We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tamera LaShawn. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tamera below.

Tamera, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you wish you had started sooner?

As I thought about this question, I could only think about how I would have loved to have started my career sooner but as I reflected I realized how unprepared I would have been then. My career didn’t officially start until late 2019 and there was no better time for that. Life has this wonderful thing called “lessons” and while I am still learning valuable lessons, there were important ones that I needed to learn before I took that next step. Among those lessons was commitment and passion. To be fully dedicated to something and to want it so much that you can’t be detoured from it. That isn’t something that I had always focused on prior and only committed to short term life goals or doing things in the moment. Life and people in life showed me the value of taking a leap to try something that is important to self, so I did and it’s not easy. One thing that I can say is that giving up is not an option and I had to learn that through time. So no, I do not wish that I had started my creative career sooner. I started at the right moment and that the time that God had planned for me.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

Of course! My name is Tamera LaShawn. I am a Neo-Jazz artist from California. When you see Neo-Jazz you’re probably wondering what that it is and what am I talking about and I would love to explain it to you. When it comes to genres of music Neo-soul is my first love and Jazz is my second and I have a style of singing that fits perfectly in between the two so instead of choosing I combined them into one creating a new genre, “Neo-Jazz”. I started singing at the age of 4 and I was at that age where my family was trying to discover if I could really sing or not. Since my dad was an amazing singer I think it was safe to assume yes at the time, they assumed right. I spent a lot of time in church choir and developed so much throughout the years. In 2004 I stumbled upon the world of TV/Film but of course my main targeted roles were where I could use my voice such as, “Annie” the musical, “Hip Hop Harry” the TV series and countless others. This was a fun time in my life but TV/Film was not my passion so I made my exit shortly after starting high school. In high school I became apart of the show choir for all 4 years where I had so many opportunities to sing, develop and gain control of my voice. These were some of the best years of my life and as much as I wanted to continue I became lost with music after high school but I continued to sing in church.

It took me 7 long years before I started my musical journey again. This time a personal journey and one where I owed so much to myself. I did a lot of self-reflection and reassurance, almost to make sure that this was what I wanted because once I started, there was no turning back. So I did it, I started and since my journey began I have made changes and adjustments but I haven’t quit because that is not an option. I have been blessed to book many shows and have collaborated with some amazing people. In mid 2023 I obtained my LLC and am working towards some really amazing things that I would love for everyone to be apart of.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Artists put in so much time when we are creating because our goal is to deliver some of our best projects. As an independent artist, the work that I create is bigger than just myself, its universal. Regardless of the path that you’re on as an artist, we all want the same thing and that is for others to value what we do which is one of the biggest forms of support.

I look at support in so many different ways and it doesn’t always have to be supporting financially, you can support by vocalizing your interests in my work, engaging in my socials, sharing my work with others, streaming my music or attending a show. I am sure that there are other forms that I didn’t mention. When artists feel that support it adds on top of the encouragement that we already had to keep going because we know that someone is waiting for it.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

When I am blessed to grace the stage and share my gift, I am humbled to be able to see how others respond to what I do. I find it admirable when I get to connect with others about my art and about theirs. Performing also puts me in a space with other talented artists that I have a chance to collaborate with along their creative journey. I have been blessed with opportunities that allow me to use my art to perform, create and express my true self and there is no better feeling than that. Being able to just be me and tell stories in another form that can heal people around the world is why I never want to stop and that is what makes all of this rewarding and well worth it.

I am currently working on two amazing projects that I cannot wait to share with the world.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/tameralashawn
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/tameralashawn?utm_source=qr
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@tameralashawn3506?si=Boe2rjjh94BDirwd