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

Katie, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you wish you had started sooner?

I definitely wish I would have started my career sooner.

At some level, I always wanted to be a flute player, but given my life growing up, I knew on some level I would never be good enough to get into music school and land an orchestra job. Which growing up, was really the only option for being a professional musician. That or teaching, which wasn’t the path I really wanted.

I ended up getting a degree in engineering, but got pregnant soon after graduation during the recession in the late 2000’s, so I never found a job in my field. I bounced around serving on a non-profit foundation and owning a sewing business on Etsy.

But those positions never felt right. So when I was 29/30 I started to think about how I could start being a professional flute player. It was hard, I have 2 kids and I was a stay at home mom. So whatever I wanted to do, it had to be flexible. Kids get sick, kids have their own activities and I needed to be able to work around caring for them.

That was also around the time Taylor Davis was releasing a course based on how she created her career – releasing violin covers of video game, TV, film, and anime music. It was exactly what I had always dreamed of doing, and at that moment, it seemed like it was something I could do as well. She did everything herself from home and it seemed perfect!

I’m super thankful that not only was my husband super supportive , but he was excited to start learning music production, how to make music videos, and everything that goes along with it. And we are super fortunate that my husband has a good day job that pays the bills and allows us to save for the equipment and costs that come with producing music while I build an audience and continue to grow my income.

While I think my life needed to unfold the way it did for me to really go all in on this, I definitely wish I would have followed my dreams sooner. Getting started now is much harder. Social media is great, but it is so much harder to get noticed and the expected production level is so much higher than 10 years ago.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m a mom in my 30’s who has such a passion for video games and playing the flute that I had to find a way to combine the two. So I do flute covers of all my favorite video game and anime music.

I also offer session work, so producers who want a live flute player for their projects can hire me. I teach private lessons in my studio as well as online for anyone who wants to learn to play flute.

Outside of producing music, I am also a Twitch streamer. Right now, most of what I stream is Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild (I’m a budding speed runner and bingo player) and I also do music live streams, where viewers come and request songs and I play them live, which is always a fun time.

I’m set apart because there are not that many flute players who are interested in video games. I not only cover video game music, I’m also a big gamer. It’s how I got into creating and performing the music I do. And I bring in that music for my private students. We not only learn classical music, but we learn music the students are interested in.

I’m super proud of the music I create as well as the amazing community I’ve built through gaming on Twitch. My community is so supportive of each other, we learn new things, and it’s an amazing group of people full if diverse interests.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Make it easier for creatives to be able to make a living from their craft. I’ve been a musician for a couple of years now, and I’m only able to continue to do it because I have a supportive husband and he has a job that allows us some extra funds to be able to invest in creating music and stream.

But if my business was bringing in more money, whether it be audience driven or streaming services paying artists more than fractions of a penny for music streaming, I would be able to expand my team more. I would love to hire someone to help with social media or video editing. But I have to be very picky and frugal with what I can invest in.

It’s hard because in our society, the arts are increasingly undervalued – especially with the rise of AI. But I know I would not be able to do this without the privilege I have. And a lack of some privileges lead to me pursuing engineering in college instead of music – which definitely set my career path back by years.

But it’s hard. These are things that are definitely at a systemic level that are not easily addressed. But I know making it easier for artists to pay their bills and invest in growing their teams would allow them to create more.

Looking back, are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

That there are communities of amazing supportive people who are trying to do the same thing I am. Having a community of people who are doing the hard things that I am is so invaluable. Being able to commiserate during hard times and having somewhere to discuss ideas and different experiences is so crucial. And this allows you to grow your network for referrals and potentials for collaboration.

Youtube is also a great resource. There are so many tutorials out there on so many different topics – from how to color correct a music video, to shortcuts for making virtual instruments sound more realistic, and so on. I’ve learned so much from simple Youtube searches.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.KatieShesko.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/KatieSheskoFlute
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KatieShesko
• Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/KatieShesko
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/katieshesko
• Other: Tiktok: https://tiktok.com/@katieshesko Spotify: https://spoti.fi/30AW0un