We were lucky to catch up with Hayley Mercado recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Hayley, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

I’ve always known I wanted to be a singer. It’s always been my dream to be paid to do something I love. I decided to quit my full time job in 2020 to pursue music and even then, I wasn’t sold that it was the best idea I’ve ever had. I wasn’t convinced until I was introduced to a very good friend of mine, Bredt Showell, an incredibly talented drummer who has worked with notable names in the music industry. He was gracious enough to invite me to do a few gigs with him. It was my first professional gig with a 15 piece band and I was super intimidated but I remember getting paid very well from that gig and thinking, “I could do this for the rest of my life.”

Hayley, 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?

My name is Hayley Mercado. I am a professional singer and actress. I started singing and performing in musical theater when I was 6. Despite never learning how to read music, I was dedicating hours and days of my life to being on stage between the school and community theater until the age of 16. I was in live renditions of well known musicals like Annie, Guys and Dolls, Smokey Joe’s Cafe, The Color Purple, and endless cabarets with songs from broadway, the oldies, jazz, and many other genres of music. From then, I started working with Faith Works Drama Company, traveling along the east coast performing in gospel and broadway cabarets and several short independent films. I enrolled at Full Sail University for Audio Engineering in 2014 and was still doing shows throughout my early 20s. During that time, I taught myself how to play piano and compose original music. I started signing up for different casting agencies and began booking work as an extra in different TV series and independent films. In 2021, I started working as a performance and voice coach at different studios before starting my own business. I was also booking gigs with wedding bands and singing at private events. Late last year, I auditioned for NBC’s, The Voice, and received a callback for season 23. Though my time was cut short on The Voice, a lot of doors were opened in the process. I have since been working with producers and engineers who are signed to major labels to create original music.

Music is often described as an escape. As a musician, I provide the bridge between the song and the audience. It has always been therapeutic for me as a listener so I try to recreate that experience for my audience.

I’m most proud of committing to my passion. I’ve been able to train some incredible voices as a teacher, as well as provide a space for musicians to create and listeners to enjoy. I’m incredibly blessed to be surrounded by such talented people who share the same drive and passion for music. This allows me to provide the highest quality of service to my students and the highest quality performances to my audiences.

If there is anything I want my clients, fans or followers to know, it’s that you can absolutely achieve anything. If you train hard, work hard and you open yourself up to the possibility of learning new things, you will reach goals higher than you ever dreamed. There are no limits to what you can do if you truly believe in yourself and love what you do. Life is entirely too short to spend it doing anything other than what makes you happy.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: instagram.com/ms.hmerc
• Facebook: Facebook.com/hmercc
• Other: TikTok: @hayleydidit

Image Credits
Darius Cooper, Nancy Mercado, Michelle Lecza