Meet Sonny Reza

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

Hi Sonny, really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
Hey there Voyage! My purpose found me, actually. A few years ago I started spending my time focusing on surrounding myself with the right people, and putting myself in the right environments – Placing myself near the people and places that I knew I wanted to be around, and it took some time figuring that part out in me. I knew I wanted to be around the creative communities and the music, and I knew those types of people and environments would bring out the best in me. After enough time, some opportunities began to present themselves.

Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Once again, thank you for having me back! For anyone who may not know – I am the co-owner of Dallas TX based music outlet, Interview Under Fire.

We last spoke in 2021 with Voyage Houston, and I’d love to provide you with a brief recap on IUF to catch up on everything that we’ve been up to. Since the start of this publication back in 2016, Interview Under Fire has been well known for giving a unique platform to many creative artists from around the world. From interviews, photography, and nationwide event coverages, my team and I have put in the hard work and dedication to give the fans of the music the best inside looks at their favorite artists over the years.

As I learn to lead an independent media outlet, I continue to conduct many of the interviews and photograph lots of concerts myself, but my role is expanding into one of facilitation as I have to relay more and more tasks to the rest of my team as our workload increases. The end result is a publication that I really hope has its own unique voice and purpose.

IUF is exciting to me because everyone who contributes here are fans first. What we’re trying to package is our very real and genuine excitement over the artists we’re covering. In every interview, photo, review, or news article that comes from us, we really try to express our enthusiasm. It’s all very authentic. Also, we’ve been lucky enough to start branching out into other things we love like pop culture conventions. We hope for more expansions like this.

If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
GREAT question!

Three skills that were most impactful in my journey are:
1) Thick skin (or handling rejection)
2) Flexibility
3) Loyalty

You have to be able to handle getting told “no,” and we believe in ripping that band-aid off early and often. Ask for things, even if you’re pretty sure the answer might be “no.” You are bound to get some yesses, and when you don’t, you develop some really necessary robustness. As far as flexibility and loyalty go, that’s when it’s your turn to say “yes.” People are going to ask you to be places or to do jobs, and as long as they aren’t going to make you compromise your morals or your identity, saying “yes” to them is a great way to show yourself and others how flexible and loyal you can be. It sets a firm foundation going forward.

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?
I feel that everyone should be improving on themselves all the time anyway, regardless of professional gain. Nobody’s perfect, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be striving to be better, more complete versions of ourselves. So in that respect, I say go all-in on our strengths, and as you grow and progress as a professional and as a human being, those strengths will solidify and multiply.

My greatest example is when I overcame my fear of talking to people I don’t know. IUF has been a great vehicle for me to get past that hang-up I’ve been struggling with my whole life. I started out by leaning into my strength of being very knowledgeable about music, and as I conducted one interview after another, I began to feel my apprehensions let go of me. Over 300 interviews and podcasts later, I feel comfortable and in control of myself, and I feel like I keep getting better at conversations with people I don’t know.

Contact Info:

Image Credits
Main Shot – Taken by Susie Quiroz Shots of Sonny in Gojira and Dallas Stars attire – Taken by Susie Quiroz Sonny taking photo during concert shot – Taken by James Coffman Sonny interviewing artist – Taken by Cory Hodges Death Angel guitarist photo – Taken by Sonny Reza

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