We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Monica Guardado a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Monica, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Has your work ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized?

I feel like our culture likes to define people based on how they earn a living. If you tell someone you are a banker, or a doctor, people will view you through that lens upon first meeting you. Every time I get off stage after playing a set, I’ll go into the crowd and just talk to people. Inevitably, the subject of what I do for a living comes up and I tell them: I’m a molecular technologist who works at a genetics lab. I see the confusion on their faces as they try to compute that I am a healthcare worker AND a musician. I even had one person say “I would’ve never thought you were a lab tech after seeing you play” which just feeds into that mentality. People are complex, and I don’t believe being an artist is as much as a profession as it is a way you choose to live your life, and honor your own unique human potential.

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 like to tell people that I’m a lab tech by day, and a songwriter by night. Since I was a child, I always defined myself as an artist in the general sense. Before music, I was really into drawing and painting and considered going to art school. At the same time, I was also a big nerd and loved my science classes. When it came time to go to college, I honestly had no clue what I wanted to do with my life, so I stuck to what I knew would pay my bills and got a Bachelor’s degree in biology. It wasn’t until I was a junior that I uncovered my desire to write and perform my own material. I recorded some of my first demos in college, and even sang on a couple of EDM tracks for local DJ’s who were looking for vocalists. That was a thrilling and also terrifying time – I felt like I had made a terrible mistake by opting to go the sciences instead of the arts route, and believed I sealed my fate into working a 9-5 for the rest of my life. I’m really proud of myself for overcoming that mentality, and giving myself the permission to redefine what it means to be a “real artist”. Working a full time job doesn’t make you any less of a creative person. It’s actually liberating! You don’t have to compromise in your creative work because you’re not putting the pressure on your art to pay the bills.

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

I feel like society can do two things to support artists. First, is specific to musicians: implement legislation that makes it so musicians get their fair share of revenue from streaming services. Second, goes to artists at large: let’s update the conversation on what it means to be an artist. You don’t have to suffer, be poor, have art be your sole source of income, or be famous to be an artist. I think the sooner we shed the preconceptions of what it means to be an artist, we can start to appreciate that art can come from anywhere, and that it doesn’t belong to a chosen few people who fit the image of an artist that was sold to us.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being an artist for me is performing. When people come up to me and say that my songs affected them in some way, or put into words a complicated feeling or experience they had, I feel like I have done a service of helping people better see themselves. There is no better sensation than when you feel that connection happen through you and into the audience during a live performance.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.monicaguardado.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/monicamoment/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/monicagmusic/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLeeBcQZ3JbbcHZJZCw4yQg

Image Credits
Austin Dellamano Riley Johnson