We were lucky to catch up with Mark Michele recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Mark, thanks for joining us today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

I’ve always kept the balance of having a day job and pursuing the creative side. I think it’s easy for artists, especially performers, to daydream about reaching a level of success where they don’t need to clock in anymore. I never minded it. It gives structure to the creative parts of your daily life that can sometimes pass you by. Not to mention, if there’s one thing that should make you feel like your next project is life or death, it’s being stuck in the back of a kitchen washing dishes on a Saturday night. It’s all good motivation.

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

I am a songwriter and performer currently based in New York City. I started very young as a guitar player and gradually became more focused on singing and writing songs.

These days i’m focusing on my solo music and finding my audience in a live setting.

I love to play solo shows with a telecaster and a mic for anybody that drops by. The sets end up being like my own pirate radio show. I get to play whatever I want and talk to people in between. I hope to do that till I die.

I put out my first single, “Wake Up, My Love” in August. In addition, I’ve released three albums with my best friend under the name Nude Scene.

Any resources you can share with us that might be helpful to other creatives?

I don’t know if I would change much, but I would say I was late to the game of collaboration. When I first started writing songs, I was a teenager and I was very isolated. It felt like a solo journey. Before I knew it, I had a mountain of songs that nobody had heard apart from my sister. Later, I went to school and started writing with other people. That has brought me an invaluable amount of purpose in my creative pursuits. Certainly there are some stories you can only tell with your own words, but it is all in an effort to connect with someone else.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

Get up and go out. Especially for artists, sitting around and waiting for your audience to come to you is a death sentence. You have to go out and make sure the work is in the hands of the last kid in line. I also think we should all talk to each other more. So many people think they are tapped in by looking down at their phone while on the subway. If you want to know what’s going on, turn to the person on your left.

Image Credits

Avery Cather
Mark Michele