We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Polina Bogomolova a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Polina, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.
I feel like this is the biggest obstacle of every creative and talented mind. And I believe that a person will never be able fully overcome it because that’s how our brains and beings are – we sometimes trick and sabotage ourselves out of fear of sharing our knowledge / art / self expression with the society, stepping into an unknown basically.
Till this very day I do get imposter syndrome from time to time, but I always simply brush this feeling off by putting myself to work so I won’t have time to think. It works most of the time, but when it gets too deep, I just think that everything is for a reason. I love and want to do what i do for a reason. People I work with actually listen to me and appreciate my opinion and knowledge for a reason, which means… I do something right. And that’s all what matters in this particular moment when you feel like you don’t belong or you aren’t good enough in what you do.
This feeling will always pop up here and there, in one thing or another. Few days ago, I had a chat with a VERY established pop/alternative artist, who has been in the scene for years, toured around the whole world and sold out arenas, having thousands of fans chasing them just to say “thank you” for their music. And guess what? Even at this top level of success, they still do get imposter syndrome till this day. And they do pretty much the same thing as I do – just reason with themselves, explaining to the inner voice that if it all works out pretty well, it is probably because they are not imposters.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I do tour & artist management in electronic dance music and work with such acts as J. Worra, MISS DRE and Cherry Tooth. My clients are established touring artists with consistent releases on well respected labels in the scene like Insomniac Records, Spinnin’ Deep, Ultra (Sony Music), D4Dance, Sweat it out, Myth of Nyx and etc.
Last year we cruised all over America for J. Worra’s headline tour and for summer festival season with J. Worra and MISS DRE performing at Lollapalooza Chicago, Outside Lands, EDC Las Vegas, Daytrip Festival, Life Is Beautiful and many others.
Apart from providing tour management, I represent my clients in the industry as their artist manager in partnership with Tom Williams (CEO of L’Affaire Musicale).
This job is really hard to explain in few words.. but if you don’t know what tour and artist management means, I would say it is like providing any and all support to an artist so they can focus on creating music. It is lots of fun, and has creativity in it, as well as ton of communication and multitasking (lol).
This year we are focusing on international touring and keeping the build of our artists’ stories which they want to share with the world through their music and any other way to express it. Can’t really say a lot but definitely can recommend to follow them as more info will be out soon 😉
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
My whole journey was built around music and music industry. And I knew what I wanted to move towards to so I learned and prepared myself since I was in school.
It feels difficult to point out only three skills/qualities just because as a tour & artist manager there is so much going on… multitasking is not even considered as a skill in this area, it must be a given.
I would say… proactiveness, flexibility, analytical thinking.
Needless to say that as a tour manager, you need to stay on top of absolutely everything to prevent any sort of misunderstandings which can turn into a problem later. Proactiveness is also needed for an artist manager to stay on top of every opportunity that comes in, every requested info from partners/colleagues that needs to be sent. This is needed for smooth operations which is the goal of a great workflow so you aren’t drowning in emails, calls and etc.
Flexibility is a skill that will help you to find a compromise/solution in an issue or a deal/partnership that potentially can be saved and is more beneficial to fight for rather than stand still and let it go. As I see it – when you have a goal to achieve or harvest something potentially helpful for an artist’s career, you should be easy to work with and adapt, when it is needed. It goes a long way.
Analytical thinking… probably something that you should have just in general in your life, not just in work haha. When you analyze any situation/problem/offer – you will see what your options are, but most importantly, you will see what will be potential consequences of the choice you make. Seeing it, will help you to make a strategic, wise decision.
The best advice to develop those skills is practice. Reading books and interviews is not enough, you should find a way where you can execute it.
Alright so to wrap up, who deserves credit for helping you overcome challenges or build some of the essential skills you’ve needed?
To be honest… myself. The moment I decided to let myself express my opinions and thoughts was the moment I stepped on a whole different level and overcame all the challenges I’ve faced.
Don’t get me wrong though – there were people who taught me skills, taught me how to think, who guided me and shared their thoughts which was the food for my thought. I still have those people around me – it is my father and my mentor. I constantly learn new things from them.
However, none of what I learnt from them gave me boost in my career and personal growth until actually decided to speak my mind. When you realize that you don’t have to wait to perfectly master a skill or knowledge to start actually use it and do what you love, is the moment when you overcome the challenge.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @paulinaamoon
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/polina-bogomolova-a11b51196/
