Meet Natalie Duque

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

Natalie, so great to be with you and I think a lot of folks are going to benefit from hearing your story and lessons and wisdom. Imposter Syndrome is something that we know how words to describe, but it’s something that has held people back forever and so we’re really interested to hear about your story and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
I’m not sure if imposter syndrome is something that’s every truly overcome- I think it’s something, like any challenging emotion, you learn how to manage and understand when it starts to pop up. When I start to feel imposter syndrome creeping in, I acknowledge it, and then I try to comfort myself as I would a close friend. I turn into my greatest cheerleader and try to drown out the negative thoughts with PROOF of the opposite. When you start listing examples of why the negative thoughts are wrong, it shuts down the argument! This may sound simple, but it’s definitely easier said than done. I didn’t really grasp this process until I started consistently going to therapy over two years ago. My therapist would have to be the one to “prove my negative thoughts wrong” for a while until I started to get the hang of it and actually believe the reality of the situation over those pesky imposter syndrome voices.

I’m also a self-help junkie and when I learned that BRENE FREAKIN BROWN has imposter syndrome, I realized it was something that wasn’t going to ever go away, and if I wanted to succeed in my life goals, I’d need to learn how to be stronger than those voices.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I’ve been singing since before I could talk. I remember singing the entire Wilson Phillips album in the back of my mom’s minivan on long car rides, reciting every single word from memory. I didn’t really discover songwriting until middle school, but when I did, everything just kind of clicked for me. It really became my therapy and the way I made sense of the world around me. I studied music from 3rd grade through college. I was classically trained but grew up on top 40, and really found my place in the world of 90s singer songwriters (Jewel, Alanis Morissette, etc.).

A few years after graduating from college, with endless notebooks full of songs, I finally decided to crowdfund and raise money to record and release my first EP! It was truly a labor of love, but once I got a taste, I was hooked! Fast forward 10 years, 4 EPs, and 8 singles later…

Insert music production! Learning production didn’t come as naturally to me as singing and songwriting, mostly because of my mindset around music tech (those negative voices were raging hard!). I reluctantly learned how to record myself and set up a professional home studio so I could do vocal session work from home, but it took me a little longer to take the plunge into fully producing songs, and that was initially mostly out of necessity. I was writing faster than I could afford to professionally produce all of the songs I wanted to put out into the world! I wanted to have more control over my career and my music, so I dove into the world of online music production courses and got to work.

Now I’m writing and producing custom songs, session singing & collaborating with other songwriters and artists, licensing my songs, and writing and producing for sync. But most excitingly, I’m in the process of self-producing my first full length album! Waking up every day and being able to create music as my JOB is such a gift, and I’m thankful for every project that I have the privilege of being part of the magic.

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?
I used to hate whenever I’d pay for an online music course or seek out advice and the first response I would get would be about mindset. But here I am, sharing that the quality I think is the MOST impactful on your journey, is your mindset 🙂 You are what you think. You’re going to face a lot of rejection, no matter what industry you’re in, and you need to be able to be your fiercest cheerleader. I suggest reading books and listening to podcasts that reinforce these kinds of thoughts.

Second, I think it’s reallllly important to write down your goals and break everything down into smaller bite-sized tasks. It’s SO easy to get overwhelmed by everything that needs to get done, especially as a DIY artist/musician. I try to start with long term goals (a 5 year plan), then I break that up into yearly goals, then in January I take the goals for that year and break those down into monthly goals, then each month I break down that month’s goals into weekly tasks, and then on Fridays I look at the week ahead and create daily tasks for the week so that I can ensure I get everything done in time. I also schedule out my day using time blocks so I can be realistic with what I can get done in a day, rather than just staring at my to-do list and wondering what I want to do first. Of course there needs to be flexibility- things don’t always go as planned, or take the amount of time you think it’s going to take, but it’s a really great starting point and helps with overwhelm/burnout.

Lastly, it always pays to be kind. It can be rough out there! We’re all in this together and there’s enough work and resources to go around. We’ll all get to the top faster if we lean on each other.

As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
“The Slight Edge” is one of my favorite self-help books (and I’ve read a lot!). I can sometimes get overwhelmed by my goals if I don’t see results or “success” fast enough, but Jeff Olson emphasizes the importance and power of simple daily tasks repeated over time. It really shifted my perspective and helped me to be more gentle and patient with myself as I strive for new goals.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Mad Muse Studios Songwriters of North America (SONA)

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