Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jessica Kiaunis . We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jessica , 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’ve wanted to be a singer my entire life. I’ve been in love with singing and music since I was born truly. Growing up, I lived in poverty, going through food insecurity, homelessness, and financial struggle. I spent most of my early life knowing I needed to break the cycle of poverty that my family had fallen into. Because of this, I never thought music was an option for me to pursue as a career. I spent all of high school and many years of college studying political science, and working as hard as I could to secure a “successful” job, and stable life. It took years of mental health struggles and ultimately a difficult mental breakdown for me to realize that a life without music was not a life worth living for myself.
After this realization, I completely uprooted my life, changed college majors and signed up for every music class I could find. I was one of the first students to sign up for a new PCC music program, and helped spearhead the music department.
I then went on to receive a music scholarship to Pacific University for classical voice.
I studied voice for many years and continued working many jobs unrelated to music, to pay the bills.
One day, I stumbled upon an ad for a job teaching voice. I had dabbled in teaching voice lessons before, and it was something I have found a passion for, so I applied for the job. To my surprise I was hired, and began my first music teacher job.
This sparked a larger passion for teaching than I ever knew, and has led me to where I am today. Teaching students from all over the world in my personal studio.
After college, I gave birth to my now 3 year old son, Theo. Becoming a mother was and is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, but it has given me so much confidence in myself and my dreams. While 3 months postpartum, I saw an ad for a cover band needing a lead singer. I had sung classical and musical theater all my life, but never dabbled in contemporary music, and definitely had never lead a band before. This was completely uncharted territory and scared the shit out of me, but I was encouraged to do it by my husband. The choice to join that cover band led to many other performance opportunities, and 3 years later I’m now making a living fully from performing. I’m the lead singer of multiple bands, have original music out and being worked on currently, and have even started bands and projects of my own! I’m living my childhood dream, and never thought it would be possible.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Social media was always a very scary thing for me. I took a course from a social media coach years ago who encouraged me to make a TikTok and just post it, with no judgement or fear. My first ever TikTok post ended up going viral, and my voice business grew from there! I try and post content that is valuable and gives the listener something they can implement in their vocal journeys. I’ve grown my socials over the last 3 years by consistent posting, interacting with my audience, and being myself! So for anyone considering starting social media, my advice is to be genuine, give your audience valuable information, and keep posting!

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I’ve shared a bit about my hardships in the last few questions, but I’ll share a specific story here. I unfortunately grew up with drug addiction in my family, and in an abusive household. I spent many years trying to break the cycle of this and to create a better life for myself. I got amazing grades in school, and when it was time to pick a major in college, although my heart said music my trauma told me to find something “stable.” So I spent 3 years studying political science in college. My mental health was suffering worse than it ever had. I was having panic attacks daily, breakdowns, and even struggled to get out of bed most days. After a particularly bad mental breakdown, I ended up in the emergency room, and in an outpatient program. While I was there, I felt like I’d hit rock bottom. I took a look at my life and realized I was living a life I felt I needed to, and living out of fear. I wasn’t following my dreams of pursing music because I was scared to end up in an unstable life again. What I learned through this realization was that I would never truly be happy until I followed my dream. I ended up completely changing my college major, switching to all music classes and starting at square 1. I uprooted my entire life and gave into the fear of the unknown. If I hadn’t done this, I don’t know where I would be today, but I’m so grateful for my past self’s strength.

Contact Info:

• Website: kiaunismusicstudio.com
• Instagram: Jesskiaunismusic
• Youtube: Jesskiaunismusic
• Other: TikTok: Jesskiaunismusic Streaming on all platforms- original music by Jess Kiaunis