Episode #22 Lachi Pop-EDM-Dance Music/Disability Advocate
Welcome to Living A Vocal Life: A Podcast For Singers!
Welcome to the Living A Vocal Life Podcast, where I interview singers who have succeeded in creating a life in music. You’ll hear from vocalists of all genres, in different stages of their careers, including singers who’ve been on the Billboard charts and those who are teaching the next generation. What do they have in common? They're all performers with amazing stories to tell and experiences to share.
In our conversations, you’ll learn what inspired them to become a singer, the kinds of challenges they’ve encountered, and how they've overcome them. I'll also share what I've learned on my own journey as a singer and educator — practical tools and insights that will help you to live your best, most authentic vocal life.
Listen below here on my website or wherever you go for podcasts:
My guest today is Lachi. She is a force of nature — a whirling Diva with non-stop energy who sings, writes, produces, acts, and is visually impaired.
As she says in her YouTube series, Off Beat: "I'm a black girl, going blind, just trying to stay fabulous. I'm here to motivate. I'm here to educate." And that she does.
In the Dance, Pop-EDM world, Lachi is a go-to singer-songwriter. She boasts millions of streams across platforms and has collaborated with A-list artists like Snoop Dogg, Styles P, and Markus Schulz. She's also received two nominations for her work from the Independent Music Awards.
Lachi also uses her voice to advocate for disability inclusion in the arts. Forbes, Essence, The New York Times, the Huffington Post, and more have profiled her as an Inclusion advocate, with The New York Times listing Lachi as one of the 28 ways to learn about disability culture. She's presented for the Recording Academy and the National Endowment for the Arts and is a Recording Academy Advocacy Committee member. In addition, she serves on the NORA Project Leadership Council — an organization working to build inclusivity in classrooms. Recently, Lachi hosted the pilot episode of Renegades — a PBS American Masters segment that explores the cultural contributions of people with disabilities and how they've transformed America.
In our conversation, we talk about how Lachi made the leap from a day job at The Army Corp of Engineers to making music full-time, the importance of a manager, mentor, and your team in the music business, and how she came out of the disability closet to become one of the leading advocates for disability inclusion in the music and recording industry.
Lachi is going to rock your world.
“It’s not the things that happen to you that make you successful and confident, I actually think it’s the confidence that makes you successful. And there are no like bullet points of how to become successful. Honestly, I think it’s when you truly, at your heart of hearts, believe in yourself and believe in your product. ”
Links:
You can find Lachi on her website or on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.
Lachi’s YouTube Series: Off Beat
The songs from today’s episode are: DNA, Boss, Bigger Plans, and It’s Our Time. (used with permission.) To listen or download, go HERE.
Theme music for the Podcast was composed by John Smith. He helps me edit all the podcast episodes too. (Thanks honey!)
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Valerie: My guest today is Lachi. She is a force of nature, a whirling diva with nonstop energy who sings, writes, produces acts, and is visually impaired. As she says in her YouTube series, Off Beat, "I'm a black girl going blind and just trying to stay fabulous. I'm here to motivate. I'm here to educate."
And that she does.
In the Dance, Pop, EDM world, Lachi is a go-to singer-songwriter. She boasts millions of streams across platforms and has collaborated with A-list artists like Snoop Dogg, Styles P., and Marcus Schultz. She's also received two nominations for her work from the Independent Music Awards.
Lachi also uses her voice to advocate for disability inclusion in the arts. Forbes, Essence, The New York Times, the Huffington Post, and more have profiled her as an inclusion advocate, with the New York Times listing Lachi as one of the 28 ways to learn about disability culture.
She's presented for the Recording Academy and the National Endowment for the Arts, and as a Recording Academy Advocacy committee member. In addition, she serves on the NORA Project leadership council - an organization working to build inclusivity in classrooms. Recently, Lachi hosted the pilot episode of Renegades, a PBS American Masters segment that explores the cultural contributions of people with disabilities and how they've transformed America.
In our conversation, we talk about how Lachi made the leap from a day job at the Army Corps of Engineers to making music full-time, the importance of a manager, mentor, and your team in the music business, and how she came out of the disability closet to become one of the leading advocates for disability inclusion in the music and recording industry.
Lachi is amazing. And she's going to rock your world.
It is such a privilege to talk with you today, Laci. Thank you so much for being on the podcast.
Lachi: I am so grateful to be here, Valerie. Thank you for having me. I am really excited to jump right in.
Valerie: Good. Let's do it. What's your first memory of singing?
Lachi: I was actually just thinking about this. It's so funny you ask. So one of the first songs I ever wrote was when I was four years old. I wrote a song called Where Is My Kitty? First of all, I didn't own a cat, so I'm not really sure why I wrote the song. And the lyrics went like, where is my kitty? Where on earth can it be? Where is my kitty? Underneath the TV.
I don't know what the deal was there? No clue. Cause I recently just hosted a PBS special on people with disabilities, and we were highlighting this woman named Kitty O'Neill, and she was a deaf stunt racer. And I was like, I've come full circle! The first song I wrote was called Where's My Kitty. And I just found my Kitty here, hosting a PBS special. Look at me.
Valerie: Which was a fantastic interview, by the way. I just so enjoyed that. More people should know about her. She was so badass.
Lachi: That's the kind of woman people should know more about that need to be highlighted - just badasses that can go out there despite their differences and just conquer.
Valerie: Yes. So we're going to talk more about what you're doing currently in regards to equity and inclusion for people with disabilities. But first, I kind of want to go back in time and talk a little bit more about how you started singing and your career trajectory.
So I just think you have a wonderful voice and a really interesting vibrato that comes in every once in a while. It's not like all the time you sing. You sing all kinds of different styles of music, actually, but I was trying to figure out why that particular vibrato sounded familiar to me. And I think I figured it out finally this morning. Do you know the singer Angelique Kidjo?
