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

Alright, Carmynn thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with 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?

Before I actually got a job as a singer, I would perform weekly at Don’t Tell Mama, a local piano/open mic bar. My first dollar ever earned as a singer was a five dollar bill given to me by a man in the audience who had cried and told me that my song touched him. He told me a bit about his life at the time, and gave me five dollars as an expression of gratitude for my voice. It was this gesture, among others, that motivated me to pursue a creative career. I still have that five dollars inside of a “manifestation box.”

Carmynn, 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?

My current creative pursuits combine my history as a mental health professional with my creative career. I write and perform music, inspired by life lessons and experiences that are relatable. In my weekly talk show, I perform these songs and incorporate their messages into my dialogue. My talk show is a space for myself to share my experiences and knowledge, as well as a space for people to come and share their stories. I am a musician and singer to my core, but I also am an actress, comedian, and model. I believe in the arts as a healing modality, as they have always been intended to be (think Greek Catharsis).

I am most proud of the bravery it has taken to leave career paths that are more predictable. I still face a lot of fear these days, but I am comforted by the deep knowing within me that I am on my right path. I believe my work is meaningful and contributes to continued growth of awareness and healing in our community. I aim to reach broader audiences as I continue to create and share.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

I just recently wrote a song called, “What is life, Anyway,” and I believe it speaks to the core of what my mission is about. In the song, I basically conclude that because I cannot definitively say what the meaning of life is, I’m going to feel it all, and sing about everything that comes with the human experience. For me, the meaning of life is to feel, and to feel with music. For others, I don’t know, but everyone should be able to answer that question for themselves.

Having witnessed many people going through mental health challenges in my life, and having gone through many of my own, I want relief for myself and others. I find that relief comes to me through music, and that the only way to quiet the mental noise is to sing, play my guitar, and create. On my talk show, Mental Melodies, I strive to find healing for myself and others through vulnerable and honest explorations of mental illness, and healing modalities. I think above all, what I want for myself is just happiness and peace. I want to make music, and I want to feel healthy. I want to sleep soundly, and I want life to go slowly. I hope that through my show, people are encouraged to find what they want most, and to be willing to give up what gets in the way of them being able to get what they want.

I am grateful to be able to pursue my music, and to have opportunities to perform. I believe my show is part of how I give back for those opportunities. My music, however, is mainly for me. I feel most fulfilled when I am singing/playing, and I just want more and more of that in my life.

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?

Coming to the realization that I was an artist, not someone pretending to be one, or someone trying it out like an intro class in college, took a lot of soul searching. I did not choose a career as a creative right out of college. I did choose a creative major (writing), but I went on to teach literature and writing in High School, rather than to pursue creation right off the bat. Some of that was doubt, and some of that was honestly just part of my journey, which I do believe happened for a reason. I continued to create, and write, for many years before I rediscovered music. (I always sang and performed as a kid and throughout high school). There was always a reason to keep music alive, but I truly experienced an awakening when I was able to take a break from teaching high school, and spend some time living on a boat, reading, and envisioning myself singing live at the various bars and restaurants I experienced during that period of my life. It was small visions like that that built up over time, leading me to make my way into a piano bar to sing, and to going to acting class, and to signing up for guitar lessons. All these added up for me and the more I created, the ball just kept rolling until I got to the point I am at now, where I know wholeheartedly that I was meant to create. For me, it feels that stories I am meant to tell are already housed inside of me, and I feel I have learned many lessons in my lifetime that become summed up in the songs that I write, but the work I do in writing is different than what one would expect. I do not sit and think of which words go where. I simply strum, sing, and it unfolds from within me. I think that might be the thing non-creatives do not understand. Intellectual knowledge/knowledge of music theory/etc., can inform creativity, but the act itself is not intellectual. It is the giving up of one’s moment to the words inside that need to be said, to the stories inside that need to be told.

Contact Info:

• Website: carmynnbradley.com
• Instagram: carmynn_bradley
• Facebook: Carmynn Bradley
• Youtube: socialmediashows/mental melodies
• Other: Just a note that my website is under construction.

Image Credits
Joshua Dagon Echo (Eric) Lima