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

Hi Indi, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

Right now, I am in the middle of cultivating two meaningful projects.

The first one, Entertainment Leadership Academy, LLC. (ELA), is a project that I have been working on in conjunction with finishing up my PhD in Organizational Leadership. I founded Entertainment Leadership Academy (ELA) because I recognized a need for independent music artists and filmmakers to be trained in how to be leaders of their own businesses, because as artist, “we are businesses within ourselves”. ELA will equip participates with the leadership training they need and deserve in order to create longevity in the entertainment industry. The COVID-19 pandemic caused me to delay the launch because my focus needed to shift, yet we are back, fully focused to launch in 2023.

The second project is the release of “Love: The American Way” web series. The web series was produced by Famous on Purpose, LLC, my entertainment production company. Production of the web series was in full swing when we had to shut down production due to the COVID-19 lock down. Instead of totally scrapping the project, our team made the decision to cultivate a solid project of our existing footage. We are extremely proud of the results and can’t wait to share the episodes with the world.

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 considered myself a multi-faceted artist and scholar. The projects that I work on are music, film, education, and research. As an artist, I create music and films. As a scholar, I specialize in career development and organizational leadership in the entertainment industry (primarily music and film). I have over 20+ years of experience in entertainment working in various capacities all of which have helped me to be fully prepared to lead the Entertainment Leadership Academy, LLC (ELA) from a holistic perspective while also continuing in my artistic endeavors.

I have a strong belief that independent artists should be empowered with leadership training which is why I dedicated the majority of my graduate-level training to finding solutions to create opportunities to help enhance the lives of the arts community.

YouTube link to my new web series, “Love: The American Way”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AurFeTabClk
Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My creative journey is fueled by knowing that the talents I have were passed down from previous generations. It is my turn to not only continue my family’s creative journey but also to utilize all of my resources to move the pendulum forward for the creative community in general. For years I struggled with how I was going to combine my artistic and scholarly interests and I am extremely thankful that I have been able to discover ways to proceed through life being my authentic, whole self.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

A lesson that I had to unlearn was my perception of an artist’s ability to create livable income. I spent many years trying to find alternative ways to support myself while creating art. I can write a whole book on how many different “alternative careers” I tried only to figure out that I was wasting my precious time, in careers that I did not enjoy simply because they paid well. Now, this is not a knock on anyone and the choices that have to be made to keep a roof over your head, believe I can relate.

Once I realized that I could utilize my scholarly side to compliment my artistic endeavors, It was like a light bulb went off and I have been spending the last 11 years positioning myself to be both a creative and a thought leader for the betterment of artists worldwide.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.indityton.com
• Instagram: @indityton
• Facebook: https://www.linkedin.com/in/indityton/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/indityton/
• Twitter: @indityton

Image Credits
1. Society’s View-Kari Campbell 2. Recording Academy Event Pic- Taken with my camera 3. Film Set Photo-Arthur Childs 4. “Love: The American Way” poster- Photo: Arthur Childs, Poster Design: Deri Tyton 5. “Something About You” Cover- Photo: Neva Hodges, Cover Design: Indi Tyton 6. Photo with the late Congressman John Lewis: Recording Academy District Advocate Meeting (taken with a cell phone) 7. Entertainment Leadership Academy Logo: Entertainment Leadership Academy, LLC 8. Famous on Purpose Logo: Famous on Purpose, LLC