Lachi: Oh yeah! Are you kidding me?
Valerie: Yeah, I know. Right. She's amazing. Isn't she? She's one of my favorite artists, and she's from a country that's right next to Nigeria, which is where your parents came from. So I want to know what voices you listened to growing up that influenced how you sing.
Lachi: First of all, a huge shout out to Angelique Kidjo. She just became a trustee here at the Recording Academy. So I'm in the advocacy committee at the Grammy's. And so she's just killing it in just going up the ranks, and I'm like, go ahead, African women. So I, I did one of my favorite songs of hers was - oh, I don't remember the name of it, but it was just one of my favorite songs when I was actually very young. So she was actually quite the influence on me as I was coming up.
Early Influences
Lachi: But in terms of my influences, I am definitely a jazz vocal girl. I was always cast to do the sort of Billy Holiday stuff. Cause I could do that. I'd go like, E and I just, I always have this, like every time I think about singing jazzy, I have a huge smile on my face. I feel like that's what you have to do to really bring jazz home; you know I put a spell on you, and you just got a smile.
Valerie: Yeah.
Lachi: But that was definitely one of my bigger influences growing up. And one of the things that really pushed me into doing music was really just my experiences that I would turn around to the piano and bang out.
So I would go to the piano, and I would bang out these chords that I made up in my head. They were relatively jazzy. And then I would just sing. I was just like a blues singer singing, my troubles away. And eventually, people started really, especially in college, started catching wind of me playing the piano all over the campus, wherever I could find a piano. And I just, my sort of my popularity rose, and that really kinda got to me. I was like, woof, I really love this high. Of people going, Wow, this is awesome, and feeling that energy. I mean, you know, I was into music well before that, but that need to perform came in college.
Valerie: So earlier, you were a little bit more shy.
Lachi: Being legally blind, um, I was sort of in a place that was in the middle. So I wasn't completely blind. Because I didn't have a cane or a dog, people didn't know how to handle just someone that was a little off and different. And so a lot of the time I would just spend to myself. Honestly, I wasn't like hankering to hang out with the other kids, really.
I found myself in a corner doing all my artsy-fartsy stuff, and I really got attuned to my artistic side. And it wasn't just music. It was writing. It was drawing. It was all sorts of stuff. I was a very artistic kid. And I would make up stories in my head, and I would just be so much more interested in the worlds I was creating on my own and in my head than I was learning in class. And I was like, when am I ever gonna use like a protractor. I want to go and do fun things.
Valerie: I love that. That was my question in school too. Like really? Algebra? Just tell me how I'm going to use this. I mean, I can't even use this in my checkbook, right?
Lachi: Right? I was so excited when technology made it so that we didn't have to know any of that stuff anymore. But yeah, and then college really brought me out of my shell, but frankly, it was music. At the end of the day, I couldn't really find confidence anywhere else but music. And like I just said earlier, it was music that brought me out of my shell in college.
It was music that drove me to move to New York, which was probably the best move I ever made. Being blind, New York is so accessible. Uh, and it was music that brought me the friends I got, that allowed me to leave my day job, and then eventually pursue it and just become more and more bold and eventually become like the loud fiery... Somebody called me spicy yesterday, um, per person that I am. And so it's all sort of an ode to music.
Valerie: So you used it not only as therapy when you were young or as just a way of being and growing the inside parts of you through writing and drawing and all of that kind of stuff.
Lachi: I like the way you put that - growing the inside parts. Yeah. I mean, Because we all get taller, right? But our inside parts grow as well. But yeah, music definitely helped me with that for sure.
Valerie: Your inner world was rich.
So speaking about your early life, you said, "I grew up in the blackest parts of Philly, the whitest parts of upstate New York, and then I Southern-belled it for a while in North Carolina. I love the way you said that I Southern-belled it for awhile in North Carolina."
That's a wide-ranging background. No wonder you were, you know, spending a lot of time alone cause you moved, a lot. What kind of influence did those different cultures and communities have on your development as a musician and as a person?
Lachi: I did move around a lot, and not only that, how do I put this delicately? I was kind of a raised white, black girl. You know, I had four older sisters, and there was a boy, then me, then another boy. So I was raised a tomboy. My parents were from Nigeria, but we were living here. So I was kind of in that, am I an immigrant? Or am I an American? And then I always had questions about my sexual preference. I was like, am I straight, or am I questioning?
So I have always been in the sort of little weird area of the Venn Diagram on every single part. And then, like I said earlier, being not totally blind, but having low vision just put me in these different, like weird areas of gray, um, where I didn't have this, oh, I'm going to write a love song because I just have a regular life.
Um, I just had such a weird, different experience than everybody else in all my aspects. And then to move around every couple of years, I think, and I don't know if this is true, I have to sit down and do the math again. But I think I actually went to eleven different schools from K to 12. Yeah.
And so imagine trying to deal with the differences of the different classmates and the different teachers, not really knowing how to deal with a disabled girl in general education. Just things like that. All of that really had a heavy influence on who I am as a person.
I'm heavily adaptable. I can really adapt to any situation and any person. And I also get upset very quickly but get over it like within seconds. And so that's why it's so good that I live in New York. Cause if somebody will bump into me, I'll be like, yo! Really? And then I'm like, Eh, whatever.
Valerie: New York is your place.
Lachi: So, this is like a long-winded way of saying like just all of those things really shaped who I am.
New York City: Inclusion. Inspiration.
