Episode #33 Authentic Voices: Rosi Amador's Transformative Journey in Music & Voiceover

Interviews

Nov 30

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.

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In this episode, you’ll hear the inspiring journey of Rosi Amador, a bilingual singer, percussionist, and voiceover talent. Her relationship with music has been life-long, profoundly influenced by her parents, who themselves were performers.

Rosi takes us from her roots in Puerto Rico through a life-changing trip to Nicaragua, the story of her first band, Flor de Caña, to the birth of the folkloric group Sol Y Canto.

She openly discusses the challenges of balancing motherhood and a demanding music career, which ultimately led her to a satisfying transition into voiceover work.

Her engaging anecdotes about raising her children in green rooms, their pursuit of music, and the influence of her journey on them, including Alisa, a recent NPR Tiny Desk Concert winner, make it a compelling listen.

Join me to hear the story of an artist who chose authenticity and connection over commercial success and continues to influence, mentor, and inspire others.

“Find something that you truly love and that helps create change in the world. Because this world is a difficult place. Music does that. As creatives we can help. People need what we do.”

— Rosi Amador

Links:

You can find Rosi and her band Sol Y Canto on their website, Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube, and her voiceover company, Amador Bilingual Voiceovers, HERE.

The songs in this episode are La Llorona from Cada Dia Un Regalo, Good Travels, Help Me To See, Little Spark from Live, In The Family, Entremés from Sabor Y Memoria, Tierra, Sol, Y Agua, Sancocho from Sancocho, Alejandro’s Ghost, Zamba del Grillo from Sendero del Sol, Under One Sky from El Doble de Amigos (Children’s Album), Alisa Amador: Milonga. (Used with permission.)

Theme music for the Podcast was composed by John Smith. He helps me produce all the podcast episodes too. (Thanks, honey!)

Rosi: If you want to feel useful on this planet and to leave it a little better off than you found it, then I propose to you that you live a life with purpose and that you find something that you truly love and that helps create change in the world. Because this world is a difficult place. Music does that. As creatives we can help. People need what we do.

Valerie: In this episode, you'll hear the inspiring journey of Rosi Amador a bilingual singer, percussionist and voiceover talent. Her relationship with music has been lifelong, profoundly influenced by her parents who themselves were performers. , She openly discusses the challenges of balancing motherhood and a demanding music career, which ultimately led her to a satisfying transition into voiceover work. Her engaging anecdotes about raising her children in green rooms, their pursuit of music and the influence of her journey on them, including Alisa, a recent NPR Tiny Desk concert winner make this a compelling listen.
Join me to hear the story of an artist who chose authenticity and connection over commercial success and continues to influence, mentor, and inspire others.

Valerie: Thank you, Rosi, for being on the podcast today. I'm so excited to have you here.
Rosi: Thank you for having me. Very glad to be here.
Childhood Experiences, Family, And Cultural Roots
Valerie: So your parents claimed that it was very hard for you to eat when you were young because you would sing at the dinner table. They actually had to set a rule. No singing at the table. Is that your first memory of singing?
Rosi: Oh no. I remember very clearly a, at the time, kind of traumatic experience for me in preschool where we had a sort of a show and tell hour and we were each going up to the front of the class to share. And I started singing my song to my friend next to me before I, it was my turn.
And the teacher sent me to the principal's office and I ended up hiding in the bathroom downstairs. And I remember it so distinctly because it was a room that was under the stairs, a tiny little bathroom. And I remember the cleaning lady found me in there crying, weeping. Took me over to the principal.
Valerie: Sad.
Rosi: And my mom had to come and pick me up. I was punished for singing. Can you imagine such a thing? I remember it so clearly. I was so small.
Valerie: I hope these things don't happen for today's children in school because they are these traumatic experiences that can follow you the rest of your life.
Absolutely. And to get punished for anything that's creative is wrong, sad and wrong. Obviously, it didn't stop you.
Rosi: No, it sure didn't because after that I kept singing at the table.
Valerie: Your grandmother was a frustrated opera singer.
Rosi: That's right. That's right.
Valerie: I also read from the mountains in Puerto Rico. She told you that she would hold you in her arms and sing, scales, solfege to you.
Rosi: She told me that story, and I don't know if it's true, but she was pretty convincing when she told me about it.
Valerie: I bet she did. I bet she did. My mom was an opera singer. So she sang all the time. And so I can imagine that your grandmother, if she loved to sing and was frustrated because she didn't have the opportunity that she would've sung to you.
Rosi: I probably imitated her. So that's what she said, that there she was carrying me as a baby and that I really surprised her when I did that. I do love that story.

