We were lucky to catch up with Renee Asteria Penaloza recently and have shared our conversation below.

Renee Asteria, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear the backstory behind a risk you’ve taken – whether big or small, walk us through what it was like and how it ultimately turned out.

In 2017 after getting rejected for a second time from a PhD program, I decided to flip the equation and leave my stable job as a research assistant to become self-employed and delve further into the production side of music and support myself with various free lance gigs. I decided to further my skillset by getting trained in commercial music production and made a vow to myself to write as many songs as possible. I am in a perpetual learning process and try and collaborate as much as possible to become a better songwriter and performer.

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

My musical journey began with my very first memories of singing. I always wanted to sing and I started singing in the school choir. I started writing songs around 12-13 years old. Since then I have released 9 albums independently with each one growing more involved in the production process. I have gotten into mixing and production in order to be as prolific as possible.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Bringing a song to light is what I find most rewarding. From the very first idea which you nourish until reaching a point that you can let it go. I feel like it metaphorically can be compared to giving birth, and then letting the creation go on in to the world.

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

I wish I would have been more patient, taken a deep breath and meditated on ideas before launching myself head first and sometimes falling flat on my face. But everyone has their path in life and my impetuousness is a challenge of mine.

Contact Info:

• Website: razteria.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/razteria
• Facebook: facebook.com/razteria
• Linkedin: https://linkedin.com/in/reneeasteria/
• Twitter: twitter.com/reneeasteria
• Youtube: youtube.com/reneeasteria
• Other: asteriarecords.bandcamp.com

Image Credits
Carolyn Beckerman (first picture) Jamie Soja (second 3) Capitan Walas (last one)