Lachi: I think one of my biggest influences, though, really is New York because it's just, was such a place that anyone who's gone to 12 different schools can just go to and feel right at home. You know, especially as a musician, there are musician towns, there's Nashville, there's Atlanta; there's... but New York is definitely one of them. And so I really fit right in. The story I keep telling people is when I first moved there, I was late to somewhere. And I had gotten ready, and I was ready to go, and I ate some oniony thing, and I just had bad breath. And so I was like, shit, I gotta brush my teeth, but I don't have time.
So I took my toothbrush and toothpaste, and I was running down the street to the train, brushing my teeth like a water bottle. And no one cared. That's the beauty New York brings.
Like I was sitting on a train next to a guy who was this really scruffy construction worker that obviously, you know, really Dungy and scruffy, but he smelled like he had really expensive cologne.
And I was like, what is that story about? And like it inspired an entire song. So just the things that you come across in New York, maybe just like a tuft of silence on a noisy street, things like that have really influenced my songwriting a lot - very heavily, especially my more stuff.
Making The Leap From Biology to Beats
Valerie: Oh, very cool. I want to ask you more about your songwriting in a second. But first, I want to go back to your education. You said that education was always number one in our house. Like you had to be enrolled in a graduate program to get served at the table.
Lachi: Me and my big mouth.
Valerie: Your parents pressured you to go into a career in mathematics, so you majored in economics and management at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. So what was your experience like there, and how did you make the switch from mathematics to music? Because obviously, you weren't going to go for that protractor life.
Lachi: I wasn't going to go for it. You're first of all, well, I started out in biology because I was actually doing really well. But then, when they made us do things with blood, I said, Nope, not me. So I was like, we have to actually deal with life when we study biology? Who knew? So I couldn't really stick to it. I lost interest in economics and management very quickly. And I definitely did that just for my parents. Everyone in my family is a doctor or a nurse or a lawyer or anything like that. But I was always just punky and spunky, and I kind of actually knew that I could use that to my advantage. You know, just being like the sort of odd one out, the kid with the disability, the artsy kid...
Valerie: You're the middle kid too, right? So you gotta make room for yourself.
Lachi: Somewhere in the middle. Yeah. But there's a billion of us. I'm just somewhere lost in the middle, but you know, the create, the thing, and I was thinking of this the other day. You know, a lot of these influencers and kids today that are eight years old and they're already huge on Tik TOK or whatever. A lot of them have their parents to help be their manager and their mommager and all of that. And I didn't have that. So I really had to build it on my own because my parents had too many kids to sit there and mommager one, but also because they had a different vision.
And one of the biggest things that made me actually just jump out of the sort of Chapel Hill economics life was I was into music. I had started an acapella group. Everyone knew me for my music. Like I said, I was playing piano around. I was in glee clubs. And then one of my counselors was just like, You know what, you should just move to New York. I told him I was like, I want to do music. Should I minor? Should I take a few other classes?
He's just, Move to New York. You said you wanted to move to New York. Why don't you just do it? And I knew that he was special. I knew that that's not what a counselor was supposed to say.
Valerie: I was going to say, that's not the normal thing that a counselor would tell someone. He must've seen something in you that made him think that was the right choice.
Lachi: So he was in a Beatles cover band, so I'd always go to the shows. And I was a huge fan. And so I knew he knew I wasn't trying to be about that life, like about that protractor life.
So he's like, Yeah, just go. So I was like, all right, peace out. I got a ticket. I didn't have any money. I actually left when my parents were out of town because they didn't want me to go. Yeah. Don't tell them. They're still looking for me.
Valerie: wondering what happened All those years ago.
Lachi: Sorry, Mom, I'm in here!
So, um, I up and left. My sister was also out of town, and I went to her house that she owned in Queens. I knew she had a, oh my God. I can't even believe I'm saying this. I knew she had a key under the mat, like of her door. And I just kinda hobo'd in her place until I found my own!
Valerie: Handy to have a sister in New York because just going there is such a big leap! But like you said, it sounds like it felt like home right from the beginning because it's full of people who are different and so many stories walking down the sidewalk.
Lachi: So many stories, so different and also just so accessible, It was huge when I was working in North Carolina, just trying to get to work was insane. Like...
Valerie: It's all about cars, right?
Lachi: Cars and buses. So I didn't like depending on people. You know, moving to New York, I'm able to just get around, go to gigs, do this, do that.
I don't ride the subways anymore. Everyone thinks I'm such a priss too. I'm like, Eck, the subway. But I'll tell you right now; the subways would take me from home to school. I was going to NYU. It would take me to my gigs at night. It ran 24 hours a day. I just flourished.
I think just the how do I put this? Just the freedom is the best word was like something I had never experienced in my life. And that's when I knew I was just never turning back.
Valerie: That's a heady feeling to have that much freedom finally, after being dependent on other people and not wanting to be.
So you moved to New York City, and you went to NYU. And then, after you graduated, did you get that job at the United States Army Corps of Engineers? Or was that during your college career?
Lachi: After I was done at school, I had a few like here and there jobs. And then, I worked at the US Army Corps of Engineers. I worked there for a while. It was an interesting time because I was really starting to get into my music. I'd finagled my way into an EMI contract.
And so I was like two different people, one working my day job, and then one trying to work my music career that I was setting up. And I knew that I was gonna have to make a choice. I mean, the job was great. But. I didn't love who I was becoming. I was turning into a desk drone. I was dealing with interoffice politics, just as a black woman. And that was just starting to weigh me down.
And, you know, when I would leave and go on tour, or play with my band, you know, we would get these awesome interviews on the radio, and I was like, this is what I need. This is what I want. I feel so happy. And then I would turn back around and then drudge into work and just try to ring up those PTO days so that I could get back out. And so I knew I had to make the choice because I think at one point somebody had said, Oh, the way it works here is you get on a trajectory.
And so they were going to try to put me on this trajectory of OK. You make this amount and then for this amount of time. And then you make this amount for this amount of time. And it's a really comfortable life to have a government job. You know, you get this healthcare, you get time off. It's very safe.
