This event is sponsored by Finessed Media, Inc. and hosted by Jordan Steele.
Are you an artist with many passions, even outside of music? Do you want to know how you, as an artist, can delve into those passions while maintaining and growing your music career?
This weekend, we are joined by 3 unapologetic and talented artist-entrepreneurs: Elise Solberg, Amira Daugherty, and Leanne "L-Stringz" Holmes.
Our three speakers have worked with the likes of ChloexHalle, 2Chainz, 50 Cent, and have performed on various prestigious music award and talent shows. They each also are founders of their own businesses that are making waves inside and outside of the music industry.
We will be discussing how you as an artist can be not only an artist, but anything else you want to be! As a creative, you often have many ideas and passions that you would like to pursue - we are here to tell you that YOU CAN TOTALLY DO THAT! If you are hoping to learn how to embrace and act upon your multifaceted mindset to achieve any and all of your goals as an artist AND an entrepreneur, an activist, a teacher, a touring guitarist, an actor, a celebrity chef, an astronaut, literally anything else you want to be, then this event is for YOU.
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LISTENING SESSION
The event will be concluded with our weekly listening session. 6-8 artists will have a chance to play their music in front of a live audience and will receive constructive criticism from our speakers.
To be considered for music play in the listening session, artists must purchase a SUBMISSION REVIEW ticket and submit one song LINK (preferably Spotify) by Friday 8/20 at 5pm ET with subject line "SATURDAY SUBMISSION" to info@finessed.media.
Our team will screen your music for relevancy to audience, quality, and how beneficial the feedback will be. If your submission is not accepted, you will receive a full refund. Submissions that are accepted will have 1:30 to 2 min of their song played in front of the audience.
Must be a Finessed Media VIP Career Development member or purchase a SUBMISSION REVIEW ticket for consideration.
Obtain membership here.
Songs will be reviewed before the listening session and your purchase will be refunded if the song is not accepted.
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Agenda:
12 - 12:10pm ET Introductions
12:10 - 12:45pm ET Interview with Elise Solberg, Amira Daugherty, and L-Stringz
12:45 - 1pm ET Live Q+A with Zoom Audience
1 - 1:30pm ET Networking & Listening Session
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Elise Solberg is a pianist, songwriter, producer and composer based in Los Angeles, CA. She is an experienced and versatile performer in multiple styles of music, including pop, R&B, rock, classical, and jazz. Elise has performed with 5x GRAMMY nominated artist Chloe x Halle at the MTV Movie & TV Awards, NPR's Tiny Desk concert, James Corden's Late Late Show, Pepsi's Unmute Your Voice Concert, Spotify's Grammy Party for Best New Artist Nominees, the Verizon Up Concert at the Wiltern and more. She has made appearances as a pianist on major network TV shows such as The Kids Are Alright on ABC and The Unicorn on CBS. She has performed as a piano concerto soloist with orchestras such as the Breckenridge Festival Orchestra.
Her strong passion for many styles of music was noticed by mentor Patrice Rushen, whom Elise studied with at Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California. Joining the critically acclaimed Popular Music program, Elise received the best education for performance, writing, arranging, production, and musical direction she could ever ask for. In March of 2018, Elise received the Finalist prize in the John Lennon Songwriting Contest for her original song, "Home." In 2020, she became a prize-winner of Shed House Live's "Hope Is Contagious Contest," for her original song, "Mama Said." Later that year, Elise performed for the 20th Anniversary Celebration of the Library of Congress' Veterans History Project.
She is also the Founder and Executive Director of Turn Up Her Mic, a non-profit organization empowering and educating female musicians. Elise graduated from USC summa cum laude in May of 2018.
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Amira Daugherty (a.k.a. Amira and Amira Unplugged) knows what it means to stand out. As a Black Muslim woman living with single-sided deafness, her life has been filled with moments wherein she was made to feel like the "other". It was at the age of four that she discovered a way to connect with those around her: singing. After giving an impromptu performance of the song "I Want a Mom" from the Rugrats Movie to her Pre-Kindergarten class, she realized something: music helps people feel a connection that is higher than the identities we live with, even if it is only for three or four minutes at a time. From that moment on, Amira has honed her craft with her father, who is also a singer/songwriter, by using her voice to sing songs of hope, inspiration, and triumph that help unite us on a human level. Further, she ensures that in her original work, she creates such strong patterns and vibrations that other hearing- impaired/ deaf people can experience her songs. She strongly believes music should transcend culture, language, and ability.
Amira also uses her singing, rapping, and spoken word to help raise awareness and funding for various causes. She holds a B.A. in Political Science and Music from Agnes Scott College, and an A.S. in Criminal Justice from Georgia State University. She currently serves as Co-Founder and Director of WE Collective, an organization that strives to uplift the voices of people of color as they build community with one another. She currently serves as a board member of the Muslim Writers Collective of Atlanta, an organization that encourages all creatives in Atlanta to come together and find common ground through creativity. She was recently selected as a contestant on a popular television competition (name withheld until release), and will be the first hearing-impaired person to compete. Amira also recently won the PBS "Celebration of Music" Competition, and was set to represent Georgia for the National Showcase in Los Angeles. However, due to the COVID-19 crisis, many of her in-person gigs and competitions have been postponed. She is currently using her platforms to share songs of hope with her followers during this time. No matter what role she is serving in, Amira always comes back to her musical roots, finding a way to uplift the spirits of those working to make life better for us all.
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Leanne "L-Stringz" Holmes is a Hip-Hop/RnB violinist from Atlanta, GA. Classically, trained for 13 years, L-Stringz has performed for and with some of the top venues/artists to date including: The Atlanta Hawks, The Atlanta Dream, The Harlem Globetrotters, Honda Battle of the Bands, 2Chainz, 50 Cent, and joined the Illharmonic Orchestra in 2017. Additionally, L-Stringz has been featured on Married to Medicine Season 5 “Mama Drama” and featured on the Season 3 finale episode of “STAR” on Fox “When the Levee Breaks”. Outside of her performing, L-Stringz also has her own Music Academy for those wanting to learn string instruments. You can follow L-Stringz on Instagram @L.Stringz and subscribe to her YouTube Channel, L-Stringz, for performance and musical posts.