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

Waverly, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

I’ve been thinking a lot about Balance recently. I’m in music, so maybe we’ll call it Harmony. Harmony between work and life; between work and creative; between business and art; between vision and time to execute; and most recently, the balance between the craft being life-giving and life-taking.

It’s the end of the year so we’re very much in a reflection period, and this year was an insane step in all the right directions for myself, my art, and my business: finishing our first year as an Asian American music label, building a team of 15 all minority creatives, playing our first music festivals – so many highlights. With all the wins I’m also feeling a lot of the weight that it took to make it that far that fast settle in from the entire year, which is grounding in a way.

I’m grateful that I have built something that I can pour my entire self and more into, even if it feels life-taking at times. At the end of the day, there’s literally nothing else I could be doing that feeds back into me. There’s no option for a “regular job” that would be life-giving in any way, so I am very blessed to be where I am, building alongside a team of creatives who all want to push everyone to be their best.

Waverly, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is waverly (he/him), and I am the founder of mHart – Austin’s first and only Asian American music label with a mission to showcase and validate the Asian American experience in music and media. We are a team of 15 minorities supporting the voice of 2 femme Asian Americans – Filipina American Pop/Singer-Songwriter francene rouelle & Vietnamese American Pop/Rap Artist promqueen. Launching both artists and the label itself all in the last 2 years, we are constantly trying to push the boundaries on how to develop artists from scratch.

It’d be easy to say I’m most proud being invited to have our artists perform at major music festivals (ACL 2024), but I am most proud of the ecosystem our team is developing into. We have cultivated a safe space for minorities and women to express themselves and be heard, a feeling I unfortunately have rarely been able to experience in the music scene til now. My biggest wins are when I see we were able to help someone reach a new potential or be empowered to push a talent further than they thought they could.

In that realm, what sets us apart from other organizations in the music industry is that out of the 15 creatives on the team, only 3 have any music business background. The intention from the beginning was to find creatives that were exceptionally talented in their own field but had never had the chance to put it in a music setting (ie. a talented dancer who had never had an on stage role with an artist, etc). Our commitment to develop the whole team’s skillsets – not just the artist’s – is a trait I admire in ourselves and want to carry forward forever.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

ChatGPT genuinely has taught me so so much. I think it’s one of the tools where the more you put in, the more you can get out. It definitely took some learning of what are the most effective ways to communicate with it, but I’ve learned the more details and specifics you can provide, the more you can utilize it across so many parts of the business. I’ve utilized ChatGPT to write code for websites & notion automations, source and build contact lists, help distribute roles and tasks across a team, and to give direct feedback for pitch decks and other communications. 10/10 recommend. Get the Pro.

Another great resource was Jayhoovy on Youtube – his interview with Graham Weaver was super helpful in getting in the right mindset to approach learning and tackling business world, and he’s got a great attitude to teach.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Genuinely it is the ability to change lives. From a management standpoint, I’m in a position to provide creatives opportunities they have never had before. So many team members have given feedback that they never they would or could be where they are now, and that is unbelievably rewarding.

As a storyteller, we’re making art for a historically underrepresented group in media – Asian Americans. Whether it be promqueen blending Vietnamese and English in her lyrics or francene painting the picture of a modern filipina-american life, we’re finding an audience that can pick and choose parts of the artist’s stories and make it their own as a listener. I’m honored, grateful, and very cognizant of the position we as a label are in within our community and culture.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://mhart.media
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/mhart.media
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/104873094/admin/dashboard/

Image Credits

@tylahblaize @capturedbytang @lexy_elder @wonderjoyphotobooth @limpatricia97