But I was like, I have to take that leap, even if it means I'm gonna forfeit my healthcare, forfeit my this and that. Because it's not like I was making a million bucks there anyway.
Valerie: And you know what your soul wants, right? If someone told me that, I know what my body would say. No, sounds like prison to me. Yeah. Quick get me out of here. Well, And didn't one of your coworkers say something like, you know how most people say, uh, when they hear you sing, keep your day job? You're the opposite.
Lachi: I actually got in trouble a few times because I would literally be singing out loud at my desk with my headphones on.
Valerie: Oh, I would have loved that if I was working with you.
Lachi: The singing at my desk, I'd be humming. I'd be tapping my feet. And I do remember there was one time, though, 'cause it's the US Army Corps of Engineers, so it's all kind of military-like um, and there was one time where they let me sing the National Anthem for the entire workforce. And that was when I came back to my desk, everybody was like, Why is she here? Because I'm sitting here, like, And the rocket's red glare. And like, What? Why is Beyonce just working right here at the desk?
Valerie: Go get, go to your music career now. So you made the leap, and what happened next?
Getting Signed To A Management Deal
Lachi: I found a real comfortable space singing songs for producers. Just kind of like singing hooks for producers and DJs.
And that ended up ushering me into getting signed by Big Management. The great late Gary Salzman was the big manager there, and he pretty much knew everybody. And so we ended up doing a song with Styles P, with Snoop Dog, with Marcus Schultz. We just kept churning out and churning. And then just the Spotify numbers started climbing, people started noticing, and I just really found a good place.
The thing that I actually really loved about it was that people were coming over and liking that my voice and style was different. So in, in that realm of dance music, EDM and Trance and all of that, there's a type of voice. There's the sort of, either young girl or mature girl or young guy type of voice. Very, you know, and very Caucasian, very, you know what I mean? So I came, I had this sort of different flare, this different spice, and people were really excited about it. So we just kept milking it. And uh, after Gary passed, um, I really started focusing because Gary and I were really close.
Valerie: I wanted to say I'm so sorry about that. He, I read that he died of COVID. And these relationships that you have with people in the business are golden. Especially if they're real. And it sounds like you had a real, a really close relationship and that you did a lot of hard work with him.
Lachi: We did. We really took over the town. We went to ADE together. We did a lot of traveling. We did a lot of sort of interviews. We met with a lot of people. He introduced me to a lot of big wigs. Walked me into a lot of rooms. Got me into a lot of really cool situations.
And then he and we would hang out too. We would drink, we would just go out and just be crazy and wild and stuff like that. So it was a very fast-paced kind of feisty sort of, and then I would be able to just call them up whenever and just be like, half in tears, Hey, I think I said the wrong thing to this person. What do I do?
Valerie: So he was a friend. He was a friend and a mentor, and a business partner.
Lachi: He was definitely a friend, mentor, and business partner. And I know for sure that I'm not the only one that would say that he was definitely a mentor to a lot of folks. A lot of people lost something when Gary passed away.
But I will say that it did allow me to pivot because I was very much in that realm of OK; let's keep doing sort of vocals for EDM producers, and let's, do this and do that. It's been going well. And I'm working still with a lot of the producers that I worked with under Gary. But now, I've pivoted to really doing advocacy work along with still doing my art.
Right?
Valerie: Well, And this is the really interesting pivot point in your career, I think. Because from what it sounds like, you really downplayed your blindness, and maybe where even people described you as shy. And now, seeing what you have done, I just can't believe that those words were used about you.
So how did you come out of the disability closet and become an advocate for the disabled?
Coming Out of the Disability Closet
Lachi: You know, while trying to keep myself quiet about my disability, I found myself shooting my own self in the foot doing that. Let's say, for instance, I would go to a studio, and I wouldn't ask for the accommodations I need. Maybe something blown up or someone telling me that there are a step in a weird thing here and there to try to get into the booth.
So I would hurt myself. I would actually risk my own physical health.
Valerie: Why didn't you ask people for those things?
Lachi: It's a combination of two things. Number one, I didn't want to be a burden. But then there's also like a pride to it. Like I don't want to walk, I didn't want to walk into a room, and someone felt sorry, or someone felt, oh, here comes the, this or that. Or someone felt awkward and, without being a bad person or anything like that, just thinking I would rather work with someone I can relate to more. Um,
Valerie: Or it's just less trouble.
Lachi: It's just less trouble. And I already figured, especially in this industry, I'm already a female. I'm already African-American. So I already have to push for those things. And I was skirting this whole trying to be outgoing. But it was very much of trying. And, And so, people could tell something was off but couldn't figure out what it was.
And I started realizing that, honestly, if I just tell people that I'm blind, then it would be way less weird.
Valerie: Right. So did you just experiment with that, and then it went well, and you decided, OK, this is what I'm going to keep doing because, Hey, I'm able to be myself now?
Lachi: I would go to these networking events, these Sony events, these Grammy events, these whatever. And I would never know who to talk to. And then if I was with a manager or one of my other sort of handlers, then that's fine. But even then, it would still be just difficult to figure out who, who am I supposed to talk to?
Who do I say hi to? Or do I approach them or not? And then it actually turns out is very important to say hello to someone or to wave back or to whatever, because they get offended if you don't, and then you may even lose a deal you didn't know you didn't have or...
Valerie: And if you're standing across the room and you don't see that person wave - not good.
Lachi: Not good. Because they might think You're a stuck up or you don't care or whatever, but at the same time, if someone's giving me an upset face, I'm not affected by it. So I'm still just in whatever good mood I'm in.
So it was like, OK, that's cool too.
