We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Krista Bowman. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Krista below.

Krista, appreciate you joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I’m self taught and have been an avid learner all my life. Everyone knows about “YouTube University”. I built a curriculum for myself based on different YouTube channels I found. Shout out to ProducerGrind, !llmind, and KennyBeats for putting so much information out for the producer community. I also took advantage of free courses on Coursera and Berklee Online. I learned music theory, sound design, mixing, and beat arrangement through these different avenues.

Once I got the basics down, then it became time for real life practice. I created a 90 day creators challenge for myself, where I had to make 1 new beat every day for 90 days. That 3 month period really accelerated my growth and skill.

Knowing what I know now, I don’t think I would do anything differently. The most essential skill to have is persistence and consistency. It’s hard to show up for yourself day after day to learn things that you enjoy (but can still be boring at times). It’s also hard to stay encouraged when your music isn’t sounding like the professionals and you can’t figure out why. Persistence and consistency have been most important.

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

My name is Intelleck.

I’m a music producer, gamer, and marketer based in Atlanta, GA, hailing from Chattanooga, TN. My passion is music and gaming and I got my Bachelor’s Degree in Communications with a concentration in Advertising from the University of Tennessee – Knoxville (Go Vols!).

Growing up, my goal was to make it out the hood, so I focused on school and basketball. I had book smarts, so I used that to my advantage. I went to school for something I could easily grasp and I learned about people’s minds and what makes us tick. I graduated and got into my field right away.

A couple years into my advertising job, my cousin just so happened to move into the same apartment complex as me – literally right across from me. He would come over and chill and he showed me this program called Fruity Loops and it was on from there. I ultimately ended up choosing to go with Ableton (gang!) as my DAW. From there, I taught myself the basics of music theory, arrangement, sound selection, etc.

I’ve released 5 instrumental albums and produced 1 soundtrack album. I’m so proud of my growth and commitment to my craft. I don’t churn out albums or hustle every second trying to get placements because I love making music for me. I love taking my time to make beats. I’m crafting my sound and honoring the art of music. Every album I release is better than the last one. I have put out over 100 beats on Soundcloud.

My ultimate goal is for my music to make you feel dope. To make you want to move your feet or nod your head. I want people to say “Intelleck got that vibe”.

That’s part of the reason why I stayed with my marketing job. I tried making it as an independent artist, but I realized the stress of needing money to live was too much on my music. I make music because I love it, not because I need it to pay bills. I’m grateful to have the background in marketing that I do because it has helped me set up my own business and brand in a strategic way. I’m also able to get paid for doing something I am naturally good at while feeding my passions.

I know that my music will make me enough money to live off of in the long run, so I’m letting things happen how they should. I’m playing a long term game.

When it comes to gaming. I got into for real when the pandemic first hit and everyone was on lock down. I downloaded Call of Duty: Mobile on my phone and started to play. I didn’t realize how much I would like playing the game on my phone. It’s been 2 years and now I play every day. I stream on Twitch when I can and I’m ranked Legendary on Battle Royale and Multiplayer. I’m in the top 0.5% on the North American server.

If anyone ever wants to play, look me up. My gamer tag is Intelleck.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

I have so many more books I would recommend but I’ll go with these six. Not only did they expand my entrepreneurial mind, but my inner mind as well.

All You Need To Know About The Music Business – Donald S. Passman
Atomic Habits – James Clear
Shoe Dog – Phil Knight
The Way Of The Superior Man – David Deida
Siddhartha – Hermann Hesse
Be Here Now – Ram Dass

The first 3 books I listed are for the business side.

Shoe Dog by Phil Knight is an excellent way to get a first hand look at what it’s like to build a billion dollar company. Donald Passman’s book is a great reference tool I would recommend reading at least once all the way through. Atomic Habits will cut to the chase and give you great ways to build the life you want through daily habits.

The second group of 3 is more for the spiritual side.

I heard about The Way of The Superior Man when I was listening to a Nipsey Hussle interview. He talked about how Lauren had gifted him that book and it changed his life. We all have masculine and feminine energy within us. As a female, reading this book brought so much perspective to masculine energy in male bodies and also myself. Siddhartha and Be Here Now, I can’t explain. You just need to read them. It will change your life, I promise.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

Being able to see my music exist in real life is the biggest reward. To be able to pull my music up on Spotify, Tidal, or YouTube is so dope to me. Anytime I see that someone has streamed my music or used my sound in their Tiktok video, I feel so good. I love it.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/Intelleck
• Instagram: instagram.com/intelleck
• Facebook: facebook.com/intelleck
• Twitter: twitter.com/intelleck
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKwrLnrWWZTjRTTgmKHY2Iw