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

Jennifer, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

I had been feeling stuck in life for quite some time, not necessarily unhappy with what I was doing but also not completely satisfied. Then the pandemic hit and I lost my job. An ad popped up for Berklee College of Music on my Facebook feed so I thought I’d take a class or two online until my job/the world opened up again and the rest is history. I ended up taking two classes (non-credit): a lyric writing class and music publishing then immediately ‘upgraded’ my classes to be for credit and enrolled into the Advanced Professional Certificate for Songwriting track. What I appreciate most about Berklee is that they are very practical in their approach. I still remember one of my professors saying, “So you want to do music, huh? How are you going to make that possible?” Then he quickly followed up with “I’ll help you.” :) I have since completed the program and been all in on music. I also recall one of our guest speakers saying “Being a musician doesn’t mean that you have to be starving. Let’s debunk that myth.” It’s definitely a struggle and a path that requires great endurance but I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.

Jennifer, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I started playing piano when I was about 8 or 9 and absolutely loved it but we moved around a lot so, although I am not self-taught, I was very much self-motivated to keep my relationship with the keys in between teachers. I’ve probably only had about 5 or 6 years of lessons in the thirty years that I’ve been playing.

I was always interested in creative writing and was very involved in poetry and short stories starting in upper elementary school. I even won some awards for my poetry and was published in a book with a bunch of other poets when I was in high school. I wrote a song here or there for fun but got really into it starting in high school where I was mostly setting some of my poems to music.

In my family, music is not an appropriate path to pursue professionally so I majored in English in college with an emphasis in writing namely creative non-fiction. I ended up with a minor in Music since I took a bunch of classes for fun. I also took music composition lessons in college and really learned to build my craft there.

After graduating college, I didn’t want to start working right away so I flew off to Vienna and was planning on staying there for a year. My plans were cut short when I realized that I didn’t want to keep music on the back burner and I wanted to study it more. I considered staying in Vienna for my studies but decided to come back to the States and enrolled at Westminster Choir College for the Masters in Music Composition, History, and Theory degree. It ultimately didn’t work out and I essentially gave up on thinking of music as a career. That is until the pandemic hit…

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I’m a total introvert and I like to avoid the spotlight so writing songs for someone else to perform is ideal for me. There’s nothing more rewarding than seeing my songs come to life and the artist making the song their own.

I think my favorite memory of someone singing my song is still when during rehearsal she turned to me and said, “I feel like this song was written for me and is perfect for my voice.” That melted my heart.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

It seems that before the 19th Century, composers were better supported. What I mean is that Bach wrote new songs every week for the choir that he was in charge of. Same with Handel and Mozart with their respective positions. The songs that were played in theaters and such were from living composers is my point.

Nowadays especially in the classical realm, all the songs played over and over again are from these music geniuses but not from anyone living. I understand that there are a few concerts in a year featuring living composers but it is in the minority.

I think we need to celebrate living composers and songwriters and support live shows that feature them.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.jenniferyoomusic.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jyoo.music/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jennifer.yoo.313
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-yoo-584053259/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_ZEKqcxazD-chYN6cnp5Qg
• Other: https://soundcloud.com/jennifer-yoo-19112349