Valerie: Both your parents were performers. Your mother was a New Yorker of Puerto Rican descent. In other words, a New York Rican. She was a dancer, singer, and actress appearing in the US with, uh, Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis, and Dean Martin.
Rosi: Yeah, it was in the USO. Yeah. That she got to sing with all of them and performed with all of them. And then she, yeah, then she moved to Mexico and she acted with Cantinflas, very famous Mexican comic and actor. Comedian and actor. Uh, And who she said was such a gentleman to her.
Valerie: So is that how she met your father on this USO tour?
Rosi: No, she met him because he was also an actor from Buenos Aires and he was visiting some friends in New York in between tours and they took him to her show. She was doing a show in New York. And he met her and they introduced them, and uh, that's where it all started. And then they tried to get together for really long, because he had to leave, he didn't have a visa to stay and he went to perform in Cuba.
I have lots of incredible letters that they wrote back and forth. And he was trying to get her to come to Cuba to perform and he never made it. And then letters saying that he was, she was trying to get him to come back into the US and stay. And, uh, that finally worked out.
Valerie: So he moved to New York. Yeah. Is that right?
Rosi: He moved to New York, and then they tried to live in Argentina for a while to see how her career would do in Argentina, but it didn't prosper. That's how we say it in Spanish, no prospero. It didn't prosper.
So they decided to come back. And then they decided to go to Puerto Rico, where my mom had actually never lived, but where, you know, where her roots were. And, um, there, because he spoke very little English, he did speak it, but with a very thick accent. And he read the newspaper every day religiously in English to keep practicing.
And he understood everything, but he had a pretty thick accent. So Puerto Rico was the perfect in between place because in the fifties, um, Puerto Rico was looking for people to come and open businesses, so they decided to do that.
And, one of their first businesses was my mom's TV show. She had a daily TV show, a variety show with lots of guests. Yeah. But they worked together on that until he figured out another business and they decided, okay, enough of the show business. We want to start a family now.
Valerie: Okay. And then were you born?
Rosi: Yeah. Yeah. I was The first, I have a younger sister. Yep. Four years younger. And my mom actually told me that she was still doing jingles even though she had said, you know, no more tv, you know, except I will do some commercials. So she was apparently practicing jingles and, commercial for Campbells. So she kept saying Campbells over and over again. She told me again, is this true or not? But she told me that my first word was Campbell.
Valerie: I love that.
Parents' Influence on Career Choice
Valerie: So how did your parents' careers impact your own career path and your decision to pursue music?
Rosi: The funny thing about it is that because they really wanted me to have a stable life and not depend on, on a show business career, they discouraged me. You know, even though I sang and I, they couldn't get me to stop. They did encourage me to sing however, I have to say. They loved it when I sang, they sang with me.
They, we listened to music. They encouraged me to be in plays and choruses. And when I started getting solos and getting noticed for my voice, they loved it. So they loved all the attention, but they kept saying, don't even consider being a singer or an actress or a dancer, because.. This is what my mom would say: audiences are fickle. I remember it clear as day. She said, audiences are fickle and you just can't count on it.
So my father, who, both of my parents, my mom graduated from high school and she never was able to go to college, but she was working even in high school. But my dad only got to fifth grade in Buenos Aires and he was the guy who would hang out on the street corner with his buddies as a teenager and smoke.
And all his family thought, oh my God, he's gonna be a mafioso, you know? But no, he ended up being an actor. Maybe that's the next best thing. I don't know. You know?
Valerie: They're kind of connected in this weird way.
He
Rosi: He did like like radio drama, radio drama, and then acting and theater and oh, so many stories that he told us.
But for him especially, but for both of my parents, they felt that education was the most important thing. Their dream was for me to have a university education and I was able to get one and they did everything in their power to, to make enough money so that I would be able to go to a college, you know? And, both of us, my sister and me. And my father always said, I really want you to be a doctor or a lawyer.
And that just didn't work because as soon as I was in college and singing even more in, in musicals and then found ways to perform at cafes at my college, then I got outta college, came to Boston, sang with a community choir for a while here. But then I had this experience that kind of changed my life and I started singing.
And when my parents noticed, oh, she's kind of serious about it, they thought, hmm, she's not gonna be a doctor or lawyer. I hadn't really decided what I was gonna be.
Valerie: Did they finally accept that this apple hadn't fallen far from the tree, as they say?
Rosi: They did. They did. When they saw that we were quite serious about it. One of the ways in which I knew that they had accepted me is that first of all, they would come see us when we played, when we toured to Puerto Rico. They would come see us. But in addition to that, when we made our first CD, uh, my father actually offered to, to, give us a loan and he said, I wanna meet, make it very clear. This is a loan. Because he was always a businessman. Yep. And he wanted to make sure that I learned how to do things on my own, which I did.
And we returned his money as soon as we made money by selling it.
Valerie: So let's back up just a little bit.
Rosi: Yeah.
College Life and Discovering Own Identity
Valerie: I'm wondering how you got from Puerto Rico to college. Where, where did you go and how did you get there? And what was the journey?
Rosi: I ended up coming to Bryn Mawr College. And my mother was very intent on my going to a single-sex school. She felt basically that men were a bad influence and distracted you from education. So she, you know, really steered me in that direction. And I got in and I think I only applied to a few other schools, but, they said yes soon. And I had also visited and met these women that really impressed me there. And so I decided to go. And actually it was a wonderful thing. Because I was raised, my dad was very overprotective and so was my mom. So I was not really encouraged as a young person to have much of a voice, and I really found my voice.
Valerie: At the school?
Rosi: I did. At Bryn Mawr. Yeah. Because even in high school, I was still with my parents and it just, it was very difficult for me to feel any sense of autonomy with being overprotected so much.
So it was Bryn Mawr that helped me to find my voice, really. I, I'm always happy to credit my college. Some of my mentors were my teachers, my professors there, and some of the women that I met, that I became friends with, who were further along in the process of individuating than I was because I hadn't been allowed to.
It was a difficult childhood and adolescence because of that. Cuz my parents, especially my mom, didn't wanna accept that I was a separate individual from her. And that was hard. I mean, she had her own trauma, you know? And we had a difficult relationship. Very loving, but difficult. And again, because she didn't really want me to grow up. Or my sister, you know. And, um, so I was very glad to be able to go to college and get my own identity. Finally find my own identity.
Valerie: Yes, your own life.
Rosi: Yeah. My own life.
Valerie: So were you studying music in college?
Rosi: I studied music, but I ended up majoring in, I loved, French. I had studied French starting in high school. Yeah. The French language and French culture. And I went there for a summer to Avignon to a program that Bryn Mawr actually organized. And, so I, I actually ended up doing what they called a, romance language major. So I studied French intensively and also studied uh, Spanish literature and Latin American literature. Uh, and then I minored in psychology.
All the while I was in all of the choruses and any musicals. And, you know, I, did a lot of music while I was in college. Uh, I found people to, to sing with and create opportunities to, to sing because I, love doing it.
Cultural Exchange Tour to Nicaragua and Its Impact
Valerie: So you traveled a little bit in college, but then you went to Nicaragua on a cultural exchange tour. Was that during your time at Bryn Mawr or was that after?
