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

Hi Francesca, thanks for joining 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 was moving to a different city for my career. I am originally from Chicago and I went back home after graduating from Berklee College of Music. While I already had some connections in the Chicago music scene from my childhood, I took a risk, dropped everything, and left my hometown to move on to bigger and better opportunities. So I moved to Los Angeles without a job in place and kinda just went with the flow. That was probably the craziest thing I’ve ever done looking back. It was a huge struggle at first – learning to adjust to LA culture was not as easy as I thought. From the hot weather, to being stuck in traffic, to the competitive music scene. It was great to see my friends from college do well in the LA music scene and it was super inspiring to me. I, however, was struggling and it wasn’t until an unexpected opportunity playing guitar, singing, and acting in a big movie came and moved me to the east coast again. All of this would not have happened if I hadn’t moved to LA. Taking the risk of moving cities was so worth it because it changed my life and led me to more amazing opportunities for my career.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I am Francesca Castro and I am a guitarist, singer, songwriter, and actor from Chicago. I started singing and playing guitar ever since I was 6. I grew up in a musical family with my dad being a guitarist and my mom being a singer. I started off with Pop and Rock and got into Jazz, Funk, and R&B as I got older. In 2021, I graduated from Berklee College of Music on a full scholarship studying with prestigious Jazz musicians like Terri Lyne Carrington, Dee Dee Bridgewater, and Peter Eldridge. I am now based in NYC playing my own shows featuring my original music and playing guitar for Broadway shows including SIX the Musical. My original song, Cup of Tea, has over 1 Million streams on Spotify and I plan to release new music later this year.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

As a creative person, it is interesting when it comes to explaining to non-creatives how the hustle culture is like for a musician. I chose a career that is not a typical 9-5 office job and requires you to grab gigs as they go. It is rough sometimes and I go through a roller coaster of emotions constantly. But there’s also times where you’re playing the most amazing shows and living your dreams. I wouldn’t choose anything else because music is my passion and I have to sacrifice some things for what I love to do most, which is performing and writing music.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is being able to communicate your story through music and seeing the impact it has on people. There are times when people come up to me after a show or message me saying that my music helped them through a difficult time in their life or that my music makes them feel better. It feels so rewarding to hear things like that and it inspires me to create more music. Also, it warms my heart when younger kids look up to me and feel inspired to create music themselves. It makes me so excited to see what the next generation of musicians will be like!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://francescacastro.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/francesca.cayla/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FrancescaCastroMusic/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_j6YUdjmK5cHJ04Z-wD9qg

Image Credits
Photos: Kelly Crews