But then, one day, I got invited to, I think it was a Recording Academy event or something. I don't remember what it was. And I asked all these people to go with me, and everybody said yes. And then, at the last minute, one by one, like four people canceled. And I was like, I'm still going to go.
Because at first, I was, I'm not gonna go. Then I went. And everyone was just standing around, and I couldn't see anyone. So I just went up to a person, and I said, Hi, I'm Lachi. I'm legally blind. How are you?
Valerie: Let's just put it right out there. You're sensing difference.
Lachi: Yeah,
Valerie: I'm going to tell you what the difference is, right?
Lachi: Exactly! And so it worked. It was a great ice breaker. We talked, we whatever. And so I just started going around and doing it. And then it turned out like half the people I did it to, I already knew. And they're like, Oh, Hey Lachi. And so I was like, what have I really been afraid of all this time? What have I been missing?
So now I do it all the time. Now I just go up to people. And it's funny because in my studio, which I also rent out for vocalists to come and I'll engineer their vocals, not so much during COVID, but, you know, as they would come in and I would say, look, I just want you to know off the bat, I'm legally blind. You're going to see me super close to my computer. You're going to see me doing shortcuts and stuff like that. So just to let you know. And then usually they're like you sent over your samples, and they were awesome. So whatever. And so we get started, and they watch me work, and they're like, holy shit. Like, how are you doing what you're doing right now? I am so impressed, and I'll be like, sweetie, every producer should know how to do this. So don't be impressed. [Laughs].
Legally Blind
Valerie: So can we back up a second? I want to know a little bit more about your disability, because first of all, how do you pronounce what you have?
Lachi: Its Coloboma.
I also have keratoconus. And I used to think coloboma... my doctor told me it was a congenital disease. I thought it was a congenial disease. It sounds like it makes me nice! That's why I'm such a nice person. Um, But I had a coloboma since birth, and it wasn't progressive, so it was just the same.
Valerie: And what does it do? What does it do to your eyes?
Lachi: So it's basically a big hole in the center of my visual fields.
Valerie: So what do you see? Because you're legally blind, but yet you're still able to go on the subway. So I'm curious about how that happens.
Lachi: I don't know. I don't really know how to explain it. It's more just consider nearsightedness, but glasses can't fix it. So I can't see street signs. I have trouble seeing faces and knowing faces unless you're super close and things of that nature. Like I try to explain it as if you play either some kind of video game or anything like that and you're far away when you get closer, it re-renders. Just think of it not re-rendering when you get closer to things.
It's interesting because like when I go to a new place, I have to really learn everything from scratch. So I'll have to be like, OK, this is how long the wall is this there's a carpet, there's a table and chairs. This chair is pushed out a little bit. So things like that, but it's not so bad that I need a cane. I'm also not colorblind. And so I'm at a position where I can so see. Now I'm starting to progressively lose my vision rapidly. So most of my life, I wasn't losing my vision.
Valerie: What made that happen? Do you know?
Lachi: It's just a combination of, I think, just getting a little older, I mean, you know, what happens when you cross over 29? But also, I got keratoconus as well, and the keratoconus was large and rapid to the point where I can't really get adequate surgery to fix it.
And so, really, what it's doing is it's making my vision just a little more blurry. And so eventually it'll be like, I'm seeing underwater.
Yeah.
Valerie: That's rough.
Lachi: Actually, my quality of life has increased. And now I can't tell you if it's X equals Y, like, I can't tell you the direct correlation. But what I will say is, as my vision goes, I get a lot more bold because I want to grab life by the balls a little more.
Valerie: And you are doing that in so many ways.
Lachi: Well, we've got the Offbeat series where I'm just running around, doing whatever and filming it.
Valerie: That's on YouTube, right?
Lachi: That is on YouTube, where we speak to other disabled celebrities. We run around and just do things around the city. We hook up with brands to learn how to; I learned how to do lashes on my own, things like that.
And it's really allowed me to grow myself but also to just grow my life. And like now, I love Gary to pieces. I will never not love Gary. It was just a great ride. But now the team I have is just awesome. My manager, he is blind. My my, yeah, he's blind. My agent, she has a non-visible disability.
My literary agent, I guess the one that helps me get like book things and guest posts. She is deaf. She's unilaterally deaf. And then one of my ops managers, the guy that helps me with all the finances and all of that stuff, he has a neurodiversity. My administrative assistant, he is legally blind. And then all of my interns that come through, I get them through different disability internship programs. So they're always disabled or blind or whatnot.
And then, as you know, my, my publicist, she focuses on DEI, disability, diversity, things like that.
Valerie: So you're surrounded by people who get you.
Lachi: Yeah, just The whole thing top to bottom.
Valerie: They get you. They get what is missing in the world that needs to happen for people who have a disability. That's amazing. Cause your team is really everything. You can't do anything alone. And actually, I always talk about putting together a team of people to do everything you need to do as an artist is one of the most important pieces of the puzzle.
So it sounds like you've really found the right people to do the right stuff.
Lachi: Like everyone believes in the mission, and I think that's one of the most important things of your team, especially like your day-to-day team, the people that are going to be out there hustling for you. If they don't believe in your mission, if they don't really believe in you and what you're doing, then you're going to have to drop 'em. Because it's not it's the money is great, you know when there's money, but if they're doing it for some kind of fee, if they're, if they're doing it for other intentions, if they're the type of person that has 90 artists, and they don't have the time to really focus, then you may not be in the right situation.
Don't just get a manager or an agent because you want a manager or an agent, and you think everybody else has one. You're much better off being your own manager and doing things for yourself, but it really is important to have representation. It does make a difference. It does open the doors. It opens the ears. But if you're the, if you have to micromanage your team, then you don't have the right team.
