We recently connected with Mariama Tatum and have shared our conversation below.

Mariama, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What did your parents do right and how has that impacted you in your life and career?

My parents have always been very supportive of my journey throughout life. They are both musically inclined with my mother being a classically trained pianist and my father being a percussionist. My mother did such an amazing job at nurturing my creative mind from a very young age. She kept me creatively engaged by exposing me to various experiences and environments that helped me develop both mentally and technically in my career. She selflessly invested in my development and because of her I was exposed to the best environments growing up. My schooling years and extracurricular activities were quite unique as a child. I attended a non-traditional school called the Waldorf school in my early learning years. The Waldorf School embraced a pedagogy that placed a high value on imagination in the process of learning and used a holistic approach to student development. From lessons and camps in violin, voice, African dance, and saxophone, my experiences as a child lead me to want to develop my musical interests as an adult. Something that I appreciate about both of my parents is that they have encouraged me my entire life to be an open minded and free thinker. I think that this has contributed to me being able to think outside of the box when it comes to my musical creativity. Both of my parents have always financially invested into my education and development and without them I wouldn’t be who I am today.

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 am a professional singer, songwriter, saxophonist and entrepreneur. As an entrepreneur I work in the Natural Hair and Digital Marketing industries. I am Chicago born, but Atlanta bread. I trained originally as a jazz vocalist and saxophonist throughout middle and high school. For my higher education, I was trained at the prestigious Berklee College of Music where I just graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Music Business. Fulfilling my dreams as an independent artist has been my number one goal and passion since I was 19. I use styling and digital marketing as a side job to fund all of my music projects. For the time being I have my hand in many different hats! However, all of these Entreprenurial components feed into my main passion, music. Some of my biggest accomplishments to date include an Atlanta Finalist Position for the 2021 NPR Tiny Desk Contest. This earned me a slot at Atlanta’s 90.1 WABE MixTape Live Festival and radio spins for one of my latest singles “Around” which just surpassed 65k streams on Spotify. Overall, I have grown close to 400k streams in the last year and my most recent music visual received 69k views. Most Recently, I have made it to the top 2o contestants in the 2022 Opening Act Competition. I will compete for an opportunity to open Audacy’s We Can Survive Concert at the Hollywood Bowl this fall and take home $10,000!

Have you ever had to pivot?

I think the beginning of COVID was a time where a lot of people had to unexpectedly pivot. For me, it was just the same. Before COVID, I was working in the public school system in Athens, GA as a paraprofessional while also finishing my degree in music business at Berklee College of Music. When schools made the adjustment from in-person to virtual, I had some extra time on my hands to develop other skills. Although I loved teaching and working with children, I wouldn’t be able to move up in income unless I went back to school and got a teaching degree. My big pivot came when I made use of my other skills that would help me earn a higher income much faster! Not only that, but these skills also enabled me to invest in my music career more than I ever have before. It all began when I started helping an old friend market and brand her natural hair business. Towards the end of 2021 we partnered up and I started working as a stylist. Ironically, hair had been a talent of mine since middle school and shifting to being a full-time stylist was a step up in many ways from any side job I had ever had before. I had the honor of styling hair for prestigious black women all over the greater Atlanta area. I networked with many amazing black women, and I was pleasantly surprised to learn that a handful of them worked in the music business. Some of them even recommended me for performances and gigs for their businesses. This pivot was truly a blessing. My main focus now is to continue my entreprenurial pursuits in the hair industry and fund myself as an independent artist until music is my fulltime career.

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How did you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

Back in 2021 I re-launched my music career by releasing a music video, live performance video and single. Funding for this came in two ways: through my hair business, and through family funding. One thing I never expected from working as a hair stylist was how it would help propel me as an artist. Being a natural hair stylist in a like Atlanta is a hidden gem. Atlanta is a place where many black female women thrive in various industries, and all of these women need their hair done! In 2021, I often had two hair clients a day, five days a week. I was able to invest over 15k into my music business which propelled me into the next level of my artistry. I also had support from my family. I constructed a business plan, detailing my target audience demographics, psychographics, marketing strategies, etc. and I received enough funding to marketing my single and music video, which both received over 65k streams/views.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.mariamatatum.com , www.maribloombeauty.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mariamatatum/ , https://www.instagram.com/maribloombeauty/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MariamaTatum
• Twitter: www.twitter.com/mariamatatum
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCp4BH2m3qXVSA6-FykxpgvQ
• Other: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2m7fKdhE13ADFYoW3N7TfA Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/mariama-tatum/1312973053

Image Credits
1. Deseri Rice @au.courag 2. Mars Photography @_marscollective_