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

Tommi, appreciate you joining us today. Can you share an important lesson you learned in a prior job that’s helped you in your career afterwards?

The most important lesson that I’ve learned in this process as an artist is to study and do my research. There was a situation where a guy reached out to me on Instagram about doing a music video for me and he wasn’t going to charge me anything to do the video. I was super excited and I told him I really appreciate the opportunity I’m thankful that you would take the time to invest and believe in me. We scheduled the video shoot and he told me that he was going to take care of the treatment and everything cost wise. Up until the day and the shoot he had really done everything he said he was going to do so there was no reason for me to believe that he was lying or being deceptive. The day of the shoot, a friend of mine that I asked to be in the video, came with me to the shoot, but before we actually went to the shoot the guy reached out to me and told me that the location had to be changed at the last minute. It was an evening shoot and with him changing the location at the last minute it was a little odd but I’m not thinking anything too deep about it. I told my friend and luckily my friend rode with me instead of meeting me there because when we got to the new location it was an apartment complex and the setup didn’t look like we would be doing a shoot there at all. My friend and I walked upstairs and we get to the apartment and inside the apartment there were no lights on there was nothing that indicated that a video was being shot there. We walk inside the apartment there’s a guy in there with all the lights dim and low and all you see is the light from the TV. The guy that met us and had reached out to me on Instagram, had a book bag on. There was no camera or anything so we’re looking like what shoot is happening in this place? So we were getting ready to turn around and leave, but three other people came in behind us so my friend, luckily he was a big guy, he turned and told him that we were leaving and we left. My first thought after leaving was what if I was alone? What would have happened to me if I had been there by myself? I learned that I needed to be way more thorough in the research that I do and thankfully I had somebody with me. I learned many valuable lessons that day especially to bring someone with me and now I always have somebody with me because if I had been there by myself they could done whatever they wanted to me. I always tell young women that ask me about modeling to do their research and study and follow up with the person asking for their credentials things like that. I also tell them when you go anywhere as a model to always bring someone with you because you just never know what peoples motives or intentions are and you never know what they may try and do.

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

I started out singing in the church choir at the age of two. Music was one of my first loves as a child. I would listen to music as an escape from reality as it would take me to another world and I would forget about all the problems I had. As I got older and graduated from Howard University, I moved to Atlanta. I started to see the opportunities that were available to me in Atlanta because Atlanta was the Mecca for music. It’s the place that everyone came that wanted to pursue music so I started doing street marketing with So So Def and I started getting into acting, but I never told people about my love for Music because I was always scared to sing in front of people. I had really bad stage fright so I never really wanted people to know that I could sing. I knew music was my true love and if I really wanted to sing I had to start getting over my fear. People would always tell me “you have to get out there and sing” so I had to start getting over my fear and I started going out and doing performances and open mics and things like that building up my confidence. Now I am working on a second album at this time and I will be releasing a new single in the next week called “I got your Crazy” and I’m super excited about it. I’ve seen the growth in myself as an artist and I’m very proud of how far I’ve come in the music world. I am looking forward to continuing to be independent and controlling my own music doing what I really want to do. I’m not interested in being with a label because they like to change artists and I refuse to let them change who I am or what my music is about.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

A story from my journey that illustrates my resilience is that despite everything that I’ve been through, becoming a mother, I’m a single mother of two, still going to school pursuing my masters degrees, I have two masters degrees and I am a full-time teacher. In the midst of all of that I still continue to pursue and do my music. Multitasking is one of the most difficult things to do, but I won’t give up on myself and I want to show my son and my daughter that resilience is very rewarding. I want my Children to know that not giving up is Noble and it builds character and strength in a person. What better way to teach them that than by leading by example. So I try and show them daily how to move through life, to not complain, and to MAKE things happen. It’s okay to continue chasing your dreams even if you are over 40. It’s never too late to do what you truly love and because I’m not in it for the money, it’s even more rewarding and allows me to remain at peace and in control.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

The goal or mission that is driving my creative journey is my passion for music. My goal is for my music to be therapy for others because Music has always been therapy for me. I want my music to speak to others, speak to their soul and help them to heal from things that may affect them from traumas that they’ve experienced in childhood or in life. I want people to be able to connect to my music so that it can help provide healing like music does for me. My story is being told through my music so when people connect to my music I can show them that they are able to heal just like I was able to heal. I want my music to help me build a platform where I can start a nonprofit to help women and teens deal with and heal from their past traumas.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.tommicole.com
• Instagram: Instagram.com/tommicole
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tommi.cole.1
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tommicole
• Twitter: Twitter.com/tommicole
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCMTlyBkryREyHZkfurQoa_A

Image Credits
DaeRae media Zay Boog Timothy Curry Tommi Cole