So I just adore the hell out of my team. And I'm, I'm the type, that's a micromanager. I'm like, what's going on? What's going on? What's going on? And to have a team where I don't have to do that is like, I'm actually getting emotional right now. I hope I got to... I got to get Ben and Keely to listen to this.
Valerie: That means that you have all the headspace and the time to do the stuff that only you can do.
Disability and Inspiration Porn
Valerie: So you said, When I see the mainstream talk about disability, a lot of it comes across as inspiration porn. I want people to start seeing badass mofos running around that happen to have a disability.
I just love that - inspiration porn. What does what's that mean to you?
Lachi: OK. So I personally think that I am super fly and super sexy, and I could totally be a porn star, but I would definitely not do inspiration porn. So what inspiration porn is, what inspiration porn is when, um, maybe through the use of social media or TV or whatever images where people try to pull at heartstrings. To get people to feel a certain way about folks with disabilities. So if I walk out of the house with a cane, someone goes, Wow! I can't believe you got out of the house! And gives me a round of applause.
The term was coined by the late Stella Young in her 2017 Ted talk. Uh, And she gave a great example where she says she got an award at her school that just gave her like student of the year or some kind of thing like that. And she said her grades weren't that great. She didn't really interact with that many people, and she wasn't very popular. So why did she get student of the year? And she recognized that she got that award because she was a person in a wheelchair. Uh, like the only person, like in a wheelchair at her small school. And it's much more degrading to receive that kind of award than uplifting. Like folks that use inspiration porn actually believe that it's helpful to the community when it's actually harmful to the community.
Valerie: What can people do instead?
ATP: Ask The Person
Lachi: When I do diversity trainings, especially disability trainings, the first thing I tell people to do is to ask the person. And so I love that you asked because it's like no one asks.
People make these horrible assumptions or maybe, you know, misguided and well-intentioned assumptions, but it's still an assumption. And so we call it ATP. And we go everyone ATP and everybody's like, writes it down. And they're like, what does ATP stand for? And I'm like, ask the person.
Valerie: Nice.
Lachi: It's so important that it gets its own acronym.
And so, The first thing is to engage. Not just saying hi, but saying hi, tell me about you. Knowing the stories, understanding the stories, and engaging.
Secondly, one of the things that people do is they talk to the handler a lot or maybe the interpreter. But really, to see a person with a disability as a person first. So to talk to them as a human being, if possible, at eye level and to talk at the normal pace and rate you would a person that is not disabled. Because I even, I have been in situations where people are talking loud to me, and it's like, you don't have to talk loud. I'm not deaf.
Valerie: Oh man.
The DIS in DISability
Lachi: And so that's another one. And, you know, just terminology, I think language is important as well. So, I think a lot of people are afraid to use the term disability.
Valerie: You've said that you actually liked the word disability.
Lachi: I love the word disability. I think it's the best. OK. Several reasons. Oh, thank you for asking. So number one,
Valerie: This makes you this puts you on fire. Doesn't it.
Lachi: I, I love the term disability. First of all, I want people to just cross out the term handicap, just cross it out, rumple it up, throw it out. I hate don't want to say hate. That's a strong word. I really dislike differently-abled because I think it's a euphemism, and I don't think there's anything wrong for us to euphemize. And then I personally, now there's an argument here, but I really don't like the term special needs because we all have special needs.
Valerie: Yes.
Lachi: Especially in the bedroom, I got a lot of special needs that people ain't helping me with. OK.
So, uh, the reason why I liked disability, though, is a - it's the word. Just use it. We, as a disability community, have accepted it. And we are tired of people cringing at the word.
We don't cringe at the word gay anymore. We say the word black. We say the word, this, we say the word that, so let's just say that word disability. We're owning it.
Secondly, a lot of people complain about the prefix dis. That's one of their issues within and without the community, right? It's like, well, it starts with dis, and dis is negative. And that, and this and that. You know what, though, dis actually when you look up the etymology, means to set apart. Um, And I am set apart.
I believe that people with disabilities have the ability to problem-solve like a mofo. If all the time you have to figure out, outside the box way to just get out of bed and just take a shower or get downstairs or do whatever, then you have superior ability to problem solve, and you hone that muscle all the time.
If you think about it, these Elon Musks and all these billionaires, they're actually all neurodiverse. I mean, they all have disabilities, and they are the great major disruptors. And I think that the dis in disability stands for disruptive. I think we have the ability to disrupt. We're the change-makers. We are the blue butterflies amongst the red butterflies that escape predation and bring on the new dawn.
And so I actually really appreciate my disability. I think it's the reason I'm strong. I think it's the reason I'm determined, driven, able to problem solve, smart, have like a personality, an awesome story. And one of the reasons that I fight and continue to fight, build, and continue to build, grow, and continue to grow.
So I am obsessed with the fact that I have a disability, and some of the people that I've met the most amazing people are folks with disabilities.
Like I've met Judy Human. She is an amazing pioneer with a disability who started the disability movement back in the 1970s. When she sat for 26 days in a room with no air conditioning and said, I'm going to sit here until somebody signs some kind of document saying that, you know, we need to have disability equality. And she eventually got it.
People like Haben Girma, who's a deaf, blind lawyer who graduated from Harvard and was recognized by Obama.
People like one of my homegirls, Lucy Edwards. She is a TikTok star who's blind. And she's teaching people how blind people do simple things. And she has millions upon millions of hits on every single video.
And so I think that there are just these people that open up doors, and spread love, and make some of the most amazing creations in the world, are folks with disabilities. And so that's why I'm so proud to have one. And that's why I am not afraid to identify as a person with a disability loudly and proudly.
That's me on my Ted talk soapbox.
That's me.