Rosi: I graduated in 1981. I moved to Boston at the time because I had a, a boyfriend who used to go to Penn, who had moved here and he was working in Cambridge. And I came to Cambridge and fell in love with Cambridge, and I decided, oh my gosh, I would love to live there.
And we were still connected, but then he went back to grad school in Philly and I stayed in Cambridge. And I'll never forget my first job, it was at Crate & Barrel, selling pots and pans. And I remember I say it that way because my father said to me, I can't believe I sent you Bryn Mawr College and you're gonna sell pots and pans? And I said, Bobby, I'm figuring out what I wanna do. Okay? This is like the retail world. I'm checking it out and I can use all my languages. I was in Faneuil Hall, this big tourist place, you know. I quickly figured out that retail was not my world and that just selling things to people was not a very meaningful life.
So I ended up going actually to the, uh, Radcliffe career planning offices, Bryn Mawr connected me, and I found out that I was most like people in the arts, no surprise there, but also in business. And I thought, what business? I did terribly in economy and this and that. But I was good at organizing things and I was good at conceiving things.
And so I ended up being the manager of a political theater company here in the Boston area for quite a few years. And during that time my colleague suggested that I go with her on a cultural exchange tour to Nicaragua. And I said, what? That's a country at war! I don't think it's a good idea. And she said, well, I think some pretty incredible things are happening in that country right now, and it would probably be great for you to check them out, especially as a Latina woman.
So I went to a, meeting to find out more about it, just to be open-minded even though the idea scared me. Cuz as I said, I was raised very conservatively and so not, no sense of political awakening at all. I, I was just very separate from everything. And well, that changed because I decided to go to Nicaragua. And I, at that first meeting, met Brian, who later became my husband.
And he and I were the only Spanish speakers in the group of artists that ended up applying to participate in this cultural exchange tour, which was an opportunity for us to meet Nicaraguan artists, both, musicians and visual artists. So half of our group, it was something like 22 people and half of us were muralists, and painters and half of us were musicians.
So those of us who were, were musicians, including Brian and myself, came up with some songs that represented our cultures, you know, and since I'm from Puerto Rico, I sang a dança, a very typical song form from Puerto Rico, and we also did songs from the US and we did some originals that some of the people who were already musicians did.
And went on this trip that was about three weeks long, and we performed in all kinds of cultural events and factories and festivals and schools, and met people from all different walks of life. And frankly, that's where my political awakening happened, because I didn't know what was really going on there.
And the news we were getting was very one-sided. And what I experienced there was very different. People were in the midst of a revolution at that time where they had gotten rid of a dictatorship and now there was an incredible, uh, education campaign where people taught one another and were becoming literate for the first time in their life and health campaign.
All these incredible things were happening. I saw a country, a new country in the making. Sadly none of that has ended up cementing itself and things went south over there. But I went at a time that was very exciting and it fed into my, at the time, idealistic sense of what could be under a different kind of, of, a, way of governing and where people were so deeply involved.
All the people were really deeply involved in helping one another. And that really appealed to me. And I came back feeling like I wanted to share that.
Formation of Flor de Caña
Rosi: And Brian and I, along with three other people all said, well, you know, we should do a performance, um, at a local church to share some of the songs we did and show some of our slides and talk about it. And we even were in touch with some of the newspapers and they were interested.
Everybody was interested at the time. So we did.
And we had a show and 200 people came. And from that show, we didn't even have a name. You know, we were just a group of people that were artists that went to Nicaragua. From that show, we started getting phone calls for bookings from church groups, from sanctuary groups, sanctuary movement groups from high schools, from colleges.
Everybody wanted to hear about our experiences and wanted to hear the songs we had to sing and see our slideshow. And pretty soon we lost the slideshow and really just started focusing on the singing. And that group was called Flor de Caña, which is kind of a funny name because it was borrowed from The Delicious Nicaraguan Rum. That was the name of the rum.
And we called ourselves that, that name. And, um, that group existed for 10 years, and that's really where I got my touring and musical chops. You know, and I don't read music, but I learned it really quickly. I, unfortunately, I never, my parents never put me into a music education program, even though I studied voice.
I studied voice from high school on. And I was pretty good at figuring out where we were going from being in chorus's. But I was with a group of people who were happy to have me as a singer and as a manager because I became the band's manager and booking agent. Yeah.
Valerie: Here's your entrepreneurial streak at work.
Rosi: Yeah, exactly, exactly. So after five years with the theater company, all of us in the group, there were six of us, decided it's time to leave our other jobs and dive in because we're performing so much that we can't, we can't keep up with our work and this.
And so we started touring full-time and we got to, about 150 shows a year. Uh, lot of shows. It's a lot. And I remember at that time feeling like, wow, this is incredible. It's so exciting and gee, it's hard. Like, I'm almost never home.
But you know, we were together. And it was really a wonderful experience to be with your husband, and many of my bandmates were leaving their partners, and I felt so bad for them, but so grateful for me that I got to be with my partner and develop our musical voices together. You know? He's an amazing guitarist and composer.
Valerie: So that, trip to Nicaragua..
Rosi: Oh yeah. That trip changed our lives.
Valerie: You found a partner. You came back and started this band, Flor de Caña, that was around for 10 years.
Transition to Sol Y Canto and Its Mission
Valerie: And then when that disbanded in 1994, you started a new group called Sol Y Canto.
Rosi: That's right.
Valerie: Which is still going.
Rosi: It is.
Valerie: What changed changed between the two bands and what was the mission... what is the mission of your current group, Sol Y Canto?
Rosi: That's With Flor de Caña, we definitely came out of that lived experience. We felt that we came out of this tradition called Nueva Cançion, the new song movement, which was born in Latin America, and we were just giving it our unique imprint. But we also sang a lot of songs from the new song movement.
And those, were born in the sixties and seventies as a response to the invasion of US culture in many Latin American countries in terms of the radio airwaves. And people wanted to make sure that their own folklore wasn't lost. So a lot of the songs we were doing were folk rooted and sometimes we'd take 'em in new directions. But we, as I said, we also did some classic things and we were very much considered Nueva Cançion also in Cuba it's called Nueva Trova Group.
Whereas with Sol Y Canto, times changed. And the reason that we had started because of what was going on in Nicaragua and in El Salvador at that time, also had changed.
And we also felt, with Sol Y Canto, like we didn't wanna limit ourselves. And we still do repertoire from the sixties and seventies, but we primarily do our own music and it's in response to whatever is moving us at the time. So, we'll do everything from love songs to songs of hope and songs of of struggle too. So we'll name what's going on. And by the way, Brian's the composer, not me, so I'm speaking on his behalf.
But he is, he's a news addict and he's always reading and seeing and learning what is going on in the world and responding to it. And when we're alarmed or upset or distraught by what we see, he will invariably, at some point, start writing a song about it. While at the same time we're pretty optimistic people and hopeful people. So he also writes songs that are very hopeful as well.
