Meet Sonny Apollo

We recently connected with Sonny Apollo and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Sonny, great to have you with us today and excited to have you share your wisdom with our readers. Over the years, after speaking with countless do-ers, makers, builders, entrepreneurs, artists and more we’ve noticed that the ability to take risks is central to almost all stories of triumph and so we’re really interested in hearing about your journey with risk and how you developed your risk-taking ability.

By taking a risk, ha. Seriously though, I could see how a lot of the decisions I have made up to the point of my response to this question would be viewed as risky, when in actuality it’s just because I wanted to- nothing more, nothing less. For better or worse, I am glad that any decision I have made, or any “risks” I have taken have started as being self-motivated first. I need to be satisfied with the outcome of my decision first. Wearing ribbons and pearls from my mom’s fabric collection to school. The ribbons and pearls looked nice, and I wanted to see how it would go with my outfit. My first boyfriend. We liked each other and were together for a few months, holding hands around Frederick. This relationship contrasted my church upbringing at the time. My experience with self-advocacy when I communicated my disagreement with a decision a respected musician in LA made, without me. That musician and I are still on good terms, and I still have a career! Me deciding to leave my aunts’ house to walk to Center City Philadelphia with my luggage to hop on a Megabus to New York City with no money (mind you, I had done this a few times while in Philly; and, I wasn’t kicked out by my aunt. I just felt like leaving one day, haha)!

What I’m getting at is I never analyzed the pros and cons too much or too long in those scenarios, and I don’t now. In those scenarios I went for something I wanted, and I hoped for the best! The only way I would know is to go. I am not scared to fall down. I got bandages (or can get some)!

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?

My name is Sonny Apollo.

I am a performing artist, songwriting, producing, acting, dancing, citizen of the world!

My new single OUTSIDE is available and streaming here:

https://greentea.lnk.to/OUTSIDE

My single MORE, PT. 1 is available and streaming here:

https://greentea.lnk.to/MOREPT1

For purchase as a CD single here:

https://elasticstage.com/sonnyapollomusic/releases/more-pt-1-singleep

Follow me along the path: we’re heading somewhere special made for only us!

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?

The three qualities that were most impactful in my journey- answering this question currently- would be faith, resilience, persistence.

The best advice is no advice; however, believe in yourself!

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?

For me, I focus on being well rounded. I measure where I can improve, both through self-analysis and by asking my coaches, or someone I trust. For example, I surround myself with the strongest musicians I know. I can hold my own on my instruments, but I’ll ask for a stronger player to execute an idea I might have on the guitar, on the bass, or on the drums. The same could be said about production. I can craft and produce a good song on my own; however, I do like to collaborate with another producer from time to time or the soundscape of a song. The volleying of perspectives over the way the instrumentation will weave itself through the entirety of a song is something I look forward to during collaboration; or, the discussion of how a part of the arrangement should be moved to another area of a song composition or production… or calling up a horn player to collaborate on a horn arrangement is nice and has produced some great outcomes for me, and for us! I have visuals in my head, but having intimate discussions with someone whose expertise is in film and/or visual media enhances my vision beyond what I can imagine. I’m always attracted to the visual artist who is able to pull something out of me… who is able to unlock something within me and bring it to the camera through their knowledge of their craft… When it comes to dance, I work at improving my dance skill set. Every chorographer or dance teacher I have worked with has whipped me into shape. The dance component to my vision is still a work in progress, ha. Tap dance can look very simplistic to the naked eye, but it takes A LOT to achieve that kind of execution and I am still on my way there. Modern dance can look so primal and instinctual, but it’s easy to look without direction and messy. Aside from my creative exploits, in general I like to ask questions when there is a topic I don’t know much about… I don’t want to know everything!

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Adán Ramirez

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