We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Chanise Parks. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Chanise below.
Alright, Chanise thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.
The biggest risk I’ve taken so far in my life was moving from Boston to Los Angeles to pursue a career in music. Due to the fact that I had no family or close friends living in LA when I first moved, it was a challenge to get acclimated to my new environment. I had no job and no connections to help me find work which caused me to start from scratch in order to make ends meet. There were so many times when I questioned my decision thinking, “I left a great paying job in Boston to move out here to do music. So why am I working at a random store in the mall for minimum wage?” My choice was hard to explain to my family and friends back home, but it was important to keep my eyes on the prize, knowing that if I kept pushing it would all be worth it. And even though my music career didn’t go in the direction I thought it would, I learned so much about myself and what I’m capable of in the process. I now have the confidence to move anywhere and know that I can start from nothing and work my way up to living comfortably while pursuing my dreams. I’m now courageous enough to step outside of my comfort zone to make things happen for myself, rather than waiting for someone else to give me an opportunity. In the end, regardless of the hardships, I would do it all over again to become the person I am today.
Chanise, 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 began writing as a form of self-expression when I was very young. It started with writing raps in elementary school. At the time, there was a show on BET called 106 & Park and they had a segment called Freestyle Friday which was my first introduction to battle rap, and I fell in love with the art form. It just so happened that there was a girl in my class who would always be especially mean to me, so I figured that instead of getting into a physical fight with her, I would write a rap dissing her and read it on the school bus in front of the homies. As it turned out, my friends liked it, and I enjoyed doing it, so I kept writing more verses. My older brother was also quite good at rapping, and we would show each other what we came up with after school.
To this day, I still have my first rap notebook from fifth grade, and although looking back, the raps were terrible, it was a memorable introduction to using writing to express myself. In addition to that, my mom, who is also a writer, would often buy me journals as gifts. As a highly emotional child, they were the perfect way for me to vent my thoughts at a time when being emotional and sensitive wasn’t necessarily seen as “cool”. As I got older, I continued to write raps as a coping mechanism to address my growing pains in the areas of love, loss and getting older. However, it wasn’t until I was in college that I was encouraged to release my music for others to hear. Up until that point, I saw writing as simply a hobby, but when one of my best friends at the time began studying Music Production and Engineering at Berklee College of Music, I saw the exciting reality of turning these songs that I had been holding onto for years into actual records. This period also allowed me to collaborate with other artists for the first time which added another layer of enjoyability to the process.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
For me, the most rewarding aspect of being a creative is the moment when someone who has engaged with your work tells you how much your expression has helped them or made them feel seen in some way. It’s a nice reminder that we are more similar than we think in our stories and experiences. Since writing has been something that naturally flows from me during certain moments in my life, I’m always pleasantly surprised when others resonate with it because my work is created from such a deeply personal and vulnerable place. No matter how many times I receive positive feedback from people, every instance feels like the first time. I guess in many ways it reassures the younger version of myself that it is indeed “cool” to feel things on a deep level and to freely articulate those sentiments. In a culture that often promotes numbing the pains of life through self-destructive means, my writing goes against that by forcing me to engage with each emotion in order to deconstruct it and get to the root of it but also to come up with a plan to use my feelings, both positive and negative, to propel me forward in a meaningful way, while encouraging others to do the same.
Have you ever had to pivot?
The most important pivot I’ve made in my career as a writer is when I went from primarily writing songs to writing my first novel. To make the best art, I believe it requires authenticity. In other words, your heart has to truly be in it. On my journey as a writer, I had come to a crossroads where I wasn’t quite in the mindset to write raps, but I still felt like I had a story to tell. It was strange at first because I had never considered being an author in that regard, and certainly not investing the amount of time and effort it takes to complete a manuscript. Nevertheless, I kept experiencing this nagging feeling that it was something I needed to do, so I began writing from the heart, no game plan, no real outline, just writing and seeing where the story took me. Fast forward a year later, my manuscript was complete and with the help of an amazing team, I was able to self-publish my first novel called “The Alternative Blueprint” a coming-of-age story that follows the journey of a young man named Monty through a dystopian America. Upon its release, many people were surprised and confused about how such a pivot had taken place, but I learned early on that growth and progression don’t necessarily require explanation. And although writing this novel has been the most difficult task I’ve ever completed; it has also been the most fulfilling. To have my family members, friends, and even strangers see themselves in my work, and for my little cousin to hold a book written by me in her hands, it all felt worth it, if for no other reason but to show them the possibilities of what can be accomplished with the help of God, hard work, and dedication. And even now, I’m experiencing that nagging feeling once again to begin another novel which will display another pivot in the sense that my outlook on myself, the world, and the purpose of life has drastically changed since writing the last one. I’m excited to express where I’m at now and what I believe at this stage of life.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.corinthsgarden.com
Image Credits
Jenny Desrosiers , Aeia Abas