We recently connected with Rey Santoya and have shared our conversation below.

Rey, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Let’s jump back to the first dollar you earned as a creative? What can you share with us about how it happened?

I made a project four years ago called ‘Koreabu’ and I posted it on Bandcamp. One day, I got a notification that someone actually bought the entire thing. I believe he was an Asian young man. How he was able to come across my work is a mystery but if I had to guess: it was the first song that I titled “For Andrea” but in Korean. I took a screenshot and I have it saved on my desktop. It’s the only dollar I have ever made on my music (so far).

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I would like to think that I provide my audience with many different perspectives that they have yet to consider. Instead of looking at a gift horse in the mouth, why not look through the butthole? The certain itch that tickles that part of the mind that activates your flight-or-fight response. I need to be that itch.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can provide some insight – you never know who might benefit from the enlightenment.

The truth is it is extremely difficult to make this a full-time job. There was a musician whose name escapes me that worked as a manager for a light bulb company or something like that that made a career in balancing his musical and financial careers. You can’t be in this for the fame because if you are, you will be spat out. HUK TUAHHH!

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

Many of the friends that came up with me in the game have completely quit and as funny as it sounds, it always intrigued me. I asked myself many times during my life why I still do what I do. I cannot explain it but I wasn’t meant to stop. This is what I was born to do. The voice in my head that tells me to stop is one of a barking Yorkie. The love to continue to create is insurmountable.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: www.instagram.com/noseringnicky/
• Facebook: facebook.com/noseringnicky
• Twitter: twitter.com/reysantoya
• Youtube: youtube.com/channel/noseringnicky
• Other: https://linktr.ee/reysantoya reysantoya.bandcamp.com/

Image Credits
Photography by Andres Perez