Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sonia Miller. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Sonia thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

in order of happenings in my life, I am going to talk about my business first, then the charity…

Extreme Live Productions, Inc., my business was born out of what I was thrown into after I came here from Romania…. I came with with absolutely nothing but a small suitcase and didn’t speak hardly any English. The first 6 years, I travelled full time and stayed in hotel rooms 365 days a year, playing music for living. Learned English and learned to drive. Got a Green Card, then my citizenship. In 2000, I I transitioned from the entertainment business into the video production business after I created such a good demo for our little band, that everyone wanted one. There was more money in it and I still got to travel, so it was a great fit.

I stopped playing music, and quickly went full time into video production. I worked with so many shows, casino marketing departments, large and small companies, national and international corporations (Microsoft, Harley Davidson, Asus, etc.) and I also created marketing videos for the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce and Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority. All this during the day, while evenings I would shoot video for concerts, boxing, etc. That’s what happens when your city never sleeps, you don’t either.

It was an insane amount of work and it eventually took its toll on me. Around 2011 I decided to step back from it all (at least part time) for a little while. It was worth it… I moved to California for a couple of years, but the business called me back to Vegas. After moving back, together with my partner who used to own recording/rehearsal studios in Anaheim and Las Vegas, we realized that we could create a really unique product by merging entertainment and video production. And this is what we have been doing since 2015. Our shows showcase a wide variety of talent and on the screens behind them, a large portion of our shows are played in sync with the original music videos or the movies the songs were made popular in. It’s a unique concept that I don’t believe many (if any people) are doing. All this is happening while we’re able to feature our guests on the screens as well for birthdays, anniversaries, etc., and make them a part of the show. Plus, we are able to cross market venues within the same property, as well as other properties belonging to the same company…. The revenue at the bar across from our main stage increased by 600%… so, yes, i would say we solved a problem that nobody else was solving. And from all this, our unique “Marketing Through Entertainment” concept was born. In 2019, before the pandemic, our multi-zone synced entertainment concept at the LINQ casino was probably one of the most successful free entertainment projects on the Las Vegas Strip. Currently, we are in negotiations with a few venues for the same entertainment concept. We also adapted this concept for a stage show, “The Hits”, and this plays in showrooms throughout the country as of right now. The latest concept though, is a “Barbie themed” show, named Let’s go Party! For he fun of it, we got into the craze… we are launching this project this week actually. It should be a great addition not just to showrooms, but to parties and corporate events with with a Barbie theme, which is all the rage right now. All our projects are on our website, https://extremeliveproductions.com and our social media @extremeliveshow ( https://www.facebook.com/extremeliveshow)

But things didn’t stopped with the business – apparently i didn’t have enough on my plate yet.

During the pandemic, I got back to my original love… For as long as I can remember I have been wanting to help orphan children in Africa and visit Kilimanjaro. This dream started, back in Romania, approximately 1979-1980. The probability of me leaving then communist Romania for an African trip (in particular, I wanted to go to Kilimanjaro), seemed impossible to say the least. However, my 4-5 year old mind did not comprehend borders or impossibilities. I kept this heart wish as vivid as I could.

When the opportunity came to go into nursing school at 14 years old, I thought “I can probably become a nurse or a doctor and eventually make it to Africa that way”. After all, they always seemed to need medical help. My first year in nursing school communism fell and my hopes grew brighter. By the time I finished, 4 years later, plans changed. I thought that I had a better chance to go help African kids as a missionary – so I pursued theology in university.

Second year of college, plans changed in November ’95 and within 8 days, I found myself in the US alone, not speaking English, no family, no friends, no money, just one small suitcase… To say that those first few months were hard is an understatement. Nearly three decades have passed… I opened and closed businesses, met new friends, I had successes and hardships and made the best out of my new life on another continent. The flames of the African dreams were nearly extinguished by daily life, trials, tribulations, and mainly, overworking.

However, in June 2021, for the second time in my life, I landed on a new continent all by myself– Africa. But this time it was different. It was my dream coming to reality! I volunteered at an orphanage in the Kilimanjaro region in Tanzania, and, in short, I absolutely fell in love with the kids, came back to the States, and started a non-profit, SURE WAVE FOUNDATION here in the US and its equivalent, a NGO, in Tanzania.

For the last 2 years, we have planted hundreds of fruit trees and gardens, so orphan children have enough to eat, and provided clean water, food, and clothes along with education and healthcare to children affected by HIV. You can read the full story, along with everything we accomplished so far under “News” on our website, https://surewave.org. I can only hope that others will join me in the quest of making the world a better place! It’s not that nobody does this, it’s that we ALL can do more!

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?

It’s all included under the first question you asked.

Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?

Unlike most entrepreneurs, that probably rely on business books/advice, I get my advice from Paulo Coelho’s book, The Alchemist. For me, it’s all about following your dreams. I never wanted to be a musician necessarily, or to do video production for living, but I ALWAYS had travel on the first place in my heart. And, fortunately, both of those businesses involved more travel than I would’ve ever been able to do as a Romanian citizen or a young immigrant. I am extremely grateful for all of it!

If you haven’t read The Alchemist, here are a couple of the guiding quotes:

“To realize one’s destiny is a person’s only real obligation.”

“When you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”

“Everyone, when they are young, knows what their Personal Legend is. At that point in their lives, everything is clear and everything is possible. They are not afraid to dream, and to yearn for everything they would like to see happen to them in their lives.”

And las, but not least, for my 200+ kids in Africa: “ONE IS LOVED BECAUSE ONE IS LOVED. NO REASON IS NEEDE FOR LOVING” and I love you with all my heart!

Can you tell us the story behind how you met your business partner?

I don’t believe in chance encounters… My partner in business, John Torres, became my partner in life first. Bizarrely enough, our exes introduced us (hahaha)… we became good friends and worked together for several years, then, one day, that took another turn. I’m happy we became a couple. We are the “same kind of crazy” and life has been a major adventure with him.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://extremeliveproductions.com https://surewave.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/extremelive https://www.instagram.com/surewavefoundation/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/extremeliveshow https://www.facebook.com/surewavefoundation/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/extremeliveshow https://www.youtube.com/surewave