We were lucky to catch up with Gina Graves recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Gina thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

I have lived most of my adult life pledging allegiance to creativity. Happy is an interesting word. I would say that my creativity is the thing that always stood by my side, no matter what may have been falling apart in my world. I would say it was and is necessary for me. I was perfectly content to wake up in the morning, walk my dog, make some coffee and head straight to the piano. In the afternoons, I would teach private lessons- which was far more fulfilling than I could have imagined when I dreamed of a life as a professional musician. I forget where the quote came from-those who can play, play-those who can’t, teach. Can I say that is one of the most horrible and disrespectful things I’ve ever heard?! Teaching definitely made me better at my craft, and to pass on the encouragement and skills to my students is to me far better than playing music I might hate to people who don’t care. Not that that’s what pros do…but to make a living as an artist, there are very few who get to play only the music they love for a grown-up and consistent paycheck. Having said that, I was happy to have a crappy little home where the rent was cheap. That is, until at 45 years old, I found out I was pregnant. Surprise!! I now have a beautiful daughter, and I want to offer her the world. I never thought I would have children-I never thought I could have children. So, I did not prepare for that future. As a consequence of that, I have seriously thought about getting a regular job! Benefits, a regular paycheck. A 401k, or whatever it’s called :) I WISH the world supported its artists financially. Some make out quite well, which is a beautiful thing-and it always made me strive. But it’s the Pareto Principle=where 80% of the money is made by 20% of the people making the art. The sad truth is, I think I would feel like I was in prison if I had a regular job with regular hours. I’m not built for it. I know people who are, and they thrive in that environment. So, instead I have been working to expand my coaching practice, which I love. It keeps me in the creative zone, and I feel like I am contributing tremendously because I believe there is nothing more important than keeping the creative spirit alive in people, encouraging them to be their best selves, and helping them work through self-doubt so they can have the courage to contribute their unique gifts. The world is a better place as a result.

Gina, 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 am a professional musician, singer/songwriter, and Board Certified Coach.

As a kid, I was obsessed with music. I learned that I had a talent for playing piano-which I was forced into at age 7, thankfully. My father was a professional musician who gave it up to raise his family, so it was important to him that my brother, sister and I all had the opportunity to take lessons. My piano teacher, Lisa Papili-Carlsen, was a wonderful role model.

I was painfully shy and inhibited, so in my mind it helped to have something I felt like I was good at. I dreamed of one day having a ‘voice’. I wanted more than anything to sing, but I thought you were born with that ability or you weren’t. I could barely talk to people, and I couldn’t look them in the eye. It wasn’t until after I graduated from the University of the Arts with a piano performance degree that I decided to take voice lessons. I’m still learning, but have been singing professionally for years, and I write songs.

There were so many dips, so to speak, in my years of creating and performing. I suffered from crippling depression and anxiety. I made poor choices in an effort to feel loved, which ironically made me feel more unloved. I wanted to perform my songs, but my stage fright made me physically ill. What I had to go through to overcome all those feelings of unworthiness and self-doubt led me into the world of psychology. I needed to understand why I did the things I did and felt the way I felt. I needed to understand how other people could be so hurtful, and why my feelings didn’t matter to them. All of this made me a better songwriter, and led me onto my path as a coach and healer. If I sense even the smallest amount of “I’m not good enough” in another person, I want to do everything in my power to empower them and to fan their unique and magnificent wings. I have a gift for seeing the beautiful gifts in others. I call them forth, and I get to witness miracles.

“All the world is a stage”, and so I help people through coaching and through song to see and appreciate their value, and to carry themselves with authentic confidence in all aspects of their lives.
I am most proud of my daughter-she is a true miracle. What comes in second is the music I write, including my latest album “And We Rise”, along with every piece of art that has been created as a result of maybe something I said-some word of encouragement I offered- that contributed to its making.
My brand is “Your Beautiful Path”, and I am the tour guide :) I am available for one-one coaching, and I have some online workshops and courses available, including one through Wilmington University starting on January 16th.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

My mother died tragically of cancer in 2011, and 3 months later, my father died of a broken heart. It’s in times like that when we learn how strong we truly are.

My music career had been going quite well just before then. I was in my early 40s, and felt like it was going to be my last shot at breaking through the gates, where I could potentially find a new level of success as an artist. Everything stopped the year my mother became ill. Her care, and the aftermath of her and my father’s passing swallowed that year whole.

When I was ready to start performing again, the game had changed locally. New promoters moved in and I was not on their A list. It was a too much of a hit to my already fragile self. The position I felt I had spent years earning vanished almost completely within that year. After many tears and lots of soul searching, I decided to find help with a coach in New York City. She helped me generate energy around the songs I had created and had begun recording. I set out to finish the recording myself, along with my brother, Rich, for additional drums. Phil Nicolo, a world class Grammy winning engineer was set to mix and master the project.

In the midst of all that, I started feeling unwell. Naturally, I thought I must be dying (not that I tend to think in extremes!). I had no health insurance. My boyfriend worked in healthcare, so I thought, since we owned a house together, we could just get married and I could have insurance. Easy peasy. Turns out he didn’t want to get married to me. We ended up in couple’s therapy, where he admitted he wanted children. I was told I couldn’t have children and besides, even if it was possible, my age made it risky. It was a sad day. We decided he would help me pay for insurance, and we would go from there.

Miraculously, I found out a month after that therapy session, I was already 8 weeks pregnant.

I committed to finishing my album before the day I was scheduled to have my baby. I had to have a C section due to complications. So, I finished everything on my end the very day before my miracle came into the world.

Modern medicine is a blessing. Without the possibility of a C-section, we both would have died. With our current broken healthcare system and the way it’s run, my doctor made a medical error which almost resulted in my death the week after I gave birth. Recovery took time, and I had a beautiful baby girl completely dependent on me.

My album took FOREVER to finish. But I finished it. I didn’t promote it much, but I did it…and that’s my story of resilience :)

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

In my experience, so many of the very best creatives are riddled with self-doubt and paralyzed by their own perfectionism. They can’t live up to their own standard, so they go into hiding. My mission is to do whatever I can to find each and every self-doubting and inhibited hidden gem, lure them out of hiding, brush them off, and convince them to allow the sun to capture their sparkling and unique spirit in all its magnificence. I want to live a a world where people are giving themselves permission to live fully expressed, with lives of great purpose and meaning, adding love and beauty and passion to our world, filling it with magnificence and truth and magic-a place where dreamers can thrive. That’s the world I want my daughter to grow up in, and so I want to add my drop and do all that I can to bring forth that reality.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.yourbeautifulpath.com
• Instagram: @miraclesouls
• Facebook: Facebook.com/yourbeautifulpath
• Linkedin: Gina Degnars-Graves
• Youtube: @ginagraves8623

Image Credits
Luigi Ciuffetelli