We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Yvonne Fernandez a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Yvonne , we’re thrilled to have you on our platform and we think there is so much folks can learn from you and your story. Something that matters deeply to us is living a life and leading a career filled with purpose and so let’s start by chatting about how you found your purpose.
Well, I kind of always known that my purpose is to be in the music industry. I just never knew what I wanted to do exactly. One day, a friend of a friend, David Martinez, saw how I was about music. How I would share new & old stuff; always about music. So he asked me if I wanted to manage his band, but I didn’t know anything about managing a band. So I winged it. Eventually, it led me into meeting more bands, which led me to meet Erwin Natareno, who is also in the industry. He is in TV Dolls band (previously The Cool Arrows when I met him), an amazing, local to Houston band. He became my bestie and my person who I confided in about a school I wanted to attend for music business. He basically told me to “do it like why not. why don’t you? What’s stopping you now?” The more I thought about it the more he was right so I applied and went to Full Sail University my dream college. It made me fall in love with music even more. That’s when I knew I wanted to be in the music industry.
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?
My main goal and passion is to do what I can to help the local music scene here in Houston, TX. Witnessing so much unrecognized talent here in the community makes me want to do as much as possible. Since I started in 2021, I have witnessed how the local music shows are. Sometimes like the bands are just playing to the bartender. So I will do what I can. I give advice, and suggestions from things I’ve learned over the years. I will go to my bands events, post show flyers on social media, and talk about them everywhere I go. But when I work with these bands, I warn them ahead of time, “We will become besties!” It’s mainly because we have to work together on their goals and we have to get to know each other and it seems to happen we end up besties. Lol. But they know I am here to help and support them any way I can.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Well, for this one I had to ask the people that I work with, what they thought because honestly I know I have a passion for music, but I just don’t know what my three top qualities would be so I guess you can sum it all together, they love my passion for music and they love that I don’t make it feel like it’s a business first because to me relationships are important in building a foundation to be able to work together. One said my dedication and loyalty. They feel like I’m really good at adaptability where I’m able to switch from promoter Therapist accountant., manager, friend. I have so many different titles when it comes to working with these different bands. You may hear some of them call me Mom. (Even though the main one is like 10 years younger than me lol)
What is the number one obstacle or challenge you are currently facing and what are you doing to try to resolve or overcome this challenge?
The number one challenge that I’m currently facing would be time management & organization. I’m learning to use apps to help me be a better manager. Being organized is helping me be a better manager. Balancing everything has been my biggest challenge. There’s my 8-to-5 job, mommy duties, shows, podcasts, recordings, and any projects my different bands are working on. For example, recording their music, attending shows and also helping them with merch. Then there’s scheduling family time mommy daughter dates, birthday parties and me time. So being organized is critical. I don’t like to forget things. So that’s my main challenge, being organized.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mzfrnandz?igsh=OWRmYXM2Y2dpanMz&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ILMgmt21?
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/yvonnefernandez?utm_source=share&utm_campaign=share_via&utm_content=profile&utm_medium=ios_app