Valerie: That was, yeah. Welcome to my Ted talk. That was fantastic, though. I think, in the final analysis, it's like having a disability is like having a superpower. It creates a person that has to be able to think outside the box and use all their problem-solving skills and their creativity. So this has to have been also a boon for who you are as an artist.
Lachi: Yes. I would say that. One of the things that I would clap back on just a tiny bit, though, is that I do cringe when people say folks with disabilities have a superpower. I would say folks with disabilities are just awesome. I don't know. That's not right. Because folks that are not as sensitive and intelligent as you are, would think does that mean that they're Oracle's? No, we're not able to tell the future.
Valerie: It has nothing to do with outer space or going on a rocket or,
Recording Artists And Music Professionals With Disabilities (RAMPD)
Lachi: Maybe Elon Musk. But anyway but what I will say is that I very recently founded this coalition called Recording Artists and Music Professionals with Disabilities. It happened to spell out ramped RAMPD, which is so perfect.
Valerie: Yes. Perfect.
Lachi: And we've been meeting up we've been talking to, different heads at major companies and stuff like that. But the thing about it is that when we come together as artists with disabilities, and we talk amongst ourselves, just the diversity in our group, just the diversity of mind, the diversity of story and experience uh, just the intelligence and the strength of everybody coming together and talking about our plans and just, what we want to do is just so humbling.
The way I'm passionate right now, get a room of 20 me's. And we're just like, let's do this, let's do that. And everyone is established and accomplished, and we're just so eager to build and grow.
And I just, I am constantly in awe. People come to me; they're like, Oh Lachi, you're so cool. You're an inspiration. I'm like, dude, you don't even know. Half the people, man. And so, yeah, I've got Gaelynn Lea; she's one of the co-founders. She has brittle bone syndrome. She's in a wheelchair. She is a touring artist. She's just so she's done so much. She is great. She's all over the place.
We've got Stephen Letnes. He is a composer. Emmy nominated. He is blind. He is all over the place. He's working with Jim Labreque on a bunch of stuff who was also just Oscar-nominated.
We have Namel Tapwaterz Norris. He is part of 4 Wheel City. They've performed for the White House. They've performed for the UN. They've done songs with Snoop Dogg and Stevie Wonder.
We have the Gooch; he's a touring artist who's a paraplegic, but he's able to play the guitar like the slide guitar because he can only move his lower arms, and he's touring.
I'm like, are you kidding me? Everyone is freaking amazing. We come together, and we're pushing this agenda for recording artists and music professionals with disabilities to be heard, to be seen, to have visibility. And we're just knocking down doors because who can really stop us at this point. That's where we are.
Valerie: Right. It's so wonderful that you're surrounded by people who are energizing you to even do more. It sounds like the transition between the Lachi who was shy and kind of subsumed her disability, and the Lachi who just comes out and says, this is who I am and has a whole host of friends and a team, and people that are she's working on with people these issues, just, it's changed your life.
Lachi: Yeah.
It has, it really has. And there is a lot of great things happening. I mean, Just literally, just the other day, we sat down with the Recording Academy leadership, and we told them like, Hey, these are the things we want to do.
People say we're into diversity, and they don't include disability even though disability is the most diverse diversity. And also, 26% of Americans have a disability. That's 61 million adults. And also, while I do love that there are chief diversity officers at Sony Universal and Warner, they are left wanting really with disability inclusion. Um, and that's the work that we're doing, letting them know that if you're going to make an inclusive situation, disability should be at the table. We've been excluded from inclusion. But that needs to stop.
Let's say, for instance, when people are rolling out these different um, and inclusion bills and inclusion initiatives that they roll out and they're so happy with them; I continue to ask, Who with a disability, I know every freaking musician with a disability. So who from my circle did you have help you? And they had just kind of stare back. So that's what we're fighting for. We're not looking for, and I want to definitely quote Namel Tapwaterz Norris on this; we're not looking for a handout. We're looking for a hand up, and that's all we really want. Because the more you turn away, the louder we have to scream. But if you just look at us and say, Oh, well, let's give you this hand up, we can help you help us, help you.
Valerie: Which is brilliant. So what was your concept of success when you made the leap to full-time musician, and what is it now?
Where Success Comes From
Lachi: Ooh, that's fun. I love that you asked that. Someone else asked me that pre-interview, and I didn't get to answer it on the interview. So, I was very disappointed. And it was such a great answer. And so I'll give it to you here.
Um, Ever since I was a little. I always wanted a fancy manager because I loved music. I wanted a fancy music manager. I wanted a fancy literary agent, and I wanted my own music studio in New York City. And then when I got to the, when I was working at my day job and when I first started doing music while working at my day job, I was like, thinking to myself, I really just have to have a good fancy manager, a literary agent and a music studio.
I still didn't have those... any of those three things, even though I got signed to a label. I had a manager while I was at the label, but it was kind of just one of the label guys. And so I ended up getting myself a manager, a literary agent, and then I got myself, a music studio in New York.
And then I was like, oh, OK, wait; now I have it. I was like, wait a minute. Ah, OK. Now let's, now how do we reassess? Because I don't feel like a famous person yet or whatever. And so, I started to realize that it's not these things that make you successful. It's not the music agent. It's not a million streams. Because every time I would get a milestone, that wasn't what made me feel successful.
It wasn't even getting on a major magazine or have hearing my music on the radio or seeing my music on TV. You know, What the success really comes from? It's when I sit down, and I listen to one of my songs back, and I go holy shit. That's a good fricking song. It's a good song. Lachi, that's a good song. You go, girl, you put that song together. You did that. I look at it like my children, you know. I'm like, I made that. I popped that out. And I Oh whatever. Let me not get vulgar. And so I, that's when I feel the most successful. And you know,
Valerie: Is when you create something that you really can be proud of.
