We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Valerie Toledo a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Valerie, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you tell us about a time that your work has been misunderstood? Why do you think it happened and did any interesting insights emerge from the experience?

I have never felt like I fit in. Being misunderstood has been a constant for me.

When I was younger, my “friends” would sometimes put me down when I came up with ideas that were “different” or a little weird, saying things like, “You’re not that special,” and “You think you’re not basic?” I would see how they would make fun of others who dared to try and be trendsetters, and I felt that I’d receive the same treatment if I went rogue.

In school, some of my teachers would get mad at me or brush me off for things like working ahead, standing up for my principles, and sharing the way *I* did the problem.

At work, I had managers scream at me and talk down to me for innovating on a poor process, going the extra mile, and refusing morally questionable work.

Things that seem natural to me — thinking outside the box, living authentically, and working hard all became things that were punished when I did them.

I am confusing to others because I am different, and I understand why this makes me a little unpalatable.

I’ve learned that I have to surround myself with people who encourage me to be myself, call me out when I am wrong, and make the effort to understand me.

I’m a little bit of an acquired taste but that’s okay with me. All the finest wines are.

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

I have been writing and making music since I was a little kid. From the moment I knew how to express myself verbally, creating was a calling. I’ve said it before — I don’t consider my music and my writing my careers, I consider them part of my calling and the tools I use to bring glory to our creator (God) who gave me those talents.

Initially, I participated in church plays and choir but didn’t have much more than a few music lessons to go off of. I wrote songs here and there, but I didn’t have the confidence to make them into anything more.

It wasn’t until some of my fellow musicians encouraged me that my music was good enough to publish that I began to figure out a serious process and at the end of 2023, I finally released my self-published studio album, WITHIN THE CONFINES OF YOU.

For my album, I wrote most of the songs by sitting at the piano, singing the melodies in my head, and playing notes together until something sounded right. At the time, I only knew the simple formulas for playing major and minor chords, but for me, it was enough. From there, I worked with talented friends to take my voice memos and turn them into real productions.

As for my writing (fiction, poetry, business writing, speeches, etc.), the same process has applied. I informally learned the rules of grammar from reading as many books as I could (no offense to my middle school teachers) and then put my pen to paper. Soon, I’ll have a writing portfolio displayed on http://writing.valerietm.com.

Since childhood, I’ve approached my craft with unfiltered, childlike curiosity. What I consider “amateur”, other artists have called alien and interesting. I embrace the label of an “amateur” because it allows me to break free from conventions and experiment fearlessly with sound and narrative.

My lack of formal training felt like a weakness for many years. In the end, it has turned out to be a secret weapon.

While I create for the sake of creating, I do enjoy collaborating with others and my main income stream comes from writing both music and other textual works. If I’m someone you want to work with, I can offer you lyrics, short stories and other fiction, speeches, essays, press releases, bylines, copy, poetry, and more, like proofreading and copyediting. My friends have called me “Valerie GPT” at times, and I choose my words with care.

I’d like anyone who follows me to know that if you make music, you’re a musician. If you write, you’re a writer. You don’t need to have gone to music school or have a specialized degree to do these things. If I’d known this earlier, I probably wouldn’t have wasted so much time thinking I wasn’t good enough to publish my work.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

The following lesson seems so obvious in hindsight, but it took me a while to pick up on it.

Taking feedback is an important part of any creative’s journey in making his or her work the best it can be.

However, something I’ve had to learn is that while you should consider what people criticize about you, some people actually criticize what they envy.

Maybe someone in your choir or vocal group is telling you to sing further from the mic because you’re going flat. By all means, check your tonality and confirm with vocal coaches that you can sing on pitch, but consider that someone may be telling you this because they don’t like the thought of sharing the mic.

Incidents like that one convinced me to keep my music to myself because I believed I wasn’t good enough. While we should stay humble and always work to improve, we should also be able to discern between a well-intended pointer and insecurity disguised as an objective assessment.

Are there any books, videos or other content that you feel have meaningfully impacted your thinking?

Anyone who works in a creative industry should check out Professor Rom Schrift’s work on systematic approaches to creativity.

Not everyone has the luxury of living out their creative process, and for those who need to be “creative on demand” tools like the “Attribute Dependency Template” and the “Task Unification and Closure Principle” can be very helpful.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.valerietm.com/
• Instagram: @thevaleriemusic
• Facebook: @thevaleriemusic
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/valerie-joy-toledo/
• Twitter: @thevaleriemusic
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/@itsvaleriemusic?si=MIMhGp7vCx-5I72W

Image Credits
Action shots – Sebastian Hernandez Album promo (water & bicycle) – Sabrina Warnick Album promo (Red dress/film shot) – Enrique Rosell