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

Alexandria, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

Like many at an early age, I always knew I had it in me naturally when I started out in performing arts. I was so advanced, skipping beginner level classes across many genres and techniques of dance. I had a visually eclectic and curious mind that I didn’t have to question that dancing challenged and gave me a yes of acceptance as a very shy human-being. I didn’t need to talk to be understood, but practice the craft to communicate my expressions and movements to music that was enough for me. I later continued in my teens following my love for music, taking piano lessons, learning about music production/producers, turntablism, exploring various genres and music scenes. Being from the Midwest, I didn’t realize until I went to study Biology in college how much my personal creative development was a big influence to my identity that I could pursue professionally. I had one of the toughest and lowest times of my life finishing school, but music and starting my record collecting journey saved me throughout those trying times. It was not until I moved to Los Angeles where I had the full circle understanding of my purpose. I was able to grow in all areas of my life and be openly uncomfortable in my creative journey. Taking acting classes, DJ lessons at the Beat Junkies Institute of Sound, being a signed Model/Commercial Actor and freelancing as a creative projects consultant allowed me to develop my confidence and public speaking substantially. My experiences living in LA was all I needed to create my blog and media platform, Glow of Sunrise which developed into my passion project, Black Girls Love Vinyl.

Alexandria, 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’m a tastemaker and creative curator from the Northside of St.Louis, MO that takes pride in my futuristic, ideation and relator strengths in a focus to highlight underrepresented black women and girls like myself with a love and passion for all things music extending into a niche and hobby of being a record collector through storytelling. Not limited to one focus, I’m passionated about assisting upcoming music creators through sharing my knowledge, music suggestions and resources to develop new audiences while making the connection through working in the music industry in the world of sync bridging music and visual media together. I started Glow of Sunrise in 2017 to highlight these interests through record collecting, playlists and a series called, “Vibrant about my Vinyl” diving into personal collections of all collectors while I was freelancing, modeling and working in sales. In 2018, Black Girls Love Vinyl was created starting as a website blog series, “Collector of the Week” and now a growing social platform hosting live sessions of looking into personal record collections of black women of all backgrounds. In 2021, I released logo branded merch such as t-shirts and limited edition totes to supporters and those in the vinyl community to represent and spark conversations in their day-to-day, but also while out diggin’ at record shops. I’m most proud of creating a gem of a space for black women to feel comfortable and share their music taste confidently in a very male opinionated space and topic. I always knew their were many women that look like me and came before me who immensely love music just as much as I do. Creating this space was is very special and sacred to everything I am and my purpose. My mission is to expand this project by obtaining sponsors & partnerships for traveling events – hosting destination retreats for and record crawls all over the world, meetups to influence, celebrate and educate our contributions as essential consumers to music sales supporting musicians/creators for the love of music utilizing spaces of listening bars and record shops to enhance these experiences. Seeking to extend my storytelling efforts, I desire to create a documentary, collab with music brands and record shops, donate records to programming efforts in elementary schools and their libraries and more in which we are taking donations for these project initiatives to happen here: https://linktr.ee/blackgirlslovevinyl.

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

The best support to artists and creatives are sharing and reposting their work when it comes across your feed. I understand we all don’t have the financial means to support sometimes, but if you believe in their work in anyway it’s so effortless to share articles like this and repost from their platforms to your network and social platforms the way it’s setup on our devices. It doesn’t require money to do so and less than 1min of your time to do so as well. Always share it goes a long way more than you know and is very much appreciated on our end.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect to being a creative is always being a student in the field and exposing yourself to what is viewed as “impossible” to others, showing that it’s indeed possible. I’m always amazed at the freedom to challenge my ideas and interests through research & development, conversations with peers who can relate to those tough times and provide useful insights from their experiences and exploring new hobby interests like going to symphony orchestras and classic car shows which makes you feel less alone. There’s valuable growth gained to all aspects of your life by just showing up as YOU everyday in it. I love being unconventional in this space even at the moments where its seems unfit for current goals because I know its realistic for later use in growing the business – the perk of being futuristic. For most of my life, even now I see people attempt to box me into a singular niche and place limitations on my efforts and I just love how that frustrates me to be positive, keep going and confirm that I was made to be on this path.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/blackgirlslovevinyl
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/blackgirlslovevinyl/

Image Credits
Natalie Estess Kasey Stokes Freeman McGaw