We recently connected with Sara Gougeon and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Sara thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Parents can play a significant role in affecting how our lives and careers turn out – and so we think it’s important to look back and have conversations about what our parents did that affected us positive (or negatively) so that we can learn from the billions of experiences in each generation. What’s something you feel your parents did right that impacted you positively.

This is a really interesting and often overlooked question. I am so lucky and grateful to have been born into my family. When I was growing up my parents enrolled me in everything. Many athletic activities: gymnastics, trampolining, soccer, basketball, tennis, ski racing, figure skating, track and field, long distance running, and dance. They helped grow my creative calling by enrolling me in art workshops and music lessons. I’m extremely lucky that they could afford to do so. But I also believe that choice, to encourage a kid try everything, is extremely important. They could have just put me in one activity. I am realizing that being exposed to so many opportunities has shaped who I am now. Today I am a business owner, a creative, climber, gardener, reader, writer, roller-skater, hiker, camper, painter, musician, community builder, event planner, yoga student, and so much more.

In a way, I think their choice to make me try so many things made me realize that everything is “figureoutable.” It taught me to try things and be curious – which helped me discover what I was interested in.

In middle school I wanted to learn to figure skate, my mom enrolled me in a class. I was probably 12 while the rest of the students were 6 or 7. I towered over them, and I fumbled more than they did. It was a really good lesson for me. You’re not too late to learn anything. Even if you’re twice as old and half as skilled, go do the thing you want to do. If you want to be good at anything you have to get through the process of trying, failing, and learning. I’m really lucky that my parents taught me that early on. Now I put myself in uncomfortable environments intentionally. I started climbing a few months ago. I love reminding myself to be a lifelong student and going through that process of growth and discovery.

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

Hi, if you don’t know me, my name is Sara and I’m a creative entrepreneur. From a young age I knew that I had to be part of the music industry. After a decade of writing songs, and years of studying music, I decided that I wanted to book live entertainment, build communities, and plan events. In 2021, I founded Pineworks Creative, my live entertainment and event planning organization.

One of my primary focuses has been building Queerfest, an LGBTQ+ festival and showcase series in Nashville. For years I searched for queer community, events, shows, and I couldn’t find much. I knew this space needed to exist, so I took to creating it. It’s been phonemail to foster a warm community, see the growth, and promote incredible queer talent.

Queerfest 2023 is a two-day, multi-venue festival in East Nashville on August 11 + 12, 2023. This year’s festival features 13 LGBTQ+ identifying acts. The event takes place at three different venues: Dee’s Country Cocktail Lounge, The 5 Spot, and The Basement East.

The lineup this year features The Collection, Marielle Kraft, Skout, Madeleine Kelson, Julia Cannon, JB Somers, Sydnee Conley, Gina Venier, Dani-Rae Clark, Justin Hiltner, Olivia Rudeen, Summer Joy, Great Aunt.

Tickets can be purchased here: https://www.ticketweb.com/event/queerfest-2023-the-basement-east-tickets/13359678?pl=basementeast

I’m in a process of figuring out my next projects. I have plans to launch a queer community collective that would be a mix of online community and in-person events and workshops. I’ve also been booking stages at other festivals, including SoKno Pride, and at conferences like WBENC (Women’s Business Enterprise National Council). I’d like to do more work helping other events and promoters book queer artists. I’m considering taking on event clients as well. But I’m planning on sticking within my niche of queer community and booking folk/roots/acoustic/indie music.

AND I’m excited to be on the steering committee for TEDxNashville to help them plan their next conference and build community!

If I had to chose one thing that I’m most proud of it’s probably my ability to bring my visions to life. For me that process goes from having an idea, to visualization, planning, action, and then tweaking things. Being an entrepreneur/creative is messy and challenging and I’m so grateful that I get to bring my visions to life!

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

My favorite book is Atomic Habits by James Clear. This book has had a massive impact on building daily habits that have changed my life. I’m trying to come up with an example of how it’s helped my business. I believe it’s done so indirectly. By improving my life overall I’ve been able to show up better for my business.

These are a few daily habits that have been changing my life:

* Daily movement – I’ve learned that specific goals like “I need to run 3x a week and strength train 3x a week” don’t work for me. Instead, I listen to my body. Some days this is climbing, running, hiking, a yoga class, rollerskating and other days It’s just a short walk or 20 minutes on my yoga mat.
* Writing – Every morning I journal to clear my mind.
* Reading – I read every day. Sometimes it’s a few pages of a book, a poem, or something educational.
* Gratitude – I know, I know, It sounds cheesy. But every day I write down three things I’m grateful for. It’s rewired my brain to focus on the things I have over the things I want.
* Morning sunlight exposure – There’s a lot of research on the importance of getting morning sunlight exposure. This helps me wake up and makes me a little happier everyday.
* No social media until I’ve journaled – I used to open my phone first thing in the morning and scroll in bed. This has helped me start my day on a good note.

Stolen Focus: Why You Can’t Pay Attention by Johann Hari is another favorite. I searched for a book on focus because I noticed how often I was task-switching and how challenging it’s become to pay attention. This book discusses social media, eating habits, environment, the attention economy, and how to achieve deep focus in a world of distractions. I HIGHLY recommend this for anyone who is struggling to focus.

What are your tips for building social media?

Tip #1: Add two-factor authentication. This was my biggest mistake. My Instagram account that I spent nearly three years building to a following of 2,200 people got hacked and I’m currently being blackmailed. It’s been really frustrating and I wish I could warn my followers.

Instagram doesn’t have much support so if you get hacked and they change all of your recovery information, and if the face-ID won’t work (which it hasn’t for me), there’s no support email or phone number to help recover your account.

Tip #2: Create consistent, quality content. It’s a very simple concept but it’s not easy to do.

Tip #3: Create intentional visuals that represent your brand.

Other tips: Use keywords and relevant hashtags to reach your target audience. Add a link in your bio. Include a call to action in your posts that encourages people to go to your ticket links, pre-save your son, signup for your mailing list, etc. Tag relevant accounts. Add captions to videos. Focus on 1-2 platforms that you want to prioritize growing – it’s overwhelming to take on all of them at the same time! Using a social media scheduling app will save you a ton of time if you post a lot (Later is my favorite).      

Contact Info:

• Website: https://queerfestmusic.com/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Queerfestmusic
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/queerfestmusic?lang=en
• Instagram: @queerfestnash
• Other: *** I will let you know what happens with the Instagram (if it gets recovered or If I start a new one).

Image Credits
The outdoorsy photos where I’m in the white dress were taken by Hans Alcindor. The photo where I’m in the green blazer was by Molly Trunnell. The others are iphone photos taken by various friends – don’t worry about the credits on those.