We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ashley Orlando a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

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

Everything we go through in life serves a greater purpose. Whether we find that purpose depends mostly on how we look at our past experiences and overall perspective.

Sure, sometimes I wish I’d learned how to sing jazz as a kid, or that I hadn’t quit piano, or that I’d picked up the ukulele in my teen years rather than as an adult. But it’s also clear to me that everything I learned outside of music in my early years helped shape me into the well-rounded musician and creative I am today.

Learning to speak French and connect to my heritage gave me opportunities to travel the world and work in France. Now I’m incredibly proud to regularly bring the French language and culture into my shows and performances wherever I go.

Earning a bachelor’s degree in public relations serves me daily as an independent artist who needs to know how to promote herself.

All the social media accounts I ran and the community-building leadership skills I developed while working for cultural nonprofits taught me the basics of getting the word out about events and building community around my artistry.

It sometimes seemed messy in the moment, but I love looking back now and seeing the thread that connects everything I have done so far.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

In a nutshell, I am a vocalist, an ukulele artist, and a joyologist–I connect people to joy in their lives through music.

And I love helping them celebrate treasured life moments by providing an elegant and uplifting soundtrack, whether solo (vocal/ukulele) or with a full-band, to tie their whole event together.

As a kid I was classically trained in voice. At the same time, I fell in love with the creativity and playfulness of jazz. But it wasn’t until I traded the comfort of my native Louisiana for a taste of adventure in Europe and discovered the unusual power of the ukulele to make people smile that I started exploring jazz.

Today I love calling back to the glamorous eras when jazz standards flowed live into homes from big-city studios and grand hotels. I pay homage to the Great American Songbook while also bringing a fresh, contemporary twist to traditional jazz, swing standards, French chanson, and jazz standards.

On any given week you can find me singing for a wedding ceremony, headlining a full-band show at my local theater, or providing an elegant solo soundtrack for a private party.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

In our overloaded digital world today, artists and musicians are ALWAYS appreciative of your support, whether that’s attending our shows, purchasing merchandise, or sharing our music with your friends. Even commenting on and liking posts on social media can help!

We live in a pretty open playing field, which is great in some ways, and yet it can be harder for independent artists to stay afloat above the constant flow of information. AI is another new world that is here and already starting to turn our industry upside down, so thank you for supporting live, human-made music in whatever ways you can!

If you happen to be in south Louisiana, please join me for my next full band show, “Passport to Paradise,” on Thursday, Nov. 20, at 7:30pm at the Manship Theatre’s Hartley/Vey Studio in Downtown Baton Rouge. This will be a fabulously retro night of joy, jazz and jet-setting through the 1920s-1960s! Tickets are available at https://www.manshiptheatre.org/.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

The biggest lesson I ever had to unlearn was that it is possible to have both a growth mindset AND have a fixed mindset at the same time.

You see, for years I had a growth mindset in MOST aspects of my life–earning my college degree; becoming fluent in French; fulfilling my dream to work abroad. But at the same time, I had pushed my musical dreams into the closet because they were too tied up in my personal identity–I had been considered “gifted” musically as a kid. It was a part of my identity and was connected to just about every extracurricular activity I did until college. So if I tried to make a career of music and failed, I told myself it would cut too deeply–hurt too much.

I had to learn how to take the pressure off myself/my talent and HAVE FUN again with music to break that negative mental cycle and start growing again. Thank goodness for the ukulele, which turned out to be the low-pressure, “FUN” key that I needed!

Now I’m a Kanile’a Ukulele Artist and love helping others realize new ways they can connect with music, especially through the gateway of the ukulele. I also teach ukulele song tutorials online for RockClass101.com.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.ashleyorlando.com/#/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ashleyorlandomusic
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ashleyorlandomusic/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleyherrickorlando/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/AshleyOrlando
• Other: BandsInTown: https://www.bandsintown.com/a/15528624?came_from=250&utm_medium=web&utm_source=artist_explorer_page&utm_campaign=artist

Image Credits

Ingrid Nacole Photography