With all of the doom and gloom, it would be too depressing to only sing about that. So that's where the lullabies and the love songs come in. And also fun songs.
The Camino de Santiago & Songwriting Inspiration
Rosi: For example, two years ago we went to the Camino de Santiago, this beautiful walk in northern Spain and it inspired two songs. And one of them I actually helped with, which is not usually my role, but I started feeding Brian some lines about, what about this for this new song? And so we ended up having a couple of songs about the impact that this incredible walk just being out in nature it's so beautiful in northern Spain. And we walked 160 miles for two weeks with just a backpack, with a little bit of clothes and one, one mission, which was to get to Santiago de Compostela, the finale of the trip.
Valerie: And this was during Covid too, right?
Rosi: Yeah, it was. When they finally allowed people to come. So it was in 21. Yeah. And so a song, two songs were born from that experience. So we really respond to what is happening in our lives and in the world.
You know, Brian's written songs for our kids. We have kids that they started growing up and he went, geez, I never wrote them a song to prepare them for falling in love or dumped or dumping someone. He wrote a song about that.
Valerie: What a great way to give parental advice without saying things directly!
Rosi: Exactly. Exactly. So the songs are, you know, all all different things.
But, we have a, an actual formal mission. The mission statement is to create music and performances that move, delight, excite and connect. Connect the audience to the richness of Latin American culture. Connect individuals, Hispanic and non-Hispanic, to each other through shared experience of music, poetry, humor, and a joyful, playful vibe. And connect us all to our hopes and visions of a better world.
I love that vision. We did work very hard on it cuz it's hard to encapsulate everything you want to do through your music, you know.
Valerie: In a mission statement, every word matters.
I love that too, because you actually live out that mission statement, I think. Even in the story.. your story of going to Spain, when I heard you talk about that in a previous interview, you said that you started out just two of you going by yourselves and staying by yourselves in these different places. but you were missing the connection piece. And so one day you went into a restaurant and you, you tell the story, you tell it so well.
Rosi: Okay. We were staying in, um, in lodgings called Pensiones where a lot of other pilgrim stayed. People who are walking, uh, the same path are called pilgrims. And one morning I said to Brian, we're never gonna meet anyone unless we sing. You know that, right? And he said, what do you mean? I said, let's just go into the breakfast room that was full of pilgrims and say, excuse me. And that's what we did. I said, Compermiso, excuse me. And the common language was English people from all over Europe, and Spain, and the US, Canada, you know. And I said, excuse me. My name is Rosi Amador. This is my husband Brian. We're musicians. And we wrote a song about the Camino. This is a dream that we had to come here.
This is our first time here. I don't know if it is for you or not, but we would like to sing it for you. Is that okay? And everybody's like, yes. So we sang. We sang Buen Camino, which is what people say to each other. Pilgrims say as you pass one another, even though you don't know each other, you always say Buen Camino, Buen Camino. Everybody you know, and they say it in Spanish because you're in Spain.
And I met so many people. We really developed friendships because of singing. People felt so close to us. They would come up to talk to us afterwards. Music unites people, music touches people and brings them close to you.
And it makes me feel like crying to say that because it's been one of the things in my life that has helped me feel more human, more connected, more appreciated, and more appreciative because of the way I've been able to connect to other people. That's what the music does for us.
Valerie: It crosses boundaries.
Rosi: That's why we can't stop.
Valerie: Before we return to my conversation with Rosi, I want to take a moment to express my gratitude for your support and listenership. I truly appreciate each and every one of you.
Valerie: The connections I've formed with both you and the guests I interview on the podcast are what motivates me to continue creating content year after year. In fact, I long for more of these connections. Which is why I have a special request for you. I'm excited to introduce a new platform called pod inbox, designed to enhance our connection. It's a place where you can interact with me and fellow listeners. In the Ask Me Anything section you can leave an audio or text message. If your question or comment is valuable to other singers, I may include it in a future podcast episode, with your permission of course.
So let's connect. Simply visit podcastinbox.com/livingavocallife. That's podcastinbox.com/livingavocallife. While you're there you also have the option to make a small donation to support the continued success of the podcast. Thank you in advance for your questions, comments, or contributions. I can't wait to hear from you.
Now let's return to my conversation with Rosi.
Becoming A Mother of Twins
Valerie: But you did have to slow down.
Which is when your children were born in 1996.
Rosi: That's right.
Valerie: And you didn't just have one, you you had two.
How did you manage to get your work done when they were younger?
Rosi: Oh, what a great question. We kind of wanted two, two kids, Brian, and I thought, oh, it would be nice to have two girls. We thought they'd, you know, pop out one at a time, but that's okay. We thought, okay, fine then. We'll take 'em, you know?
Um, and I was already 37 because I had waited because of the touring. I thought, it's just too hard. You know, I, we better get the touring done as much as possible.
So I waited. And, um, first I took three months off. So then after that, when they were really little, I hired someone to help us and come to shows. And we kept it very local in the beginning to just hold onto them for me so that I wouldn't have to be nursing them. Because I nursed for a long time, and that was a priority for me. So I wanted them nearby. I didn't wanna leave them somewhere with somebody.
And then I actually put it in our contracts when we toured that the presenters had to supply someone to take care of my kids. And most of the time they agreed to it.
Valerie: Really.
Rosi: I mean, I paid for it, but I had, I needed their help in arranging it.
Valerie: Right. right.
Rosi: That way I'd only be away, for a few hours.
Valerie: And my question would be as a, as someone listening, oh, how could you trust these people?
Rosi: I know... It's true.
Valerie: Did you feel like, I don't know..
Rosi: Fear?
I didn't, and I think it's because so many of our wonderful friends would help take care of our twins, and they didn't know them, and they did great. These twins were, they got along with everybody and they weren't problematic. They weren't needy, so they were super social. You know?
So I felt, a sense of trust. And I also thought, okay, these people are paying us money to come and perform. They're not gonna give me a mass murderer to take care of my kids.
They know that I'm a mom. Brian's a dad, and they're not gonna feel very good if something happens to our kids.
So they made sure to choose trusted people. And it always went well. We would come home and the kids would be like, the next day, like, we had such a good time with so-and-so.
Valerie: Right. And I, I wonder too, that must have impacted them in kind of a powerful way to learn that they could trust other people in their universe.
Rosi: Well, and they, toured with us. They were in the backseat of our van with our musicians learning from them. And oh my gosh. So many stories that have come out of that experience. They just got used to having all these uncles, cuz it was a lot of men and me in the sextet.
Yeah. And they were raised in green rooms. They say it themselves, raised in green rooms. Because they constantly toured with us.
Making A Bilingual Childrens CD With The Twins
Rosi: And when they were, six, we made a bilingual children's CD at the request of our fans who started kids and saying, don't you think you would like to make a CD for kids sometime with your music?
And we made a bilingual one and we consulted with bilingual educators and the head of our preschool, our kids preschool, and consultants. And Rounder Records put it out. And we had an angel, who was someone who really cared about our family, fund it.
Valerie: Oh, how lovely.
Rosi: And made it possible. And our kids sang on it. So then, on the they road, they would sing those songs with us and go on the road with us.
Valerie: What was it like to have small children and try to manage the band and learn new material and go on the road and all of the things.
