We recently connected with Marwan Nassar and have shared our conversation below.
Marwan, so many exciting things to discuss, we can’t wait. Thanks for joining us and we appreciate you sharing your wisdom with our readers. So, maybe we can start by discussing optimism and where your optimism comes from?
“It’s getting better all the time… because it can’t get much worse”. That is one of my favorite quotes from the Beatles. The story goes that as they were songwriting, Paul Mcartney started to sing “it’s getting better alll the time”, to which John Lennon immediately responded with the second part of the quote. I’ve always loved that story as it shows how everything really is about perspective. I think that sometimes, we should pay more attention to where we are, while other times it is more helpful to look at where we’re going. Being able to quickly adapt my mind between those two frames has always been immensely helpful for my ability to remain optimistic during difficult times. When my country was in the middle of a revolution, I focused on all the positive changes that the crisis will bring in the future rather than the isolation and fear of the moment. The same mentality can be applied to less life-changing situations too, while still being as useful. Not worrying about how bad traffic is going to be on the way home from work, for example, but instead looking forward to the moment when I take my shoes off and have a seat at home. The opposite side of that mentality is focusing on the current moment’s goodness and feeling gratitude for it. That’s easy to do when I’m having a great day out with loved ones, but it requires a bit more finesse when the current moment isn’t as pleasant, such as times when it’s been a long day at work. During those times, I instead focus on the fact that I love my work and am grateful to have it, or if that’s not true, then perhaps on a random pleasant interaction I had with a stranger or peer.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I am a musician and an event curator. As a musician, I musical direct and play guitar or bass for different artists’ music, I produce projects for artists and creators, and I write music in collaboration with many talented peers. As an event curator, I co-founded Apiary, a music and art collective that creates events with live music, artwork, and vendors to bring the community together. Apiary also provides event production services that vary from organizing and putting together artist showcases/release shows, to conferences and weddings. I love collaborating with people to bring their visions to life through both Apiary and my work as a guitarist. So if you are looking for someone to help throw your next event, or play music or write with, my line is open!
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?
Looking back, I believe my constant desire for improvement, curiosity, and compassion have been the most impactful qualities in my journey. Since I was young, I’ve always wanted to be better at everything I did. I was waaay too competitive, which helped with that. Any sport that I played or hobby that I picked up, I was always thinking of what my next goal in it is. For example in martial arts, I always had older peers I wanted to beat in sparring and belt levels I wanted to reach. With music, I would always have someone around me that I wanted to pick up skills and learn from so I can compile their skills and experiences onto my own. That ability has helped me acquire so much of the knowledge that I’ve gained through the years. Another other skill that ties closely with the desire for improvement is curiosity. If I am not curious about something, I likely won’t have the desire to improve in it. So, I think it is both important to practice being curious about different things that we encounter, and also to be aware of our natural curiosities and lean into them, as those will likely be our greatest assets. The final quality I’ll mention that I think is tremendously valuable is compassion. There is no field in which our work is done completely in isolation, and things run a whole lot smoother when the people around us feel that they can trust us and relate to us. We all have so much in common, so we have to once again use the skill of curiosity, this time applied towards the people around us, and it won’t be too hard to find a connection. Once we have a connection with those we are working with, we are much more likely to feel free to explore different ideas and experiment, which will always make an environment both more fun and productive. My advice would be to work hard to get the technical side of your field down but to make sure not to forget the human side in the process. Our work is fuelled by our experiences and relationships so, the stronger those are, the stronger everything else will be.
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?
I am always looking to collaborate with people who are creative and bold in their visions. Working together with inspiring people inspires people, and I am looking to always be both inspired and inspiring. I love people who have ideas that are uniquely their own and that bring those ideas to life. Let’s hangout and be friends first, and then we can get to work 🙂
Contact Info:
- Website: apiaryofficial.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/marwan.music