Lachi: When you create something that you can really be proud of when you've honed your skill to the point where you can create something you're proud of. And it's not the things that happen to you that make you successful and confident. I actually think it's the confidence that makes you successful.
So when I start feeling that confidence, when I do these songs that I love, or when I'm able to go to a networking event and say hi, when I start to feel confident in myself, the success just pours in. There is no send 14 emails and see if one responds there is no, you know, do this.
There is no like bullet points of how to become successful. Honestly, I think it's when you truly, honestly, at your heart of hearts, believe in yourself, and believe in your product.
Valerie: If I was listening right now, I would be thinking, That's great, Lachi. But would, if I don't feel like that, what if I don't have that kind of self-confidence? Do I just turn it on? Do I just pretend? Do I fake it till I make it?
Lachi: So there's two answers to that. Number one. Yes. Faking it till you make it is a route, you know, sometimes...
Valerie: It's worked for me. I'm here to say.
Lachi: Yeah. Because your brain doesn't know the difference, right? Your brain can't really tell. If somebody tells you you're smart, or intelligent, or beautiful, or whatever, you feel good, right?
If you say it to yourself, the brain doesn't actually realize that it's just you saying it, and you still get to feel good and awesome.
That's why I say, Hey, practice affirmations, practice gratitude. It really does physically help your brain feel internally confident. And you don't have to be externally confident to be internally confident. That's what people don't realize.
And then another thing too is really honing your craft and really just knowing you're just bad as hell. You know what I mean? And by bad, I mean good.
Valerie: Right.
Lachi: Just knowing you're so good because you've practiced your craft. A lot of musicians will um, and singers and whatnot will sacrifice their craft for the business side of things, because we keep hearing the stories of, oh, you don't have to be that good. Oh, this person or that person can't really sing, and they're famous.
Don't fall for it. Practice your craft, be better than the other guy at what you do. And that's what will make you successful. Because that's one of the reasons I was able to quickly get my things off the ground, especially with Gary and big management, because I didn't really have a manager. And, you know, Gary was one of my bigger breaks, and I walked into the room, I sent him my audition. I hung out and this and that, and it blew him away because I'm just good. Like not to be that guy, but like, just be really good. And when someone tells you, no, it actually doesn't set you back as far as like, if you're not that, I don't know how to say this delicately, but if you're not that good and someone tells you no, you'll make up every excuse.
If you're super confident in your craft and someone tells you no. That's just them. It wasn't because you weren't good. It's because of other things. Maybe they already had someone just like you on their roster. Maybe they had a bad day. You, they had a bad crap that morning, but it's not you, and you feel it, and you know it, and it keeps you going.
Valerie: Oh, that's really good advice. Thank you for that. That's really good stuff.
So last question. If you could go back in time and talk to an earlier version of yourself, old would you be, and what would you say to her?
Lachi: Oh, I'm gonna like cry! I think that if I could talk to an earlier version of myself, I think one of the major things I would say would be to just pursue,
Valerie: Wait, first of all, how old would you be?
Lachi: Probably my college self, because though I went through a lot of hardships when I was much younger, it's those hardships that kind of shaped it out. And I think that I should have told myself, or I guess I would tell myself, you know what, at the end of the day, music is your whole heart and let's not waste time doing what everybody else wants.
Let's not waste time listening to their judgments and letting it affect us, listening to them, taking your shoulders and turning you this way and taking your shoulders and turning you that way. Take your own shoulders, sit them back, put your chin up, hold your head back and say, this is what the Lord gave me to do. Why am I not doing it? And then sit your ass down and do it, girl.
Valerie: Right on. Do you have any advice for singers who are just starting out in music?
Mentors and Musical Colleagues
Lachi: Yeah. Apart from, Hey, learn your craft, get really fricking good. One thing I think that a lot of people don't tell early singers is get a mentor. It's really - it's really helpful. Um, Get someone that you trust that has done more than you and can help you with some things. And get a mentor and allow them to help guide you. But also, don't get in your head about your, what you would call competition. Just remember they're actually your colleagues. This is a career. So treat it like a career. So when people go to medical school or law school or whatever they have their colleagues, they have their classmates that they, you know, you go out, you hang out, you're proud of each other's accomplishments.
So treat it like an actual career. Cause that's what it is. Don't avoid the radio. Listen to the radio. Listen to what your colleagues are doing and be proud of them when they do something awesome and learn from them. If you, if you hear a song by a quote-unquote celebrity singer, and you think to yourself, Oh, well, I'm so tired of hearing that song, all you're telling the universe is I can't be them. And why are you putting it out into the universe? Love what they're doing and learn from what they're doing so that you can be what they're doing.
Valerie: Beautiful! No one's said that on this show yet. So you're a first!
Lachi: Yes! I have de-flowered the show!
Valerie: Oh, Lachi. It has been so fun talking today. I really truly could talk to you all day long. There are still so many things I want to ask you, so maybe someday I'll be able to have you back on the show five years from now and say, OK, what you've been doing?
Lachi: Oh, for sure. Yeah. Heck yeah. This has been so much fun. I really enjoy just getting to sit back and lay back, and it's just so non, like high pressure. You're just a really chill person to vibe with. So I really enjoy you having me on the show and to get to share my story with your audience. Like, this has been really nice.
Valerie: I know it's, I know they're going to love it. Thank you again, Lachi, for being on the podcast today. You are fantastic. And I feel like my life is going to be different from knowing you. I do!
Lachi: That's like the biggest compliment. Thank you so much.
Valerie: Thanks for listening to this episode of Living a Vocal Life. You'll find complete show notes for the episode videos of my guests and more offerings for singers @valeriedaysings.com. I'd also love to hear from you. So please let me know what you found useful in this conversation and what you'd like to hear more of in episodes to come.
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Until next time be well, keep singing, and thanks for listening.
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