We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Samantha Powell (pka Sjae). We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Samantha below.
Hi Samantha, 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 Mother. She was a survivor and so full of love. She was so resourceful – whatever needed to be done, she would figure out what was required and just get on with it, no matter the crisis, no matter the chaos. She survived breast cancer twice, she was my angel. I lost her to Alzheimers 9 months ago, and it’s like a huge light went out in the world.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I am a composer, music producer and singer / songwriter. My work includes creating music for tv and film, trailer, commercials, wherever there is a need for music. I spend most of my time in a room by myself (or with the occasional foster pup!), programming and composing music for clients such as Netflix, MTV, or various artist driven projects. I’m the nerd in the headphones, dissecting audio waves!
Recent projects include remixing music from Squid Games for various Netflix campaigns, 2 new personal EPs, and writing songs with Raphael Saadiq for Disney’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur.
I have a new song out Oct 2nd called ‘Paper Hearts’, about the fragility of being human, written during the pandemic, after having been diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer.
This year I’ve also been focused on dog rescue – I’ve fostered 6 dogs and a kitten so far, and it’s been wonderful. LA animal shelters are literally at breaking point, there is a crisis happening in our city, healthy dogs being euthanized every single day because there is no space and no funding. It’s up to us as a community to do so some to something about it. Please consider fostering a dog if you can – you will save two lives: the dog you took home, and the dog who took their space in the shelter.
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?
For me, all those hours growing up, being alone in my room, programming Janet Jackson songs on my synthesizer (!), was the beginning of my career as a music producer! I had no idea at the time, but it gave me an understanding of digitally sequencing music, breaking down songs, understanding how music was put together. I then went on to program, and mix records and it has given me a skill that decades later I can make a living from when so many avenues of revenue from music have been diminished. For women in music especially, I encourage you to learn to program music, produce and compose. We are still extremely under represented in those areas, only 2% of all records are produced by women, and 3% of all films scored by women. Its been that way for a very very long time, and it needs to change.
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 collaborate with film makers and production creatives, anyone who has music needs – whether it’s creating a bespoke and unique identity for their film or tv project, or a direct license of original songs. DM me on Instagram sjaeofficial, I would absolutely love to hear from you!
Contact Info:
- Website: [email protected]
- Instagram: sjaeofficial
- Facebook: sjaeofficial
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samantha-powell-33993912/
- Twitter: sjaeofficial
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@sjaeofficial
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/sjaeofficial
Image Credits
Anna Azarov
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