What were your patterns? What was your schedule like?
Rosi: It was tough, no doubt about it. It was tough. What I remember the most is that I worked like a maniac, and I was the mom who would leave her kids in this wonderful afterschool program that they loved. But I was like the last mom to pick up her kids because I working till the very last second.
And I always felt guilty about that and like, why in? Because every time they would run over to me and hug me, and I would be like a little bit of guilt, like, oh, I should have come half an hour ago. Then I would've gotten a half an hour more of their awake time, because then all that was left was making dinner and reading to them until they fell asleep.
Starting Her Own Booking Agency: Music Amador
Rosi: When they were in like fourth, fifth grade, I think that's when it was, I realized I, I just can't be on the road this much. It's too hard. I'm gonna start an agency because all these artists would constantly approach me and say, can you book me too? You're really good at it. Cuz they saw how quote "successful" we were.
I say that because you've done this. As a band leader, you end up paying everything, other people, the expenses, the hotel, the airfare.
But we were successful, in name and I felt like, geez, I should find something else that brings in money without me being on the road.
So I started an agency called Music Amador and I had it for a number of years and was just beginning to grow it when I met someone else in the industry who was also an agent.
And we joined forces and had an agency together. And then I worked even harder. I worked even harder because I had to book all these other artists and I had, I had to be accountable to my partners. And it was hard. It was really hard.
Physical Struggles and the Need for Change
Rosi: As a matter of fact, something that happened to me at the time is that, um, I worked so much on the computer that I developed repetitive stress injuries from typing so much.
Yeah. And I would go to massage therapists and chiropractors and they would say, you need to change your life because you're harming your neck. You're tight everywhere. And I had to do physical therapy for the ulnar nerve entrapment, which is the opposite of, uh, carpal tunnel.
And I realized, I can't keep doing this. It's too much admin work. And I started thinking, what could I do using my skills that would help me to get away from being on the computer so much?
Unexpected Opportunities and the Birth of a Voiceover Actor
Rosi: And I realized, wow. In the last few years, we had been asked several times to do some voiceover work. I had done some work for Scholastic cuz we were brought in as musicians, but then also as educational narrators. How they knew that we would be good at it, I don't know. But it turns out that we were. So we would recite children's stories. And I loved it.
And then when I gave birth the hospital they found out that we were Latin performers and that we were known. And they asked if I would do a publicity campaign, pro bono for the hospital, for the NICU, cuz my kids were in the NICU. And I went into a professional studio, my first ever really fancy studio. And I had 10 different people listening to me. It was my testimonial that I was saying, but they wanted to make sure that it came in at 30 seconds.
And you know, things that are natural like now because, I ended up becoming a voiceover actor because of those experiences, early experiences.
And I also did a third thing, which is one of our fans asked if I would sing and narrate for children, and I became the voice of her program called The Global Child. And to this day, I still have kids who say, Rosi Amador I learned Spanish with you on CDs. Yeah. On CDs.
Valerie: Oh, my god.
Rosi: Yeah.
Valerie: That's fanastic!
Rosi: So that's how my introduction to voiceover happened.
The Journey of Becoming a Bilingual Voiceover Actor
Rosi: And then many years later, in like 1992 and 93, I said to Brian, maybe I should explore this. Do we need to move to LA or New York? Or maybe we could do it from here? Who knows? And that's when I found out we could. So then things changed again.
Valerie: Wow. And Amador Bilingual Voiceovers became official in 2010, but you'd obviously been doing it for a long time before that.
Rosi: We had. But that's when we got real serious, registered the name, got a website together, and I really turned my energy away from booking us, which had been my full-time energy booking. And, I closed the agency, farmed off my artists, who were kind of like my children to, to other adoptive parents, other agencies. And I launched Amador Bilingual Voiceovers, which has been the next phase of our life. So, as you said, that was in 2010. And we haven't stopped.
However, in, the last few years, we, we started ramping up the music again, simply because I missed it! I did. we were still doing it. We've never stopped. But, you know, we went really far down, like to 20 shows a year. And, I just, I missed it a lot. And in, in the meantime, I, I was studying music because I.. I needed it. I needed it to be a part of my life.
Alisa Wins NPR's Tiny Desk Concert
Valerie: So your children now, when they look back on their growing up years, obviously they were both mightily influenced by growing up in green rooms. Especially your daughter Alisa, who just won NPR's Tiny Desk Concert.
Rosi: That's right. Last year. She's the most recent winner with a song in Spanish for the first time. It's incredible. I know. After five years of submitting.
Valerie: That is is so huge.
Rosi: And always being featured, but never winning. And finally they called her and it blew her away.
Valerie: Well, first of all, there are no overnight success stories. So that's a great example of that. And then I'll tell you, the thing that really struck me about her performance was that she did look like she felt like she belonged on that stage, even though the stage was just behind a desk.
And her performance of that song was so honest.. I just wonder, um, has she always been like that?
Rosi: Yeah. She has.
Valerie: It seems like maybe you modeled some of this this honesty honesty for her in singing
Rosi: I think you're right. I think one of the things that, um, that has always moved me about how people respond to our music, is very frequently people say, I find your music very refreshing, and your performances very refreshing because you're very authentic.
You're just, you on that stage. You're very honest. And I think she absorbed that. Because she is very much that way. Even sometimes even more than me. I recognize in her some of the ways she moves her hands and gestures with her body. And I see that, that happens in families.
Valerie: Yes it does.
Rosi: And it's very moving. And I imagine that's how my mom must have felt when she saw me on stage in Puerto Rico, you know? And by the way, when Alisa was in fourth grade, she said, I want to be a singer, actress, and a dancer like my abualita. And then she went and did it. They both sang with us as I mentioned, and then on their own. And then she started composing at age 15. And that was it. you know, she knew that was her path. She knew that was her path.
The Challenges and Rewards of Pursuing a Music Career
Valerie: And did you worry about her pursuing a music career in the, maybe not in the same way that your parents worried about you, but you know, just the financial difficulties, the self care that doesn't exist And the younger ones are much more aware of where their boundaries are.
Rosi: Absolutely. Oh my gosh. That, well, you hit the nail on the head. This is the biggest difference that Brian and I noticed from our attitude when we were young performers to hers. Because we would say, oh, you want us in Ohio? You want us in Podunkville? We'll go anywhere and we'll do it as often as you want.
I mean, we drew the line if it was a Florida date and then an Ohio date within two days or something, we would draw the line there. But for the most part, we were willing to do all kinds of crazy antics just to perform and make money and put money in our pockets so that we would have a sustainable life. Cuz we needed to pay those tax bills, which frequently got paid late.
We just needed to make a volume of money so that we could meet our expenses. So we did all kinds of things. And Alisa is very clear that's not something she's willing to do. She is embarking on this career and now that she won the Tiny Desk contest, it's helped tremendously in getting her a better quality gigs, more money.
But the offers still come in that are very unrealistic in terms of travel and very demanding. And she draws the line and says, I'm not going to do more than X number of hours. And she told her agents this from the first interview. And I think it's incredible cuz we never did any such thing. But she has wonderful agents and a manager. And she's communicated very clearly that if I tour for a month then I need, you know, this number of months off so that I can compose. So that I can be at home. So that I can take care of myself and my body. Because it's very hard to do that when you're on the road.
