We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful 6ixolina. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with 6ixolina below.

6ixolina, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

The first time I realized I wanted to pursue a creative path professionally was as a child. I dreamt of becoming a high-end fashion designer, creating statement pieces that would steal the runway and spark conversations for years to come. I spent countless hours sketching concepts in my journals and watching competition shows such as America’s Next Top Model. One of my favorite pastimes was visiting the fabric store, where I envisioned crafting my own wardrobe. However, I soon learned that everything comes with a price. Many of my classmates were enrolled in expensive sewing classes, which my frugal parents were not keen on funding. Still, my dream persisted. After years of begging and pleading, one Christmas, I was finally gifted a sewing machine of my own. Instead of renting someone else’s equipment, I now had tools that belonged to me. While I no longer design clothing, this experience taught me that good things take time and that sometimes we receive what we truly need rather than what we think we want.

As life went on, distractions pulled me away from my creative aspirations, and slowly this dream was set aside. Focused heavily on academics and navigating my adolescent social life, I lost sight of how essential creativity was to my spirit. When I entered college as a business major, art was one of the last things on my mind. After enduring a semester of lectures and spreadsheets, I decided it was time to reevaluate my relationship with creativity. By the second semester of my freshman year, I switched to graphic design. However, discouraged by grouchy professors and futile historical analyses, I realized I needed to take matters into my own hands. I changed majors yet again, choosing to pursue my dreams independently because art feels more meaningful without a grade attached.
Deep down, I’ve always known that I was meant to create professionally. It was only a matter of time, and learning to block out the distractions of the world in order to reconnect with myself.

6ixolina, 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?

6ixolina. Derived from the essence of the water spirits of the Carolina Coast, I lead with a deep reverence for those who lived and died before me. As a spiritualist, astrologer, and occultist, I use sound waves as a means to express myself and uplift the collective consciousness. I am a creative above all, but at this point in my journey, I am focused on creating music as medicine.

I believe that much of popular media today is plagued by entities who lead with bad intentions. I intend to flip the script and motivate my listeners to think for themselves, rather than subscribing to any preconceived beliefs assigned to them. Growing up in the church, I watched as my peers fled in droves due to feelings of judgment. While almost all of my music is explicit, I constantly reference the works of God in my own life. Everyone’s relationship with The Creator looks a little bit different and that’s what makes it so special. I share with the world that no matter what you call The Most High, Source loves you for who you are.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I am driven by my love for my community, specifically the young people who look up to me. When I was an adolescent, much of the music I listened to contributed to my destruction. Themes of substance abuse, violence, and sexual immorality plagued my subconscious for years, leading to some really bad decision-making. I believe in being the difference that you want to see, so I started making music with the intention of broadcasting a more positive message.

As a former educator and a lifelong big sister / auntie, I do much of my work from the ground up. I take the time to speak life into the young people all around me, offering encouragement and cautionary tales. I show them that they are not alone in any predicament they may be facing and that hard times don’t last. My art is a testimony to the work that God has done in my life and an offering of encouragement to anyone who may be walking through the dark woods that I’ve survived. I’m still rather young myself, so if my work can inspire those older than me, I think that too is a beautiful thing.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I think that non-creatives struggle to understand that they are, in fact, creatives. If you can turn thoughts into sentences, ingredients into a meal, or joy into laughter, you are a creative. We often gravitate towards binaries and divisions, forgetting that we are all human. Creation is a key aspect of the human spirit. Whether you majored in STEM, the arts, or didn’t complete a degree program at all, we have more in common than we would often like to admit. Mainstream society often tries to tell “creatives” that art is a hobby and nothing more. In reality, creation is what gives us life.

In addition to this, I think that from the outside looking in, it may seem that the artists in your life are wandering aimlessly. I can assure you, not all who wander are lost. A key part of the creative process is surrendering to something larger than yourself. It is likely that this is what you are observing. All I ask is that you give us a little grace and allow us to blossom into the multifaceted beings that we are designed to be.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/6ixolina

Image Credits

@_shotby7