. Creating something remedies these feelings like a spoonful of sugar with the bad-tasting medicine of life’s tests. I need to do it more, I think everyone should. In the Artist’s Way, the author says, “I will take care of the quantity, and God will take care of the quality.” That usually helps me push myself to create even if I think it’s going to be less than amazing. I always end up loving my art one way or another, like a mother.

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?

YES! I would love to start a band soon with some willing members. I’ve been getting used to some new routines but I’m finally ready to participate in the band scene. I want to create an experience for others the way so many bands have done for me! Plain and simple, I want to rock the hell out.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @samantharosegarrison
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UComvrugj3i2qevJks8SKzSw
• Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/52vfTPVM1XU5VKmLoOH6zq

Image Credits

1. Strolling by the lake – Samantha Rose Garrison
2. Performing at the Angry Mic – Stephanie Valerio
3. Little Sam chillin’ by the lake – Unknown
4. Walking on slippery rocks – Denise Garcia
5. Performing at The Escondite – Danny Bribiesca