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

Kyulee, appreciate you joining us today. Can you take us back in time to the first dollar you earned as a creative – how did it happen? What’s the story?

I earned my first dollar as a musician when I was 19, I was performing around Seoul as a singer/song writer. I started performing unpaid, but I was still happy about that I can share my music with other people as I’ve always wanted to do. Also, I was able to be connected with some owners at different venues and other musicians while performing around. One thing led to another, I got a called from an owner of a bar one day and he asked me to perform for their opening night. That was how I made money as a musician for the first time. Afterwards, I started making more money by releasing songs, writing lyrics, composing & arranging music for the media, recording songs, teaching music, and etc.

Kyulee, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a musician and audio engineer based in LA from Seoul, South Korea. I’ve always loved singing and playing instruments since I can remember. I wanted to share my feelings through my music and lyrics with other people, so I started my music career as a singer/song writer. I was so thrilled when I first released my songs and performed around. However, I still felt I was missing something. I still wondered how I can fit in this music industry the most. Meanwhile, one of my friends offered me to write music for documentaries. I wasn’t sure if I could do it or not because I wasn’t a classically trained composer and it was something that I’ve never thought about it. However, I am a person who always say yes to new opportunities and I did it! I think it’s one of the best decisions I’ve made. It was opening a new chapter of my musical journey. I found my passion in writing music for the media and wanted to study more about it.

Afterwards, I moved to US to study film scoring at Berklee College of Music. After the graduation, I relocated to LA where is the prime location for the media industry. It wasn’t easy at all to step into the industry at first, but I kept trying to put myself out of my comfort zone. That allowed me to meet amazing musicians and I got chances to work on movies and TV shows such as The Woman King, The Eight, The L Words, as an orchestrator & copyist. Now I’m also working as an Audio Engineer at a dubbing studio. Some of the projects I worked on were placed on TOP 10 global charts on Netflix! Now I write music and engineer audio more than singing, but it doesn’t mean that I don’t have a passion for it! I still sing occasionally and release songs time to time. My latest single, Sugarholic, came out last year.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I felt rewarded when I see the projects I worked on are successful! Some of the projects got nominated and awarded at named awards. For examples, The Eight (worked on as an orchestrator/copyist) won the best soundtrack (foreign language) at HMMA Awards, The Woman King (worked on as a copyist) was an immediate box-office success, and The L Word: Generation Q (worked on as an orchestrator) was nominated for Outstanding Original Music And Lyrics at The EMMYS awards. Also, The Glory and Mother’s Day (worked as an audio engineer) was on TOP 10 on Netflix!

Moreover, people posts my songs as background music on social media and that’s how one of the ways that I know my songs are listened to by people and they’re loving it! Someone once posted a video of her pole dancing with my song. I was really surprised to see it because I didn’t expect people would dance with my song!

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

I consider my creative career as a way to find my own meaning of art to me. I consistently ask myself what is a true art, what qualifies to be a true artist, and etc. I haven’t found my own answer yet and I cannot wait to meet myself with my own meaning and reason in the future!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kyulee.choi/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kyulee.choi/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyulee-choi-79b630197/
• Other: https://play.reelcrafter.com/FFeZU1yIR9GiMpviWWa5KA