And she saw, we, we didn't hide the fact that we would run short on money frequently, and they were raised with that uncertainty.
And at the same time, we also didn't hide our joy at being able to do what we loved and connecting with people. So they saw both sides. But they saw how we weren't the family that could get their kids fancy things. Like they went to a middle school that was full of people that were much better off than we were, because we got a scholarship as a Latino family. And we couldn't do what those families did as, as full-time musicians.
Which is part of the reason why, I, I... well, it wasn't actually my choice. One of the producers that we worked for as a voiceover talent, a wonderful, children's publishing house called Barefoot Books, asked if our kids and us could do a book together, an audiobook together, and that was their first audiobook.
And that introduced them to the world of voiceover. And after that, they loved it and they became voiceover talent as of age, I think it was 16 or 17. So when Alisa went to college, instead of taking a job serving food, an on-campus job, she said, let me see if they have a studio here and I can keep doing voiceovers.
And that is how she made spending money so that she wouldn't have to be asking us for spending money. And she continued to do that until she won the Tiny Desk Contest. We just recently took her off of the Amador Bilingual Voiceovers website.
And Zia also did it for many years and then stopped doing it while he was in college. Started college, and then during the pandemic he moved back in and started doing it again. And now he's doing it quite a bit.
And by the way, I am saying he, because my daughters were born identical twins, girl twins, identical obviously. And my son, Zia is transgender, a transgender young man. He transitioned about, I wanna say I've lost track a little bit, but I think it might be six years ago now. It seems like a long time ago, but it wasn't really all that long ago. And he, fortunately, is in high demand as a voiceover talent because there's a lot of brands that want, um, you know, not just for commercials, but for educational narration, all kinds of things you know, they want their brand to be represented and celebrated by an LGBTQ audience. It's been his great joy with his new lower voice to provide those voiceovers and, and both of them have been able to do that.
And, and frankly, you know, that's my answer to your question of what kind of messaging did we give our children? We never hid the fact that it was hard to make a living, and this is why we started doing voiceovers because it's a business. People need voiceovers. People don't need music on a business level, you know? So it's a commodity, and so..
Valerie: Especially Spanish speaking.
Raising Zia & Alisa Bilingually
Rosi: Especially. And the fact that we're completely bilingual and I, we raised them bilingually, we always spoke just Spanish at home so that they would speak Spanish without an accent and very naturally. And thank God, knock on wood, that took effect, you know, and, and they are indeed completely bilingual and they love being bilingual. And they're proud of their, of their heritage, you know? And now they have that as an advantage always. And they have voiceover as an option no matter what they do. Cuz Zia's not sure what he might do. He's at finishing at Mass College of Art now. He's not clear what he'll do after he graduates, next year. But it, it seems that he's gonna continue doing voiceover. And I'm happy because it does offer a more stable living than being a visual artist or a musician.
And we'll see how, how it goes for Alisa. Even with this beautiful, um, win of the NPR Tiny Desk Contest. That doesn't mean that everything is fine and you make tons of money. No, it's a slow process.
And incidentally, her name is Alisa Amador, if anybody wants look her up, up social media. Alisa, A L I S A.
Valerie: People should because she's, she's, wonderful.
Rosi: I will mention, since we mentioned Alisa's big prize, that our son Zia's voice can be heard at MoMA, of Modern Art in New York.
Valerie: Really!
Rosi: Yes, yes. He did visual descriptions for Frida Kalo and Rauschenberg uh, Jackson Pollock. And then they called him back and said, Hey, would you do the audio narration for our show Guillermo Del Toro's new movie, the Making of Pinocchio. And they have an exhibit on that. And after the other things that Zia had done, they asked him to be the narrator of the actual tour. So they have Guillermo del Toro's voice and the voice of all the people who made the movie. And he guides you through the whole thing.
Valerie: Oh, lovely, lovely, lovely.
So what advice would you give to aspiring singers who are also mothers?
Advice For Aspiring Singers Who Are Mothers: The Importance of Asking for Help
Rosi: Get ready. It's quite a ride. You have to be so focused. So committed.
Uh, I think that I've always been very good at asking for help and that has served me well. So in our first band we all participated in the management of the band. And when I had my music agency, I got myself an assistant who helped me. And I know what I'm good at and I know what I'm less good at.
And I learned once I was making enough money to cover my basic expenses, this is even before the kids, you know, I was like, okay, I have enough. I'm gonna bring in someone else to take care of this chunk of work so that I don't, so that I can do the stuff that drives our business forward.
If you're a musician, you have to be an entrepreneur, you have to get organized, you have to do your own finances, you have to do your own marketing. And at some point you need to figure out, okay, do I have enough money to farm out some of this work that I'm doing so that I don't go crazy.
And I recommend that you think about that carefully and start doing it as soon as you're able, because otherwise you burn out. You just burn out. And it affects your music, it affects everything, your, your spirit. It affects your enjoyment of life, you know.
I still see it. Some of Alisa's friends are working so, so hard. And I see the effects of the burnout, or the effects that it has on their body. They ache. And my heart goes out to them because I was there. And, um, you know, I didn't immediately have the money to get help, but as soon as I did, I started to do it. And it made a big difference. And it did mean that I made less money, but I had a saner life.
Valerie: Yes
Rosi: Yeah. I, I was able to do some self-care.
Valerie: So I've tried in the past to, to have, uh, people work for us and it's worked out in varying degrees, some successes, a lot more not successes.
Rosi: Is that right?
Valerie: Yes. In fact, the last person I talked to, for this, interview series, also is a fantastic entrepreneurial mind, and she also is good at asking for help. So I'm hearing that over and over again, and I'm wondering, when you do get the help that you need, where do you find these people? How do you train? I mean, we don't have time to go. This could be a whole other podcast episode.
Rosi: I'm actually doing a workshop on this at an upcoming voiceover conference. This is the theme of my workshop. Yeah. It's called Let It Go, Let It Grow.
Valerie: Oh my goodness!
Rosi: It's about letting go of your business so that you can let it grow and do what you do best. And I can give you, I can give you the short answer.
In Boston we're blessed with so many universities, so I would get in touch with their communications department, arts administration department, and I'd put out the word there. And now there's even like websites that announced your positions, your openings, whether it's non-paid or paid internships or positions to many universities.
You know, and I would, put together a very nice description that was real about what my needs were. I'd send it out and then I'd interview people. And I was very careful to ask them, have you had any similar experiences? What have you done? Have you done customer service before? Because when I first started it was phone and a little bit of email.
Then it became more email and very little phone. you know. And then it became... Those kids taught me how to get on social media. I came in kicking and screaming. They were like, Rosi, you have to be on Facebook. You have to, then later you have to be on Instagram. You have to be on Twitter. I'm like, no. But they helped me. And then one of them became my extern, to shadow me. I got her so hooked on what we were doing that she became my social media intern and then paid assistant even when she went back to college.
