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

Hi Roz, thanks for joining us today. Have you been able to earn a full-time living from your creative work? If so, can you walk us through your journey and how you made it happen? Was it like that from day one? If not, what were some of the major steps and milestones and do you think you could have sped up the process somehow knowing what you know now?

After 25+ years of constantly creating, I am proud to not have a day job or a boss. I’m still amazed at the journey.
It was not calculated or well planned out. It has been much like my paintings.. intuitive and abstract.
As a little girl I obsessively made visual art , then as a teenager, figured out how to adorn myself
and everyone around me because I was either not impressed with what I saw in the stores or couldn’t afford what I did like.
I always knew I was an artist, but didn’t attend college due to the challenges of young motherhood.
I shuffled through a variety of jobs along the way, and practiced massage therapy for almost 20 years,
all while searching for my niche. It finally appeared in 2012, just as I was about to give up..
I was so deflated and exhausted from the constant hustle yielding very little results.
When the idea of recycling music entered my consciousness, everything shifted.
The brand organically took shape from there as I plugged in the culture of South Louisiana and my love of fashion.
In my small batch company I wear a variety of hats
so I’ve had to teach myself many skills I never anticipated needing as an artist.
More business classes along the way would have helped, for sure!

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’m the oldest of five girls. My mother is an organist and my father a percussionist/master builder.

We are French descendants born and raised in Acadiana, South Louisiana.

Since I was a teenager I’ve been front row at most every concert I could attend
just to feel the music.. the bass in my bones, the thrill of the collective joy.
There is no lack of good music in South Louisiana.
It’s like I’ve been the perfect candidate for this job my whole life.

I started out cutting cymbals up with hand snips and a skimpy file until my dad noticed what I was doing
and gave me a band saw and grinder for Christmas.
Power tools changed my life!

Since then, we have made custom merch for
Queen, Bon Jovi, Nile Rodgers, Nick Mason of Pink Floyd, Journey, Preservation Hall, and Genesis.
Still such a surreal line up of clients!
We also made limited edition necklaces from Vinnie Paul’s cymbals available for his fans,
and custom Christmas gifts for family members of other deceased drummers ..
memorial pieces are the most special jobs.

We give music an afterlife turning old cymbals into unisex accessories.
Once a cymbal has a hairline fracture, the sound changes.
Most compromised metal end up collecting dust in attics, or worse, in landfills.
Upcycling is one of my favorite aspects of what I do because it makes the thrifter in me very proud,
but there’s a deeper significance.. every piece carries an energetic stamp with it.
It signifies a moment in time, that can keep on living in a way.
The act of making music, performing, sharing your art form with others is a display of such strong emotions..
even courage, to someone like me with stage fright.
Knowing that I am walking around wearing that history feels special, empowering.

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.

I think it may be hard for non-creatives to grasp how essential it is for some people to create.

It’s not a choice. For me, it’s a necessity .. this loud, powerful urge I’ve had to appease since I can remember.
It calms me. It teaches me. It makes me proud. It allows me to empty out as it fills me back up.
Cracking this ever changing invisible code one needs to be able to survive as an artist in this society

has been a lifelong challenge. All these experiences live in art.

Artists are not revered as they should be. How boring would Earth be without art?
Yet, we scrap and sometimes starve, as big business thrives.

People hold all the power.. local artists can be supported with almost every purchase made.

Knowing and practicing this daily can change the world.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

Having the freedom to create my daily life has been very rewarding..

doing things out of desire instead of obligation really changes how everything feels.

I can’t imagine not creating. Art is my life.
I’d like to think that my life is art, as well,
as is everyone’s .. if only we all perceived it that way.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.secondlinejewels.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/secondlinejewels
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/secondlinejewels
• Other: painting info: rozlecompte.com
•  www.instagram.com/rozlecompte www.facebook.com/rozlecompte