Business is Easy, Integrity is Hard.

Welcome Back Vibrant Fam! I am continuing my journey into those who inspire me in my life, whether it be friends or family or anyone in between.

This has been an absolutely incredible journey to embark on. I have been reminded of the amazing people in my life and how absolutely incredible they all are and what amazing things they are doing within their lives.

Today I am writing about one of my closest friends, Lydia. We met in college when we both attended Tulane University and quickly grew to be great friends. She has been a positive light in my life since the day we met and has encouraged me to push myself in everything. The layout will be more interview style today as I sat down with her via Skype and we talked about life, creativity and her venture into her own business within the music industry.

The title of this piece is a mantra that she states to herself daily as a reminder that in this industry and even world that no matter how dog eat dog it tells you to be you can still succeed by being a good person: "Business is Easy, Integrity is Hard". What mediums do you create in? More than anything recently I have been writing, but traditionally I have been a visual artist and I put everything into visual art. I burned out in high school on visual art because it started to seem more like work for me. When I started back with music, I started creating again. The first time I started taking photos again was for my intro project at Loyola -- I did all of the website design and graphic and photos. That was the first time in a long time I reconnected to that medium. I have been writing everything whenever I can and on anything, I started writing music as well. So you started making music, tell me more about that. When I have extra time I have been trying to sit down and make music. The equipment that I have is a Roland TB-3, a machine, mini keyboard, a pad controller, and a pioneer controller. DJing is really fun, just sitting down mixing music is fun and very therapeutic itself. I am doing what I can now with the intent of doing it more later and plan on getting a microphone to start singing again. I have been songwriting within all the writing. Do you have a favorite medium? No, because I am never satisfied with any of them. I feel like I am the most mastered in visual art and writing. I find it is better to jump around the different mediums. I completely under the satisfaction aspect, the satisfaction does not always seem met. Bouncing on the creative, what significance does creating art hold for you? The thing that came to mind is a quote from one my favorite productions, Rent, "The opposite of war isn't peace, it's creation". Art is going to save us all, it is how the soul, the mind and the heart heal itself. The importance of art is really undermined, if you think about it a lot of culture is built on art, aesthetics and music. If you think about culture, art comes to mind. To create art transcends all barriers of humanity. The thing I connect to people when I travel is art, whether that is music or photography or painting. I always find myself connecting myself to people over art. About your new business venture you are embarking on, can you elaborate more on that? Managing is cool but it is also a lot. Especially at the beginning being a young manager managing a young artist -- it is a one man show. I am the team: I am the manager, booking agent, the photographer and web designer, the number one fan, and marketing. I wake up every day doing what I can to bring people and music together. That is my purpose with Centripetal Sound is unite people and music, to bring them together.

What are some hardships you have experienced in the industry? Being a woman is always interesting. I always feel like I have to prove myself more than a man would. I feel like I have to go above and beyond. You can do good, you can great or you can excel and I feel like I always have to excel on the first try to be taken seriously. I am not trying to get ahead at anyone else's expense but there is this pressure to be the best. The music industry doesn't take anyone on the first try and it is especially hard to be a woman in that industry That resonates with me because the basis of what I am trying to do with Stay Vibrant is to show that succeeding does not have be at anyone else's expense. I am trying to highlight those people in my life chasing their dreams but doing so in a way that boosts one another. I don't think the electronic music industry has to be like that, I think that it should be about lifting people up.

Speaking about the industry, is there anybody that inspires you? Honestly my profressors at #Loyola, they are all bada**es in their field. I have been lucky enough to surround myself with incredible people in the industry. I have really been into #Coyu and their whole project. That dude is awesome and everything he and his project does is amazing, you can tell he is one of the genuine people. #Gramatik has always been an inspiration to me, Lowtemp Soul and framing music as being free and their mission. Honey Dijon for sure. #Dirtybird and This Aint Bristol and what they have both built is amazing. Mihalis Safras and Material Series has been incredible to watch. My professors though have been incredible inspirations in my daily life. I am incredibly honored to have Lydia as one of my closest friends, she is constantly working hard towards making her dreams come true. She completed a 120 hour program in 2.5 years all while making her company Centripetal Sound and managing an artist while abroad. She is destined for incredible things and will be making an incredible impact on a much larger scale. It has been awesome to watch her grow and pursue different ventures all while maintaining her integrity and character.

Who Inspires You? Spread Love, Spread Light and Stay Vibrant.