But I love, love mentoring. I love mentoring and these kids all wanted to see either what we were doing as musicians or what we do as voice actors. And some kids came in because they wanted to learn how to be engineers and be an engineer for the voiceover business. So there was always something that they were learning from us.
And at the same time, I was teaching them business skills because when there wasn't something to be recorded or when there wasn't a concert, we had to market ourselves. I was teaching them how to do marketing. And they were great. They were quick studies and I only had a few, honestly, I only had a few bad experiences. People who just came in with an attitude or, you know, really didn't wanna work very much or were doing it for credit and didn't really care.
But that was the exception. I had interns for years before covid. For years. And, you know, now since Covid not so much, you know, and plus I have an established staff now, you know, But, I love my work, so it's easy for me to be enthusiastic and teach people.
And also I found it to be a wonderful journey to mentor people. And most of my interns are still in touch with me. Some of them became my employees.
Valerie: When they come as interns or externs, do you pay them a stipend or does the school do that because they're in a program?
Rosi: Sometimes. Yeah, sometimes the school does, there's co-op programs. For many years it was just non-paid internship. I didn't have the money. And I would say that, upfront, non-paid internship, for anywhere from 10 to 15 hours a week. I didn't wanna take all their time in case they needed to do paid work, you know?
And many of them would be like, no, I want more hours. It was amazing. You know, and then some kids, I did agree to pay through their co-op program. The school would pay them some, and I would pay them some. until I got to the point where I could afford my own paid assistant.
Valerie: So obviously you found that the time it took to train people was more than worth it because in the end you got that time back in spades.
Rosi: I did. But I did something. I have to say I did something smart. I would always get my current interns to train my future interns.
Valerie: Now, there you go.
Rosi: So every time that I have a transition, Almost always, I have the former person teaching the newer person, and then I fill in the blanks. I fill in the holes once they're working with me.
Valerie: That's really smart.
A True Vocation by David Whyte
Valerie: I just wanted to read you something by the poet, David Whyte and get your response to it. Would that be all right?
Rosi: Okay.
Valerie: A true vocation calls us out beyond ourselves, breaks our heart in the process, and then humbles, simplifies, and enlightens us about the hidden core nature of that work that enticed us in the first place. We find that all along we had what we needed from the beginning, and that in the end we have returned to its essence, an essence we could not understand until we had experienced the actual heartbreak of the journey.
Rosi: I love that quote. It reminds me of, um, the paradoxical.. How do I even put it? Choosing to be an artist. Choosing to be a creative is a life that, by default is going to fill you with joy and dip you right into despair. And that has happened throughout my career.
And perhaps partly that's why the music is so authentic. This job of being a creative, it's all about sharing our humanity. And finding those points of connection.
And life is not a bowl of cherries, as my mummy used to say. You know, it's tough no matter what you do.
Valerie: Yes.
Rosi: But I have to say that as a creative, you are constantly living through your vulnerable moments and wondering, you know, will I be able to continue?
Is this something that's really viable for me?
How many times did I question myself when we would have financial difficulties during our first 10 years? And I hadn't dreamed of a career such as voiceovers yet. It was, it was tough, we just kind of scraped by. you know? But neither of us us could imagine living a life without purpose and music was our path, our sendero our our path to that purpose.
The Impact of Music, Purpose and Creating Change In The World
Rosi: That's , another thing that I always tell my kids and anyone I mentor is, you know, if, if you want to feel useful on this planet and to leave it a little better off than you found it, then I propose to you that you live a life with purpose and that you find something that you truly love and that helps create change in the world. Because this world is a difficult place. Music does that. As creatives, we can help. People need what we do.
During the pandemic we did streaming concerts and we did them because we were doing a lot of voiceover work and actually bringing in a great income. We did them all as benefits. I have never felt more useful in my life. We didn't know a vaccine was coming. We only knew that a lot of people were dying and that people needed to hear our music. And we did these concerts that were benefits for all different causes, starting with the artists of Cambridge.
We started locally. And, I just felt so useful. I felt like this is what my music is meant for, to help people. And the people who would hear it, you know, a lot of times people would be crying and writing us these beautiful messages. Nothing means more to me than those beautiful, loving messages of appreciation about how we touched them or how we sometimes even changed their lives in some small way for that moment.
All throughout my life, I've made it a point to find ways to try to affect change through our creativity in whatever way we can. And thankfully with voiceovers, you're not in charge of the message. Someone else sends you the script. I put out what the kind of work I want. So we work a lot for PBS stations. We are the voice of the Getty Museum in Spanish. We look for more museums. We do a lot of documentary work. We do work for non-profit organizations that we get hired through media production companies.
You know, It may not be like a direct thing, a direct infusion, but if it helps others to do their work, then we're doing our job. And that's what you just read to me and inspired me to say those things. It's the naked truth about, about what we do. It's, it's very vulnerable work.
But, I can't imagine living a different life. I cannot imagine doing something different. And we're still figuring it out.
Valerie: I know!
Rosi: We're still figuring it out.
Valerie: There's never never an end, and there's never an end to to learning I mean, that's what makes music so incredible. Either music or just having a business because there's always new ways of looking at things. There's always new things to implement.
And then if you're a musician, there's always new kinds of singing to learn about.
Continuing Growth as a Musician
Valerie: You are doing some circle singing and some body percussion, and so you're continuing to grow as a musician.
Rosi: I've been studying with Rihannon, who's a colleague of Bobby McFaren's, and I also studied with Bobby McFaren at his circle song school in Berkeley. But this past year, during the Pandemic, I studied with Rihannon, who's my mentor.
She's fantastic. And I had already started studying with her, but she toured all over the world and was barely available anywhere near me. So it was such a luxury to have that time with her online. And people from all over the world also studied with her who have become my friends. And then I decided to, to do her program called All the Way In where you travel to Italy.
in my case it was Italy one week. and then to Hawaii where she has a farm and a singing barn, which she calls her Singing Barn for two weeks in the past, year and a half.
Embracing Musical Improvisation
Rosi: And it's, that too has changed my life because while I always sang, I never learned to read music, and I always had a chip on my shoulder like, I don't think I can improvise because when people talk about what they're doing, I won't be able to talk about it.
And Rihanna taught me that is such a silly way to think about it, Rosi. What about your musical intuition? It's You've been singing all your life. You know what you're doing. You just need to trust yourself. And she helped me believe in me. So now I'm very bold about my improvisation. And we're doing improvised numbers on stage, which we never used to do. We would just do his songs, we would do them pretty much the same way all the time. And now there is improvisation permeating throughout. Not to mention that during the pandemic we weren't playing with our quartet. It was the two of us so we we had to learn how to make our sound fuller.
Exploring New Instruments
Rosi: And I learned how to play the cajon, which he gave me, which is a beautiful Afro Peruvian instrument that sounds like you're, you have a drum kit. It's really fun.
