Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Chantel Nicole. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Chantel, 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?

This should be an easy question to answer, but it’s not for me these days. I find myself contemplating, “What would I be doing if I had a regular job?” quite often.

A few years ago, when I decided to truly dedicate my time and money to music, I knew that a great deal of sacrifice would be necessary. I would need to work a lot to save money for my project and forfeit vacations, and other luxuries. I focused only on my goal of finding and completing the songs I now have on my upcoming album, Chroma.

Of course, it’s good to find a work-life balance, but for me, as an independent artist, it’s often a matter of “go hard or go home,” especially without a team. All that being said, I do not regret my decision to stay dedicated to my craft. However, I wonder would my love life, finances, etc have been better had I not decided to make music.

Even now, with the release of Chroma upon us, I wonder “Now what?”

The answer, for now, is: to keep working on music, keep hosting the shows, and create content until it truly doesn’t make me happy. Regular is not quite a part of my vocabulary and I plan to keep it that way. With or without music.

Chantel, 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?

Hello, my name is Chantel Nicole and I am your bop princess!

I was a former backup dancer for other singers, and now the side character has her own spinoff show! Or, at least that’s what I like to tell people when they want to know my background.

I sing, dance, act, creative direct, and even event plan. I’d like for my main role to be recording artist and songwriter, but due to my lack of a team, I have taken on the title of many different positions. this has made me quite a well-equipped and self-sufficient artist.

Because of my extensive experience, I have been able to participate in different productions and events. I have won 3 Pop Smash awards for my song “Here I Am.” (Best Pop Song Female, Best Pop, Best Music Video, I was part of an Emmy award-winning play, and I am a brand ambassador for a Korean lifestyle company and have also made guest appearances in Korean media. I’ve done quite of bit of different things

When people find me I want them to say I want her to write me a song or I want to feature on a song or I want her to perform in my show.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

My social media was built off the back of my personality, honestly. While doing some background work, I signed up for some online shows for Seventeen Magazine, Bustle, etc. During my appearances, I let my personality shine as much as I could. I was cringe-y, charming, and funny and it was all caught on camera!

As of a year ago, I also have learned more about hosting music shows. I host two shows CCTV: The Nonstop Pop Show and Live from Next Sound Studio and people have found my page because of the emceeing!

On occasion, I may do some influencing and posts about where to go and what to do in NYC, but that’s not my main source of building an audience.

My advice to others is to make content for sure! Be consistent, but also know what it is that you offer your audience. Know your niche and cater to them! And if you can manage to incorporate your art into the content creation, then you will hit a sweet spot!

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

I think a lot of people believe that creatives are not working. People believe that we are being lazy and that we have it easy because we don’t dedicate our time to a 9-to-5. For a lot of creatives, we are working beyond 40 hours a week, with no 401k or retirement savings even being a factor in our financial planning. A lot of us are living week to week hoping that that “one break” will change our lives.

For the past 4 years, I’ve had random gigs (e.g. mascot, flyer girl, background actress, etc), taught English online for a total of 70,000 minutes to students from all over the world, and have sold personal items to make ends meet.

Finding a balance between bill paying and dream following is difficult and because what we do is a passion, some of us have a hard time asking for help when we are the ones who put ourselves in this situation.

Being creative is a lonely journey at times, especially, during the “moving in silence” part. A lot of people only see the results and don’t see the folks behind the curtain putting on their best show.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://chantelnicole.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ms.chantelnicole/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ms.chantelnicole/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/mschantelnicole
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/chantelnicole