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

Nyanda , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you open up about a risk you’ve taken – what it was like taking that risk, why you took the risk and how it turned out?

The first risk I took was deciding not to be a Jehovah’s Witness anymore. This was a massive risk because when you decide to leave that religion, you’re also deciding to lose all the “friends” and family you had that stay. You’re considered “bad association” and are thus excommunicated. That was one of the most painful experiences of my life. It was a massive risk to start all over from scratch: no financial support, no friends, especially when you spent your entire life ostracized from the outside world. Sometimes, I feel a little lost but I try to focus on all the possibilities available to me that I always thought were impossible as a child.

The second risk I took was dropping out of my last year of college. Due to financial reasons, I decided that I wasn’t going to spend another year pretending that my destiny was anywhere OUTSIDE of the entertainment business. I moved down to California and became a full-time background actress, took up dance and started recording music at home. While in California, I met so many creative people who were actually DOING what I wanted to do. I also met/worked with many celebrities who were very encouraging and would consistently tell me God was working with me. I don’t doubt that at all now!

I’m currently putting my primary focus on music and PHYSICALLY building the visions that I want to share with the world. I’m also performing live– and OFTEN– which has been a nerve-wracking but fulfilling task. Things have been going pretty well in life and the more I do, the more eager I become to accomplish more!

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

I feel like my life has consisted of nothing but risks given my upbringing. I was raised Jehovah’s Witness which is a high control religion that definitely conditions you to stay small. I wasn’t allowed to befriend kids in school, engage in extracurricular activities and above all else: I wasn’t allowed to pursue a career outside of a full-time ministry. The repercussions for not falling in line was being ostracized which was terrifying when your church “family” is all you’ve ever known.

I’ve felt like an outsider for most of my life because of this, which I’m now spinning into a superpower instead of viewing it as a weakness. I spent a long time trying to stay in my childhood religion because I had been told that the world would chew me up and spit me out, and that I’d have to come crawling back one day. Deciding to lose everyone was painful, but it was worth it to get back to ME.

I’ve definitely felt pretty lonely (a consistent reality since childhood) which led to the creation of many stories, visions, hobbies, songs and choreographies that never saw the world because I didn’t have the outlet. On rare occasions, I was allowed to be in a school play or perform in a talent show. Fun fact: I won every talent show and was cast. in every major role if I was ever allowed to perform. My soul has been aware of my destiny as a performer my entire life- it was only a matter of time.

My hope is to unite people as much as possible, while still expressing my own truth. I’d like for anyone who’s felt like an outsider, has been abandoned, or even abused to feel seen and empowered. The main things I want to be known for is my story, my intention to unify people of all backgrounds and classes, and my fearlessness when it comes to breaking down barriers or opening up people’s minds. In my life, I have died and been reborn on countless occasions. This has softened my heart to the fact that we all have our own story but ultimately, are still humans trying to survive in this world. My hope is to bring humanity back to humans with my music in the future, while also still having fun :)

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

I used to feel like being on social media as much as possible would help me to grow as an artist. However, I feel like you need to take some time away from social media to regain your creative juices. I feel very strongly that social media is a phenomenal marketing tool and although knowing what trends are popular is significant, the people who thrive are the ones who are INNOVATIVE. For every trend you see on social media, there was a person who was randomly inspired and took action on that inspiration. Then, everyone copied/recreated that original idea. That’s very common in the world but my goal is to be a trailblazer, not a copy-paster.

I feel like I spent so much time trying to find what was buzzing, what was popular, etc. that I didn’t spend enough time developing my own DISTINCT craft because I was fearful that my own original ideas wouldn’t work. However, you weren’t created the way you were, just to mold yourself after something/someone else. Although I struggle with feeling like an outsider, maybe that’s what will make me stand out.

Embrace what makes you stand out; I don’t feel like we push that enough nowadays.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

The SAG-AFTRA strike affected lots of people and there was no work for a while. One difficult reality for lots of artists is understanding the NEED to make/have money to execute your ideas. We’ve embraced the starving artist narrative but if we’re being completely clear: lots of art is lost in the ethers because there was no funding to make it happen. I remember trying to avoid getting a 9-5 or regular job because we all shared the sentiment that if you got a regular job then you were “giving up on your career.” However, humbling myself and getting that regular job is how I was able to start releasing music to begin with.

Making music costs money. Even if you’re just recording at home, you’ll still need money for your equipment, for software, distribution, etc. Depending on the type of performer you want to be, you also have to count money for dance classes, dance equipment, voice lessons, learning to play an instrument If you’re serious about music/acting being a career, you’ll need a marketing budget, photographers, cinematographers, etc. This isn’t a small endeavor and having a consistent flow of income helped me to focus on my creative process because I wasn’t so stressed out about trying to survive.

Long story short: a consistent job will help you output consistently. Surviving off of sporadic gigs and penny-pinching slows you down more than you could ever imagine lol.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://instagram.com/nyandalashay
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61564529085147
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@nyandalashay

Image Credits

Photographers: Keith Mangione and Hudson Michaels