I love it. I'm still a beginner, I'm still learning. But I love it. I feel very comfortable with it. I've been playing bongos for many years, since the eighties. And I feel very comfortable with the bongos, but the cajon is quite different. And it really sounds very full and that deep sound.
Valerie: The combination of the sound in your body and oh, it's just incredible.
Rosi: It's a lot of fun. It's a lot of fun. So I'm continuing to study vocal improvisation and body percussion and cajon. Yeah. Thanks for asking about that. Cuz it's a huge part of my life right now.
The Importance of Storytelling in Music
Valerie: I think stories are everything. And I'm wondering how much talking you do in between songs and what you choose to talk about and how you craft your talking for, uh, introducing songs and things.
Rosi: Oh, that's a great question. What we do, is every single song pretty much is preceded by an introduction that includes a translation. Because we are playing a lot for non-Spanish speakers, a lot. When we go to Puerto Rico, we don't have to do that. We could just say the name of the song or if something inspired it and move ahead. And sometimes we don't have to announce anything at all if it's a well-known song, we just go into it, but not in this country.
And that's why our mission is so clear about connecting people. Well, how do you connect to people if you, if people can't understand what you're singing. We think it's as important as the music itself. So we typically will translate in a poetic way and not the entire song because it gets kind of long, but one verse or two verses and the chorus.
And that is as important a part of the show as actually performing the song.
And in fact, there was a Boston Globe folk critic that used to be on staff. And he said the most beautiful critics quote that we ever could put on our website was, he called us Pan Latin Ambassadors, Boston's Pan Latin Music Ambassadors. And he had come to so many shows and seen that that's part of our mission is to invite people into the music by making sure they understand what we're singing.
Valerie: So we still do, and we try not to over talk so that there's a flow, or we'll combine a couple of songs and then talk, you know. There's an art to it, but I think that it's fundamental that we do that so that people can be a part of what we're singing and what we're sharing. If you were to go back in time and talk to a younger version of yourself where would you be? How old would she be? And what you talk to her about? Or what kind of things would you, what kind of questions would you ask her?
Overcoming Self-Doubt and Embracing Failure
Rosi: It's so hard not to measure yourself by what awards you get or don't get and what money you're making. I recall probably a good seven or eight years into being a full-time musician that I questioned if I'm working this hard and people seem to like us, but we're only making this much money and we're still unable to put money away, it must be because I'm not a good enough business manager. It must be that I'm not asking for enough money.
It must be that, you know, other people must be doing a better job at this than me in terms of the administration. Or maybe I'm just not as good a singer as I've tried to be or thought I could be, or maybe our arrangements aren't as juicy as other people's. I just questioned so many things and it never stopped us from performing, but, I just thought, wow, this is something that I've poured my heart and soul into and all of my energy, all of my life energy, and I'm still not making it in a sustainable way. And what I'd say is that's because it's the nature of the beast.
And very few people are able to make it sustainable. That is why so many of us need other jobs because it's too hard. And I was so determined You know, like I kept thinking we're gonna manifest this. But no amount of manifesting it really worked until I changed careers so that I could have a more sustainable life.
But I didn't know that at the time, and I kept thinking, it must be that we're not good enough, you know? And we didn't wanna turn to be commercial. Like we had people advising us, well, you could be more commercial and do this. And that was not who we were. So we were always saying no to that, you know? And I don't regret that.
We stayed true to who we are and what we do. And if it's a small circle of people that we impact, so be it. But we know that we're affecting people in a positive way. We know that what we've done counts. But at that time in my life I, I wondered, you know, I, I questioned it so much. And now looking back, yeah, it's because I, we chose something really, really, really hard and did our absolute best to do as much as we could to make it work.
I am so grateful now. I, I actually don't regret anything because I feel that everything that has happened before, all of my failures, all of my scarcity thinking, everything that it took me a while to work on with the help of a therapist and other colleagues, you know. It, it all happened because it was part of my journey. I needed to learn all those things so that I could overcome them and then realize and have self-compassion.
Valerie: Yeah.
Rosi: You know, I was not being very self-compassionate. I didn't know any better. And I also, I didn't have any mentors that time.
The Role of Mentors in Musical Journey
Rosi: And that is one of the reasons why I so love being a mentor to other people, other singers, other voice actors, other young people because people need to know that it's, it's really hard. You need to be really committed. And you need to kind of keep those negative thoughts away from you and find mentors, find mentors who are positive and who help you to look at life in a balanced way and understand and be realistic, you know.
I feel so grateful that I've gotten to the point where I can do music. You know my aspirations are not Carnegie Hall anymore, and that's okay. I have different aspirations. I want to connect with people in venues where people come and sit and listen, not where you're the background music, you know? So, I'm really clear now on what I want, and it's because I learned in the past what did not work and what I was doing just to make money. I don't have to do that anymore.
And I found a way in my life to create the situation where I can prosper doing what I love in my way, in the way that I choose. And I absolutely adore singing. It's still at the center of my life. And I will never stop, knock on wood!
Valerie: No it's, really a good thing to remind people I think that failure is the precursor to having that clarity.
Rosi: Yes, absolutely.
Valerie: You have to fail so many times. If I could just go back in time and talk to myself, that's one of the things I would say, don't be afraid to fail. You're gonna fail a lot. But I don't know. I don't know if you can know that until you've experienced it enough times and gotten up and lived again.
Rosi: It's true.
Valerie: That's why I love the end of this piece by David Whyte, because, uh, let's see, "We find that all along, what we had needed from the beginning, and that in the end we have returned to its essence, an essence we could not understand until we had experienced the actual heartbreak of the journey."
Don't you feel that's just like...
Rosi: Yes, it encapsulates encapsulates it so well.
Valerie: It does! For me this season of life is about and I, I wonder if it is for you that sort of coming to a place where you can see that, oh, the heartbreak was the part of it that actually was the jewel.
Rosi: It's true.
Valerie: One of the jewels. Obviously joy is the other one, and awe, and connection, and community, and all those other pieces. But,
Rosi: Right.
Valerie: But part of it is that you get through the heartbreak and then you're on the other side appreciating all the other stuff even more.
Rosi: Exactly. Exactly. Overwhelming gratitude. Having gotten through it. What you learned. What you now know.
Valerie: Yes. And can hopefully pass on to others like you're doing.
Rosi: Exactly.
Valerie: Yes. That makes it even more worthwhile, so..
Well, thank you, Rosi for all your time and for sharing your stories and your life with us.
Rosi: Oh, thank you. Thank you, Valerie. No, I really appreciate this and, it's been a lot of fun and I'm honored really. I'm, I'm very touched that you wanted to share my story.
Valerie: It's a wonderful story.
Hey, thanks for listening to this episode of Living A Vocal Life. And remember if you have any burning questions or comments, feel free to connect with me via Podcast Inbox. Simply visit the, ask me anything section podcastinbox.com/livingavocallife. You can also find the link in today's show notes.
Additionally in today's show notes you'll find a link to this episode on my website, livingavocallife.com. There, you can learn more about Rosi, listen to her music, and connect with her through her website or social media.
All of these links are also available in the show notes on your favorite podcast app. Until next time be well and keep on singing.