We recently connected with Unitsi Ai and have shared our conversation below.

Unitsi , appreciate you joining us today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

Technically, and fortunately, I have a “regular job” that pays the bills and gives me the opportunity have time to work in my craft. Unfortunately this financial stability came at the cost of losing all of the elders that raised me, that being my Mother, Grandmother and Grandfather. If my Mother had not passed away first, she would be in my position today running our family company leasing and managing commercial real estate. But heartbreakingly so, melanoma took her from all of us when she was only 51 years old. So that puts a lot of pressure on me, who, yes has a college degree with a minor focused on Business, to fulfill and continue the family legacy and not let the rest of my siblings down.

There are definitely times when I become overwhelmed and discouraged and ask myself why I don’t just take the easy road and pack up and move back east and live in a town where everyone knows my name and I could have a house with 10 acres and several cars and a boat on the lake and live like a Queen. But the fact is, making music and singing isnt something I do for money and financial stability. Its something I do that feeds my soul, exorcises my demons, helps me to cope with my emotional ups and downs. Its an outlet that is a mental health necessity. Sure, I could quit and go back. But without a doubt I know in my heart that I would be miserable and inevitably end up feeling self destructive and even suicidal knowing that I gave up on my dream.

Unitsi , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I have my BA degree in Theatre (but ironically have never been part of a musical.) Upon graduating I first moved to NYC to work as a thespian and did rather well there. I do love the theatre and acting in tv and film. However I do not like the commercial and as an artist hated doing those types of things. It was one thing to tell a story, illustrate and reflect humanity, explore and share perspectives by putting myself literally in their characters shoes, but quite another to stand smiling as I try to sell the latest capitalistic craze. I have an always will be interested and a patron of the arts, not “the man.”

It wasnt until after living in NYC for a little over three years that I got the call that my Mother had been diagnosed with stage four melanoma and had less than a year to live. She had just bought her farm and was finally starting her journey towards her own dream to own and operate a program using animals as therapy for children with special needs. She had waited literally half her life (she was 49 when she purchased the farm) to raise most of us (I am the oldest of seven children) before she began this venture. She had just been certified and had bought horses and goats and even some fun exotic type pets to share with the children that would come. But then, just like that, a year and a half later, she was gone and so was the farm and all of the animals etc because the bank took it all back when she passed away and her estate was still in such debt. It was devastating to say the least.

I knew right then that I was not going to ever waste another second not doing what I wanted in life. That life was too short to wait for. So I picked up and moved to CA where I had always wanted to be. Unfortunately the writers strike happened just as I got here and in the process of that I lost my agent. I decided now would be as good a time as ever to perhaps have a baby with my husband so we did. Just after she was born I got the call that my Grandmother, my now only living parental family member left, was diagnosed with Alzheimers and I would have to take over the family company. This pain and stress led to somewhat of an existential crisis to put it bluntly. There was already a bit of a strain on my marriage and this was the straw that broke the camels back.

When we divorced I quickly found myself in another relationship with a man that later taught me about narcissism and domestic abuse. After he was taken in by the police on felony charges of assault and deported back to New Zealand, I fell into a deep spiral of depression and self destruction. It wasnt until I started writing again that I began to come out of it.

I have always been a writer. Ive written poems, stories, short films, and even a series as well as a few screenplays. A few of which I independently produced and created but none of which anyone would have ever heard of. But poetry I have written since I was a child and it was poetry that pushed me back out into the world and onto the path that would lead me to my true purpose, music. And while I may not be well educated/experienced in the music world, I know I am meant for it. Ive been told by many people in the industry that my rhythm and ear for melody is highly instinctive and almost as good as knowing music theory. Nonetheless, I am constantly striving to learn as much as I can through my lessons on the piano and studies of the many genres and history of music in order to get better and better every day.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

Being able to share a feeling, express it unabatedly and knowing that as I do so it allows permission for someone else that may also be feeling this way to be vulnerable and open with their experiences. Art is made of screaming, laughter, tears, moans, sighs, breath, dreams and fears and heartbreak and hope. It not only allows us an outlet through its expression but also a community of feeling and unity.

We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?

As much as I hate it, social media is a necessary evil in this day and age. And I know it is part of the business aspect of our jobs as the undiscovered creative. But just like doing commercials, I still somewhat feel like I am selling my soul to Instagram or Facebook or Tiktok (which I still rarely do) as I attempt to make my weekly posts to “stay relative.”

But heres whats gotten me through those times of resistance and has helped me to actually grow my audience and following quite quickly over the past year (and without buying a blue checkmark etc.)

1.) Staying real, not trying to sell myself but instead, share myself being me, whether it be rehearsing, hiking, snuggling with my dogs etc.
2.) Sharing and promoting other artists and friends and doing it without expectations of them doing it back but simply because they influence and motivate and inspire me and I want to share them.
3.) Picking my battles vs wars when it comes to politics and rhetoric. While in the past I have become heated and sometimes lashed out on social media about certain things, and I was quickly shut down by the platforms overseers and threatened to be banned. I still believe that the hacking that cost me my first Instagram page as well as my original monetized youtube channel was because of my disgust of Trump and my comments on social media. Thats when I realized that if I am truly viewing these platforms from a business perspective, there is a time and a place for that and its not there. My Grandmother always said “put your money where your mouth is” so when it comes to politics and causes that I believe in supporting, thats what I do, I financially back my beliefs and let social media be more of a logistics manager to let people know when my next single is dropping or where my next show will be.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.unitsiai.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unitsi_ai/
• Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/unitsiai?refid=13&__tn__=%2Cg
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@Unitsi_Ai
• Other: https://linktr.ee/unitsi_ai

Image Credits
Black and White photo Ajay Haveri Photo with music quote: Liana Grigoryan Photo with Tamborine: Will Lee Jr. All other photos by family and friends