We recently connected with Dana Langford and have shared our conversation below.

Dana, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

My parents have offered constant support and encouragement for my creative endeavors throughout my life, including my cross-country move to Los Angeles after college to pursue a career in the entertainment industry. I remember pulling out of my hometown driveway and looking in my rearview mirror to see my parents holding each other tight and waving enthusiastically to send me on my way. When I had so-called failures, my dad would lovingly remind me, “Experience is learning what not to do.” Early in my career, I worked on a movie with TV icon Katherine Helmond, Mona from “Who’s The Boss?”. On the last day of filming, I drove her home and she asked a favor of me. She told me to call my parents and tell them they’d done an amazing job raising me. It’s one of the most beautiful things anyone has ever said to me and a true testament to my parents influence on my life.

Dana, 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?

I grew up in Louisiana, which encouraged my passion for storytelling, music, eating delicious food, and living a big, joyful life. I started writing haiku poetry when I was just a kid, enthralled by the way just a few words could hold an entire world. My secret dream was to be a songwriter, but my attention shifted because I fell in love with other areas of the arts. I studied performing arts and theatre in college, then moved to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the entertainment industry. Like many people when they get to L.A., I needed a job to pay the bills so I started working at a TV production company and soon found work behind the camera to be much more rewarding for me. I love docu-reality TV and helping people tell their stories. I’ve had a successful two-decade career as a producer, but my artistic energy changed again and I began exploring other creative avenues. I found myself once again dreaming about songwriting. My life experience led me back to where I started. I’ve been writing song lyrics ever since.

Have you ever had to pivot?

I’ve been very fortunate to have a long-running career as a freelance documentary-reality TV producer. Over the past few years, the industry has really changed. Budgets have been cut, there are fewer jobs and a lot of people in the industry are looking for work or have left the industry altogether. Because of this industry shift, I decided to pivot and pursue my lifelong dream of songwriting. Because writing is such a stable career, right?! But when your heart tells you what to do, you have to listen! One of my favorite parts of TV producing is helping other people share their stories. By pivoting to songwriting, I now have the chance to share my own. I didn’t see the career pivot coming, but I’m so grateful it happened. The industry shift allowed me to slow down and opened the door to a really fun and meaningful new chapter of my life I might not have stepped into otherwise.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

The driving mission behind my creative journey is connection. I want people to feel seen, heard and valued. That’s what we all need and deserve. So many of us struggle with feeling alone, different or unloved. I want to hold safe space for people from all walks of life to share their stories and feel connected. My goal with my songwriting is to write lyrics from my own experiences that people can relate to. I want people to feel true familiarity and non-judgment when they hear one of my songs being sung. I want everyone to know they have a story worth telling and a song worth singing.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.danalangfordmusic.com